What is a Viral Video?

When a video clip on the Internet gains widespread popularity through e-mail and other venues of Internet sharing, it becomes what’s known as a “viral video.” The process typically unfolds as follows;

1. Viewer watches it
2. Viewer likes it and passes it on to a friend or everyone they know
3. That person watches and like it then passes it to more people, etc.

The popularity of the video spreads like a virus. That’s why the word “viral” has been applied to describe this phenomenon. Perhaps you have seen the infamous “Charlie bit my finger” viral video. To date this video has received over 183,041,926 views. Very impressive considering its a baby biting a little boys finger.

Successful Brand Viral Video

Brands began recognizing the potential success of videos and began implementing marketing strategies aimed around the distribution amongst consumers via the internet.
Gatorade launched a viral spot is titled “Ball Girl,” and is about one of those teens who sit in a folding chair between the box seats and the baselines at professional baseball games. In the action, the Tacoma batter yanks a hanging curveball deep down the left field line. The ball curls foul into the corner and the Fresno leftfielder doesn’t even make a move on it. But then appears the ball girl, who climbs up the wall in two bounds — Jet Li-style — and spins for a leaping catch. It’s certainly an amazing fabrication of an amazing play. The ball girl is a stuntwoman who was lifted by cables as she planted her feet against the wall, a sequence cut into actual game footage (shot by Gatorade) and enhanced with a bit of CGI and a perfectly natural-sounding announcer track.

The spot generated a lot of buzz around the product and conversations about the clip can still be found online covered by notable news sources such as NPR.

Distribution Strategy

A sequentially ordered distribution strategy will be implemented to achieve substantial viral impact.

1. Host videos on YouTube channel
2. Post on Notable Viral Video Sites
3. Distribute links via email
4. Post and distribute on Brand’s social platforms
5. Target influential bloggers for postings
6. Measure effectiveness of videos
7. Use successful videos in traditional campaign

1. Host videos on Brand’s YouTube channel

YouTube is the 3rd most used search engine next to Google and Yahoo, and is the #1 search engine for videos (according to an Alexa measurement in 2009). Of the top 20 most viewed videos on YouTube in 2009,  2 were viral videos going head to head against 16 professionally produced music videos from top recording artists.

Creating a YouTube channel specifically for your Brand with integrated keywords, already targeted by your Brand in SEO efforts, will increase traffic to your website. The keywords associated with each video will increase user discovery of the clips and the description will appear to be “user-generated”  and contain a hyper link back to your site, or designated landing page.

Analytics codes should be generated and embedded in order to track the click-throughs from the multiple hosted video sources, then relevant data can be accumulated such as bounce rate, landing page, navigation summary, and exit page.

2. Post on Notable Viral Video Sites

Posting the videos to other sites specifically focused on humorous videos will increase the amount of viewers, conversations, and therefore traffic to your site. Note: TubeMogul can distribute to the sites listed below with one simple upload and allow for tracking of all the sites.

1. Youtube.com
2. Albino Blacksheep
3. Break.com
4. Collegehumor.com
5. Fail Blog
6. Funny or Die
7. Google Video
8. JibJab
9. LiveLeak
10. Metacafe
11. Newgrounds.com
12. Pandora tv
13. Veoh.com
14. ebaumsworld
15. Vimeo
16. Blip.tv

3. Distribute links via email internally, encourage sharing!

Utilize your in-house employee base to distribute and share video clips. Asking employees to watch in-house produced videos taking a humorous look at your brand  stands to boost company morale, a high level of morale is essential for a company to succeed, especially today. Distributing the video links electronically, as opposed to a presentation on DVD, along with encouragement to re-distribute with friends and family will begin the first viral step. AVP suggests that you allow employees to post or reference the post on personal social networks and video channels (granted the content is not edited or altered and keyword tags remain consistent).

4. Post and distribute on Brand’s social platforms

Upload and link videos from YouTube channel to any other networks than your Brand belongs to such as; Facebook, 6 degrees, Myspace, Twitter, etc.

5. Target influential bloggers to post videos on their sites

Target bloggers who have large followings and post topics such as, innovative brand efforts, funny videos, etc. Reach out via email about posting or commenting on your videos.

6. Measure effectiveness of videos

It is crucial to implement measuring analytics in order to determine ROI on the videos created as well and determining other uses for the clips. Data such as; which videos received the most views, which video had the highest click-through rate, which video’s click-throughs resulted in the highest form of conversion, etc.

7. Use successful videos in Pre roll advertising campaign

After careful analysis of individual videos effectiveness in terms of views, shares, links, click-throughs, and conversions it may be determined that certain videos may perform well in paid advertising campaigns such as pre-roll videos. Pre roll videos are 15 or 30- second videos that plays before a site visitor can view their selected content. Research shows that when this video content is behaviorally targeted to Internet users most likely interested in it, this type of ad generates among the highest click-through and conversion rates.

• Edward Dmytryk stipulates seven “rules of cutting” that a good editor should follow:
  • “Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason.”
  • “Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short.”
  • “Rule 3: Whenever possible cut ‘in movement’.”
  • “Rule 4: The ‘fresh’ is preferable to the ’stale’.”
  • “Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action.”
  • “Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper ‘matches’.”
  • “Rule 7: Substance first—then form.”
• According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are (in order of importance, most important first):
  • Emotion — Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
  • Story — Does the cut advance the story?
  • Rhythm — Does the cut occur “at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and ‘right’” (Murch, 18)?
  • Eye-trace — Does the cut pay respect to “the location and movement of the audience’s focus of interest within the frame” (Murch, 18)?
  • Two-dimensional plane of the screen — Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
  • Three-dimensional space of action — Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?

  Visit AliVega.com to learn more about Video!

AliVega Productions edits video for Active Network
AliVega Productions, local San Diego video production company, edited a video for the Active Network.  This project is a recap video of Team Go Smart Omron Pedometer twenty 5K walks all over the nation.
“I’m thrilled to work with all the passionate women at Active Networks. Not only do they encourage other women to achieve personal fitness goals, they get in there and participate themselves! I look forward to working with Active on future projects.” said  Alicia Eschwege, owner of AliVega Productions.

Team GoSmart utilized Active Networks to get over 500 participants using the pedometer in their first 5K walk.  AliVega Productions edited a recap video of footage from the 5K events.  This video will serve as a marketing and promotional tool for both Active Networks and Team GoSmart.

To learn more about AliVega Productions, visit AliVega.com.  You can also call 619.596.7090 to inquire about services or set up a meeting.

AliVega Productions, local video production company, has worked with Senior Visits to create a 60 second promotional video.  AliVega Productions’ studio and office is located at 10611 Prospect Ave Santee, CA.

“I think that the service and assistance provided by Senior Visits is the real benefit, the technology is secondary. It’s about maintaining a personal relationships with family and loved ones who might be geographically inaccessible.” said Alicia Eschwege, owner of AliVega Productions.

Senior Visits is a service designed to connect those who do not have a computer or Internet access with their family and friends via online video chatting.  This service is directed towards the elderly and others who do not have the knowledge or ability to use the technology on their own. Senior Visits provides the necessary equipment and assistance for a reasonable fee.

AliVega Productions has been chosen to create a promotional video that will be available on the Senior Visits website and used for DVD distribution.  This video is intended to educate viewers on the service Senior Visits provides.

Call 619.596.7090 to inquire about services or set up a meeting.