In 'Who is "Fred"? the LA Times found out' WatchingTV Online notes that at least some YouTube viral videos by "Fred" are not just the project of some little George Lucas in his parent's garage. Fred, getting 5 million views on some videos, is an amateur supported by an L.A.-based ad firm.
But to answer NewTeeVee's original question in "Who the Frack is “Fred?” ("watch his latest video and please explain what, exactly, is going on?"):
Millions of grade school kids have different sensibilities than older people. Just ask one and they'll show you many similar videos.
Showing posts with label viral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viral. Show all posts
June 23, 2008
January 3, 2008
Metrics and viral video redux
As NewTeeVee looks at TubeMogul and Vidmetrix in Emerging Company Category: Video Metrics, and offers Online Video Predictions for 2008, I'm still thinking about who and what are behind various viral videos, as discussed in previous posts Go Viral + a web video swarm and Idiocracy kool-aid -- red or blue?Stanford grad student Dan Ackerman Greenberg, connected with Stanford's Persuasive Technology Lab, posted techniques for promoting videos in his TechCrunch article The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos. Christopher Herot summarized the article with a handy list in How to Make Your Video Viral - or- The First Law of Holes:
The Obvious:
- Make it short.
- Design for remixing, e.g. Dramatic Hamster.
- Don't make it an outright ad unless it;s as clever as the one for Sony Bravia.
- Make it shocking.
- Use fake headlines.
- Appeal to sex.
- Share the video with your friends on Facebook.
- Set up a Facebook event to promote your video.
- Send the video to a mailing list.
- Tell all your friends and get them to email and share it on Facebook.
- Pick a catchy thumbnail, preferably with a human face in it.
The Clever:
- Make sure the frame in the exact middle of the video is eye-catching, since it will be one of the three grabbed by YouTube.
- Change the thumbnail every few hours.
- If you have more than one video, release all of them simultaneously instead of dribbling them out one at a time.
- Pick unique tags for al you videos so they will show up in each other's 'related' lists.
The Sleazy:
- Pay bloggers to post embedded videos.
- Have your own employees to set up multiple accounts on a forum and start fake conversations with each other.
- Delete negative comments that others make.
- Embed videos in the comments section of people's MySpace pages
- Use a misleading title, with terms such as 'exclusive,' 'behind the scenes,' and 'leaked video.'
- Use an image of a half-naked woman in the thumbnail.
- Once the 48 hour window for 'most viewed' expires, delete the video and reload it.
December 19, 2007
The Corporation -- another viral video
The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos also reminds me that the film The Corporation was really good, so here's the official grassroots version (iPod/MP4 version); the advertising segment starts around 1:04:35:
and part 2
and part 2
December 18, 2007
Go Viral + a web video swarm
Camcorderinfo has a swarm of new posts on web video:
My favorite post of the bunch is How Video Goes Viral, since I enjoyed how Fox has been leveraging viral video to promote a fictional drink from a movie they wouldn't promote (see an earlier spin Idiocracy kool-aid -- red or blue?).
At a recent SF Cutters meeting, it was noted that much of the business of Phoenix Editorial has shifted to web video (especially HD). It seems that companies want to create video that can go viral, which would seem to be the art of astroturfing (as opposed to grassroots). And like the rest of the web, there are exploits to raise ratings (like on Viral Video Chart); see Blackhat Video SEO on Youtube - Boost Video Views for one example. Companies can also deflate as well as inflate; as noted by NPSC Blog: "Another blogger details how the San Francisco Chronicle uses software to continue to display deleted comments to the people who posted them, leaving them completely unaware that their views have been hidden from everyone else that visits the site. Subsequent commenters to the post then reveal that other sites are using similar techniques."
Camcorderinfo's How Video Goes Viral does note some tips on how to propel video into viral territory. These were summarized from an interview from a CNN video show below:
Dan Ackerman Greenberg, the same fellow interviewed by CNN, also posted a detailed article on TechCrunch last month. Here's a very short excerpt from the heavily-commented article, The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos:
"Over the past year, I have run clandestine marketing campaigns meant to ensure that promotional videos become truly viral, as these examples have become in the extreme. In this post, I will share some of the techniques I use to do my job: to get at least 100,000 people to watch my clients’ “viral” videos.
Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem
2. Content is NOT King
3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page
4. Title Optimization
5. Thumbnail Optimization
6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself
7. Releasing all videos simultaneously
8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole
9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness"
The comments on this article were quite lively, for example Fleet Street PR later presented a starker summary of some of Greenberg's other tactics:
Update: of course marketing goes far beyond viral video -- behavioral targeting of ads and content is really still in its infancy. but still has attracted the attention of the FTC.
Update 2: one investor's alternative...Track your videos and stats properly using TubeMogul.
- How to Improve Google Video Search with Sitemaps
- Win Money for Your Travel Video on Rtravel
- How Video Goes Viral
- YouTube gives realted video a new look
- Guide to Website Analytics: Track Your Video Traffic
- Google Makes YouTube its Own Category
My favorite post of the bunch is How Video Goes Viral, since I enjoyed how Fox has been leveraging viral video to promote a fictional drink from a movie they wouldn't promote (see an earlier spin Idiocracy kool-aid -- red or blue?).At a recent SF Cutters meeting, it was noted that much of the business of Phoenix Editorial has shifted to web video (especially HD). It seems that companies want to create video that can go viral, which would seem to be the art of astroturfing (as opposed to grassroots). And like the rest of the web, there are exploits to raise ratings (like on Viral Video Chart); see Blackhat Video SEO on Youtube - Boost Video Views for one example. Companies can also deflate as well as inflate; as noted by NPSC Blog: "Another blogger details how the San Francisco Chronicle uses software to continue to display deleted comments to the people who posted them, leaving them completely unaware that their views have been hidden from everyone else that visits the site. Subsequent commenters to the post then reveal that other sites are using similar techniques."
Camcorderinfo's How Video Goes Viral does note some tips on how to propel video into viral territory. These were summarized from an interview from a CNN video show below:
1. Keep the video short.
2. Design the video for remixing like “The Dramatic Hamster” to allow other viewers to customize it.
3. Don’t make the video an outright ad.
4. Make it shocking.
5. Share the video via social networks like MySpace and Facebook and through e-mail lists.Dan Ackerman Greenberg, the same fellow interviewed by CNN, also posted a detailed article on TechCrunch last month. Here's a very short excerpt from the heavily-commented article, The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos:
"Over the past year, I have run clandestine marketing campaigns meant to ensure that promotional videos become truly viral, as these examples have become in the extreme. In this post, I will share some of the techniques I use to do my job: to get at least 100,000 people to watch my clients’ “viral” videos.
Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem
2. Content is NOT King
3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page
4. Title Optimization
5. Thumbnail Optimization
6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself
7. Releasing all videos simultaneously
8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole
9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness"
The comments on this article were quite lively, for example Fleet Street PR later presented a starker summary of some of Greenberg's other tactics:
- Using fake headlines
- Paying bloggers to post the videos
- Spamming forums on websites
- Spamming peoples' comments on their MySpace pages
- Spamming email lists
- Fake comments by his company on videos to provoke controversy
Update: of course marketing goes far beyond viral video -- behavioral targeting of ads and content is really still in its infancy. but still has attracted the attention of the FTC.
Update 2: one investor's alternative...Track your videos and stats properly using TubeMogul.
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