In an Internet Week panel entitled Can Viral Be Bought, panelists Buzzfeed Founder and CEO Jonah Pretti, BBDO Creative Director Jeff Greenspan and Bnter CEO and TFLN Co-Founder Lauren Leto discuss viral marketing and whether or not it can be bought just like advertising.

In the past few years we’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon: it’s become cool to “like” the ad. This new cultural norm has contributed to making ads viral. It’s ironic. What viewers didn’t like before (ads) have now become cool. To become viral though, somebody has to see it, like it and share it. So the question becomes, “can you buy clicks?” The answer to some extent is yes. If people share it then you can optimize for sharing. Add a little science, add a little art, and share.

Should users or agencies create content? There’s no hard and fast rule. Ad agencies have an advantage because they devote significant resources in a structured manner to sniffing out what’s true. The demographics of viral marketing are growing and totally mainstream now, not only the domain of younger tech-savvy people. As far as quality of viral content goes, despite the advent of “faux viral” (viral content that is artificially promoted), the cream will always rise to the top and it’s hard to spam the system.

How quickly does viral spread? Here’s an amazing example. When panelist Jeff Greenspan of BBDO and a friend of his set up Hipster Traps in NYC (google it), someone noticed them and took a photo with his iPhone. By the time Jeff got home to set up a Tumblr page, the photo had been posted an had already gotten 250,000 views. By the next morning the total was up to a million.

So to sum up this panel, viral can’t be bought. But who said money can’t buy you love? Once you know content has viral appeal, you can buy help to make it spread.