HOW DO YOU USE VIRAL VIDEO MARKETING?

My favourite viral video advertises one of the most boring products imaginable – Microsoft Project 2010…

So how do you make a project management and collaboration suite interesting?

Well if you are Okifilms you post an almost impossible stunt on YouTube and wait for people to investigate further.

 

The ad. has no reference to the product at all – the connection is only made if you follow the Megawoosh link.

However, the viral has been so successful that it has crossed into the real world with news programmes reporting on it and many features on Television and in print media. The American programme Mythbusters even decided to put the stunt to the test to see if it is really possible – with mixed results:

 

How many YouTube viral ads. have had a mainstream television programme that’s watched by millions spend a whole hour effectively advertising it?

So, make your video appear real – or at least ambiguous you can create a buzz and not only will you put your product in front of an online audience but you will also overflow into the real world.

Adelia Television’s first foray into viral video achieved just that with the newspapers reporting the back story of a lion attack:

 

Of course you can get even more mileage out of your video by featuring it on you website, in your blog and promoting it on your twitter feed. You can talk about it in online forums and send press releases to your journalistic contacts.

One of the most powerful ways of using this type of video is in your business to business interactions. Professionally produced videos can seriously improve your credibility with your suppliers, distributors and business partners.

Point of sale screens and trade fairs also give you a chance to showcase your videos and put forward your products and services in a professional, accurate and compelling way.

You do not have to get millions of views on YouTube to get value from your viral video – in fact many of those views will not be users of your product and are likely to be outside of your geographic reach.

The intention of posting this type of video content on YouTube is create a buzz – something you can turn tangible in the real world.

YouTube viral videos have a much broader life than a few seconds in front of a teenager looking for smut and injury! YouTube gives you a free, worldwide, universally acceptable distribution method that is geared to short videos.

It is a tremendous opportunity to use the well established benefits of video, via a convenient and endlessly linkable distribution channel…

For us here at Adelia Television, YouTube has ended the frustration of producing corporate video. In the past, great video used to languish on a dusty shelf on VHS or DVD – occasionally it would be dragged out and new staff would have to sit and watch it usually in a classroom environment.

Now, video sits online, and you decide who you want to send it to – and they can watch it when and how they want:

• On their office computer while going through their emails
• On their home computer while doing background research
• On their mobile phone on the train
• On their laptop between meetings

There is now no need to make an appointment to view, your audience can click and view when they feel like it and that flexibility means your video will be watched by hundreds, thousands or even millions of people instead of gathering dust on a shelf at Head Office…