Resources about video production, explainer videos, viral videos, online videos, website videos, video marketing, TV commercials, infomercials, corporate videos, training videos and DRTV
Friday, July 31, 2009
Content and Production - (.5C)
Humor - everyone loves a laugh, but many of us like to make others laugh as well; this is what makes comedic videos so viral.
Avant-garde videos - videos that push the boundaries of what is acceptable can be incredibly viral - especially since this content never makes it to network TV. But be careful not to damage your brand and to obey by the terms and conditions of the respective video-sharing sites.
Talent - true talent is rare and fascinating. If you can showcase true talent people will forward your video.
Celebrities - we are fascinated with celebrities, and any videos featuring a celebrity are very viral, in part because there are hundreds of websites that follow celebrities and will embed these videos. Beyond virality, celebrities endorsements have a powerful influence on decision making.
Kitsch - don’t kill the messenger, but a remarkable number of the most popular videos we are tracking also contain one or more of the following qualities:
Special effects - the Ray Ban sunglass catching video is a great example. In general, any video that generates debate generates viewers
Animal/pet tricks - man is drawn to animals just as he is to fire… it’s hard to explain, but it seems to have to do with primitive wiring in the brain
Cute kids - one of the draws of online video is that real people capture real moments, and nothing is as straightforward as a child just being herself
Repetitive, catchy music - certainly not a new concept, but with infinite channels come many more opportunities to put up the experimental jingle
Physical injury - thank goodness it’s not me!
Pranks - thank goodness it’s not me!
Spoofs - ride the coattails of the tried and true
And of course, sex always sells
The trick, as with any marketing effort, is to both be remarkable AND communicate your message. Use the right package to make your video a hit, but don’t create a vehicle without passengers. Make sure the content is doing what it supposed to do.
In the online video community, discussions around production are typically in reference to video quality - as it relates to camera, sound, compression, and editing. Some believe that higher production quality is an important component in gaining popularity for ones online videos, while others believe that the popularity of the medium is authenticity, and that lower quality video has a genuine nature that gets lost with higher quality. Given the plethora of widely seen videos over the internet, this concept of quality hasn’t seemed to correlate with audience size or popularity. One thing is for certain: high quality human components of production, such as shooting and editing, make any video more watchable. Paying attention to lighting, framing the shot, and crisp editing is not only more pleasant, it’s often required to make the picture viewable in a small window and on sites with file size restrictions.
Bottom line: choose production components that fit with your message, content, and intended audience.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Secret Formula
"Secret Formula" - .5C + 15.M + .20T + .15P = Success
Alright, we admit that an exact formula may be a bit over simplistic, but when it comes to deciding how to allocate time and resources on a video intended on marketing something virally, the weighting of these four components should follow closely to something like this: That’s it. Write down the formula above on a cocktail napkin and you have the code cracker for getting people to watch and forward your video. The formula above says that creating a video is a weighted function of four components:
50% C = Content and Production - this is storyline, style lightning, production, etc.
15% M = Metadata - the text title, keywords, descriptions, and categories that help people find your video
20% T = Thumbnail - the packaging which draws people in when displayed on the page
15% P = promotion - just good old fashioned marketing
These aspects help communicate your message far and wide in a way that makes an emotional connection with the viewers in a way that motivates them to pass it along to others.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Why should Video Marketing be included in your marketing mix?
Online video is one of the best venues to engage an audience - don’t even think about excluding it! This new medium allows the video creator to communicate a message on multiple levels - via visual imagery, the spoken word, music and visual text. It may sound like a commercial for a Montessori school - but this is the way people learn, and consequently, the way legendary brands are created. As a case in point, think of traditional internet marketing; when was the last time that a paid search listing or banner ad raised your blood pressure or induced you to forward something to a friend? Get the point?