Viral Video Marketing – Sounds Like a Disease – Is it?
Viral video marketing has made a splash in the world of digital marketing and as we all know, Gen Y’ers are the guinea pigs of digital marketing strategies. Companies are pouring more and more money into their online video marketing budgets every year not always knowing how to measure the ROI.
According to Feed.com, 70% of companies are putting more money towards video marketing in 2009, while dealing with the 2008 economic climate. And why not? Everyday we see a branded video like “Kobe dunks over a car” get millions of views on engines like YouTube and Blinkx. There is a brand associated with the video and it receives millions of eyes on their brand for their video marketing efforts.
Online video is also getting more popular every year, according to a report released by comscore (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090106-104659) online video viewing rose 34% from November 2007 to November 2008.
Why is Online Appealing to Gen Y?
Online video is appealing because it is in their control. It is sort of like having a TiVo or DVR setup at home. It is the convenience and power trip of being in control of what they are viewing that attracts the generation to online video. They can read a description and search for videos, until they find one they want to view. Once they find it they can press stop at anytime and in a matter of seconds find and play another video.
Viral video marketing is gaining popularity online through mass views and friends sharing with friends the videos that they see. In order to attract Gen Y to your video marketing campaign you have to first realize what they are watching now and find a new way to approach it. There are a few different approaches to online video marketing.
TYPES OF VIDEO MARKETING APPROACHES
Viral Bandwagon Approach
The popular video “Chocolate Rain” gained millions upon millions of viewers in just a matter of months and Gen Y was the main group responsible. The video was so popular that the performer in the video started to appear on talk shows and was seen performing the song at live events. The video featured the artist, a young black man, singing about chocolate rain and singing it in a very ridiculous manner. Weird faces, weird voice, just weird overall. But very funny and entertaining.
When this song was popular people started to push out many videos related to the chocolate rain song. This included many chocolate rain remixes and little comedy parodys that took clips from the original video. These videos were abundant and most of them really didn’t stand out more than the others.
People did not want to see the chocolate rain guy remixed or made into a small mock video. They wanted to see the concept of chocolate rain made into new more creative and humorous videos.
The kid that sang the song, started to receive offers for record deals and brand advertising, and the concept of chocolate rain was appealing to Gen Y. They wanted some more. So why not try to succeed off the success of this popular video?
Any umbrella companies at this time should have been all over this subject. It was a very popular online video and it was talking about chocolate rain. Chocolate companies, umbrella companies and raincoat companies would have been good candidates for a viral bandwagon video campaign. A short video that included the idea that the artist had would have caught the attention of Gen Y.
Picture This!
Two people are all happy go lucky in the sun on a Sunday afternoon. Everything is going great, they are smiling, they are holding hands, they are running around jumping. There is green all around, with flowers blossoming. Then a chocolate bar hits one of them in the face. Then more and more come hitting them in all areas… then have a little caption that says, chocolate rain ruining your day? Their’s too. “Dependable Wilson Umbrellas, ready for any kind of rain.”
Now obviously this video will not get the kind of hits that the original chocolate rain video got, but it will get some recognition just because it is associated with the popular concept. It will also come up in search results every so often when people look for chocolate rain.
This strategy in online video marketing is called, the viral bandwagon approach. You jump on the popular concepts and include them within your online video campaign.
Tips for Viral Bandwagon with Gen Y
• Your timeframe with viral bandwagon marketing is crucial. You must stay up to date with popular videos on a daily to weekly basis and if you are going to jump onto a bandwagon you have to act fast. Before the video loses steam.
• Always make sure that your ethics are in check. Never jump on the bandwagon of a video that has the possibility to hurt your company ethically. Gen Y’s are extremely serious about ethics and if you associate yourself with a video that has some negative connotation, you are risking the possibility of losing them as your fans.
• Be careful with copyright laws. If you video were to gain a lot of popularity and you used clips from the bandwagon video, you may be subject to copyright infringement. Best strategy is to not use actual clips, just use the concept.
• Monitor your video as to where it comes up in video searches. Use video SEO strategies that are associated with the bandwagon video. In other words, use words like chocolate rain in the title and the text surrounding your video to boost search ranking for that keyword
• Do not use viral bandwagon for all of your online video campaigns. At some point, get creative and catch the attention of Gen Y with a new idea.
• Using viral bandwagon marketing around the holiday seasons is another great strategy. Find popular holiday videos and figure out a way to associate yourself with certain holidays. These videos are key players, because they spread very fast around the holiday season. Also, sometimes these videos are annually popular, so they are not dead after the holiday season. They can come back to life next year.
• Always offer a link from your viral video to your website
Overall a viral bandwagon approach can be very successful and all companies should consider using it from time to time. Gen is always online and they love to share what they see, so your chances of exposing yourself by being associated with one of their favorite videos are obviously very good.
Take a popular concept, twist it a little, put it into action and begin attracting Gen Y viewers.
