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Viral Marketing, Youtube and the Impact of it All

Anum — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:07:16 +0000

It was not that long ago when companies had only two places to choose from when it came to marketing, television, and print. The internet has changed all of that. Advertising on the internet has many outlets, from banner ads to pop-ups, now social media is huge, and on top of it all comes, YouTube and video ads. These video ads are considered viral when they are getting millions of hits and make up a unique marketing campaign.

First, the main objective of a viral marketing campaign is to get your product recognized. The name viral comes from the word virus and is similar to the way a virus spreads, from computers or people. The point of a viral video is to get people to watch the video, enjoy it, and then share it with their friends.

The reason that viral marketing is extremely effective is that the internet has allowed people to connect in ways that they could not before. Over 75% of the people that use the internet belong to some type of social networking site such as YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook. More time is spent on these sites than on email. This means that a video can spread at a much faster pace.

Viral Videos that Worked

Chances are that you have seen one of these videos because these were classic ads that went viral and worked. The first is Numa Numa. This video features Gary Brolsma lip-syncing to a song by O-Zone. The video was uploaded in 2004 and in 3 months had over 2 million people view it. Now, over 40 million people have seen this video. This video is different from a marketing video as it was made by an individual with no real product to market, other than maybe his humor.

An ad campaign that really worked was the Old Spice Guy. After being uploaded, this video hit six million views after only 24 hours online. The video is simple; it stars sexy Isaiah Mustafah talking directly to his audience. The campaign was followed by responses on both Twitter and Facebook from Isaiah Mustafah himself.

Failed Viral Campaigns

Several marketing campaigns have tried and failed to go viral. One of them is from Cisco. The company tried to replicate the Old Spice Guy, by using a person from accounting. Needless to say, you probably have never heard of this ad or the person named Ted.

Another ad that failed was from Nike and involved Kevin Durant and stalking his every move. These videos only got around 40000 hits; this is like a grain of sand in the world of the internet.

Viral Marketing Secrets

1. It is Not Easy

When you watch a video that has gone viral, you may think, this looks easy. However, it is anything but. Most companies spend millions of dollars on these ad campaigns, more than they are spending on a television.

2. Think Less

It is important to not overdo it when it comes to releasing viral videos. If you do this, people will think that you are trying to hard and will likely not view your videos. Think about making it more of a story and less of a commercial.
Another piece of advice, do not try to use a concept simply because it fits the product, instead think of a great concept, and place your product into it.

3. Use a Company

When it comes to getting your video viewed, you have to understand that there is a secret behind getting those big numbers. Literally tens of thousands of videos are uploaded onto YouTube every day. You will want to hire a company that specializes in helping companies do this. To make it onto YouTube’s most viewed list, you have to have over 50,000 views. To get these views you are going to have to tap every source available, forums, blogs, Facebook, twitter, emails, even your friends. It takes a lot of work to make a video go viral.

4. Release Simultaneous Videos

When it comes to marketing campaigns, many people make the mistake of thinking that if they wait a week before uploading the next video, people will anxiously wait for it. The truth is, the internet has made our attention spans much shorter. People want all the information now. Releasing your videos at the same time if a viewer likes the first one, they will want to see more. If they have to wait a week, the will likely have moved on to something else.

5. Title Shockers

The final tip for creating a viral video is to make the headline shocking. Think about Jennifer Aniston’s add for smart water. They headlined the campaign “Jennifer Aniston’s Sex Tape”. This title alone makes people want to watch and see what it is all about. The better your title, the more likely you are to start getting the views that you want.

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Great Places to Look for Article Ideas

Anum — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:59:57 +0000

When you have a blog to run, it is imperative to keep up a steady line of informative content. After all, that it what motivates visitors to visit your blog. Each week you need to have engaging ideas to share, which can sometimes be a challenge. What is needed are ways to stay inspired and have an endless amount of topics to blog about.
Thankfully, there are many places on the internet where you can go to find inspiration. They just take a little time, but this should not be a problem if you are truly interested in the content you cover in your Blog. Once you read what’s below, your mind will overflow with fresh, new ideas.
To start out it is a good idea to set up some routines. You should spend up to a half-hour each day reading what is trending and people are talking about in your niche. You can also expand this throughout the day and read whenever you get the chance. As well, you can extend beyond your niche and read other types of articles and find ways to relate these topics to your niche.
Have a pen and paper handy to jot down article ideas. Once you have a topic to write about, begin your introduction and key points you want to cover. Then perform keyword and market research. To keep yourself organized when you begin your research go to Google Docs or Spaaze. Google docs is a web-based word processor and data storage service. Spaaze is a web application where you can store videos, images, bookmarks, texts, etc.

Now to find some ideas, try some of the following websites:

Twitter
Go to twitter and type a question into the search box.
Yahoo Questions and Answers
Read questions that are being asked in Yahoo. See what people are having problems with or what information they are searching for.

Google Alerts

Google alerts is an email update system that will forward information to you on topics that you request.

DailyPost Blog

Is a place you can go to find questions that people are asking . Additionally, you can find tips, tactics and inspiration.

Sency

Spency is a social media search engine. You enter what you want to search in the box, and then you are provided with results submitted by real people. There are more than one tab, the first lets you see what people are searching for. The second lets you search what people are discussing at that exact moment.

Plinky

Each day Plinky has a challenge or question. It allows you to provide an answer, and your answers are shared on Twitter, blogs and Facebook.

Skribit

Skribit is a great tool for writer’s block. It taps into your blog audience and asks them to provide suggestions for posts. After you have received some suggestions, your audience can follow suggestions that were made. This ensures that you are aware which topics are popular, because your readers are notified whenever suggestions are made.

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Your Brand – Are You Utilizing Social Media Accounts?

Anum — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:30:12 +0000

Are you aware that everything you do online becomes part of your brand? Your words and actions identify you, and become your online personality, if you will. Utilizing social media accounts is a strong tool for branding, and its fun too.

Once you figure out your ideals and convictions, it’s time to start portraying them, using social media. Keep in mind; you always have to monitor what you say. Don’t ever say anything that you might regret later. If you are upset about something, make sure you have cooled down before you hit the keyboard. If you have had too much drink, step away from the computer. You don’t want to wake up and have a terrifying flashback. Once something is said on the internet, it NEVER goes away.

If you are a freelancer, and I assume you are, you have to consider whether to use your actual name, or company name. Which draws more attention, your name or the name of your company? Use your answer to this question to decide what to use for your social brand.

With either of these choices, consider how easy or difficult it will be to control what is said about you. Of course, you can’t control everything, but try to control as much as you can. If you use your name then monitor personal online activities that you partake in. You don’t want to do anything personally that will affect your business persona.

If you are part of a group or company and will be linked to others via your brand, such as a logo, analyze who your fellow members are. If you are co-branded with others and they have a poor error in judgment, it will have a negative impact on you. Keep this in mind.

There are many social media sites. The most popular for online business is Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. So, of course, it is good idea to become members of these. There are others that may be of interest to you, depending on your type of business. You can also look into Stumble Upon, MySpace and Delicious. The trick to success with branding on multiple social media sites is consistency.

There are millions of people doing business online. Consistency is the only way for you to drill your brand into people’s minds. To do this, you have to keep your information, status, contact information and photograph the same. Some people even try to match up their background color with their website, as an extra identifier.

To keep consistency is a little tricky because of the different atmosphere of the main sites. Facebook is the social club, Twitter is the office and LinkedIn is the stuffed shirt. Your status needs to be acceptable to each audience. This is a situation where you want to fit in and become popular.

Doing all this, may seem like work, but cheer up, you only have to set your profiles up once. After that, maintaining them is quick and easy. Always keep in mind your target market. You want to connect with the right people, those who are looking for your products or services.

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