Marketing and promotions present one of the biggest challenges to anyone who wants to prmotoe a product or service

How to Make Your Video go Viral?

You publish the video on Youtube. You embed it in a webpage on your website. You share it on Facebook, Linkedin, etc. The business that it generates is going to come from traffic that you have coming to your site and Facebook page. But what if you could generate massive traffic from Youtube?

When you go to Youtube you will see an advert at the top of the page – and then there will be a block of recommended videos – and further down a series of recommended videos from Youtube channels that you have previously visited. Overtime the recommended videos will tend to match your preferences.

On some screens you will also see a list of videos that are trending. These are videos that have become very popular in the last 24 hours or so. Unlike some online video hosting sites like Vimeo, Youtube works very hard to promote your videos to your potential audience. The rest is up to you.

The decision to watch a video will be based upon the thumbnail image, the title, and the channel name. Keep in mind that on a hand held device the thumbnail may be quite small and only a few words of the title may be visible. This means you need to make a decision to watch a video based upon a tiny amount of information.

Once someone clicks on your video you need to engage and hold their attention. Typically the best strategy is to get straight into the content and give the viewer what they want. If the viewer values your video then they may hit the like button and subscribe but to build an audience you need to take care of every element.

To start with your logo should be visible on the screen the entire length of the video. Running text along the bottom of the screen will help in memory retention. And then you need to make multiple calls to action. Specifically tell the viewer to:

1. Like the video.
2. Subscribe to the video.
3. Tap the bell.
4. Leave a comment.
5. Share the video on Facebook and social media.

Build a Team

Something about the content of your video needs to speak to the needs and wants of your audience. For example, a few weeks ago (Feb 2017) a soldier in Iraq made a video of himself making a political statement. There was nothing really amazing about what he said – it was just a statement but within 24 hrs the video had 1 million views and after a week it had 46 million views. So how to emulate that?

Start by building a powerful team. There are 2 videos on my Youtube channel where I outline the structure of a powerful team.

Part 1. https://youtu.be/TKPb-LgyYyw
Part 2. https://youtu.be/dlkW-99tKSs
eBook: https://www.abbyeagle.com/admin/building-powerful-teams-ebook.pdf

The most important elements to building a powerful team are that the members share a unifying principle; they share the same passion and interest; they share the same purpose and their values motivate them to action in the face of adversity.

And then there needs to be a well defined action plan – and each member needs a job title and description so that they know exactly what they need to do. And then they need to commit to the action and relentlessly persevere until the outcome has been achieved.

How to Make Your Video go Viral

1. You need a team who have agreed to follow the action plan.
2. How many do you need on your team? Ten would be a good start but a hundred would be better – and a thousand would be fantastic – and ten thousand would be awesome.
3. Choose the video that you want to promote.
4. Check the Youtube channel metrics.
- Current total subscribers.
- Number of subscribers over the last 28 days.
- Number of views over the last 28 days.
- Minutes watched over the last 28 days.
- Number of views and likes the specific video has.
- Number of views that other similar videos have on the channel.
- Number of comments.

Contact your team. If you have less than a hundred on your team you might want to execute the plan within a 48 hour period. If you have a thousand or more you might want to spread it out over a week.

You need some way to co-ordinate the action plan without making it too obvious to the rest of the world. Where possible anonymity could be a good idea.

It would also be a good idea to spread the entry point. So that means that you might post the video on your Facebook page. When team members see the video on their timeline they should click on the video to watch it. Open the video so that it runs on Youtube and not in Facebook. Let the video run to the end. Click on ‘like’. Click on ‘subscribe’. Click on the bell. Clicking on the bell means that you will get notification when more videos are uploaded to the channel. Leave a comment. Then share the video on Facebook and other social media sites.

When you go back to Facebook you will see the video that you shared, and perhaps postings made by others on your team. Like, comment and share as appropriate.

Rather than clicking on the video on the Facebook page some team members may prefer to click on a link in an email or to search for the video title and enter that way. So that gives you 3 entry points which probably sits better with Youtube. From a Facebook post; from an email or by searching Youtube. I am not familiar with Twitter but I am sure that Twitter could also be used in some way or other.

Why go to such great efforts?
On Youtube when you click on – like, subscribe, the bell and share the video – Youtube takes note of this and ranks the video higher – so that it will move up the page of the search results. It is also more likely to be recommended by Youtube and with a bit of luck it may appear as a trending video.

Analyse the results
Monitor the progress of the marketing campaign to see where you could improve – and then design a new campaign. Make sure that you acknowledge and reward the efforts of your team.

Connect With Other Youtubers

You should make a list of Youtubers who you admire and then look for ways to connect with them and get on their channel. Once you get others commenting on your video there is an increased chance that it could go viral.

Recently Melbourne City Council, Australia, spent a lot of money to replace the image of the little walking man at traffic intersections with the image of a woman. I noticed that this was picked up by a number of American Youtubers.

So the challenge is how to get noticed – and maybe connect and partner with other Youtube creators? One way is to follow their Facebook page and look for an opportunity to post your video on their timeline. You should also look for opportunities to engage them in conversation. This is where your team could play an important role. Some Youtubers actively invite questions from their audience. But I would suggest that rather than trying to promote yourself you look for ways to add value to their channel.

The Action Plan

YOUTUBE VIDEO PROMOTION
1. Identify your team members.

2. Brief the team on the campaign.

3. Specify the video title and URL (link).

4. Set the start and end dates for the campaign.

5. Specify the desired outcomes.

6. Allocate roles and specify the tasks. For example:
- Send email to team members.
- Click on the link in the email.
- Forward email to friends.
- Search Youtube for the video title.
- Click on the video link in Facebook.

- On Youtube all team members like, subscribe, tap on bell, comment and share the video on social media such as Facebook.

- Monitor and reply to comments on the video on Youtube and on Facebook.
- Share the video on Facebook.

Note: Youtube also collects data on whether the viewer watches the video all the way through. So if a lot of people just clicked on the video, liked and subscribed and shared – and then clicked out after only watching a minute of a ten minute video Youtube would probably determine this was spam – so best to let the video run all the way through.

Analyse the Metrics

- Views, likes, subscribes and comments on Youtube.
- Reach, likes, shares, comments and new followers on Facebook.

Action Plan to Collaborate with Youtubers

- Identify Youtube channels where you would like your content to be shown and commented upon.
- Systematise the contact details for those channels.
- Identify an entry point where you could offer value to that channel.
- Where possible connect on social media.
- Find a way to engage the other channel’s host or producers in a conversation.
- Find a way to get noticed by the other channel.
- In some way establish credibility and status.
- Comment on their videos and Facebook page.
- In some cases the channel will invite viewers to ask a question and give suggestions for content.
- If possible phone or email the channel.
- The biggest challenge every Youtube creator faces is the sheer work load. So by looking for ways to collaborate and share the work load you create a win-win situation.

As you can see there is a lot of work in building relationships with other Youtubers – but working as a team and delegating tasks you can achieve much more than if you tried to do it by yourself.

Copyright © Abby Eagle

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