Wow, that’s a lot of keywords in one title. Anyway, Techcrunch have an interesting post by a guest blogger whose company specialises in making sure client’s media “goes viral”. Rather than focusing on the content of the video, they perform what can possibly be called Media Website Optimisation (MWO). Here’s a sysnopsis of their secrets:
- Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem
- Secret #2. Content is NOT King
- Secret #3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page
- Secret #4. Title Optimization
- Secret #5. Thumbnail Optimization
- Secret #6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself
- Secret #7. Releasing all videos simultaneously
- Secret #8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole
- Secret #9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness
While some of the techniques are questionable and contravene YouTube’s Terms of Service, some offer good insight. Techniques like “releasing all videos simulatneously” are something that I would never have considered, though things like strategic tagging and the correct use of metrics and tracking are essential for any sort of information release.
What is particularly interesting though, is the comment trail following the post. These range all the way from “Thanks, what an excellent post” to “Techcrunch is now advocating deceiving viewers”. Mike Arrington, who is responsible for TechCrunch had been a pretty staunch adversary of PayPerPost’s initial non-disclosure attitude, and was quick to leave a comment that he did not agree with the post. He says he’ll be posting a response to it soon, so we’ll have to wait and see what he things. Still, it’s a testament to the Techcrunch that the post wasn’t deleted outright but allowed to take part in the discussion.
Or was it? The whole post screams LINKBAIT to me. It’s the sort of thing that gets people linking to your website, posting about the issue and generating huge amounts of traffic for your website. If anything is viral about that post, it’s the post itself, more than it’s content. You can read more about this particular post here, here, here, here and here. Great work Dan, you’ve certainly managed to get everyone talking about your company!
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Posted by: Owen
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Site Search Tags:disclosure, linkbait, techcrunch, viral-videos, youtube
