Mythbusting: Engineering a Viral Video FutureM 2013 October 18, 2013 #futureM #viralvid

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What is a viral video? !

Wikipedia: "A viral video is a video that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email.” Why should marketers care?!!

!FREE Awareness?!FREE Views?!!

!

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The Whole Hog of A Viral Video!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

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Agenda!

The whole hog of a viral video •  Heart: creating good content •  Ribs: social outreach and sharing •  Underbelly: robots and incentivized views •  Brain: engineering it with data •  Right Feed: paid YouTube ads •  Tail: luck

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Brilliant commercial that went viral?!

84% of views from paid views

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Brilliant commercial that went viral?!

59% of views from advertising

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The Heart: Good Content!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

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Sometimes things just come together!

3,243,299 times shared on Facebook

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Good content is often a steady view earner!

•  Know your targets intimately •  Example: Build Direct from Canada

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Steady view earners deliver better ROI!

•  Know your targets intimately •  Example: Build Direct from Canada

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The Ribs: Social Outreach and Sharing!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!Tail!

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Real virality is often smaller!

541,296 times shared on Facebook

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The ribs: social outreach and sharing!

Connecting to your real target audience 4  Make relevant content 4  Lobby tastemakers and find passionate enthusiasts 4  Build subscribership 4  Encourage participation 4  Use cross-pollination of email, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, G+

Relevance Passionate Enthusiasts Subscribers Participation Cross-

pollination

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Seeding promises!

“Get your video seen by the right people.” “We generate millions of monthly opt-in views on social networks, mobile devices and YouTube.” “We use proprietary technology to turn target audiences into engaged viewers and engaged viewers into customers.”

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Caveat emptor: Seeding can be seedy!

A supposedly “organic” blog post generated by a seeding campaign.!!!!“…XYZ — the viral video house behind this clip. XYZ knows. Shop at XYZ.”!

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What are you getting when you seed?!

Click-through rates for a seeded campaign: Views: 284,894 Click-throughs: 17 CTR: 0.006%! Compare to average YouTube ad CTR: 3.5%!

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The Underbelly: Bots and ‘Incentivized’!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

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Buying robot views: 1M views for $800!

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Why this is a bad idea: Google will catch you!

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Slightly better cuts: incentivized views!

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The Brain: How to Engineer It!

Underbelly!

Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

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How many people are watching? What?!

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What is your target audience watching?!

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Understand the audience and competition!Look at metrics on: •  Audience size •  Most popular content

types and sub topics •  Social media

reactions •  Viewer sentiment •  Traffic Sources

 

 

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Metadata: what matters and why!

•  Titles •  Tags •  Descriptions •  Target links •  Annotations

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Track YouTube search and social rankings!

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The Right Feed: Paid Ads!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

Feed!

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Paid, owned and earned media work together!

Promoted  Video   Ad  

Social  Sharing  Build  a  community  around  your  video  

content  

YouTube  Ads  Much  more  cost-­‐

effec8ve  than  TV  and  online  display  ads  

YouTube  Channel  A  video  channel    that  you  own  and    

control  fully  

Website  Driving  conversions  

through  highly  qualified  website  traffic  

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YouTube ad placements: Choose carefully!

Best practices:!1. Use varying formats (search,

in-display, pre-roll)!2. No need to stick to 30-

second spots!3. Use time of day according to

target!4. Geographic focus if

necessary!5. Don’t always optimize for

direct website clicks !

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The Tail!

Underbelly!Heart!

Brain! Ribs!

Tail!

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LUCK!

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Serendipity can happen!

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Engineering results: It all works together!

Channel subscriber growth

Organic YouTube Traffic

Pre-campaign Campaign

Pre-campaign Campaign

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Summary!

•  Heart: Know your audience before you

create •  Ribs: Share the passion and seed carefully •  Underbelly: Don’t do it •  Brain: Track and clone yourself to success •  Right Feed: YouTube ads done right are

worth it •  Tail: Be ready when luck happens

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Get this presentation?!

•  Bettina Hein, Founder and CEO

4  Email: hein@pixability.com 4  Phone: (617) 710 5772 4  @bettinahein

•  Rob Ciampa, EVP Marketing

4  Email: rob@pixability.com 4  Phone: (617) 774-9600 4  @robciampa

Go to pixability.com/futureM2013!

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YouTube Advertising: How It Works!

1. Select:Choose one or several of your YouTube videos as ads.

2. Place: Put ads where your target audience already is.

3. Call to Action: Users can click through to your website for more information.

§  Value for money: Charged per engaged video view, not per click or impression!

§  Extremely flexible: Various cost per view (CPV) ranges available depending on format and targeting!

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Does it have to be Gangnam Style?!

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When should you buy incentivized views?!•  Never to inflate

views •  Awareness only

– do not expect any action

•  When there is a good match of demographic

•  Example: promotion of video game launch on gaming site

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Factors that matter: YT’s changing algorithms!

•  Viewing time •  Total viewing session initiated •  Channel layout

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YouTube TrueView Ad Formats!Skippable* Pre-Roll (in-stream)

Keyword Search (in-search)

Display ads (in-display)

•  Value for money: Charged per engaged video view, not per click or impression

•  Extremely flexible: Very different cost per view (CPV) ranges available depending on format and targeting

* Skippable after 5 seconds

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Placement Analysis!

•  Discover detailed data on relevant channels 4  audience size 4  social engagement 4  traffic sources 4  search rankings

Example: 4x4/Off-Road Cars

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It’s magic…?!

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It’s magic…?!