Jan

Viral Marketing: Viral Video Marketing Toolkit

Creating viral video is a fine art, and one that does not really have any stone walls or clear cut definitions. From silly videos to smart advertising, the science of what spreads and what doesn’t is incredibly imprecise, and the ability of anyone to predict viral marketing success is incredibly suspect. Viral marketing is so effective because it’s difficult to predict, and with hundreds of people out there competing for attention, creating that ‘tipping point’ video is growing more and more difficult.

This toolkit will help you get a leg up on your competitors and push you closer to creating that star viral video. Not everything here is essential, but for great viral marketing success it is smart to keep at least a sampling of these items in your video shooting and marketing inventory.

#1: The camera.
Viral video is all about current and interesting, not professional and timeless. Sure, timeless humor and content will create a good long-term marketing resource, but it is unlikely that it will lend itself to any short-term viral potential. As such, your video setup should focus on instant capture and simplicity of operation. Discard the bulky DSLR camera and use a small point and shoot. You’ll lose a little quality, but the opportunities that become open to you are definitely worth the trade-off. Check out some of those affordable flip-style digital camcorders: such as the latest offerings from Kodak, or the Flip.

#2: The phone.
iPhone, Blackberry or something similar. Pick a phone with a good camera, clear sound recording and usable video. In a good internet video, sound is the first concern. Second is video quality, which only needs to be as good as Youtube’s video player. Invest in sound first, for it will likely be the biggest draw to your video. Don’t think so? Try watching viral Youtube videos on mute — you will quickly grow tired of it and see that funny comes with audio, not just high quality video.

#3: The social media toolkit.
Videos go viral once they hit a certain degree of online exposure. Whether that’s the result of mainstream news reporting or community action does not matter. If you are part of a business that does not get heavy news exposure, the best way to make your content go viral is to create social media presences to spread it. Spend time connecting with major bloggers, create a Twitter account, and build your follower base. Then, you will have second and third-degree spreaders for your content when it goes live.

#4: A valuable social bookmarking account.
Digg traffic is overrated, but it’s valuable for one-time viral content. If you have got an influential account on one of the major social bookmarking services, use it. Post your content using that account, spread the word through forums and comments, and watch as your influence leads to increased views.

#5: Quick editing gear.
Video editing is one of the most important parts of production, but it often comes at the cost of release speed. Get quick and simple editing gear such as iMovie or Movie Maker, and let quality take a backseat to speed at times. Current events can often be crucial to going viral, so don’t worry about picture quality if it means missing a deadline or opportunity.

Andrea Kalli
Certified Internet and Social Marketing VA

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

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