Tagged: ‘viral videos’

Sometimes we just overcomplicate things.  You could spend hours, even days trying to come up with an idea for a video that has the potential to spread virally.  This morning, I was searching around on YouTube looking for the shortest viral video I could find.

And wouldn’t you know… I found a video that has over 9,300,000 views over the last year, and it’s only 5 seconds long.

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

Sadly, the person who uploaded this video missed out on MASSIVE amounts of traffic to their website.  Notice that the video isn’t watermarked with a website address.  Also notice that there is no link to a website in the description area.

Ouch.

Even if just 5% of those who watched the video clicked on the link or went to the website, that would bring over 465,000 unique visitors to the website.  Now let’s say that you had an offer for some $9 product or ebook on how to train a chipmunk.  If the site converted at just 2%, that would be 9,300 sales, brining in $83,700.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?  I once had a chipmunk that lived in the rock wall next to my driveway a few years ago.  Every day for a few weeks I’d go out and leave a few nuts on the rocks and watch him stuff his cheeks.  As time went on, I would stand closer and closer to the chipmunk until one day he became comfortable and he would eat right out of my hand - and did so from that point on throughout the summer.

Looking back, there was a lot of funny things he did - like stuffing his cheeks so much that he couldn’t fit one more nut in.  It was hilarious.  Looks like I missed out on making him a star and filling my pockets with $83,700!

TIP: Invest in a small digital camcorder to take with you wherever you go.  A funny 5 or 10 second clip uploaded to YouTube could mean a new massive flow of new visitors to your website every month for months, even years!

Bonus Tip: Direct people to a landing page on your site that is somehow connected to the subject matter of the video.  Get creative.  For example, let’s say that you owned a consulting business and you’re the one that uploaded that crazy 5 second video clip.  You could create a landing page with a headline saying, “Dramatic Free Report Reveals How The New Chipmunk Marketing Method Can Increase Your Website Traffic By 1,283% Or More!”

Now of course you’d need to get creative in your report, create your “Chipmunk Marketing Method”, and somehow tie it into a technique to drive more traffic to a website.  But you get the idea…

Get creative with your marketing.  Dare to stand out.  Dare to be unique.  Dare to do things that others in your industry aren’t doing.  Sure, you’ll have your flops and yes, you may even get laughed at a few times.  But it just takes one or two home runs to make all of the effort worth it.

Rob
The MarketingDoOver Team