http://youtu.be/2qJok3DZdrw
How do we create something that will go viral? That is the million dollar question that all executives and business owners want their marketing teams to answer. Viral content can be anything from a Youtube video, to an article posted to a website. We often hear of videos going viral. They are easier to share and consume than written content. Over the years, I find myself running the same question around in my head. How do I create something that potentially would take off and lead to an increase in revenue? With over 100 minutes of content being created on Youtube every minute, how can you possibly get your uploaded minutes to count?
On Oct 21st 2013, I came across a video uploaded by a guy who seems to be a pro at using Microsoft Word (Watch the video here: http://bit.ly/ios7word). The title of the video is, “Was iOS 7 created in Microsoft Word?” Being that I am a smartphone geek by nature, I wanted to see what this video was all about. The video is a sped up tutorial of how the author Vaclav Krejci created the icons and layout that makes up Apple’s latest version of it’s mobile software, in Microsoft Word. It was quite impressive. I had no idea the design tools in Microsoft Word were so robust. In the description of the Youtube video is a link to an Ebook the Vaclav has written and a link to his Facebook page. Vaclav’s video has been getting shared and posted all of the web. Major online news sites have been featuring his video and it is resulting in a ton of traffic to his Ebook and Facebook page.
When I saw this video for the first time, it had a few hundred views on Youtube and his Facebook page had less than 50 Likes. The video is quickly climbing in views and his Facebook page has been seen a huge bump in Likes and it’s only been a few hours since news sites have started posting about the video. His Youtube channel only had a few subscribers and has now climbed into the thousands. It is on it’s way to going viral and I am sure will result in an influx of business. Should Vaclav produce future Ebooks or tutorials at a cost, his potential to sell copies and access to this content would be greatly increased.
Situations like this are what fuel the internet. Someone creates something intriguing and the internet goes wild for it. What do you or your company excel at? What could you produce an intriguing video about that would perk the eyes and ears of the internet? A video of a guy creating the layout of Apple software in a Microsoft product is something any techie would want to see, which explains why it is getting shared 1000’s of times on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
How hard would it be for you to use your product or process to recreate something else? The internet has taught us that nothing is entirely new. Everything we see is a twist off of something else, an improvement, or a unique way of doing something. To test this, my employees and I recreated the popular video that just went viral titled, “The Fox” (Watch the original: http://bit.ly/thefoxoriginal). We wanted to find out if recreating a video currently going viral with our own twist would go viral as well. Our version of “The Fox” video went viral for about a week and is getting close to having received 1 million views (View our video here: https://hillmediagroup.com/ylvis-fox-cover-music-video-hd).
Youtube is the #2 search engine, Google being the first. People are searching for content on Youtube and your business needs to have a presence there. Not every video has to be a viral hit. You need to have more there than just viral video attempts. A good Youtube channel will be optimized with a description and links to your website. Make sure your logo and channel art are clear and professionally designed. Have a channel Channel Trailer video in place that welcomes people to your Youtube channel and informs them of what your channel is all about.
Some of the best cases about viral videos are about videos that went viral unexpectedly. The only way to accomplish this is to create good content consistently. I sent Vaclav an message asking him why he made this video and he responded with this, “Thanks Jerad. My goal is to get my (next) book published by Microsoft Press, which refused my first book. I hope they change their mind after seeing this video.”
I bet they do change their mind, and I hope that Vaclav creates some paid content to capitalize on the momentum he has created for himself with this video.
Check out these Youtube statistics provided by Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
