Chewbacca, Kohl’s, and an Influencer.

“…if you chase cool, you know you’re not cool.”

Before you have 10 meetings about how to duplicate the Candace Payne/Chewbacca video and its viral success, sit down in your chair and listen up.

You’re not going to make something go viral – stop trying. You can follow the 6 Laws of Contagiousness that Jonah Berger eloquently elaborates on in his book, Contagious, but it’s an intricate process.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Identify someone who is amazing or doing something amazing (via listening).
2. Be their resource and help them (surprise & delight).

That’s it.

Ok, I’ll admit: it’s not as easy to execute as it is to say, but identifying influencers and building community has a much more scalable and valuable payoff than spamming people and creating mundane content.

Although I am assuming, I’d venture to say that the gal in the video, Candace Payne, has laughed this hard before, made others laugh, and has done something very similar in front of a camera – Kohl’s was simply the first to be smart enough to “help her out.”

Here’s what I think Kohl’s did:

1. Used a listening software and/or geolocation software to find people who have visited Kohl’s (checked in, hashtag, mention, etc.).
2. Found Candace and identified her as being unique – and REALLY authentic.
3. Reached out to her and provided support in helping the content spread like a wildfire.
4. That’s it.

The kicker: Kohl’s is smart enough to invest in having a team that uses listening software to listen, engage, find UGC (user-generated content), and help them.

This is something brands have never been able to do before. In 2016 we have these tools, yet so many organizations still market like it’s 1999.

The lesson: monitor social media, have a fat bag of cash ready when you find something like this, and know that you’re going to have to allow for 9 out of 10 to be nothing or a loss. It’ll be just a matter of time until you find something AMAZING.

Kohl’s dealt with some negative sentiment in the past year regarding customer service and stores closing. However, today and for months to come, the sentiment has shifted and hopefully this will give them a better chance at turning their decline around.

I don’t shop at Kohl’s, they’re not a client, but I am a fan of their effort! For now.