MonkeyWatcher's Lifestream

Kaitlyn Wilkins (at Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog) gives us a great summary of Youtube's The Myth of the Viral session at the WPP's Stream 2009 conference. I see a lot of advertising agencies failing to make their videos go viral and these fives myths might explain why.

“Viral success happens, but it doesn’t just ‘happen’”.

Myth 1: I don’t have to promote it
The most successful videos are rooted in smart creative and promotion.  Videos need a robust syndication and promotion plan that incorporates elements such as video ads, brand integration on .coms, influencer outreach, and social networking plays.(...)

Myth 2: I can just put a video on YouTube and users will find it
Naming, tagging, and engaging content people spend time with all help you index on YouTube.  To stand out you have to understand search terms that people use, and search optimize against those words.(...)

Myth 3: Consumers don’t like branded content
Branding is ok if it’s tasteful and appropriate to the content – stripping the brand out, or having all UGC content is not necessary.  Examples:  Samsung Omnia i900 Unboxing, riffing on the unboxing video trend (3MM views), or my favorite Smirnoff Raw Tea Partay (5MM views).(...)

Myth 4: It’s not just about one video
Come up with ideas that people can replicate easily, so that viewers feel empowered to create additional content in response to the original piece.   If you’re smart, you can build an ecosystem around your content. (...)

Myth 5: Being in control is a good thing
Take advantage of your accidental spokespeople who are creating content without the brands “permissions.” For example, McDonald’s has leveraged a UGC McNuggets rap in advertising, and UK’s  Cillit took advantage of a popular UGC techno remix of one of their commercials.   Another common YouTube fear is the inane comments that are often left on videos, the discussion group felt that brands need to have tolerance for the YouTube community and the good/bad comments – and be confident that silly or unnecessarily disparaging remarks are often shouted down. (...)

Source: Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog.

I was reading a blog post about the Social Media Release Template, version 1.5 on PR-Squared, and it made me think about these emails I keep receiving from bands, record labels and booking agencies. It's really annoying to get hundreds of emails each day, saying "Hey! We are some random band, you should check out our Myspace page, book us and buy our cd". I would be happy to listen to your songs and have a look at your pictures and live videos, but I don't have the time to go to 5 different websites to do it.

What I think bands (and record labels / booking agencies) should do is easy: send a quick press release by email, and provide a link to a social media release (SMR), or, in other words, a page aggregating the various items you want to share (music, pictures, videos, blog posts, tour dates, etc.). To know what you should include in that page, ask yourself what people want to know about your band:

1. People want to listen to the band
   The first thing you want to do when a band contacts you, is to listen to the songs to know who you're dealing with. So, include a Myspace player and the embed code so people can listen to the songs, and share it with their friends or contacts.
2. People need background, booking and contact information
   A quick biography and discography are mandatory, and you should also add any relevant information about your record label, booking agency and past tours / shows. Provide clear contact information; who is taking care of booking your shows, who is in charge of management or distribution, etc. The contact information should include your blog, Twitter, Facebook pages and groups, Youtube channel, Flickr, etc.
3. People want to see some action!
   Listening to the songs is great, but live performance is also important. Don't forget to share pictures and videos (you could do this by using a Youtube channel or a Flickr pool).
4. People want to see the band playing live
   Now that we know how your band sounds like, we would like to see you playing live! So, try to include a listing of the upcoming shows and tours. This list should also include links providing more information about the shows, the venues, or how and where to buy tickets.
5. People like to have recent news and updates about the band
   If you have a (myspace) blog, a tumblr page or a Twitter account, show their feeds on the social media release page! People love to read more about bands, especially when they're on tour or in the studio recording their upcoming album.

So, that is basically what I would put in a social media release for a band (but it could easily be used by record labels and booking agencies to promote new releases, upcoming tours and booking offers). Some last quick thoughts:

• Don't forget to include logos from the band, the record label, the booking agency, sponsorships and any other (relevant) endorsement .
• If you have great reviews or interviews, share them in the SMR and / or highlight the best quotes.
• List some relevant selling points.
• Provide quick links to your online presence: Myspace, Facebook (pages and groups), Last.fm, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, etc.
• Make the whole thing easy to share and embed. Use ShareThis, RSS feeds and widgets.

Feel free to comment if you have any idea or suggestion, I'd be happy to update this post with your thoughts!

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Je lis actuellement "Rumeurs, le plus vieux média du monde" dans le cadre de mon mémoire, et je dois dire qu'un chapitre (La rumeur en marketing, pp. 217-231) a particulièrement attiré mon attention. Jean-Noël Kapferer y décrit, entre autres, les différentes utilisations du bouche-à-oreille par les entreprises. C'est incroyable comme il avait déjà vu juste en 1987! Ce buzz-marketing, que certains qualifient de véritable révolution, n'est finalement qu'une version actualisée (et à la mode?) du marketing de bouche-à-oreille.

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