Viral Video Marketing
If you’re trying to get a product or concept spread around the internet using a video you’ve created, then you’re interested in viral video marketing. The term viral, of course, refers to the rapid spread of the information on the internet. It’s not easy, however, to get your video to climb up the most-viewed lists. There are some basic ideas here that you can explore and build on.
While you’re learning about this marketing technique, you’ll come across the term Web 2.0. This refers to the fact that people are networking on the internet. It’s different from the old days when we just clicked on our internet browsers and let them take us wherever. Now people are proactively disseminating information to each other using videos, photo spreads, blogs, websites, and forums. Web 2.0 basically refers to people-to-people interconnectivity.
If you have created a video, one of the easiest ways to get it onto the internet is through a site such as Youtube™. Basically they have laid out all the html codes you’ll need in their upload assistance. That means you can create your video, go to Youtube™ and upload it. They provide you with the technology to tag it with keywords. They’ll also tell you if you are getting any views—more about that later. Then you can copy it—complete with the html tags—to places like Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and more.
If you want to get your video to go viral, you’ve got to keep it short! People just won’t sit still for longer than two minutes for a video unless they’re really hooked. It’s better to do a series of videos and link them together. The message is important, but your first video has to have that hook that keeps people wanting more. Avoid making your video look like an instructional thing—you want to find some catchy way to package your idea and then lead people back to your website. Also, even if your videos are sequential, you will launch them all at once.
When you create a video, Youtube™ allows you to identify it with three thumbnails. One of these thumbnails is taken from the exact center of your video. So whatever frame is in the center will be one of your thumbnails; make it a good one. You can also change your other thumbnails, plus your keywords and video title, every few days.
Now let’s talk about how you create that traffic for your video. Some statistics say that there are a quarter million videos available on Youtube™, with maybe 65,000 more added each day! It is brutally difficult to get yours to stand out. One of the most popular tricks is to create multiple Youtube™ accounts. Then you can view your own video and comment on it using these multiple accounts. Get your relatives and friends to view the video and comment on it. Send links to it to everyone you know.
You’ve already utilized Youtube™’s technology to put your video on your MySpace, your Facebook, and others. Then you need to create multiple accounts at each of these various social networking sites, and backlink these sites to each other. Call upon your friends and family again to visit these, comment, and forward links. It’s a lot of work, but it’s the best way short of hiring a firm to make your videos go viral. All it will cost is your time!
Fredi Donosa
