October 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Are you one of those millions out there hooked on the viral video craze? This article describes the opportunities that viral videos offer to internet marketers.
It’s actually just like a disease. It’s already more of an epidemic rapidly spreading over the cyberspace. Despite the many worries of this world, people just can’t seem to stay away from video clips of people doing typically nonsensical things. People can’t seem to keep their fascinated eyes off the wildest and oddest videos available. People certainly can’t resist passing on these ‘nonsensical’ videos to other people by posting these videos in their personal homepages, other websites and emailing them to their friends.
You may have noticed, even night shows and morning news shows feature some of these viral videos. Usually they put on air the most watched viral video online, particularly videos that were most rated and viewed at YouTube. These videos’ main value comes from being truly odd and wild that people just can’t help but laugh when they see them. Some people just get carried away by the hype and even if they didn’t think the video was as funny as some people think they are, they keep their opinions to themselves, laugh with the rest and pass on the video to others.
Viral videos are truly catching, and internet marketers have definitely seen the potential of these viral videos in spreading their marketing message around. It so happens that web sites hosting these viral videos have grown much in popularity. Thus, internet marketers are now using videos extensively in their marketing strategies. You, too, can take advantage of the viral video craze. Just follow these simple steps.
— Using Viral Videos in Internet Marketing
1. Make Your Own Viral Video
You have to make your own video to post at YouTube, at your website, at your online blog, and anywhere else in the internet. However, you must remember that viral videos have certain factor that makes them irresistible. This is what you should keep in mind when you make your viral video.
For instance, you can make a commercial concerning your product. The video clip must be short so that they’re easy to download and view. However, the commercial has to be distinctly funny and unique so it can go the rounds of effective viral videos. Just look around at YouTube and find the most-viewed clips there. Those are the types of videos that make the viral rounds. You must therefore pattern your video clip after these videos.
Do not post a perfectly normal video commercial online if you wish these videos to have some viral effect. Do not wax lyrical about your product in your video. In other words, don’t make it look like a perfectly typical infomercial. Perfectly normal video clips just don’t spread and they’re not going to be effective in marketing your products or increasing traffic to your site.
2. Become a member of video blogging networks
Uppermost in your list of sites to join is, of course, YouTube. However, there are other video blogging sites in the internet. Look around. You must also make it a point to post some of these videos in your site and blogs.
3. Post your viral video and make some more
After you have posted your initial viral video and people seem to have picked it up, then you should immediately follow up with more such videos. Do not let your followers’ attention wane from you, keep them entertained and keep them supplied with more viral videos. This way, you are going to have a loyal following of persons who will eagerly wait for your videos.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I know, that term Viral sounds quite nasty. It sounds like some sort of computer virus; and we all know the dangers of those, don’t we? Companies like Norton Anti-virus have made their fortunes keeping viruses away from our computers. But no, in this case, the term viral is a good thing.
A viral video is the cutting edge of Internet communication. It means that you create a video, send it out via e-mail and postings on sites like YouTube, MySpace, Google Video etc. and thus generate interest in what it is you’re trying to sell. Websites like these get literally thousands of hits a day; people viewing the videos.
A well-done video, something that interests people and really catches their eye can spread just like a virus, hence the name. People tell others about it, the video gets more viewings, and can even end up being mentioned on the national news! Think about that level of interest in your firm; think of the potential income it can generate.
If you have a new company or an old one, you always have the same problem getting customers. Even a Fortune 500 firm is always looking to expand and increase revenue. With a viral video, you have the potential to generate a huge amount of interest in you and your company, and do it for very little money.
It doesn’t matter if you are trying to get a job, sell your latest novel, get clients for your firm or introduce a new product or service. The point is, today we live in a very visual society. Look at the young people today; they use computer and the Internet like the yellow pages and telephone once dominated the scene.
So, a good first step is to do a search online and see what sorts of companies are out there to a video package. You can get something as simple as one video, and then they’ll post it to the various websites. If you can do your own editing, you can save some money. If not, there are plenty of sites that will do that for you.
Or, if you want something bigger, you can get as many as five, ten or even twenty videos created; and the company will take care of all producing, editing, and then submitting it to the websites. A video about your firm could be on forty different sites. Think about the interest that could generate. If several thousand people see your videos and that’s being very conservative, and only one percent of them become customers, you’ll cover the cost of your investment, and make a little extra.
Of course, then there’s the continuing income. Think about it; those videos will be out there, on the Internet, generating more interest in you and your company. Over time, that could amount to a huge boost to your overall sales.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Viral marketing is a very powerful way to promote your online business, it is like having an army of people promoting your website for you, the idea is to create something that will grow and spread by itself with very little promotion from you.
There are many ways to use viral marketing to promote your business, some work better than others but the main points you should be focusing on is how it will spread as far as possible and how it will help you.
Here are some viral marketing ideas you can use to promote your business:
Creat a rebrandable ebook. You can create an ebook with links to your products inside it and allow all recipients to “rebrand” it with their affiliate links, this is an excellent way to promote your products as it 1) Gives people a good reason to spread it for you, they can make money, 2) It recruits an army of affiliates for you and 3) It will promote your products to every person that reads it and involves no extra work on your part.
Create a video. If you are going to use video to promote your website then you must make it so that people will want to tell others about it, you can do this in a number of ways such as making it interesting, making it funny, making it mysterious or simply allowing others to “rebrand” it with their affiliate links. People like to tell their friends about things that they are interested in, so you have to find a way to appeal to them. Funny videos work exceptionally well as people love to laugh and they will want their friends to enjoy it too.
Build a community. A community is somewhere that people enjoy visiting and participating in, you can simply build a forum for people to interact with each other or you can build a large membership site with lots of great information, products, videos and so on. The main point is that you must make it so that people will want to tell others about it, forums are excellent for this as people will want their friends and family to join and talk with them on the forum.
Start a competition. You can tell all your website visitors that the person who sends you the most sales/signups/visitors will get a cash prize or a free product or something that they will want, just give people a great reason to start promoting your website on a large scale. This is an extremely easy idea to implement as all you have to do is tell people to start sending you visitors through a tracking link and whoever sends the most gets the prize, then all you need to do is send it, very little work and can result in a frenzy of promotion from many people.
Create anticipation. Tell people that you have something really, really big in the works and it will be revealed to everyone soon, this will make people interested and will make them want to know what you are planning, this usually results in them telling others that something big is going to happen or asking people if they know anything about it, the main point is that it will get people talking and spreading the word.
Create a games section on your website. Most people enjoy playing games of some sort, they like to relax and play a little game and this is an excellent opportunity to get them to come back to your site again and again and also get them to tell others about your great gaming section. You can get free games all over the internet and they are not hard to install, once you get them up and running they will work for you as more and more people find them.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.
A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.
Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.
People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.
Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.
If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.
Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.
Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.
Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.
Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.
Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.
But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.
Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.
