How to Market Yourself Virally Like Will Ferrell

In 2007, comedian Will Ferrell's comedy short, "The Landlord" won a Spike TV Guys' Choice Award for the Most Viral Video. Will Ferrell's success in this endeavor has proven his savvy ability to market himself virally with the Internet, which many stars are now turning to. You don't have to be a star, however, to do it--you too can achieve viral marketing success like Will Ferrell with the right steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Launch your own viral video site. In April 2007, Will launched the short comedy film site, FunnyOrDie, where users can vote for their favorite video. Will gained huge Internet exposure with his own video featured on the site, "The Landlord."

2. Be controversial. In "The Landlord," Will's 2-year-old daughter, Pearl, used certain swear words that some people criticized as crass and even exploitative to children. The controversy only fueled interest in the short, and made more people take notice.

3. Release sequels to your viral videos. After the success of "The Landlord," Will released another video on his site, "Good Cop, Baby Cop," which also starred baby Pearl.

4. Make use of ideas that don't fit in anywhere else. "The Landlord" co-writer, Adam McKay noted that "a baby landlord would never work as a movie.... We were excited by getting this chance to goof around with those kinds of ideas."

5. Align with social networking sites. FunnyOrDie held a "Facebook Sweepstakes" competition as part of its Comedy Tour, in which they awarded cash and prizes to the college with the highest percentage of students that installed the FunnyOrDie Facebook application. This ensures that FunnyOrDie is promoted through Facebook, one of the most viral tools on the Internet.

6. Enlist the help of professionals. "The Landlord" was co-written by former Saturday Night Live writer, Adam McKay, and FunnyOrDie was backed by venture capitalists from Sequoia Capital–-who previously funded Google, YouTube Apple and Yahoo!.