Reddit is hard to explain. At its most basic, it’s a website like any other. There are users and those users submit and generate content. It would seem any other social networking site like Facebook or Twitter would fill this same need, with micro-blogging clones like Twitter providing a constant stream of news unmatched in providing breaking news and events from around the world. That’s where the differences start to become clearer. While Twitter and the like may give you something quickly, it’s not necessarily trusted content. It functions the same as a strong gust of wind, easily capable of carrying a seed to a safe place it can grow, or whipping a plastic bag from the gutter right into your face. The latter situation seems the most plausible an encounter one can endure in an increasingly modern world, leaving the wonders and beauty of nature to be reminisced about as though it never really happens anymore. I, for one, know I’m among a very small group of people who can even remember planting a tree recently. Continuing on with the “tree/seed” metaphor for an idea, Reddit distinguishes itself from a never-ending swarm of sites claiming to give you the latest and greatest by using a system that works through fostering a sense of community where the best ideas are given the space and the freedom to flourish into something magical.

 While I’ve drank the Kool-Aid on this one (true), the times I find myself discussing Reddit with non-Redditors make me feel like I’m pitching a product rather than advocating a community of which I’m a member. I’ve become more careful in how I go about this now. When you find something cool on the Internet, you want more people to be a part of it. That basic premise and the rabid following that it has developed is what Reddit runs on. Reddit even gets meta on itself (with plenty of self-deprecation and a good sense of humor) when discussions on the site become discussions about the site itself (even having a meta distinction categorizing the smaller communities that make up Reddit called subreddits). To further the twists and turns and help someone who has plunged down the rabbit hole, the site’s blog offers up statistics, the state of affairs on the site and a plethora of useful information to those who come across it.

 Now that you know about Reddit, what to do? Registration is quick and simple, provide your e-mail and register a username. Then you’re set to customize your experience. Right from the start, you’ll be “subscribed” to a few subreddits including pics, funny and atheism (one of the largest communities on Reddit). If you don’t like a particular community for any reason or just don’t care for the content offered, simply unsubscribe by clicking in the same area on the right you’d click to subscribe. Bear in mind, all communities are welcoming, particularly to those who are not a part of the cause or don’t believe in the subject at hand. Skepticism is vigorously encouraged, but hypocrisy is unforgivable to the community at large. Like anything else, be honest and forthcoming and enjoy the general “warm-fuzzies” that come from it. There are subreddits for every perceivable topic. Almost every major city, college, hobby, philosophy, religion and forum is covered. On the off chance it isn’t, simply make it! Reddit is as customizable as content can get.

What makes Reddit even more special is the ability to see the potential for change in the world and reward those who find the best ways to bring about that change. Numerous posts on helping find bone marrow donors, chemotherapy support, even a suicide watch subreddit bring people together in ways both inspiring and heart breaking. What Reddit does is simply show that you’re not the only one out there. For matters happy and sad, difficult or just plain adorable, there’s always someone willing to lend a hand or simply talk with. At the start of the millennium, once hype about the ever impending Y2K apocalypse died down, it seemed the next logical issue to tackle was the growing sense that too much time spent online made someone “antisocial.” Reddit has led the charge against this feeling of despair and discord that seems to haunt the Internet with each and every vitriolic post on some extremist website or child who is bullied on social media websites. It provides a safe environment for anyone to explore their options and share their stories of success and failure. While an extremely lighthearted site, there are times where Reddit comes together to fight injustices and bring help to those who need it.

Some instances have marred this helping hand, with occasional protests and actions taking on a mob mentality with some users a little too eager to sharpen their pitchforks. Sometimes it’s justified, other times have seen innocent people dismissed and trampled underfoot. With the site’s moderators stepping up their “patrols,” this type of behavior is becoming less and less common, in keeping with the site’s true core of upholding honesty and integrity in all posts and comments without sacrificing free speech.

While Reddit is constantly evolving and growing, with an astonishing 2,065,237,338 page views and 34,879,881 unique visitors in December 2011 alone, their main message of a free Internet and free speech above all else has never been stronger. Joining the Internet blackout against SOPA, Reddit’s blackout was as important a statement as those of Internet juggernauts Wikipedia and Google. With floods of calls, emails and faxes sent to representatives and government officials of all factions, Redditors made their voices heard loud and clear. Sure it’s a website where one can blow off some steam and look at pictures of someone’s cat chasing a laser pointer; it’s also a place of deep discussion and an even deeper search for knowledge in every aspect of life. Without sounding too preachy or declaring anything too bold, it’s becoming more and more evident that Reddit is the clearest case of a democracy in action since the founding of the United States. It’s a new frontier, a new forum birthed from necessity, but kept fresh by those who care most: its users.

April 16, 2012

Google has acquired YouTube, and since Google is the largest and most popular of all search engines, it only makes sense for them to take advantage of all the data that they collect. This includes the data that is created every time someone makes a new account or enters a search term. Adsense for YouTube works the same way as Google Adsense, monetizing ads that are relevant to the content that is currently being searched. Search engines are unable to search video for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes so it is important to tag all of your YouTube videos with the appropriate keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that Search Engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, use to rank websites. The more content on a site, the more indexed the site is, resulting in higher page rankings.

For instance, maybe you have created a blog or small website about bowling. You decide to blog about all the tournaments in which you participate. People begin to respond, and you start receiving questions about the type, brand, and weight of bowling balls you use. Next you create a bulk of content regarding the balls that you purchase, the brands you can choose from, the different colors and weights of the balls, and so on. Suddenly you realize that you are getting a lot of hits on your page. In this instance, people clearly want to know about bowling balls, so you add even more relevant content. Once your blog is established, people start querying Google about bowling balls, and your blog page is the first link in the search engine results.

To maintain this dominance you need consistent, optimized SEO content on your blog. You can not maintain your search engine rankings without content.

Quite quickly your little blog becomes the number one resource for all things bowling, and has become the perfect site for ad placement from companies and manufacturers that promote bowling and produce bowling equipment. Every time someone clicks on an ad that is on your web page, blog, or YouTube account, you get a piece of the pie!

You should build your YouTube Adsense site or blog around a niche topic that you know a lot about. It is much easier to provide good and interesting content when you are writing or providing YouTube videos that you enjoy and are knowledgeable of. Through these means you will naturally become an expert in your preferred field. This builds your credibility and popularizes your sources as the authority in any given subject. Providing highly searched content is the name of the game when you are considering Google Adsense.

Once you have become accustomed to the way Adsense works, you may want to learn more about high paying keywords and how others have turned their YouTube accounts, websites, and blogs into money making machines with YouTube Adsense.

September 15, 2010

Should Mashable be a major news source? Probably not, but the massive amount of traffic it gets makes it seem like a more reputable source for information related to the internet. The post “Lady Gaga + Sesame Street = Out of this World Mashup [VIDEO]” might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for me and I might just have to verbally swear off of visiting Mashable.

I find sites like TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb to be much more informative and useful, although I do not expect perfection from either. It seems that the internet’s broad spectrum of content leaves it harder to find original and/or relevant content.

Lady Gaga’s persona has definitely created a Fame Monster in its own category giving her the title of most video views of any other music artist. While her musical talent can be debated, and her shocking antics cause a lot of commotion, it still causes me to wonder why she is so viral.

My guess is that she has had the luck of being viral at the same time that many content publishers figured out that producing content related to a trend is a great way to pull in traffic. With various parody videos of Lady Gaga, and a multitude of blogs, tweets and news articles all talking about Lady Gaga, not only is the content everywhere, but it is shared by everyone and that popularity leads to questions like the one I ask in the title … Why?

I posed the question to Mashable and asked why they were so obsessed with Lady Gaga to which one person responded with the obvious answer; she is great keyword for SEO Marketing that brings in tons of traffic for the site, but the author, Samuel Axon, actually responded with:

“We try to write up videos that are going viral with some insight into web culture. Gaga goes viral a lot, and we’ve covered past viral Sesame Street mashups too. Gaga just became the first brand to reach one billion web video views so we’ve been trying to figure out why the web culture zeitgeist and Lady Gaga are so buddy-buddy, but it’s an elusive phenomenon. But many of our readers enjoy reading about it.”

While I’m slightly insulted by his response that only someone naïve to the intricacies of internet marketing would accept, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that the readers “enjoy reading about it.”

It all makes me wonder if Lady Gaga is famous because she is a great artist or if it’s because her reputation (whether good or bad) has created a viral being that has surpassed the internet popularity of the likes of Britney Spears, Beyonce and the late Michael Jackson? Is she the new Madonna, but just in a viral-enabled world? Is Lady Gaga’s mass appeal a mystery only to me?  What do you think?  Share your insights.

April 6, 2010

One of the biggest live-streamed events this year was the concert that U2 live-streamed on YouTube on Sunday. The U2 Rose Bowl concert video stream was hosted on the Official U2 Channel with a live Twitter Feed.

The show began at 3.30am GMT in the UK and was a sellout with 96,000 fans.

The stream was made available in 16 countries making it viewable for millions of fans to head to the site.

The live stream is obviously over, but you can watch the rebroadcast at on YouTube.

One question that this brings up is whether or not YouTube is making its way towards the live streaming industry like UStream.TV and Justin.TV.

Justin.TV says their site is “the leader in live video and the place to broadcast and share video online,” and while that is debatable, they are ranked among the top sites for this service. With features like Live Gaming on JTV Gaming and the ability to broadcast live to Twitter with Camtweet the site is definitely a competitor for UStream.TV. UStream.TV is another live stream-capable site that hosts live feeds for tons of celebrities to talk about the often irrelevant things going on in their lives.

UStream says that “in less than two minutes, anyone can become a broadcaster by creating their own channel on UStream or by broadcasting through their own site, empowering them to engage with their audience and further build their brand.”

The live-streamed concert by U2 can definitely be a jumping off point for YouTube to get users to take notice and begin to engage in these live streams. It will definitely be another boost for the video sharing giant and definitely a way to prove to shareholders that the site is staying up on its game.

This should definitely be a step in the right direction for YouTube if they decide to pursue a venture as big as this one may prove to be.

November 2, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/MissChievous – MissChievous is a creative makeup artist that gave me tons of ideas on different looks I could use and mix for my Halloween costume as well as other dramatic looks. Her instructional and very easy to understand tutorials range from Elvira, to Bollywood Bride, to perfect Smokey Eyes. It doesn’t stop there; check out her YouTube page for all of her looks. Chances are she has a great tutorial for your costume. You can also check out her blog at http://mizzchievouz.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/filthygorgeousmakeup – Filthygorgeous is actually a gorgeous woman and a resourceful makeup artist that offers help for pulling off Halloween looks and different day time and night time makeup looks. On her page you will find Cleopatra, She-Devil, and a Kitty Kat tutorial that is both glamorous and inspiring. She has over 180 uploads of different looks that are anywhere from extreme to natural. You can read more about her at http://filthygorgeousmakeup.blogspot.com .

http://www.youtube.com/user/panacea81 – Panaea18 is a makeup artist that is incredibly good at creating dramatic and interesting eye looks. She has a large following for her eye expertise and inspiring color combinations. On her YouTube page you can find Wonder Woman Eyes, Sexy Mermaid Eyes, and Vampire Eyes but you should keep coming back to her for show stopping eye looks and special occasion eye makeup tutorials. You can visit her website at www.bylaurenluke.com .

http://www.youtube.com/user/SarahVictor -SarahVictor is another talented makeup artist that shows her range of versatility with tutorials on magazine and runway inspired makeup looks and scary makeup looks that look like the real thing. On her YouTube page you will find a “Dia de los Muertos” look, a very convincing beaten and bruised look, zombie, zipper eyes, frozen ice, and a sexy clown look. SarahVictor is similar to Panacea18 where they show tons of examples of different eye looks that are really impressive. Her website is http://www.bettiemua.com/ .

I picked these YouTube channel contributors based on how they each personalized and optimized their pages for their audience and how well they presented their tutorials. I was really impressed on how hard they worked to brand their page and how well they use a social networking site like YouTube to communicate with their subscribers. There is no doubt that YouTube has really helped these very talented makeup artists to gain exposure and in turn help visitors of YouTube find what they are looking for.

October 28, 2009

Digg:
1) Set up Account
Make sure you only have 1 account Per IP or else they will block your IP completely

2) Add as many friends as you can
Both power users and those trying to attain the same status that you are

3) Digg your friends’ submissions
When they see that you dugg their stuff, they will return the favor

4) Share and favorite your friends’ submission
They will do the same in return

5) Be active on news feeds
a. Be the first to submit a story by staying on top of the news feeds…check sporadically throughout the day to be the first
b. If you get lucky and submit a very popular/influential news story first, you can get up to 1000 diggs.

6) Share submissions with all of your friends

7) Once you have credibility and a lot of friends on digg, you can submit your own/desired content which can be a great way to drive traffic to your site
a. Track the stats in correlation with when you submitted your content.

8) Watch your diggs rise and reap the benefits

Twitter:
You have to establish yourself on twitter as well. Follow people who are relevant in your industry and most will follow you back. Tweet things that are riveting contextually and make sure that it is not the same old “I am eating breakfast” tweet.
Once you have established yourself as a relevant tweeter, you have some customization to do. Here is what I suggest:

1) Customize the layout of your background
Color schemes: Choose something easy on the eyes so when people go to your profile they won’t want to leave right away

2) Add a tab on the left side of your profile explaining who you are, what you do, how to contact you, and some brief personal information
a. This gives some insight to you as a human, and gives your profile a personal touch
b. It also extends an invitation for people to contact you regarding your services

Now you have a few options regarding tweeting your own content. You can tweet a link (tinyurl.com) that is a direct link to your content page, or you can tweet the URL of your digg submission and kill two birds with one stone (although I would not do this too often, just every once and a while).

When you do these things on a regular basis you should achieve the results that you are looking for. Digg will bring people to your site, and Twitter can do the same with the benefit of having people contact you directly. These are both great assets that should be taken advantage of and used in your SEM operations daily. Now go digg and tweet…let me know how your results turn out.

June 17, 2009

It would be a gross understatement to say that Kawasaki likes Twitter.  He loves it, as he puts it, as much as Macintosh and he loves Macintosh, having spent much of his career there developing and maintaining the cult-like following of the Mac brand.

His presentation was quite useful.  Kawasaki feels that Twitter is the biggest thing since sliced bread or more specifically, TV.  In a nutshell, his advice for Twitter is to “get involved.”  Start following people and always follow those that follow you.  He says it’s a numbers game and about achieving critical mass.  As importantly, you must be a giver … a tweeter … of useful content; content that is useful enough to be retweeted over and over again.  Internet Marketing is always ultimately about content and Kawasaki says nothing to dispel that principal.

For most, including Kawasaki, the marketing value of Twitter is not initially obvious.  Twitter asks a very basic question … What are you doing now?  This is what millions are doing 24/7 using a microblogging interface that restricts the tweeter to 140 characters.  So, there are a great many tweets about relatively nothing i.e. “I am going to wash my car now.”  Who cares?

However, if that is all Twitter means to an individual then it will remain trivial and quite meaningless for that individual.  Kawasaki discussed how the interaction with larger and larger group of followers presents tremendous business opportunities.  Twitter is searchable and very powerfully at that.  So, followers of similar interests including buying and selling interests can find each other.  It is pure and simple, social networking at its essence … and we are barely in the first inning as few are just beginning to recognize the power and opportunities of Twitter and the social media in general.  For now, my take is that you have to be there.

Guy Kawaski spent a large portion of his time itemizing and reviewing the huge number of tools for leveraging what is available on Twitter.  These tools allow you to analyze, track, monitor and filter the important metrics you are interested in and specifically the tweets that deserve your time and attention.

The keynote was well worthwhile as Kawasaki provided a good deal of insight and information about Twitter and the many tools to make it work from an Internet Marketing perspective.  His obvious free spirit style and candor was great.

Tell us what you think by commenting right here.

Arthur Cooper
Follow Arthur on Twitter
http://www.linkedin.com/in/optimum7arthurcooper

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

March 29, 2009

Okay maybe the title is going a bit too far; Twitter does have the potential to be around just like the other social networking sites (Facebook, Myspace). It is already the third largest in this category. I’m sorry people but I just don’t find Twitter beneficial to me in any way. Yes it is fun updating your Twitter status throughout the day, but think about it. Does anyone really care about your blog, what you are doing at the time, who you are, and why your tweets are so important? Or is everyone on Twitter so self indulged with marketing themselves that it has just become a broad network of narcissists who feel that their content and whatever they have to say in their tweets is important enough to spend hours following people who they may never even see on their profile once.

Let’s be real, the only reason why most of us follow others is not because we are so moved with a 140 character statement that a stranger posted, it’s because we want others to read our tweets as well. I am sure there are exceptions to this of course, but take a step back and look at Twitter from an outsider’s perspective. Give yourself another minute, now doesn’t it look like a big waste of time? I am now following so many people that there is no way that I can keep track of any one person’s tweets. Is it really that important what some tech blogger in Toronto feels about the economic status of the world, and what they ended up having for dinner? Not to me.

Yes I may sound hypocritical. You are probably asking yourself, if he dislikes Twitter so much why even be involved? This is a great question. Peer pressure. I can’t not be involved with Twitter at this point. It is such a large and powerful social movement that I need to be there, just for the sake of being there. Maybe Twitter will take head to others like me who have many complaints (and some suggestions) on the Twitter status quo. Maybe there will be a new Twitter, an amazing updated version that will allow me to really take advantage of the gigantic network that has succumbed to this social phenomenon.

I am not the only one who feels this way about Twitter. John Stewart, host of The Daily Show (who also has a Twitter account) is also reluctant to join the Twitter phase.

Let us hope that we do not turn into a society consumed with what we are doing at any given moment. This might just be a rant about how and why I don’t see Twitter going anywhere and that our society as we know it is just wasting their time, but at least I am not alone in this sentiment. So as I go, I’ll leave you with a great parody of Twitter, and maybe even a precursor to what Twitter-ers might become.

February 16, 2010

SEO can be applied to any website optimization strategy. When anyone logs on the Web, they are usually trying to find “something” either for a purchase, maybe directions to a location, research, images; it could be anything, however, you have to type in a phrase or keyword into the search query. For SEO to be effective, a webmaster or online marketing specialist will analyze the site to see what changes need to be made in order to improve the visibility and page rank. Common changes will take place in the HTML coding of the page title, Meta description, Meta tags, and keywords section. Successful SEO strategies go well beyond these onsite techniques, however, the bottom line is results as measured in rankings for relevant keywords and onsite conversions.

Today’s more popular search engines include Google, Yahoo, and MSN. To make searching on the internet a better experience for its users, each of these sites have established guidelines to provide direction to online marketers and website owners, including webmasters, as to what are the best methods and ethical practices towards achieving reliable and consistent results. Webmasters and online marketing specialists need to adhere to these guidelines to ensure the site will be accepted by the search engine and thus be successful. Examples of SEO tactics that lessen the quality of searches are link farming and keyword stuffing. These “black hat” techniques are quickly found by the search engine crawlers and are flagged, penalized and even delisted.

As the internet becomes the largest medium of transactions and communications, more and more business owners are launching sites in hopes of expanding their businesses and their bottom line. The internet has expanded forever the surface area available for information searchers seek. Consumers have the ability to look for products and services as well as resources anywhere in the world. That’s the way we always say at Optimum7 … “Because you never know who’s searching”.

Melissa Gonzalez

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

March 10, 2009

Out of the three players involved, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trailblazers, and Joe Alexander of the Milwaukee Bucks, Joe Alexander prevailed.   The reason that Joe won had nothing to do with his in-game performances or his fame outside of basketball.  First of all, Joe plays in one of the smallest markets in the country, Milwaukee.  One can argue that Russell Westbrook plays in Oklahoma City which is also a small market, but Russell has gotten a lot of fame from playing for powerhouse UCLA in college and going to two consecutive final fours, not to mention all of the national coverage he got last year.  Rudy Fernandez was a pro basketball player in Spain for the past 4 years, was one of the best players on the Spanish Olympic team that took Team USA to the limit this summer, and has name recognition worldwide.  Joe Alexander is a country boy out of West Virginia that barely got attention the last few months of his senior year in college last year.  It didn’t seem like he really had much of an advantage going into this contest.  Not only was he not a household name, but he only averages 11.8 minutes a game compared to Fernandez’s 26.4 and Westbrook’s 30.8 minutes per game.  That’s not really a substantial enough amount of time to showcase one’s skills; he doesn’t even average 5 points per game.  So how in the world can a no name rookie like Joe Alexander win over two more heralded athletes?  Simple answer …marketing.

Joe was the only one out of the three to take it upon himself to get his name out there.  He started by creating a website, www.voteforjoe.com  , in which he posted blogs and several videos urging fans to vote not only every day, but every hour  according to the guidelines of the competition.  He also had a direct link on his site where you can click and vote for him.  His videos ranged from him showing off his jumping skills, to more comedic versions of himself proving that he is worthy to be in the contest.  For example, one of the videos shows his skills in dunking Oreos into milk, and paper balls into a trashcan.  The videos are mainly satirical comedy that last from about 30 to 60 seconds.  He made a new video every week, following the advice of most marketers by updating content on a regular basis.  He even went on national television and radio to urge fans to go out and vote for him.  He ran a better campaign than John McCain!

What is the moral of this story?  The point is, that with some time, creativity, and the correct marketing strategies, anyone can make themselves relevant and “happening” online.  It’s obvious that he had help, and who ever helped him knew what they were doing.  Not only did he regularly update his video content, but his blogs as well.  Despite his lack of playing time, fame, and name recognition Joe Alexander became an internet sensation.  Even more than that, he made himself into a public figure and personality that I doubt the other two stars will come close to.  He may not ever end up being as good as a basketball player or dunker then Rudy Fernandez or Russell Westbrook, but he didn’t have to be.

So for all of you small fries out there that feel you can’t compete with the big name competition, stop doubting yourself.  Take a tip from Joe, get some good marketing advice, do something different that your competition isn’t doing, and make your brand stand out and have a voice.  If a white boy born in Taiwan, raised in China, who went to high school in Maryland and played for a small West Virginia University can beat out 2 of the most heralded rookies to come into the NBA this year, then why can’t you beat your competition.  We all just need the right advice and motivation; it can go a long way.

January 15, 2009

The 3 players to be voted on are rookies Russell Westbrook, Joe Alexander, and Rudy Fernandez.  My front runner to win this award is Joe Alexander of the Milwaukee Bucks.  The reason I have him winning over the other two has nothing to do with their game performances and high flying dunks, but out of the three Joe is the only one who has launched a pretty successful viral marketing campaign.

Not only does he have the same video highlights as the other contestants on NBA.com, but he has put out several YouTube videos and has created a website with other videos and links to the page where you can vote for him.  The site is www.seejoedunk.com.  He is currently ahead in the online polls, but the contest is still about a month and a half away.  The other two contestants have plenty of time to launch their own viral marketing campaigns.  With the success that Joe Alexander is having, my hunch is that they will.

February 18, 2010

Falling into Jeans (Levi) – These videos were very original and fun.  Guys’ jumping off of tall objects in their underwear into Levi jeans was a great idea for a viral marketing campaign.  These videos are all over YouTube and are now being aired on television.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShf2VuAu_Q

Vote 4 Chris Bosh as an NBA All-Star- Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh brought it upon himself to get voted as a starter to the Eastern Conference All-Stars.  Not only did he have a career year statistically, but he put out a series of YouTube videos with him in a Cowboy Outfit talking with a southern accent urging fans to vote for Chris Bosh.  This was something never done before by a professional athlete.  Now this idea has caught on and is being used by various NBA players involved in the Slam Dunk Competition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv7IZP7u9FE

Kobe Bryant Jumps Over Aston Martin (Nike) – We have mentioned this before on this blog, but regardless, it was one of the better viral campaigns of the year.  The video was only released on YouTube and was a super smash on MySpace.  It was marketing for his new shoe that came out shortly after the launching of the videos.  The campaign was a huge success as the shoe was the top selling basketball shoe of the year.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWJkdUMiMw

Ball Girl’s Amazing Catch (Gatorade) – I didn’t see this video until recently, and I have to say it is very entertaining.  It’s obviously fake but that’s not the point; it makes us feel that we can accomplish amazing athletic accomplishments without having to be a professional athlete.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE

February 18, 2010

To learn how to attract more views on YouTube specifically refer to this blog by Eric Rosado.http://sem-blog.optimum7.com/arthur/other/how-to-get-more-attract-more-views-on-youtube/

I am not going to tell you how to get more views on your YouTube video here; rather we will identify   the different ways that videos are used online to better understand this phenomenon and use it as a tool that has yet to be implemented to its full potential.

“According to a recent FEED Company study, some 70% of ad-agency and     media-buying executives plan to increase budgets for viral video marketing in     2009. In addition, 72% of ad-agency executives and media buyers say their clients are “interested” or “very interested” in using viral video as an integral part of their marketing campaigns.”

This is telling us that soon online video marketing, or viral video marketing will not be a new venture that few companies do for results, but it will be one of the many tools in the future of internet marketing.  One of the reasons for this is that viral marketing campaigns are very affordable.  Most of these videos spread through word of mouth marketing; but we don’t stop there.  Soon we will develop ways to drive traffic to viral marketing videos, which in return drives traffic for our clients who need new inventive ways to sell their products and services.

One obstacle is there is no standard of measurement for this, as of yet.  The stats are not yet there that show how quickly videos are viewed or the view count or if the videos lead to conversions or who is actually watching the videos, and the ratings of the videos themselves.  Even though there are some measurement issues, there are still pioneers trying to help people utilize this new marketing endeavor.

Award-winning videographer Jessica Kizorek’s latest book Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet (PSI Publications, Illinois, 2008) is a practical guide to the basics of online video marketing.  You can find out more about her book here at http://www.showmethebook.com/

Even President Elect Barack Obama is doing a weekly online video.  In this way he connects with the American people and creates at least a sense of transparency now and likely for the White House when he assumes office.  Find out more about Obama’s weekly presidential videos at http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-14-voa38.cfm

Also, even members of his senior staff are putting up videos online to keep the average American updated on presidential news.  Here is a video recently uploaded on change.gov concerning the new additions to his cabinet. http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/video_transition_update_from_valerie_jarrett/

Not only is viral marketing taking off but Internet Shows are becoming very popular as well.  Reasons for this could be due to the freedom that they have on advertising, they don’t have to worry about the FCC, and they also don’t have to go through all the red tape to get a show on the air.  For example, Mayne Street is a new show on ESPN.com that just started this week (as of Friday November 14, 2008) and got 2.5 million views in the first 48 hours.  Watch it here at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/feature/index?page=maynestreet

Commercials on YouTube have become somewhat of a new phenomenon as well.  In the Spring of 2008 Nike and Kobe Bryant launched a viral marketing campaign on YouTube to promote Kobe’s new basketball shoes.  They had a video of Kobe Bryant jumping over a speeding Aston Martin that was coming his way.  This was uploaded on to YouTube first, not on any TV ads.  The video got millions of hits within days and became a cultural phenomenon.  Kobe and Nike then later came out with a similar video of him jumping over a pool of snakes with some of the guys from MTV’s Jackass.  Nike and Kobe used a great tool on YouTube in their marketing strategy for their new shoe, something that hasn’t really been done before.  You can see the videos here at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIWeEFV59d4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaJglK4IAf4&feature=related

There is a large audience out there that is begging to be entertained.  If you can come up with a clever idea on how to market your product with a video, then you should definitely go for it.  Think about how many hours a day people spend on YouTube looking for things to entertain them.  If it can work for the biggest shoe company in the world, Nike, who was promoting a shoe from arguably the best basketball player in the world, Kobe, then it can work for your company as well.  All it requires is a little creativity, inspiration, and determination to do things outside the norm.

To learn how to attract more views on YouTube specifically refer to this blog by Eric Rosado. http://sem-blog.optimum7.com/arthur/other/how-to-get-more-attract-more-views-on-youtube/

February 18, 2010