Super Marketing Videos: Tips to Get Your Virality Started

In today's social media-fueled world, video marketing is becoming a more and more crucial enterprise.

Before the Internet, marketing through video meant producing an ad that would be shown on TV. The expense of both video production and buying ad time made it hard for many small businesses and organizations to even consider it a viable strategy.

Now, however, anyone can upload a marketing viral video to YouTube and promote it through any number of social media outlets.

The Power of Online Video Marketing

People interact with the Internet differently than they read a magazine or watch television. Whether browsing social media or doing specific searches for information, speed and ease is paramount. This makes video a powerful tool.

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Types of Marketing Videos

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There is any number of directions an Internet video marketing campaign can go.

1. Tell A Story (The Type Your Audience Will Want to Hear)

Stories connect with viewers and create emotional reactions. It can be as simple as telling the history about the people who started your company or a fabricated story that will make your company's name stand out. Take this video for example:

Not only did RankPop take a popular YouTube sensation and develop a story around her, we tailored the story to our client base. If your business is slightly edgy and subversive, it makes sense that this is the type of thing your clients (or potential clients) will really love.

2. Demonstrate Strengths

A demonstration of a product or service is a quick and easy way to visually allow the potential customer to see what exactly your company can do. These videos sway through letting the viewer see how your product or service works. It should still be entertaining, but unlike the storytelling method, the meat and potatoes of a demonstration video is showcasing your product’s abilities.

3. The Sales Pitch

Give the customer the low-down on what your product offers. A sales pitch is about generating interest in your product through sharing information, allowing them to choose your product based on the strengths you communicate.

4. A Teaser

Short highlights of your product meant to whet an interest. A teaser is often used prior to launch of a product or service to create some buzz. Video game developers frequently use this to announce an upcoming release. These short videos are specifically crafted to pique interest and leave the viewer wanting more.

There are other types of web video marketing, including combinations of the above ideas. Some are geared towards new customers, others toward existing customers. All videos should be about strengthening your brand.

Setting Sights on Viral Video Marketing

'Viral' is the buzzword in the sharing of Internet content. When something goes viral, large quantities of people are actively sharing your content and it gets a wide exposure that could only happen with social media.

Whether it's The Gregory Brothers autotuning the Bed Intruder song or a cat acting human, the key to a video going viral is that large portions of people who view the video enjoy it enough to share through their social media outlets. It creates a virus-like spread, infecting the minds of people who can't help but pass it along.

Unfortunately, it isn't easy to go viral if it was, everyone would craft a viral marketing video. However, there are a few video marketing tips that could help improve your chances.

1. Be Funny
So much of what gets shared is something that both amuses and is unexpected.

2. Be Interactive
A major part of the Internet community is about viewers of videos getting involved with remixing and recreation. Whether parody or video responses, when the viewer is engaged, the viewer spreads.

3. Be Relevant
People care about issues, and when a video speaks to those issues in a fresh, new way, viewers respond.

Don't Be Afraid of Buzz

Marketing before the release of your video can stir up excitement even before your video is finished. Creating buzz will have people more interested in clicking the play button. Then count down to the launch creating your own hype increases the follow-through of people actually watching your video.

A video that would otherwise land silently on YouTube can rack up hits with some good advance marketing, like with this effort from ProspectMX. PMX came up with a huge idea send Google's Matt Cutts to space and teased it in a way that caused a buzz before the actual launch. When launch day came, it debuted to a built-in audience that anticipated the event well before it went live.

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While you may not create a major viral sensation, doing a marketing video that speaks to your customer base is a great way to increase your visibility and provides a special way to interact with potential clients.