Tag Archives: Viral video

The great thing about the Viral Video Phenomenon is that you don’t need a professional film crew. Let your imagination be Director and your “sense of fun” do the scripting.

Although it is virtually impossible to create a Web marketing program that is guaranteed to go viral, according to David Meerman Scott and other pundits, you can stack the deck in your favor by (a) following some guidelines and (b) avoiding the pitfalls.

PR student Synang Chhan wrote this guest post on “Helpful Tips for Going Viral on YouTube” as a result of her classroom research:

Give People Something To Talk About

by Synang Chhan

The whole point of going viral on YouTube is to create a piece of content that goes beyond mediocre videos. The focus is to get people talking about and sharing the content. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts to make that happen:

The Nine DO’s

1) Define the audience: Think about the types of viewers that your video is trying to reach and give them something to talk about with their friends, family, and peers. Keep in mind their thoughts and feelings to create positive feedback. Top Ten Videos list

2) Generate a viral trigger: Pick and choose an element that will “hit the spot.” Start with something shocking and/or hilarious and/or completely unique to get the buzz going. Manhattan Bridge sways with subway traffic

3) Stay homemade: Make sure to be yourself. The best way to gain the audience’s trust is to show a natural and organic personality, so the audience sees a real person, not a robot. Fellow student Christine Ferraris promotes “‘new” company

4) Mimic a public figure: Involving a celeb-inspired imitation may lead to viral success. People take pleasure in getting a kick out of their favorite stars goofing off antics; better yet, people enjoy watching celebrity imposters because there is the added element of checking out how close the copier can get. Also, the high publicity value of public figures makes them especially easy to search for. Who can forget Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

5) Take it to the Max: With more than a million videos uploaded worldwide, you have to give yours something extra to even get noticed. Yours needs to be TEN TIMES BETTER — 10 x Funnier — 10 x More Exhilarating — 10 x More Original — 10 x More Inspirational! The Law of Attraction

6) Bring the exposure to your audience: The purpose of the viral video is to share the content. On the other hand, DO NOT WAIT for people to find your content. Even the most creative videos on YouTube can go unnoticed as a result of lack of exposure. Seeking a platform approach to viral sharing is a good idea. some suggestions are Digg, StumbleUpon, HeySpread, Facebook, Twitvid, and TubeMogul in additiaon to YouTube. Viral Video Blog

7) Make it portable: Allowing the video to be shared easily is to make it portable, downloadable, and obtainable. Moreover, allocating friendly links to your video will make it simple for people to spread it effectively. A site for the funniest videos

8- Timing is necessary: Keep in mind that luck and timing is essential because most videos are often “stumbledupon” by someone who then passes it on to another person who passes it on, and so on. Basically, you will need to be in the right place at the right time in order to have the potential for that viral spread. In the meantime, you can acquire lots of views to happen fast after upload by making the front page of Digg or as a YouTube Video of the Week. Top rated videos on Digg

9) Track the viral activity: Since your video has hit the web, you may want to track where all the downloading activities are coming from. many sites such as Unruly Media, Google, or YouTube Insights can tell which keywords people use to find your video, which then helps you effectively advertise it. Unruly Media and YouTube Insight

And NOW what you should NOT do if you really want to go viral

1) DON’T create a fake campaign: Being REAL is essential. If you act insincerely, people can tell. You will be misrepresented in a way that will hurt, not help. Be who you are, not someone you are not.

2) DON’T be a commercial: While a few companies have been able to produce viral commercial videos, most do not make it. Audiences are looking for something to talk about, not something to buy.

3) DON’T post bad quality: While your videos don’t have to be professional, if the quality is too poor, that can be a big turn-off. Keep the style of America’s Funniest Home Videos as a model, not The Blair Witch Project.

4) DON’T make the video too long: When videos play more than five minutes, viewers will stop watching and look elsewhere — in most cases, but not all. Susan Boyle and the Battle at Kruger both went on for more than 7 minutes but were so great that viewers keep coming back.

5) DON’T mislead the content with an SEO title: Keywords in a title will not guarantee viral success and may backfire by misleading the viewer. No one wants to waste time clicking on a video for one reason and then seeing something totally different. You will lose credibility and earn a bad reputation.

6) DON’T pick an unappealing background: If your background is all plain, it will give your video a plain vibe. If you film in a home office with a messy desk, most people will think you are lazy and unorganized. First impressions do count.

7) DON’T keep your videos to yourself: Distribute to EVERYONE you know and to all the social bookmarking sites.

8- DON’T be negative about competitors: Keep your videos classy and sophisticated by avoiding trash talk, which will only be viewed as rude, disrespectful, and in bad taste.

9) FINALLY, DON’T Stop Having Fun!: Although you may have serious messages to get across, adding fun can make all the difference.

Now Just Do It!

Next post: Future of Advertising AND YouTube

Facebook, Guest Post

Viral Video — Advertising left Madison Avenue for Your Avenue

August 13, 2009 Shari Weiss 2 Comments

Who knew that back in Feb 2005 three former Pay Pal employees would introduce a video-sharing website that would be gobbled up by Google a year-and-a-half later and now seems very likely to herald a powerful new way for people to sell products and services?

What’s viral and how do you do it?

My Public Relations students studied many of the top Social Media platforms this summer and one group focused on “Maximizing the Power of YouTube.” This week’s blog will feature three of their reports.

The Viral Virus

Guest Post by Ashley Hall

A few years ago, the term “viral video” wasn’t in the vocabulary of the average person. In fact, the word viral was always considered a bad thing, insinuating an uncontrollable replication and spread. Currently, that is exactly what has happened as ordinary people’s videos have gone viral, spreading to our email inboxes, being posted on our Facebook feeds, and showing up continually as tweets and retweets to our Twitter accounts.

On July 19, a video of a fun-loving wedding party featured the bridesmaids and groomsmen dancing down the aisle to the Chris Brown song “Forever.” Within one week, the JK Wedding Entrance Dance had accumulated more than a million views and was picked up by both local and national TV shows including “The Today Show.”

Amateur production reveals real life

Shot by amateurs, the video lacked professional sound quality and a high resolution image, but it has now received more than 19 million views, 80,000 comments, and a five-star rating.

How is it that an amateur video that wasn’t intended to be broadcast very far from friends and family has now been seen around the world?

Answer: Because it fits the criteria of a successful viral video perfectly: it wasn’t meant to go viral.

The Wedding Entrance Dance is funny and engaging, but most of all, it is real. These people could have been our college roommates or people in surrounding cubicles.

An interesting side effect of this viral sensation is the impact it has had on Chris Brown, the artist of the song used in the video. Chris Brown has had some very public problems with the law. In February, he was arrested for domestic violence against his girlfriend, singer Rihanna. On July 20, a day after the JK Wedding Entrance Video was posted, Chris issued an apology video on YouTube, which to date has gotten just under three million views. There are so many parody videos of his apology that it actually takes a bit of digging to find the original.

Public has forgotten they disliked Chris Brown

After unsuccessfully trying to repair the damage done to his reputation, Chris’ record label Sony decided to embrace the use of the song in this video. That was the best decision they could have made because just three weeks after the video’s appearance, the public has forgotten they hated Chris Brown.

A year since its release, “Forever” is now back on the iTunes and Amazon Top Ten singles chart and the pop-up ad to buy the song averages twice as many sales as other click-to-buy items.

Good news doesn’t stop there

The Wedding Dance video has increased profits to Google, but also to a new fund set up to dontate money for victims of domestic violence. You simply can’t put a price on this kind of publicity: Without spending any money, Chris has gotten back on the charts with a year old song. When people hear “Chris Brown,” chances are they think about the dancing wedding party, not the images of him pleading guilty to domestic violence in court.

In this case, the viral video was pure luck for Sony and Chris Brown. However, a few companies have successfully released publicity videos that went viral. Blender company Blendtec has released a series of videos showcasing their blenders blending their blenders blending things like glowsticks, and iPhone and Bic lighters.

British mattress company, Bensons for Beds, recently released a video of their attempt to bread the world record number of people playing Mattress Dominoes, which is quickly catching on.

Though Blendtec and Bensons for Beds have successfully created viral videos, the key for success is really luck and timing. You can never predict what will catch on; you just have to be prepared for it when it does.

Have you caught the viral video virus?

Check out these classics: sneezing panda, chocolate rain, laughing baby, and Numa Numa.

So keep uploading your videos onto YouTube. Maybe you will become the next viral sensation.

Next guest post from Synang Chhan: “Helpful Tips for Going Viral on YouTube”

Sharisax Is Out There

What Info is HOT on my computer screen today?

August 1, 2009 Shari Weiss 4 Comments

Remember when Saturday morning meant cartoons?

This BabyBoomer does. But nowadays Saturday morning seems to be a great time to catch up on a lot of web stuff that’s going to get me thinking about the FUTURE . . . of marketing, advertising, PR, media and our lives.

So I figured I’d share some of what I liked this morning:

1) Seth’s Blog: “Fidelity vs. Convenience” – Seth commented on a new book that shows us that successful new products/services must EXCEL [x10] vs. their competition in either Performance [fidelity] or Convenience, e.g. movie theater vs Netflix.

2) Future of Advertising slide show by Paul Isakson: One of my favorite quotes tells us that Revolutions Happen When Society Changes Its Behaviors, Not Its Tools.

3) Ad Age story on how Advertising Will Change Forever: The OLD ways do take a long time to “die,” but the future is clearly digital and social.

4) Viral Video: The Ulltimate Word of Mouth. 17-year-old sparks huge sales of Web Cams – Logitech paid $0 for advertising.

5) 21 Tips for Twitter from Forbe’s Mag: (a) short & direct; (b) coupons; (c) viral; (d) customer service; (e) focus groups — to name a few. You can even let customers know their deliveries will be delayed. And don’t forget Employee Recruitment is another use, i.e., publicizing open positions.

6) Creating Newsletters that Work: 5 steps: (a) Plan; (b) Don’t sell too hard; (c) Offer value; (d) Be consistent; (e) Make it interactive.

7. Nourishing Web Relationships: I actually read this blog post a few days ago, but Adam Singer’s “The Future Buzz” is my favorite blog, so I wanted to include this. I love his take on current — as well as “evergreen” — ideas and strategies. As a teacher of public relations, I do know it truly is All About Relationships. Do check out The Future Buzz.

8. A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide: I like DM’s for 1-to-1 plans, rather than: broadcasting personal business to everyone. And . . . not every DM or @mention requires a reply. We don’t return every phone message, do we?

9. Five Ways Traditional Media are Using Video: This idea is my understanding of the Future of Advertising, so I was really interested. What I read, however, was a bit disappointing . . . for me. It shouldn’t have been, though, when I thought about it. The Mashable article simply outlined the ways that traditional media are using video . . . to advertise their “wares”: e.g., magazines with private online video channels and publishers using online videos to promote literary works.

10. Social Media Marketing slide show: Pretty basic, but good principles, examples, and tips. Shows what Wal-Mart has done wrong by trying to “control” the process. Also points out how offline activities translate online for entrepreneurs: large and small.

TEN social media marketing slices is a pretty filling meal for one post. But I think I’ll try this again. Let me know what you think. What was most interesting to you. What other sites have you read lately that you’d suggest?

Next post: What to blog?

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Give People Something To Talk About

The Viral Virus

Going BEYOND the Social Media Revolution