Social Media, Endorsements and Engagement
Last week, we looked at the psychological drivers and emotional triggers that can cause a video to ‘go viral.’ Specifically, we looked at Kony 2012, a video that had been viewed nearly 80 million times, shared 8+ million times and generated 650,000+ comments (at the time of the writing of the article nearly 10 days ago). In addition to being #1 on the video viral chart for the last two weeks, the same video with Spanish subtitles is also ranked #11 on the Video Viral Chart.
What was interesting about the Kony 2012 video was that it wasn’t selling a product or service. The video’s goal was to raise global awareness about Joseph Kony (who has been indicted by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity… particularly against children) and lead to his capture. In that regard, the Kony video was a call to action. From a purely marketing perspective, the video’s message was successful in generating strong emotional responses from viewers, educating viewers on a little-known topic, and aligning itself with a cause to which most people could easily identify and support. These are considered some of the key psychological drivers that cause a video to be widely shared.
One may wonder, though, if brand-generated videos (such as a webisode or a commercial) could possibly generate such strong emotional responses as the Kony 2012 video did. The simple answer is yes. Even brand-generated videos can and do ‘go viral.’ But it doesn’t happen automatically. There are factors that spur the viral effect. So what did Invisible Children, the creator of the Kony 2012 video, do to become the fastest-spreading viral video campaign in history? Besides offering a message that was emotionally-charged, aligned with an important value and full of little-known information, the creators also did a few other things.
1. They grabbed the audience’s attention.
Kony’s video quickly engaged the viewer with a compelling text message, graphics and the first statement that “There are more people on Facebook today than there were people in the world 200 years ago.” With that, the viewer’s attention was immediately focused on the power of social media.
2. They used social media to spread the word.
The Invisible Children organization had strong base of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter followers, which allowed them to spread their message using social media very effectively.
3. They got endorsements.
Invisible Children obtained endorsements from 20 global celebrities as well as from 12 major political figures including Past Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton as well as Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Those people then sent links to the video to their own Facebook, YouTube and Twitter followers. They then urged their millions of followers to retweet the link.
4. They urged viewers to get involved.
The Kony 2012 video urged viewers to join the effort to raise awareness about Kony’s crimes. They asked viewers to help pressure Ugandan government officials to arrest Kony by the end of 2012 by writing to their elected officials. Viewers were empowered to help catch the Ugandan rebel.
5. The made the video easy to share.
They made sure the video has the technical elements needed to make it easy to share it with others.
6. They made the video findable by search engines.
They made sure that thumbnail images appeared in search directories and imbedded links.
While no brand-generated video has had as many views as the Kony 2012 video within such a short span of time, a lot of videos have been viewed tens of millions of times and two have passed the 100,000,000 threshold. This is based on views of the original clip uploaded by the brand or agency as well as the clips that audiences copied, mixed, mashed, spoofed and reposted across the web.
The most successful brand video series was made by Blendtec, a company that makes blenders. Ranked at #1, their videos have had over 173,300,000 views as of August, 2011. Evian, the bottled water company, put out a video that ranked #2, with over 158,000,000 views at that same time. But few brand videos have crossed the 100,000,000 view threshold. Getting over 100,000,000 online views of a ‘commercial’ is challenging. After all, people actually record TV programs so they can later fast-forward through the commercials. For people to actually choose to watch a brand video online is pretty impressive. That is usually a sign that the video struck an emotional chord with the audience.
Here are some interesting things to keep in mind about brand videos.
1. Videos continue to be viewed long, long after they are broadcast or posted. While Blendtec’s video may have been ranked #1 seven months ago and continues to have over 700,000 views each week, Evian’s video is getting over 1.1 million views each week. At that pace, Evian’s ad will likely replace Blendtec’s video for first place this year.
2. New videos are viewed more when they are initially released and then their popularity fades. A video could generate 35,000,000 views during the first week, and within six months, be down to generating about 200,000 views a week. That’s typical.
3. Videos that generated strong emotional responses not only can continue to reach audiences long after their initial burst of popularity wears off, but they can be revived when new videos are launched by the same creator. This is called ‘viral reactivation.’
4. Although most highly-successful videos are made by professional ad agencies, a few of the most popular ever were created in-house. Videos don’t have to be slick to go viral.
Quote of the Week
“It’s essential to have a point of view that puts a stake in the ground and breaks through the clutter.” Lynn Power ArnoldNYC
© 2012, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.
