Social Media Marketing can bring in huge numbers of visitors, leads and links. This post will discuss a blog post / video that went viral via social media websites. The owners of the video and blog did not pay to get their content marketed. However, this goes to show you that great content plus having someone active in social media can really increase results.
I often hear that social media marketing cannot be measured or can be difficult to measure. Frankly this is completely not true! I can show you hundreds of examples of effective marketing campaigns and their results. Some good ways to measure social media marketing are:
- Visitors
- Leads
- Backlinks
- Tweets (Twitter)
- Blog Postings
- News Articles & TV
In order to promote something via social media you need at least two factors:
1) Great Content
2) Social Media Marketing Guru
For our case study we will use the “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” video. You are probably one of the 18,393,159 people that have seen this video online. If not go check it our here.
This video was submitted to a few of the social media websites (Digg, Twitter, etc.) on July 19, 2009. Two days later when a social media guru came upon that video it only had 1,200 views on YouTube. Don’t get me wrong, 1,200 views is nothing to frown upon but imagine that number multiplied 5,000 times! (yes it happened)
The original person that submitted it to Digg was not that well connected and therefore within the first 24 hours the video only received 12 Diggs. This is nowhere near the amount of diggs that something would need to hit the front page. In order to get something “popular” on Digg it has to have somewhere between 39 and 250 diggs within a 24-hour period.
This goes to show you no matter how good the content is if you don’t have a person that is connected in the social media circles your good content will go nowhere. My analogy of this is landing a spaceship on the moon and you call a press conference and nobody shows up. Sure, you did a great thing that is news/buzz worthy but you didn’t have the connections to get the media there. Social media marketing is the same way.
The JK Wedding Entrance Dance video did however get a little traction on Twitter. Outspoken Media did a great blog post called “The Power of the Unexpected” that is about thinking outside the box. They used this video as their inspiration to go along with their write up.
This is where the power of social media takes off. An active Digg User submitted the blog post to Digg and within hours the story and video went popular. (hit the front page) As you can see the story gained more than 5,000 diggs. Plus going viral all over the Internet on websites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.
Why didn’t the original video make it to the front page by itself? Again, it takes two things to get stories popular on social media websites Great Content + Social Media Marketing. The original person that submitted the video to Digg has just over 1,200 diggs but less than 10 friends on Digg. It can be very dificult to get stories popular without more connections.
If you are lacking one of these elements then what you are trying to promote will almost certainly fail.
The true power of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Facebook and Twitter can be measured. Below are the staticics from the video and blog post.
Youtube:
First and the easiest are the views the video received on YouTube. The first two days it had about 1,200 views and the next two days it went from 1,200 to just over 6,000,000 views. Now the video is over 18,000,000 views.
Backlinks:
Backlinks are when other websites link to your website. The blog post from Outspoken Media started that day with ZERO backlinks. As of writing this blog post you can see according to Yahoo that single blog post has been linked to over 1,110 times. Why does this matter? Backlinks are what help your website rank high in the search engines. This blog post is only a few weeks old and it’s already ranking for some great keywords in Google.
If you pay a search engine optimization firm to get you over a 1,000 backlinks this can easily cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Unique Visitors:
We do not have specific numbers of how many visits came to their blog post but you can see that it quickly became their most popular post of all time.
Twitter:
As you can see from their blog post that specific page has been “RT” or Re-Tweeted 841 times. You can also use http://twitturly.com to gauge how many tweets your URL received.
News Papers & Media:
A few days after the video went viral several news stations through-out the country had stories on the video. This brought in loads of extra exposure for the makers of the video and even a few national TV interviews.
It has been twenty days since this video hit the Internet and both the blog post and video will continue to gets page views. This is a great example of when you combine great content with social media marketing to achieve outstanding results.
No matter where you go on the net, you will hear the phrase, “Content is king”. Traffic is important of course, but what is keeping them on your page? What is the reason they come back? It isn’t the pretty graphics and cool little advertisements you have going on. What it all comes down to is the connection they feel with the subject, and the writer that is producing it.
Whether you are a website owner trying to provide higher quality content to your readers, or you are a content producer trying to gain new prospects through better quality, you can gain something from here. Long sentence, I know, but I had to incorporate everyone. Just keep in mind that you are here to learn, and you have to put your own spin on things to really become original. Anyone can copy and rewrite, but creating your own brand and personality is where the readership will follow.
So what’s the hold up? Get to the good stuff.
To start, you have to always keep your audience in mind. You need to engage the reader and make your content different from any other person that writes on the same topic. If the average reader is a certain age group, education level, or has a certain level of experience, make sure to target them in your writing. Also, keep all of your writing consistent. Inconsistency will give your readers the impression that your organization skills are nonexistent and will encourage them to stop reading before the end.
You know who your readers are, so now you have to know what they are doing there. What is the point of your content? Seems like a simple question, but often times writers don’t really think about what their writing will do. Are you here to inform? Maybe you are reviewing and selling a product. Whatever the case may be, get into the readers mind set and give them what they want. If they came to you to find out the best casserole recipe, then by God at the end of it they better know which the best is. Inform when appropriate, sell when necessary, and always entertain. No matter how serious the subject material, make sure the reader feels connected to your views, and enjoyed what you had to say.
Now that you have the right mindset, it is time to get into how to write. Try to use bold words when necessary, italicize to emphasize certain parts, and underline accordingly. These action points can increase readers attention, and create a better flow overall. Don’t overdo it! Like anything in life, a little taste can be good, but too much can really put off the average reader.
It’s time to become a real life person.
Hopefully you have a personality at this point in your life. If not, I can sell you one for $24.99, plus shipping and handling. Too steep a price? Alright, I will let you in on a little taste for free. Giving your writing personality is as easy as adding your two cents where appropriate. You don’t always have to have something witty and humorous to say. Just say something that tells the reader, “OK, this is a real person writing this”.
Let’s say you have to write about an acne product. The target audience is in their late teens, early twenties. Desperate for a solution to their problem, they happen upon your website. They already know what the product is supposed to do, how it does it, and what they can expect from purchasing it. Simply stating those facts will have the reader running for true insight. Here is where you have to add a little personal touch.
If you are trying to keep it as professional as possible, avoid a story and state a simple fact that has improved your life. “Other so called acne solutions have always left skin peeling, red glaring examples of their inability to work on my face. With so and so product, no redness or irritation occurred, and I could vibe out to the latest club banger without fear of being seen“. This will create an instant connection to you and the material.
As long as you are capable of coming across with some kind of personal insight, people will instinctively listen to what you have to say. Add some flare, make a joke, and give some personal enlightenment that you recently achieved. Continue to sharpen your writing skills and you will soon have no problem keeping the audience happy.
1) BackType
2) Minggl
3) Flock
4) Social Mention
URL: http://www.socialmention.com/
5) Social Media for Firefox
URL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7888
6) TwitterFox
URL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5081
7) PostRank
Many local business merchants want to know what they can do to help promote their business online. Today we are going to discuss marketing for Twitter. Some are caught up in the notion that Social Media Marketing only works if your a big company with national or global clients. This could not be further from the truth and we are going to provide you with 7 examples of how local merchants are promoting themselves online via Social Media Marketing.
1) The Hotel
Hotel Max (Seattle, WA) is the former Vance Hotel which combines art and luxury. The hotel showcases 39 local Seattle artists and photographers, along with nationally known artists.
@hotel_max utilizes their Twitter profile to mention local events, provide discounts, answer questions and has contest giveaways. At least a few times per week they seem to be having “giveaways” where followers can win some prizes like Art Galleries, Max bag and Art Books.
2) The Book Store
Book People (Austin, TX)
Book People is the largest independent bookstore in Texas. They are located in Austin and use Twitter (@BookPeople) to spread the word about new books, pre-orders and book signings.
3) The Coffee Shop
Pumphreys Coffee Roasters (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK)
Pumphrey’s Coffee is based at Bridge Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Along with coffee tips and lots of great informational tweets via @PumphreysCoffee about coffee and tea. This is how they connect with customers letting them know about the Coffee of the Day and their promotional items.
4) The Salon
Emerson Salon (Seattle, WA)
Emerson Salon is located in the Capitol Hill Seattle area. @emersonsalon tweets connect with their followers and provide information about new stylists and hair tips.
5) The Clothing Store
Banana Republic (Fashion Square Scottsdale, AZ)
Banana Republic is a large company but at least in one of their stores someone (@BRFashionSquare) has focused on Twitter Marketing. This is actually very rare for a large company with multiple locations but others should take note. This is a great way for their customers to keep in touch and find out about new arrivals and promotions.
6) The Wedding Planner
Bridal Bar (Los Angeles & San Diego, CA)
Bridal Bar is a high-end complimentary planning experience where brides and their families can educate themselves with the assistance of knowledgeable wedding professionals. Harmony, the Founder of Bridal Bar, tweets from @bridalbar about special events to stay connected to her Twitter followers.
7) The Band
RevelationSeven (St. Louis, MO)
RevelationSeven is a band based out of the St. Louis area. They use Twitter (@revelationseven) to stay connected to their fans and provide information about upcoming events.
After using Twitter (follow us) for a few months, we have now created a wish list of the things we want to see from Twitter. This in no way means that we do not like Twitter, actually we find it to be an excellent vehicle for communication. These are only our top nine and we would like to hear what you guys think or if you have any suggestions of what you would like to see from Twitter.
1) Twitter Dating
2) Groups or Tagging
In the modern digital age there is no more valuable method of self-expression than the Blog. The Internet has become the source of informational revolution, a place where ideas and dreams collide, forming a unique opportunity to expose the truth of who we as humans are to each other. A completely new and unique idea, The Kizzog, introduces children to this powerful medium. The Kizzog offers the opportunity to communicate and interact in the digital age of now and beyond. Below are 50 reasons YOUR child should have, and will benefit from a Kizzog Kids Blog. read more»
