Vying for Online Video Viewers

If you post it, they will not necessarily watch. That's what I'm learning as I test a viral marketing effort on YouTube, LiveVideo and other video networking and community sites.

The emergence of limitless user and brand generated online video content has attracted widespread comment and a land rush by content owners and creators to meet or intersect potential friends and customers on these sites. But the use of this channel to achieve marketing objectives is as beguiling as it is intriguing.

I'm astounded at the sheer quantity of material that ranges from stupid cat tricks to TV bootlegs to endless confessions to well produced material created specifically for web viewing and downloads. Overnight we've become a nation of film directors and videographers committed to the notion that a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture is exponentially better.

David Parmet, an online PR expert, argues in his "Marketing Begins At Home" blog that "social media are not sales channels, they are conversation channels." So marketers should "think of yourselves as conversationalists" and emphasize the connection by listening and reacting rather than robotically trumpeting the product message. And while we think that we can intersect with and begin a conversation with prospective customers using this "infotainment" or "edutainment" venue, getting eyeballs and turning those eyeballs into sales is still a matter of trial and error.

Consider my going-in assumptions

1. My target psycho-demographic are actively using these sites.

2. My video is search-able, tagged and can be aligned or grouped with like material.

3. By linking video with my website, blog, Myspace page, iTunes or other content sources, I can facilitate broad and easy access to my message and stimulate traffic.

4. If the content is compelling and resonates with my target audience, they will help drive traffic and by sharing the links and virally extend the campaign.

So based on these assumptions, we put up a sequence of 3 videos aimed at 25-35 year-old mostly male IT guys in small and medium businesses. Our videos are a mix of live action video showing "real" working situations and animation using World of Warcraft characters as a familiar motif and as a way to give voice to and project IT guy's usually stifled emotional reactions to routine office situations.

Here's what we've learned so far:

A. Shorter clips get more views

B. Animation gets more play than live action

C. Search engines drive significant traffic to video sites

D. We doubled our traffic by actively commenting on blogs and posting opinions in community forums which includes a link to our video   

E. We are betting that more links = more traffic. We are expanding the linkages among campaign elements and reaching out in a broader circle to online communities to expand the conversation.

F. The tune-in burden is entirely ours. Unlike TV or cable channels where no matter what you do somebody will watch your stuff, we have no baseline audience online. The video sites are platforms. They don't come with built-in viewership.

The campaign is still rolling out. Stay Tuned.