Thinking of making a viral video to advertise your company or product? Viral videos are the flavor of the week and can be very successful marketing tools. You have probably heard about what you need to do to make a good viral video, make it funny, keep it short, don’t be boring, and all that jazz. You should also know what not to do or your viral video will never take off.

• Don’t be too blatant or shameless with your plug. This is not to say that you shouldn’t have your company name, logo, product or whatever featured in your viral video, but many of the most popular viral videos go about including their product in a subtle yet effective way. Your video doesn’t even have to feature your product directly of use it in the manner it is designed. Get creative with your video.
• Don’t post your viral video without getting someone else’s opinion first. It doesn’t really matter what people think if your posting a video for personal use, but an advertising video can damage a company's image if it is too poorly done or not in good taste. Always get the opinion of other people not involved with the company for some honest feedback on whether your viral video is interesting enough to share. You also want to make sure the production is not so bad that your company’s image will suffer. Opinions of people in your target audience are the most important, although getting a varied group of people to give you feedback can’t hurt either.
• Don’t refuse to start over or admit that your viral video is not great. Even if you think your video is the greatest thing since sliced bread, it will never be successful if other people don’t share your opinion. If most of the people you ask say that your video is bad, take their advice and start over. Making a viral video is not always easy and refusing to start over or believe that your video is destined for failure is counter productive.
• Don’t give your viral video too much or too little attention. Find a happy medium. You shouldn’t overdo your self-promotion of your video by using Digg, del.icio.us, and other social book marking sites relentlessly. Of course, you do need to utilize these tools to at least plant a seed to tell the world the video exists. On the other hand, you should not ignore your viral video especially if it is popular. Proudly admit that the video belongs to your company and actively participate by commenting along with viewers.
• Don’t jump in unarmed. You should always check out other popular viral videos created by advertisers and even those supposedly created by normal people but do a good job advertising a product. Identify what makes them so popular and use the same concepts, but whatever you do don’t copy them.
• Don’t make your video to crude or filthy. Keep it clean enough to not offend *most* people. Sure, you can be edgy and even controversial, but leave the hard core offensive material out of your viral video.

Now you know what not to do when making your viral video. Hopefully your viral video endeavors will make you as famous as Cali Lewis, Lonelygirl15, Justine Ezarik, or the star wars kid. If not, don’t give up.