Video Search Engine Optimization is a pretty hot topic among marketers recently. Deservedly so now that search engines are offering “blended results” where videos and web pages show up on the same page in response to a search query. Forrester Research found that videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive an organic first-page ranking…and those are very attractive odds. So, what’s the best way for your company to take advantage of the search engine’s new-found voracious appetite for video?
One good way is for your company to create viral videos. They call them “viral” because it appeals to people in some way. As a result, they pass it along to others via email or an embedded link in a web page, blog or social networking site. The key to creating a “viral” video is to have that process occur repetitiously, thus exponentially increasing the chance that your video will rank higher on search engine result pages. This will help you get more eyeballs on your brand.
The reason for creating a viral video is to increase the number of eyes on your brand, your product, well just on you in general. That’s why a viral video made for the purpose of promoting your brand is called “Branded Entertainment;” yet another recent addition to the marketing lexicon. One of the tried and true methods for helping your video go viral is to make it funny or cute. Here’s an example of a branded entertainment piece that we created for People for Puget Sound. It’s a Public Service Announcement about an Angry Salmon who hates pollution. Be careful, he may be coming for you next!
Of course, a branded entertainment video can be passed along because it appeals to people’s interests. There’s not much that’s more interesting to a lot of people than booze. Consider the case of Demitri’s Bloody Mary Seasonings. They had no idea that one of their customers had embedded their YouTube link into their own popular web site until the hits on their video skyrocketed. You can make the hits on your own videos skyrocket on purpose. We’ll show you how. In the meantime, check out the branded entertainment piece that broke out big for Demitri’s.
Finally, who can forget the mass of Soccer fans we have in Seattle? If you wanna make a big splash without resorting to a man-sized salmon, try adding a celebrity to your branded entertainment video. This piece, featuring Fredy Montero a forward for the Seattle Sounders FC, served us well from a viral perspective because soccer fan sites and blogs embedded our YouTube link within their own sites. All we had to do was tell them it was there. Check out Fredy Montero in this dreamy, stop motion sequence we shot for Comcast Cable:
Chances are that you’re not going to do too much with a branded entertainment piece if all you do is post it on a video hosting site like YouTube or Vimeo. In order for people to find your video, you have to put it right under their noses and wave your arms around screaming, “watch me, watch me!” But, with a little strategy and key promotion techniques, you might just have the next hit video on your hands. Look us up for help creating your company’s next branded entertainment piece. And, for information on making that piece go viral, check out our newest whitepaper: Simple Steps to Maximize the Impact of Your Video.
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