Chelsie Hall, the brain behind ViralMoment, brings a rich background in technology to her latest venture. As the Founder and CEO, she’s carved out a niche in the crowded tech space with ViralMoment, the first AI company dedicated to understanding video content at scale. 

Launched in 2021 to fill a glaring gap in the market, ViralMoment leverages advanced AI to analyze millions of videos daily, providing unprecedented insights into trending topics, viewer interests, and the pulse of social video.

“We are the first social intelligence AI company to be able to understand the entire content of videos,” Hall explains. She is redefining the boundaries of social media analytics with what she terms “social intelligence,” a concept that extends beyond traditional social listening, particularly in video content.

This holistic perspective is invaluable for influencers, brands, and creators who seek to stay abreast of trends, audience interests, and the dynamic discourse within their respective domains. “If you’re an influencer, you want to understand what’s trending…what your audience cares about.” 

ViralMoment: Bridging Brands and Creators in Influencer Marketing

“We help brands see who are the creators that are organically already talking about you or your space,” Hall says, highlighting the platform’s ability to fine-tune the search for influencers to an impressive degree of specificity.

This capability is particularly advantageous for brands looking to forge genuine connections with influencers whose content aligns with their values and campaign goals. Hall gives a unique example to illustrate the platform’s precision: “Maybe we want to find a creator who’s talking about being a mom and going camping and feeling frustrated that their batteries aren’t lasting.” This level of detail in identifying content allows brands to pinpoint influencers who are not just relevant but are also likely to be genuinely interested in their products or services.

“We’ve made it simple and easy,” Hall states, highlighting how ViralMoment simplifies the process through the use of email alerts that serve as a straightforward method for brands and creators to stay informed,

“We can send brands and creators alerts when something goes viral, when something about them goes viral, or just big alerts that say, ‘this is what’s trending and this is some of the biggest UGC in your space’”, Hall explains. This system allows even those with limited expertise in social intelligence to gain insights into the digital conversation surrounding their brand or creative niche.

Beyond the initial step of integrating email alerts into their workflow, Hall underscores the critical next phase: the development of a robust content strategy. Understanding what trends are capturing attention and identifying the characteristics of successful content are foundational. However, the real magic happens when this knowledge is applied creatively. “I understand what’s trending. I see very clearly what type of content pops. How am I going to bake that into my content strategies?”.

ViralMoment: Ethical Data Use and Internet Safety

“We are only looking at the videos that creators have made public”, Hall explains. This policy ensures that the platform’s social intelligence capabilities are used without infringing on individual privacy or ethical standards.

Hall’s passion for creating a positive impact extends beyond the functionality of ViralMoment. She proudly mentions the collaboration with Carnegie Mellon and the accolades received for efforts in combating hate speech online. “We won awards for working on anti-hate speech and to be able to understand patterns of hate speech, which is something near and dear to my heart,” Hall shares. This initiative reflects ViralMoment’s broader mission to not only analyze trends but also contribute to making the internet a safer space.

Furthermore, Hall underlines the platform’s commitment to highlighting healthy and positive conversations online. By selectively shining a light on constructive discourse, ViralMoment plays a crucial role in promoting content that enriches the digital community. “We have a strong bent towards making sure that the healthy conversations are illuminated,” she states, addressing the need to navigate away from “unsavory” discussions prevalent on the internet.

Navigating the Challenges of Generative AI in Social Listening

Hall acknowledges the dual-edged nature of generative AI in the realm of content creation, recognizing its potential to revolutionize how we produce and interact with digital content, yet also highlighting the challenges it poses. “Generative AI is so cool, but it’s scary,” she admits, pointing to the unprecedented ease with which content can now be generated, raising concerns about the authenticity and reliability of online information. “We’ve never before had a time in history where so many people could create content that might not be true,” Hall reflects. This proliferation of content, while empowering creators, presents a formidable challenge for brands and creators seeking to navigate the vast sea of digital information responsibly.

ViralMoment was developed to tackle these challenges, offering the ability to “read and see inside video” in a way that was previously impossible. By equipping users with the tools to analyze video content comprehensively, ViralMoment aims to illuminate the “black hole” of video analysis, providing clarity and insight into an increasingly complex digital ecosystem.

Spotting Trends Before They Peak

Hall shares an enlightening success story that underscores the platform’s ability to provide early warnings of shifts in consumer interests, akin to “an earthquake sensor” for social media trends. “We knew weeks before that hit a viral status that was coming,” Hall states, referring to the sudden rise of the ‘Mob Wife’ aesthetic, characterized by bold glamour, which marked a departure from the previously dominant ‘clean beauty’ trend.

This foresight allowed one of ViralMoment’s clients, a beauty brand, to adjust its strategy in real time. By identifying the nascent ‘Mob Wife’ trend and the influencers propelling it, along with the specific products gaining traction, ViralMoment equipped the brand with the insights needed to shift its focus.

“They pivoted their strategy away from some of the more clean, girl-focused products towards the glamor products,” Hall elaborates. This strategic shift, informed by ViralMoment’s data, not only positioned the brand at the forefront of the trend but also resulted in a tangible uplift in sales, particularly through TikTok Shop, highlighting the platform’s influence on both marketing direction and bottom-line results.

ViralMoment Unveils Community Management Modules: A Leap in Social Engagement

Hall teases the exciting development of new features aimed at enhancing the platform’s capability to foster deeper brand-audience connections. The introduction of community management modules marks a significant expansion of ViralMoment’s social intelligence services, extending its analytical prowess beyond video content to encompass the dynamic world of social media comments.

Hall expresses her enthusiasm for these upcoming enhancements, particularly highlighting the modules’ ability to parse comments across social platforms. “We can look inside and across the videos and show what’s trending, but with the community management model, we also can understand comments and what’s happening in the comments,” she explains. This new dimension of social listening will enable brands and creators to gain insights into audience sentiment, engagement levels, and the broader conversational trends that underpin their communities.

Perhaps the most anticipated feature within these modules is the ability to generate responses to comments tailored to a brand’s unique voice. “We have a new feature coming later this year where we’ll make recommendations of how to respond to comments based on a brand’s voice,” Hall reveals. This innovation promises to streamline the interaction process, making it easier for brands and creators to maintain an authentic and engaging presence online.

Safer Internet and Empowered Creators with ViralMoment

“We exist to help make the Internet a safer, better place and to help creators and brands to really make entertainment that will resonate,” Hall states, emphasizing the dual focus of enhancing online safety while promoting high-quality, resonant content.

Hall’s excitement for the technological advancements ViralMoment is pioneering reflects a broader trend toward video as the primary medium of online interaction and discovery. With the increasing volume of video content and its growing importance in search engine optimization (SEO), Hall sees a unique opportunity for ViralMoment to serve as a crucial ally for brands and creators. “We’re going to see higher volumes of video content, more being pushed to video. I mean, even videos like an SEO, it’s where people search now,” she observes.

The long-term vision for ViralMoment includes developing tools and strategies that allow its users to effortlessly understand and engage with the expanding universe of video content across various platforms. Hall envisions ViralMoment as a partner for brands and creators, providing them with data-backed insights and measurement strategies to effectively manage their online presence and content strategies.

“ViralMoment is here to be a partner to the brands and creators who need to be able to get their arms around all of that, and how to have data-backed, thoughtful measurement strategies to approach that,” she elaborates. “If your strategy just involves looking at your own content or looking at text and hashtags… That’s not the content that matters,” Hall emphasizes. “It is possible to see outside your algorithm fog,” she concludes, offering a note of optimism and possibility for those willing to embrace the complexity and richness of video as a medium.