Why I Went Viral Rubbing My Hands on Dick Soap
dissecting the magic sauce behind what makes something go viral
Recently I had a video absolutely blow up on social media, becoming my most viewed video ever, in my 13 years of making videos online. Was it a really important sex ed piece? Was it some #inspiring second hand fashion content? Was it a vulnerable video that helps others feel less alone? No, of course it wasn’t! It was a 13 second video of me washing my hands on a very phallic bit of soap and trying (and failing) to suppress a giggle.
50 MILLION VIEWS!
I originally had only posted it on my Instagram stories, like wtf is the deal with this soap in France? And I had DOZENS of replies in my DMs about how people had soap like this in their primary schools (in France and in other places around the world!) Immediately, the amount of DMs I got about this soap was a sign that there was something bigger potentially happening here. And my friend Leena had messaged me also saying I should post it to the grid and so I thought fuck it, why not. I tried my best to channel the advice I’d been given during my 8 weeks with a TikTok expert to figure out what text to put and in the end I went with “pov: you wash your hands in France” (we’ll come back to this text hook later) and posted.
So why do I think this went viral?
Viral videos can be incredibly unpredictable, but let’s see what (if anything) we can learn from this one.
The core concept of the video is simple.
It has specificity and engagement bait.
The specific mention of France in the text creates a tangible reference point. This specificity doesn’t exclude anyone outside of France from enjoying or engaging with the video though, in fact, in works in favour because it acts as “engagement bait”. Folks from France who had soap like this in their primary schools will comment because they feel seen “omg it me”, but folks outside of France who also had this soap in school will comment because they want to be seen - “not just in France! We had this soap in insert country name here too!” It’s like when I made my video about feeling lonely as a mum in London and so many of the comments were “not a mum, but I feel this too!” or, “not just in London, I live here and feel this too!”The nostalgia trip.
The initial DMs I got when I posted it to stories and many of the comments were people remembering that they had seen this kind of soap before in their childhood. Nostalgia is incredibly powerful and when a weird memory (like your primary school having dick soap) is triggered, you feel compelled to share.Multiple talking points.
For what is an incredibly short and simple video there are so many talking points leading to all the different kinds of engagement that make a video perform well (comments, shares to stories, shares to friends privately in DMs, whatsapp messages etc.) You’ve got the dick joke and the France thing, but then I also saw a lot of debate about whether soap is hygienic (it is!), people asking what soap was in the “men’s toilets” (hate to break it to you but this was a gender neutral toilet!), and then lots of comments on my reaction to it…The magic moment: the giggles.
This is the part of a viral video formula that is the hardest to manufacture. It’s the humanness, the realness, the unplanned special moment of it all. I think without my suppressed giggles, the video wouldn’t have blown up as much as it did. Viral videos can make the people in them incredibly anonymous (for better or worse). I believe it’s the giggles that make the people watching connect with me as a person, whether they know me or not. The giggles humanise me, and make me, for lack of a better word, relatable.
So that’s my breakdown of why I think this video went mega viral! What do you think? If you’re curious about the numbers and the impact going viral has had on my account (and money!) I posted this video sharing the data in screenshots and I’m planning on doing another one after 30 days since posting it, so make sure to follow me on Instagram (or TikTok!) to catch that when it’s time!
⭐ I’ve signed up to a coaching training course! I went into this year very flexible and open with what my new work with content creators would look like, responding to the needs of clients rather than having a strict plan of what I wanted to do. One of the main things to emerge from my work is that I’ve been doing a lot of coaching as well as consulting. In absolute basic terms (from how I understand it right now): consulting is being paid for your professional opinion, and coaching is being paid to help guide someone to their own answers. I’ve been coached myself (it was pivotal in helping me figure out how I wanted to approach my maternity leave and then my big career change last year), and I’ve been using some of the tools and techniques that I gathered from that experience with clients but I want to be able to offer more, and to also learn more about coaching to see if it’s something I would want to continue pursuing. It’s not until September but it feels very exciting to be making decisions, plans and investing in my professional development again in this entirely new area!
👡Birkenstocks - I panic bought some Birkenstocks (thank you to folks in my patreon discord server for helping me pick which ones in the emergency!) I had some god awful blisters on my heels and none of my shoes (other than flip flops) were backless and I was out on my way places and IN PAIN 😣 I hobbled into a Schuh and bought myself some Birkenstocks (I ended up going with the cream ones in the classic style!) and then immediately proceeded to be in a different kind of pain as my feet tried to wear them in. Many blisters and sores on other parts of my feet, and a holiday in the south of France later and I can finally say they are comfortable and I love them!
I posted a 1.5 hour long video all about TikTok… (the irony is not lost on me). But if you care to watch a feature length film length video of my experience hiring a TikTok expert to help with my video strategy for 8 weeks then dive in!
If you'd like to support my work, get monthly recommendations lists of articles, videos and podcasts I've consumed, and a monthly round up of my mini-reviews of any books, films, tv shows I’ve read/seen then check out The Common Room over on Patreon!