Viral video content is available more readily with expanding internet bandwidth. Properly marketed, this should allow broader audiences to see your video and gain exposure to your brand or message. Viral video has been used in the U.S. elections as well as making music superstars out of your average neighborhood kid. It has resurrected brands and provided hours of entertainment to many audiences. Many of those who share your viral video are those who upload their own. There will never be a shortage of video content.
In this sea of videos, how is it that you can help yourself stand out, become unique and make people pay attention to you and your brand? Much like the development of your unique selling points, videos need the same structure. They need to be used as vehicles to sell benefits and inform individuals about issues that are important. You need to stand out in the crowd to get noticed in social media.
In this case, the slightly above average neighborhood kid decides that his voice needs to be heard and not to sell his singing, but his public speaking. I am not sure Zach Wahls intention was to become an YouTube superstar, but when your video has been viewed 10,000,000+ times, there is something intriguing about its’ content. In this case, there is no humour used, only the passion of a man who believes in his family.
Have you seen this video? This unintentional YouTube star is a phenomenal speaker. He is young and articulate and above all, passionate. He has a bright future ahead of him.
This is a great example of quality viral video content. The number of views speaks volumes.
Politics? Law? Business? Any area that this young man goes into, he will be a success. I have seen subsequent interviews with the family and they are very proud of him.
Regardless of your stance on this subject, the speech was well written, well spoken and very well delivered. This is quality viral video content that is by no means stagnant, it is in full motion and growing in popularity.
I don’t think we have seen the last of Zach Wals. Read more about Zach’s story in this ABC article from Feb 2011.
While sifting through my email and RSS this morning, I came across a message from a very tech savvy friend and former co-worker. His blog can be found here, IF you want to stay cutting edge…Add Andreas to your RSS feeds.
Andreas’s blog covers an article about QRreader. They have made it possible to scan QR codes with a Google Chrome Browser extension. This will allow you to scan a QR code without the need of a mobile phone scanner or desktop software. THIS is QR code evolution.
I have not explored this plugin enough to know if there are any built-in analytical features, but that would probably make this a perfect addition to my marketing tool box for driving traffic from both traditional and online marketing activities.
This is a great info-graphic from FlowTown that illustrates who is using which Social network outlet and provides a little demographic data to guide you in your social media marketing decisions.
When developing any kind of online marketing campaign is absolutely necessary to measure your success with web analytics. You can justify design, usability and marketing decisions by analyzing your analytics. Personally, I use Google Analytics as a web based measurement and as an additional source of data, I also installed Mint on the server side, so I can really get a good picture of what my web audience is or isn’t doing when they arrive at my site.
Recently, I tried using QR codes to drive offline traffic to a mobile online landing page so I could determine if using QR codes online is as beneficial in driving traffic as it is offline. In order to measure my “Return on Investment”‘ It was necessary to use a custom URL for tracking within my analytics software. The custom URL was created with: URL tool builder by Google and then imported into Google analytics as a “goal”. By setting up the custom goal, I can now track all the activity coming from the QR code. I added the URL into both analytics programs and then I fired up my Mac based QR code generator and imported my custom URL. I generated the QR code, imported it into Adobe Illustrator and with the help of “Live trace”, I was able to customize the code with a little bit of colour to make it stand out. Although the experiment itself proved that QR codes are best to drive offline traffic from print to landing page, it also allowed me to figure out how to track the results that it generated. Now I can employ this process with my college promotion activities and truly be able to measure campaign success.
Working in higher education has exposed me to some very interesting target audiences. Primarily, the demographic for the college is an 18-24 year old segment who are practically digital natives and consume media for breakfast. They are multi-taskers, socializers and early adopters. Strategically, social media has pulled ahead of the pack reaching the target demographic and cutting costs dramatically while doing so.
Social media is not free. The actual distribution method may be free but Social media is a long-term commitment and there is an investment of time and resources necessary to make it work effectively.
With potential students, alumni, existing students and other audiences like employers, parents and donors all using the web to research the college, it was imperative that our online image be an extension of our traditional marketing activities.
Consistency across all media is essential to creating a familiarity for the visitor that they will feel more comfortable interacting and engaging with. As an online marketer, these strategies are the first steps in building a cohesive strategy. It starts with consistency.
Social media for higher education is becoming an absolutely necessary recruitment tool. To provide personalization of experience and positive exposure to your brand where your audience spends the most time is a necessary tactic. Target them as they are socializing online. Different tactics and strategies for different audiences will ensure an effective reach across all prospective and existing segments.
Recruitment, Retention and Reputation
The three “R”‘s that have become a golden rulebook for higher education and social media networking and will be the next topic I discuss. For now, here is an excellent infographic that illustrates some of the demographics of social media.
I was thinking too much and writing too little. That is how wiifm.ca was born.
How do you define WIIFM? It's easy. The client and the customer want to know there is value in the transaction. What is in it for me outlines case studies, strategies and ideas about traditional and online marketing and social media. The focus is mostly internet marketing and advertising issues and primarily focuses on online activities, strategies and most importantly, measuring results.
Everything I do is tied back to the audience and satisfying their needs. A happy client is a return client. We all know it costs less to keep a client than to go and find a few one.
