Two questions to start with. How does a video go viral? And can you increase the odds in your favor with help from Internet search engines such as Google?
Here at GollyGoose headquarters, we’ve been having a gaggle about doing exactly that through the services of Google, Yahoo and Bing, as well as YouTube and other video aggregation sites.
According to ZOOGGIE, our Buffer Egg and animated Marketing Mascot, there are three important tips to help a video go viral:
1) Create a title that compels your target audience to check it out.
2) Create video content worth watching…
3) Use simple video on-page and off-page SEO optimization techniques. As a reminder, see this post titled, ‘An SEO Video Primer’ for details: http://blog.gollygoose.com/post/257954329/an-seo-video-primer
Creating “compelling titles” may be buzzwords that copywriters love to throw around but the reality is that there is no proven set of titles that work for all niches or videos. You have to experiment.
However, titles that are mysterious, zany, or even downright infuriating can attract curious eyeballs, as well as Googlebot and other search engine spiders (with some on and off page SEO work).
As for the video content itself, there are many examples of really well made videos going almost unwatched online. And there are also downright awful videos that have gone viral.
What gives?
For starters, remember that there are many thousands of videos being uploaded every day and the chances of your gem being found on `quality` alone are very low.
The `trick` is to develop a campaign to seed your videos widely on the Net so that there are multiple opportunities for people to see and tell others about them. That means making use of not just the video sharing sites but also a full blown social marketing campaign, enlisting Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, Blogging, Articles, Email Marketing and Press Releases to help.
This is where GollyGoose adds value to the mix by bringing together the buyers and sellers of video content. Buyers can look to acquire a portfolio of videos from which to construct a controlled marketing blitz, while savvy sellers concentrate on meeting specific needs for video content - any one of which might become the next viral `hit`.
Finally, we’d ask you to ponder this question.
Does a video really need “millions of hits” to be thought of as “viral”?
We think the answer is “probably not.” There’s a digital goldmine in targeted online video for those marketers with eyes to see. In this dig, we’re all data miners.
GollyGoose Team
