Viral Video and Messages: Content That Gets Forwarded

Owen Mack, Co-Founder/Strategic Chief coBRANDiT social media video

How are brands and companies using web video to reach an opt-in audience?

What are the most innovative strategic uses of social media web video?

Is viral video the best video strategy...Does video need to be viral to be effective?

How does web video tie into CGM and WOM?

What’s new in video sharing technology?

You can’t make a video viral.

Viral video attempts often have a TV approach: The most number of eyeballs possible, period.

Some may resort to Paris Hilton...

Recent successes: On message. Outrageous/Amusing/Character driven. The product isn’t the star...a person is.

Videoblogs: Emphasis on stories & storytellers

Potentially viral, and designed to engage a specialized audience with backstories & insider information.

CGM brand efforts & contests

Video platforms for brand communities

Jumpcut, Vitrue, & Brightcove...and more general platforms that integrate video: Street Attack’s SwitchBoard, Crowd Factory.

Companies that manage brand communities have been gathering important market insights as well as generating substantial WOM.

Communities with video sharing tools = a bunch of CGM brand videos.

Different services, Different approaches

Revver, Videoegg, Brightcove & others allow you to attach your ad to opt-in video content.

How well are the ads matched to the video? Google’s Video AdSense program...

If you are distributing your own vid, you’ll want to look for channels that you can control: WebVideoZone, Blip TV.

A very basic question...

Video search: What do you want people to find when they type the name of your brand/product/company into a video search engine?

My argument: something about how your company is supporting brand enthusiasts, listening to them, and giving them voice.

Conclusion: There’s more to it than viral video.

Viral video is a mass market ploy that too often leads to least-common-denominator tactics.

Most brands are not mass market.Do something relevant for insiders, enthusiasts.

Figure out what resonates, and what your story is.Deliver that story authentically, with real voice.

That voice may be your customer’s.

OWEN MACKowen@cobrandit.com617-823-9286

See our blog for links to all sites mentioned:http://www.cobrandit.com/

coBRANDiTsocial media video production & consulting