Whats the secret to YouTube videos going viral?

As a result of my recent post concerning the effectiveness of YouTube, particularly my interest in the 'Dumb Ways to Die' video got me thinking. How do some YouTube videos manage to go viral? I found myself asking why does that video have so many views, I'm sure there's hundreds of other similar videos that haven't received the same response.

I stumbled across a TED video by Kevin Allocca, the Trend Manager at YouTube. The purpose of his video actually addressed the same issue I was asking, Why do videos go viral. He reminds us that back in the day it was extremely difficult for an ordinary person to receive any type of recognition, let alone become a celebrity or be the next pop star or comedian. However, web video has given every single one of us the opportunity to become famous for the creative things we do.

Allocca claims there are three secrets that specifically help to accelerate a YouTube video, taste makers, participation and unexpectedness (2011). Firstly, taste makers concern those individuals or groups of people that have the ability to bring new and interesting videos to a larger audience. Quite often videos will be uploaded and will only acquire a small response, until a taste maker takes a liking and sends views into the millions! Usually taste makers are in the form of a celebrity, or a social media fanatic. For example Jimmy Kimmel, an American talk show host has a habit of engaging with his audience through hilarious YouTube videos. One that I've always loved is the 'I ate all your Halloween candy' which has been watched over 32 million times!

Participation is a result of a creative video than inspires others to involve themselves by responding, usually in the form of a parody. Individuals come up with cool, fun ways to edit and adapt a video to become a part of the YouTube phenomenon and get their creativeness recognised! YouTube has become a community and businesses have recognised this by taking advantage of the participation element by requesting viewers to respond. We have all seen Three Networks dancing pony advertisement, but did you notice it asked viewers to access the 'Pony Mixer' to mash up their own dancing ponies! Take a look...

Unexpectedness concerns the uniqueness and element of surprise a video should hold in order to go viral. Ehrenberg and Barnard can support this as he claims the sole purpose of advertising isn't to be persuasive, but to create loud content that jogs an individuals memory (Ehrenberg and Barnard, 1997).

In terms of going viral as a marketing technique, Mekanism a large agency that designs viral campaigns suggest that in order to succeed you must adopt this approach;
                                     people + platform x snowball effect = VIRAL
                                                                                                           (Howes, 2012)

The people element can be likened in some respect to taste makers, as Howes confirms that in order to go viral you must firstly contact online 'influencers' in advance. However, dissimilar to Allocca, this approach suggests organisations must pick their choices wisely, someone with a large audience is not necessarily going to send the desired message, it could potentially be quite damaging to an organisation if it was interpreted incorrectly.

Platform refers to the fact there needs to be a strategy beyond 'Lets make a YouTube video'. YouTube provides ten categories, these categories need to be considered in terms of what one will enhance the number of views. The entertainment and comedy category is quite obviously the most popular therefore harder to go viral, organisations need to understand which category will leverage their video (Howes, 2012).

Finally, the snowball effect is where by organisations coordinate with numerous 'influencers' and create relationships with popular websites in order to feature their videos. This exposure leads to neutral pick ups by blogs that search the internet such as Laughing Squid for interesting viral content, thus the snowball effect.

So there you have it, two different approaches that will help enable your videos to go viral. If only it were that easy! It has become extremely difficult for videos to go viral due to the large amount of content that is continuously being uploaded. Only a tiny percentage will reach over a million views (Allocca, 2011). Additionally, businesses cant play it safe if they want to go viral, very few individuals will watch your video if they believe it to be another dull advertisement trying to get them to buy. However, individuals will watch content that engages with them and allows them to participate, businesses need to take a risk! (Launch Spark, 2014).

Take a look at the links within the text or below to gain a greater understanding on how your video could go viral. YOU could become famous.

References

Allocca, K. (2011) Why Videos go Viral. [online] TED. Available from: http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_allocca_why_videos_go_viral#t-415102 [Accessed: 1st June 2014]

Ehrenberg, A and Barnard, N. (1997) Advertising: Strongly Persuasive or Nudging? Journal of Advertising Research, 21-31.

Howes, L. (2012) How to go Viral on YouTube: The Untold Truth about Getting Views. [online] Forbes. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lewishowes/2012/08/09/how-to-go-viral-on-youtube-the-untold-truth-behind-getting-views/ [Accessed: 1st June 2014]

Launch Spark. (2014) How do I make my video go Viral? [online] Available from: https://www.launchsparkvideo.com/how-do-i-make-my-video-go-viral/  [Accessed: 1st June 2014]

Why our businesses spying on their blog viewers using Google Analytics?

For those of you who are as clueless as I was, Google Analytics is a free, powerful analytics tool that allows organisations to monitor their web presence whether it be a website, a blog, or a social media platform (Google Analytics, 2014a). Google Analytics is an extremely popular digital monitoring system due to the fact it provides relatively in depth data, and is easy to use (Mann, 2013). 

So what does Google Analytics actually allow organisations to do? 

1. Track the effectiveness of their content easily. 
Google Analytics can be used to optimize the performance of a blog. There are a number of features that allow organisations to evaluate whether their content is transcending accordingly to viewers. As a result, organisations are able to increase their knowledge upon consumer behaviour, which fundamentally helps them to approach future content more successfully (Jackson, 2009). 

2. Target their intended audience more effectively.
Google Analytics allows marketers to target their intended audience in order to maximise the effectiveness of their blog posting. It provides features that enable organisations to monitor existing viewers, their interests, geographic location, the number of times they have visited and so forth. Ultimately, this tool allows businesses to penetrate consumers by shaping their content to cater for them (Atre, 2012). Chief Marketing Officer at Urbansitter can support this as she claims their customer acquisition costs have decreased by 30% since the implementation of Google Analytics (Google Analytics, 2014b). 

3. Evaluate traffic flow
Atre also suggests that Google Analytics is useful in determining where the incoming traffic is sourced from as it contributes to defining organisations marketing strategy (2012). It enables businesses to track their user activity whilst catering to specific needs of the viewers, this increases the opportunity for a viewer to become a consumer. 

4. Increase sales and conversions.
Sales and conversions are obviously the driving force for organisations using Google Analytics. Google Analytics as a whole help organisations to understand what features and content influences consumers to buy. Referring back to Urbansitter, they claim that conversions have increased by 26% since with Google Analytics (Google Analytics, 2014b). 

We now understand why they are using it, but what are some of the specific features that Google Analytics provide? 

• Page Views. 
• Returning or New Visitor? 
• Duration spent on the blog. 
• Age. 
• Gender. 
• Interests.
• Geographic location. 
• Language.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 Below is a screen shot from a Google Analytics Dashboard that shows some of the features above in  practice.

From the evidence provided, you would assume it would be beneficial for every organisation to incorporate Google Analytics into their digital platforms. However large, successful businesses presumably have already managed to target their consumers effectively, or could do so through more advanced analytic tools that require a fee. Although, it would be worthwhile for smaller organisations to monitor their blog through Google Analytics as they have a smaller marketing budget.

If you feel as though you would like to incorporate Google Analytics into your digital initiative, take a look at the links provided in the text or below. Or if your unsure and want to gain a better understanding of the drawbacks to this tool, take a look at an article here by Crestodina, 2013.

References 

Atre, S. (2012) 5 Top Benefits of Using Google Analytics for Your Business. [online] Full Traffic. Available from: http://www.fulltraffic.net/blog/84842/5-top-benefits-of-using-google-analytics-for-your-business/ [Accessed: 10th May 2014]

Crestodina, A. (2013) Google Analytics. [online] Orbit Media. Available from: http://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/inaccurate-google-analytics-traffic-sources/ [Accessed: 10th May 2014]

Google Analytics. (2014a) Introduction to Google Analytics. [online] Google Analytics. Available from: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008065?hl=en-GB  [Accessed: 10th May 2014]  

Google Analytics. (2014b) Why Google Analytics. [online] Google Analytics. Available from: http://www.google.com/analytics/why/convert.html [Accessed: 10th May 2014]

Jackson, S. (2009) Cult of Analytics. 1st edition. Oxford: Elsevier.

Mann, N. (2013) 5 Ways to Use Google Analytics to Boost Your Online Sales. [online] Business Bee. Available from: http://www.businessbee.com/resources/sales/5-ways-to-use-google-analytics-to-boost-your-online-sales/ [Accessed: 10th May 2014]

How are organisations maximizing their blog views? KEYWORDS.

In previous postings I have mentioned the uses, benefits and approaches to blogging. But one of the main issues I have found when researching into blogs is how do organisations actually ensure that their blog is being read? And the answer to that is SEO, Search engine optimization.

SEO enables organisations to gain more traffic to their websites and in this case, blogs. Search engine providers such as Google, Yahoo and Bing provide a service where by they rank content in order of what they believe to be the most relevant to users according to Search Engine Land (2014). One of the main ways to achieve more traffic through SEO is Keywords. It is suggested by Enge et al that Keywords not only help to increase traffic but to predict shifts in demand, respond to changing market conditions and ensures that you are producing content that the user is seeking (2012). 

Lets use Google AdWords for example, Google's job is to connect a users search with the desired content. A website or blog that provides the same words as the search will have a higher chance of being presented to the user (Today Made, 2013). The Google AdWords tool provides a huge amount of data to users regarding the most popular search terms in specific industries.  

When creating possible blog content for my digital marketing campaign I incorporated Keywords into the postings in order to acquire more traffic for the organisation. I used the Google AdWords tool that allowed me to identify what Keywords would prove to be most successful. Here is an example of the Keyword searches I chose. 

Keywords can be divided into short tail and long tail words. Short tail are those in which just use 1 or 2 words such as Krispy Kreme, and long tail words are 3 words or more, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Short tail keywords are those that achieve high search volume which is what every business wants right? Well, according to Smart Traffic short tail searches are highly competitive, therefore more difficult to rank and connect with users (2010). Long tail searches are much less frequent resulting in low traffic volume for websites an blogs, however those users who use long tail searches are more inclined to buy (Smart Traffic, 2010).

The drawback to Keywords is that competitors will also be doing it! All organisations face the same problem, 'how do we increase traffic?' So if everybody is doing it, its going to significantly reduce the effectiveness of Keywords. Organisations should review competitor websites to see what Keywords they are using, it would be wise to concentrate on the non branded search terms! I've incorporated some Keywords into this blog posting, take a look at the bottom!

See the links in the text and below for your independent research! 

References 

Enge, E, Spencer, S, Stricchiola, J, and Fishkin, R. (2012) The Art of SEO. 2nd edition. California: O'Reilly Media.

Search Engine Land (2014) 'What is SEO?'. [Online] http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo [Accessed: 7th May 2014]

Smart Traffic (2010) 'Types of Keywords'. [Online] http://www.smart-traffic.co.uk/seo-blog/types-of-keywords-the-advantages-and-disadvantages.htm [Accesssed: 7th May 2014] 

Today Made (2013) 'A Practical Guide To Finding Great SEO Keywords using Google AdWords'. [Online] https://todaymade.com/blog/google-adwords-seo/ [Accessed: 7th May 2014] 

How effective is a YouTube channel as a marketing tactic?

We are all partial to watching YouTube videos now and again. Whether it be a new music video by One Direction, or a tutorial on how to bake a Victoria Sponge, or even just to entertain ourselves and laugh at other peoples misfortune, we love it. Just precisely how many of us use YouTube? Over 1 BILLION of us visit YouTube every month (YouTube, 2014). Surely, if there are that many visits per month it would be ludicrous for any business to not take up the opportunity to introduce a YouTube channel? But that just seems to easy...

The fact there is such an enormous amount of people connecting with YouTube can actually be a problem for businesses, but why? The sheer overcrowded online environment provides mass amounts of silly and pointless content, therefore it makes it extremely difficult for organisations to ensure their content will effectively reach their target audience (Udemy, 2013). 

So how our organisations effectively utilising their YouTube channels? Firstly, businesses our learning that traditional advertisements aren't successfully transcending, this competitive environment requires businesses to provide engaging, unique, and creative content. An article by Our Social Times presents 5 of the most imaginative YouTube campaigns, the one that stole my attention the most was by Metro Trains with a dark humoured video called 'Dumb Ways to Die'. Watch below guys. 

The purpose of Metro Trains campaign was to increase awareness of passenger safety however a dull, informative advertisement would be rather depressing. This campaign has managed to create awareness due to the fact its ENGAGING, you pay attention to it because its humorous, light hearted and risky. Its the song that gets me! It has been suggested by Ahuja & Medury that engagement is a strong measurement to determine whether it is likely for consumer focused initiatives (such as a YouTube campaign) to converse into sales. Somebody who comments or shares a YouTube video is at a higher level of engagement then somebody who simply watches (2010), organisations need to take this into consideration when creating their content. 

Additionally, YouTube should act as a marketing tool that is supportive of other digital marketing techniques such as social media platforms. As stated above, it is difficult for organisations to directly penetrate their target audience solely through YouTube, however social media platforms are an excellent way for organisations to leverage their YouTube content to their intended market (Udemy, 2013). An article by Jeff Bullas states that social networks have accelerated YouTube’s growth with over 500 tweets posted per minute containing YouTube video links (2012). 

For a YouTube channel to ensure they succeed they should also adopt a 'community' approach. YouTube is made up of every day people who have every day lives, businesses must be able to interact with them at a personal, humble level. Organisations are able to do this by providing relative content such as, a brand story that allows the consumer to identify with the brand, or a 'How are our products made' type video which helps to encourage consumer trust. 

A number of pro's and con's to the effectiveness of YouTube channels have been presented, see the online links below if you wish to do any further research into YouTube. 

References 

Ahuja, V. and Medury, Y. (2010) Corporate Blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management. Palgrave Journals, 17, 91-105. 

Jeff Bullas (2012) ‘YouTube Facts, Figures and statistics’. [Online] 

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/23/35-mind-numbing-youtube-facts-figures-and-statistics-infographic/ [Accessed: 7th May 2014]  

Our Social Times (2013) '5 of The Most Imaginative YouTube Campaigns'. [Online] http://oursocialtimes.com/5-of-the-most-imaginative-youtube-campaigns/ [Accessed: 7th May 2014] 

Udemy (2013) 'YouTube for Business: Top Ten Strategies & Best Practices'. [ Online] https://www.udemy.com/blog/youtube-for-business/ [Accessed: 7th May 2014] 

YouTube (2014) 'Statistics'. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en-GB/statistics.html [Accessed: 7th May 2014]

How are organisations encouraging consumer involvement via a blog? CONTENT CREATION

Its all well and good businesses creating a blog, but what's the use unless its engaging with viewers? How are businesses actually encouraging consumers to comment, share and ultimately buy? CONTENT CREATION. 

Content creation has been defined by Rowley as a marketing communication in an online environment that is associated with creating presence, relationships and value through engaging and relevant material (2008). Additionally, an article by Craig Bailey refers to the Bill Gates 'Content is King' article, it stated; 

                

                         'If people are expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up to date information.’

                ‘...there needs to be an opportunity for personal involvement.'

                                                                                                          (Bill Gates, 1996)

So how do businesses actually achieve consumer involvement? According to Ahuja & Medury an organisation must adopt one of the typologies, or possibly even all 3 of them! The 3 typologies are as follows: 

•   PROMOTIONAL – Content that engages with consumers and influences/persuades in                                                       order to converse into sales. 

•   ORGANISATIONAL – Content that enhances the organisational brand image and builds                                                          a relationship with the consumer. 

•   RELATIONAL  – Content that rectifies/requests consumer opinions such as rumours and                                                consumer concerns or promotes feedback from consumers.

                                                                                                                                   (2010)

      An example for each of the typologies will be presented below in order to help you understand how content creation works in practise. 

                                                                    Promotional 

      This blog posting by Thorntons provides content to encourage sales by offering a new product range in time for Fathers Day. Promotional blog postings primarily focus on new product ranges and product features to entice consumers to buy. 

                                                

                                                               Organisational 

      Organisational content provides information regarding the businesses history and heritage, CSR initiatives, current activities, and employee stories. This blog posting shows how Starbucks have recently taken a trip to China. This helps readers to feel like they know the brand personally at a deeper level. According to Gobe organisations that display a personality are able to form a relationship helping to increase consumer involvement (2001). 

                                  

                                                               Relational 

      Battlefield use relational content to ask current consumers for their feedback regarding a product feature. It is suggested that this method is the most effective as it directly asks consumers to involve themselves and offer their opinions (Ahuja & Medury, 2010). 

       It is evident to see how content creation has been successfully utilised by existing organisations to encourage consumer involvement, however consumers are an extremely powerful influencing tool. Surowieki suggests that a group of peoples opinions provide a much stronger answer than a sole individual (2004). Therefore, if one consumer was to have a bad experience with an organisation and post negative feedback, it could potentially encourage other blog viewers to post negative feedback. 

   

     Whether you already operate a business blog or are considering a blog as an option, a content creation method could possibly be extremely beneficial. However, remember this method welcomes participation so make sure you are confident in your businesses ability to please consumers, and be prepared to deal with any harmful feedback!

      

      References 

Ahuja, V. and Medury, Y. (2010) Corporate Blogs as e-CRM tools – Building consumer engagement through content management. Palgrave Journals, 17, 91-105.

Battlefield (2014) 'Tell DICE: What should we balance next?' [Online] http://blogs.battlefield.com/page/2/ [Accessed: 6th May 2014]

Craig Bailey (2001) ‘Content is King by Bill Gates’. [Online] http://www.craigbailey.net/content-is-king-by-bill-gates/ [Accessed: 6th May 2014]
Gobe, M. (2001) Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People. 1st edition . New York: Allworth Press. 

Rowley, J. (2008) Understanding digital content marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 24, 517-540.

Starbucks (2010) 'History in the Making'. [Online] http://www.starbucks.co.uk/blog/history-in-the-making/780 [Accessed: 6th May 2014]

Suroweicki, J. 2004, The Wisdom of Crowds. 1st edition, London: Little, Brown Book Group, Pg 235. 
Thorntons (2014) 'Toffee Banoffi Dessert'. [Online] http://blog.thorntons.co.uk/recipes/toffee-banoffi-dessert/ [Accessed: 6th May 2014]

Why are businesses using blogs as a digital marketing tactic and what are the benefits?

For my digital marketing proposal I suggested that Krispy Kreme should incorporate a blog into their current marketing initiatives in order to enhance their 'word of mouth' strategy (Krispy Kreme, 2013). Prior to my research, I was completely oblivious to how many competitors and large organisations in general were already taking full advantage of blogging!

Whilst hunting for existing business bloggers I came across Starbucks, Costa and KK's primary competitor, DUNKIN DONUTS! Dunkin Donuts serve up to 3 million customers a day worldwide (Dunkin Donuts, 2014), so the use of a blog comes as no surprise as it is an extremely effective way of creating a direct communication channel to reach consumers, regardless of their geographic location. Dunkin donuts sole purpose for their blog is to post promotions relative to seasons/key events, for example their most recent post is promoting St Patrick's Day by enticing consumers with 'Top O the mornin' to ya!' whilst offering 'Irish creme filled cupcakes'. See below guys. 

So now we have seen how one particular organisation benefits, how can businesses in general benefit from a blog as a digital marketing tactic and how are they a contributing factor to creating brand awareness? 

I stumbled across a fairly recent article by Sprout Content that presents '19 reasons why your business should start writing a blog'. I have picked 7 of the 19 which I believe is more than enough to convince any business to act upon it! The reasons are as follows:

1. 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers. 

2. It gives businesses a voice. A blog creates a place to talk about new products/services, comment on current news topics and market trends and share company initiatives. 

3. A blog is the heart of all your content digital marketing efforts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email etc) 

4. A blog creates a 2 way conversation with customers. It encourages interaction, comments and feedback. 

5. Allows businesses to tell their brand story, by offering a greater insight into the company, ideas and employees. 

6. Blogs are cost-effective marketing investments. Every post that is published is a long term asset that helps build brand awareness.

7. Blogging Analytics! Businesses get to know their audience. 

                                                                                                        (Sprout Content, 2014) 

This article has confirmed my proposed marketing initiative and helped develop possible features for Krispy Kreme's blog as their are no obvious drawbacks and a HUGE amount of benefits! The implementation of a blog will certainly utilise Krispy Kreme’s core ‘word of mouth’ strategy as a blog will encourage discussion between consumers and industry professionals. Krispy Kreme has managed to create a distinct humbling brand image which a blog can support further as it states in point 5; allows for a brand story to be developed. 

If any of you readers think that a blog will benefit your business or even beginning to think it is a good way to express yourself take a look at the article by following the link in this post or see references below! 

References 

Dunkin Donuts (2014) ‘Blog’. [Online]  http://www.dunkindonuts.com/DDBlog.html#sthash.bmA9hIou.dpbs [Accessed: 20th March 2014]

Krispy Kreme Corporate (2013) ‘Company Profile’. [Online] http://investor.krispykreme.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=120929&p=irol-homeProfile&t=&id=& [Accessed: 20th March 2014] 

Sprout Content (2014) ''19 reasons why your business should be writing a blog'. [Online] 

http://www.sproutcontent.com/blog/bid/106416/19-Reasons-Why-Your-Business-Should-Be-Writing-a-Blog [Accessed: 20th March 2014]