Mythbusting: Engineering a Viral Video
FutureM 2013October 18, 2013#futureM #viralvid
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What is a viral video?
Wikipedia:
"A viral video is a video that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email.”
Why should marketers care?
FREE Awareness?
FREE Views?
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The Whole Hog of A Viral Video
UnderbellyHeart
Brain Ribs
Tail
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Agenda
The whole hog of a viral video• Heart: creating good content• Ribs: social outreach and sharing• Underbelly: robots and incentivized
views• Brain: engineering it with data• Right Feed: paid YouTube ads• Tail: luck
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Brilliant commercial that went viral?
84% of views from paid views
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Brilliant commercial that went viral?
59% of views from advertising
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The Heart: Good Content
UnderbellyHeart
Brain Ribs
Tail
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Sometimes things just come together
3,243,299 times shared on Facebook
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Good content is often a steady view earner
• Know your targets intimately• Example: Build Direct from Canada
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Steady view earners deliver better ROI
• Know your targets intimately• Example: Build Direct from Canada
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The Ribs: Social Outreach and Sharing
Underbelly
Heart
Brain RibsTail
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Real virality is often smaller
541,296 times shared on Facebook
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The ribs: social outreach and sharing
Connecting to your real target audienceMake relevant contentLobby tastemakers and find passionate enthusiastsBuild subscribershipEncourage participationUse cross-pollination of email, FB, Twitter, Pinterest,
G+
Relevance Passionate Enthusiasts Subscribers Participation Cross-
pollination
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Seeding promises
“Get your video seen by the right people.”
“We generate millions of monthly opt-in views on social networks, mobile devices and YouTube.”
“We use proprietary technology to turn target audiences into engaged viewers and engaged viewers into customers.”
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Caveat emptor: Seeding can be seedy
A supposedly “organic” blog post generated by a seeding campaign.
“…XYZ — the viral video house behind this clip. XYZ knows. Shop at XYZ.”
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What are you getting when you seed?
Click-through rates for a seeded campaign:
Views: 284,894Click-throughs: 17CTR: 0.006%
Compare to average YouTube adCTR: 3.5%
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The Underbelly: Bots and ‘Incentivized’
UnderbellyHeart
Brain Ribs
Tail
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Buying robot views: 1M views for $800
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Why this is a bad idea: Google will catch you
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Slightly better cuts: incentivized views
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The Brain: How to Engineer It
Underbelly
Heart
Brain Ribs
Tail
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How many people are watching? What?
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What is your target audience watching?
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Understand the audience and competition
Look at metrics on:• Audience size• Most popular
content types and sub topics
• Social media reactions
• Viewer sentiment• Traffic Sources
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Metadata: what matters and why
• Titles• Tags• Descriptions• Target links• Annotations
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Track YouTube search and social rankings
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The Right Feed: Paid Ads
Underbelly
Heart
Brain Ribs
Tail
Feed
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Paid, owned and earned media work together
Promoted Video Ad
Social SharingBuild a community around your video
content
YouTube AdsMuch more cost-
effective than TV and online display ads
YouTube ChannelA video channel
that you own and control fully
WebsiteDriving conversions
through highly qualified website traffic
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YouTube ad placements: Choose carefully
Best practices:1. Use varying formats (search,
in-display, pre-roll)2. No need to stick to 30-
second spots3. Use time of day according to
target4. Geographic focus if
necessary5. Don’t always optimize for
direct website clicks
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The Tail
Underbelly
Heart
Brain Ribs
Tail
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LUCK
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Serendipity can happen
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Engineering results: It all works together
Channel subscriber growth
Organic YouTube Traffic
Pre-campaign Campaign
Pre-campaign Campaign
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Summary
• Heart: Know your audience before you create
• Ribs: Share the passion and seed carefully
• Underbelly: Don’t do it• Brain: Track and clone yourself to
success• Right Feed: YouTube ads done right are
worth it• Tail: Be ready when luck happens
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Get this presentation?
• Bettina Hein, Founder and CEO Email: [email protected] Phone: (617) 710 5772 @bettinahein
• Rob Ciampa, EVP Marketing Email: [email protected] Phone: (617) 774-9600 @robciampa
Go to pixability.com/futureM2013
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YouTube Advertising: How It Works
1. Select:Choose one or several of your YouTube videos as ads.
2. Place: Put ads where your target audience already is.
3. Call to Action: Users can click through to your website for more information.
Value for money: Charged per engaged video view, not per click or impression
Extremely flexible: Various cost per view (CPV) ranges available depending on format and targeting
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Does it have to be Gangnam Style?
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When should you buy incentivized views?• Never to
inflate views• Awareness
only – do not expect any action
• When there is a good match of demographic
• Example: promotion of video game launch on gaming site