Monthly Archives: April 2015

How Can You Measure The Success of a Viral Marketing Campaign?

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My previous blogs have discussed how distribution strategies can effect whether content goes viral, what makes people want to share viral content and questioned whether or not viral marketing is the be all and end all of modern day marketing. Possibly the most important questions that businesses may ask is; how can we measure the success of our viral campaign?

The first and obvious way to measure the success of a marketing campaign is to record whether target qualified leads are generated and therefore an increase in brand awareness achieved. However, it is difficult to attribute a lead or sale directly to the campaign itself. Furthermore, Bazadonna (2006) indicates that the current practice of measuring the number of “hits” or “impressions” does little more than define the level of activity, and is not a suitable measure of the success of a viral campaign.

A secondary measure involves measuring engagement: user behavior and interaction with the campaign. Viral marketing is one strategy for achieving a specific goal, and only in relation to this goal can a firm evaluate the viral reach and effect of each campaign. Oddcast (2010) published that viral marketing generally has one of the following three goals:

  • Lead Generation
  • Brand Exposure
  • Conversion

Further information can be found at http://www.oddcast.com/pdf/Oddcast_Reporting.pdf

A viral campaign can have millions of users and hundreds of thousands of posts to Facebook, but if it does not actually achieve its foundational goal then a firm can hardly define it a success. User sessions, emails sent, time spent on the application – all are meaningless unless the campaign makes progress towards a defined and measurable goal.

Helm (2000) suggests that the target of viral marketers is to maximise reach. She argues that this criterion is vital in achieving competitive advantage through a viral message; however, there is no empirical evidence to support this. In contrast, Juvertson (2000) indicates that an ideal viral message will convert and retain a large number of recipients as new users, so he advocates penetration, loyalty and frequency as appropriate evaluative criteria. Welker (2002) suggested that viral efforts should be measured in the dimensions of velocity (speed with which it is shared), persistence (how long it is repeatedly posted on social media) and transmission convenience (simplicity in regards to ease of sharing, but also cost of producing to the firm).

It seems then, that there is no agreed upon way to measure the success of a viral marketing campaign. The approaches used to measure and evaluate the relative success of viral marketing are many and varied. They range from changes in attitude and behaviour, including the number of new users or levels of loyalty, to measures of reach, frequency, penetration, speed of transmission and the content of conversations, to mention a few (Cruz & Fill, 2008).

Viral marketing is a developing and emerging sector and it is important that agencies are able to understand how viral marketing works, in order to be able to evaluate the contribution this type of campaign makes to a firm’s marketing communications. It seems apparent clear objectives need to be set prior to any evaluation exercise, in order to understand what it is the firm is attempting to measure. However, broad objectives alone are insufficient and specific evaluation criteria are necessary to provide suitable campaign measurement (Cruz & Fill, 2008). Lake (2009) states that before starting a viral campaign it is best to benchmark where the firms current metrics stand, suggesting:

  1. Make a note of the obvious numbers (number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, digital links, bookmarks and referrals from social media sites, plus existing website traffic).
  2. Make a note of the less obvious benchmarks (such as SEO rankings and referrals, customer satisfaction scores and other business data).
  3. Make a note of ROI benchmarks. How much are you paying to acquire customers via other marketing channels? How vast is that advertising budget, and how is it being split up? And what proportion is being directed into channels that you cannot accurately measure?

Lake (2009) goes on to give his top 10 ways to measure a viral campaign’s success, for further information click this link – Chris Lake Top 10 Tips

 

References

Bazadonna, D. (2006), “Getting viral” [Online] < www.clickz.com/experts/archives/design/site_dev/article.php/830401 > [Accessed 28 April 2015]

Cruz, D. & Fill, C. (2008) “Evaluating viral marketing: isolating the key criteria”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 26 Iss: 7, pp.743 – 758

Helm, S. (2000), “Viral marketing: establishing customer relationship by ‘word‐of‐mouse’”, Electronic Markets, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 158‐61.

Juvertson, S. (2000), “What is viral marketing?”, Draper Fisher Juvertson. [Online] < www.dfj.com/cgi‐bin/artman/publish/printer_steve_may00.shtml > [Accessed 28 April 2015]

Lake, C. (2009) 10 Ways to Measure Social Media Success [Online < https://econsultancy.com/blog/3407-10-ways-to-measure-social-media-success/ > [Accessed 28 April 2015]

Oddcast (2010) Oddcast Reporting [Online] < http://www.oddcast.com/pdf/Oddcast_Reporting.pdf > [Accessed 28 April 2015]

Welker, C.B. (2002), “The paradigm of viral communications”, Information Services & Use, Vol. 22, pp. 3‐8.

Viral Marketing Campaigns – Are They All They’re Cracked Up To Be?

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So far all my blogs have taken the stance that viral advertising is most definitely the way forward and something all companies should be striving for, however is this statement true? To be clear we must first define what viral marketing is. Wilson (2000) describes viral marketing as any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, thus creating the potential for exponential growth in the exposure and influence of the message. Therefore, the concept refers to a message that spreads to other people because the first recipient liked it and chose to send the message on to others, using what some people prefer to call ‘word-of-mouse’ communication (Klopper, 2002).

Although there is much evidence proving the inclusion of a viral marketing strategy in a company’s operations is beneficial, there are reasons that exist which suggest it can also have adverse effects. As expressed by Krishnamurthy (2000), the problems that can hinder a viral advertising campaign include:

• Brand Control: Should an advert be successful in going viral, it is then out of the firms control. Knowing precisely who is viewing the content is impossible to measure, many being people outside of the initial circle the firm was trying to connect with, therefore the content could be viewed as something it is not. As well as this, it is possible for the message to be modified by people with the acumen and knowledge to do so before being shared or passed on, leading to variability and uncertainty, potentially being harmful. Furthermore, should the content be shared via email some consumers may perceive the content as spam, thus having a negative impact on the brand image (Klopper, 2002).

• Uncharted Growth: Viral marketing can lead to unanticipated exponential growth patterns. This may force firms to alter strategic direction to cope with demand in a relatively short period of time, whilst attempting to stay in control and fully understand the necessary processes. This was the case for email providers ‘Hotmail’, in which many individuals in India began emailing each other, contributing to the use of the Hotmail service shooting up and it was unsure as to whether the company expected this growth or even wanted it.

• Lack of Measurement: The challenge of measuring whether a viral advertising campaign is effective or successful can be extremely difficult. It is very difficult to track or measure where a sale has come from, was it a result of the advert campaign or just a generic sale from other sources? Being unable to track the results of a campaign renders it useless,  particularly as there are other marketing strategies which can be adopted which enable increased ease of measurement.

Thevenot & Watier (2001) document their worries with viral marketing campaigns, agreeing with Klopper (2002) that viral content being confused with spam messages is a major concern for viral marketing. They state ‘companies wishing to use viral marketing campaigns need to make sure the motivation they offer persons to spread the buzz is not so great that it encourages spamming’. Spam messages can exhaust a potential customer’s patience and affiliation with a brand; even turning the consumer against a brand due to spam messages. Klopper (2002) suggests that a way to get around this obstacle is having a disclaimer at the top or beginning of the viral content reminding consumers that they did ‘opt-in’ to receive this content, however at the same time the content must always carry an ‘opt-out’ option should the consumer wish to do so.

It is important for a company who is looking to develop a viral ad campaign to recognise and understand the areas of vulnerability and problem before implementing their campaign. In the digital age, it might well be possible to include consumers in marketing and let them spread the word to millions around the world. However, companies that pursue this tactic should remember that it is no miracle cure for their marketing ills. At best, it is a way to support a broad marketing programme. At worst, it is an awful little bug spread by desperate marketers and their unsuspecting consumers. Below is an example where viral marketing has taken a turn for the worse, in this case at the expense of Microsoft!

Vista Install In 2 Minutes

 

References

Klopper, H.B. (2002) Viral Marketing: A Powerful, But Dangerous Marketing Tool. South African Journal Of Information Management. Vol. 4 (Issue 2).

Krishnamurthy, S. (2000) Is Viral Marketing All It’s Cracked up to Be? Click Z. 9 May 2000 [Online] http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1703213/is-viral-marketing-all-its-cracked-be [accessed 3 May 2014]

Thevenot, C. & Watier, K. (2001) Viral Marketing. Washington: Georgetown University Press

Wilson, R.F. 2000. The six simple principles of viral marketing. Web Marketing Today (70):1–4. [Online]. < http://www.jrlenterprises.com/viral-marketing.htm > [accessed 27 April 2015]

Can a Firm Increase Sales by Indulging in a Blog?

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Blogs are a relatively recent phenomena, a channel of communication developed with the evolution of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 tools have changed the focus from the company to the customer. Broadly, Web 2.0 differs from Web 1.0 in that it is customer-centric, user-generated, interactive and dynamic, fosters community participation, and builds on collective community intelligence. Blogs are one of the leading tools in the next generation of the Internet tools in Web 2.0 (Singh, Veron-Jackson & Cullinane, 2008). Where in the beginning it was considered a bit strange or quirky to have one, in present times the role of blogs have become increasingly mainstream, as news services and even political candidates begin using them as tools for outreach and opinion formation.

The emergence, proliferation, and ubiquity of the Internet have not only transformed businesses, but also altered the relationship between businesses and the customer. Recent advances in technology have helped to migrate this relationship to an interactive level where technology contributes to brand building by creating and sustaining a long-term relationship with the customer. From a business perspective, the marketing power of a blog can enhance the consumers trust in a company, allowing the company name to be remembered, or in the case of smaller firms, to just be recognized in the industry. Sherwood (2011) describes a blog as ‘a long-term marketing asset that will bring traffic and leads to your business’.

In an age where everything is done electronically, the Yankelovich Partners Study in BusinessWire (2005) found customers respond more favorably to marketing when they have control over what they see, when they see it, whether it can be personalized to fit their needs, and when they can be active participants in the marketing process. Essentially, people may not be averse to marketing messages when they can control their delivery and format, and when the messages are personally meaningful to them. Marketing has seen a paradigm shift towards appealing to emotions of the consumer, creating a lasting impression and further building the relationship between business and consumer. Blogs are one way that businesses can make marketing more personal, many believing that they are now a prerequisite to a marketing strategy (Singh, Veron-Jackson & Cullinane, 2008).

According to Hafner (2011) a blog with regular postings will aid if trying to achieve the following:

  • Getting your business to be remembered – it humanizes a faceless business
  • Generate traffic to your e-commerce site.
  • Overall increase profit, with better leads.

Despite all this the question still remains, can a blog successfully lead to increased sales?

According to 1&1, a web hosting company, a blog can successfully increase sales and they outline three ways in which it can:

  •  Increase in web traffic – more visitors through the blog will hopefully connect to an increase in revenue, more visitors provides the opportunity to potentially make a sale. In addition, the new content a blog creates enables an improvement in search engine optimization (SEO), meaning your web page will appear higher on results lists of search engines such as Google.
  • Delivering expertise and knowledge – by providing content that can answer a lot of the questions that buyers may have in your industry, customers will view your business as a reliable and trustworthy source, creating brand loyalty thus hopefully encouraging repeat business.
  • Developing a relationship with the customer – similar to the previous, factors such as brand recognition and brand loyalty prevail. Within the blog a firm can communicate directly to customers to satisfy their individual needs, this in turn may be relayed by them to colleagues or friends, creating a viral trend through word of mouth.

Hubspot carried out a study to analyse ‘how often does one proceed to a purchase decision with blogging research?’ Results indicated that 71% of respondents stated that blogs affect their purchasing decisions, either to a certain degree or fully taken into account (Sherwood, 2011). As well as this, they found that blog frequency impacts customer acquisition. They discovered that in 2012, 92% of companies who produced multiple blog posts a day acquired a customer directly via their blog (HubSpot, 2014).

What about the risks of blogging?
Employee blogs limit the control corporations have on certain information as there is a chance for damaging content being exposed to the public. In addition blogs from the outside world in the form of customer blogging, perceived experts or even people hired by competitors of a company can be used to attack a certain product or company. Cox, Martinez & Quinlan (2008) explain this is full, along with an in-depth analysis of the relationships between blogging and corporations. Please search for the article in the references below on Google Scholar.

Further limitations include lack of control and commitment to continuity. To read more follow the link – http://http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0007681308000323
References
Business Wire. (2005, April 18). Marketers must change how they appeal to consumers if they want to capitalize on promise of new media, according to study; Yankelovich unveils new marketing receptivity study at ARF conference. [Online] < http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_April_18/ai_n13627973 > [accessed 27 April 2015]

Cox, J., Martinez, E. & Quinlan, K. (2008) Blogs and the corporation: managing the risk, reaping the benefits. Journal of Business Strategy. Vol. 29 (Issue 3), pp. 4-12

Hafner (2011) Blog [Online] http://www.hafnercreative.com/Blog/bid/59291/How-does-blogging-increase-sales [accessed 27 April 2015]

HubSpot (2014) Marketing Statistics [Online] http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics [accessed 27 April 2015]

Sherwood, G. (2011) Why Successful Companies Use Blogs to Grow Their Business. DBC Digital. 1 December 2011 [Online] http://www.dbcdigital.com/blog-0/bid/108416/Why-Successful-Companies-Use-Blogs-to-Grow-Their-Business [accessed 27 April 2015]

Singh, T., Veron-Jackson, L. & Cullinane, J. (2008) Blogging: A New Play in Your Marketing Game Plan. Business Horizons. Vol. 51 (Issue 4), pp. 281-292

Internet ‘Word of Mouth Marketing’: The Most Influential Factor in Consumer Perception?

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The main obstacle associated with viral advertising campaigns is the risk from unsuccessfully connecting with its desired target audience, or any audience for that matter. The primary contributor to effective communication in an advertising campaign is the content that it’s made up of, as well as the ability of the content to articulate a consistent  narrative that delivers a compelling story. According to Llopis (2014), content marketing is a powerful way to create a long lasting, fruitful relationship with consumers. This relationship holds particular significance to any company, not just for the direct components of the acquisition process as well as repeat purchase, but also for the indirect components, which includes word-of-mouth (WOM).

Word of Mouth Marketing is:

a) giving people a reason to talk about you

b) making it easier for the conversation to take place.

It is via WOM that information dissemination occurs rapidly (Woerndl et al., 2008). However, information that is passed on can take either a positive or negative form, depending on the satisfaction level of the consumer. Negative WOM communication has more of an impact when influencing consumers than positive WOM, significantly affecting a consumer’s views on a particular product (Solomon, 2014). Previous research conducted by Solomon (2003) has found that ‘90% of dissatisfied consumers do not purchase products or services of the company involved in the negative word-of-mouth communication’, further supported by Whitler (2014) stating that 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising.

The realisation of ‘eWOM’ became apparent in the 1990s, the creation of Web 2.0 allowing consumers to generate content and thus spread information via a virtual community (Marsden, 2006). The best example of this is the website TripAdvisor, where consumers can review hotels they’ve stayed at during holidays, allowing others to see past the marketing and glossy photos many hotels post on their official web pages. Many hotel websites now feature the reviews they have received on TripAdvisor as a result. According to Varadarajan and Yadav (2002), the emergence of eWOM has led to four important transitions in the buying environment:

1. Facilitating access to the type and amount of information associated with price and non-price attributes of competing product offers.
2. Increasing ease of comparing and evaluating alternatives in the buyers’ consideration set.
3. Improving quality of information.
4. Organising and structuring information.

This new revolution in the way consumers communicate their opinions is leading to a change in the way marketers think too. Whereas we are used to reading about the 4 Ps, there is now a focus on the 3 Es; Engage, Equip, Empower. Mastering these techniques theoretically should lead to the company winning the popularity contest amongst consumers. To further elaborate on the 3 Es, this is what they stand for (Whitler, 2013):

Engage – Give consumers the gift of you, engage with them and listen to what they are telling you. Be part of the conversation about your brand. Be a presence in your fans’ lives. A prime example of a firm doing this is @NikeSupport on Twitter. They constantly respond to followers , answering queries on their apparel, Fuel Band or other products. Every few minutes they respond to someone new.

Equip – Make a consumer have reason to talk about the firm. It can be amazing products, great service, insider knowledge, social elevation, incredible stories, unbelievable facts or amusing disclosures. It depends on the company understanding their consumers and what they like about them, providing whatever it is they need. Apple revolutionizes technological devices and delivers amazing products to its consumers, allowing them to naturally rave about the newest iPhone. Another area to excel in and that’s on the rise is social customer service.

Empower – Give consumers different ways to talk and share. Make them feel special by letting them know they are important to the firm and that sharing their opinions is important to the firm. Lay’s is an excellent example to highlight how they empowered their fans to “Do Us a Flavor,” and allow consumers to create a new flavor of potato chips to hit store shelves. Over 3.8 million submissions were sent in 2013 making it one of the biggest marketing campaigns for PepsiCo owned Frito-Lay.

Given that this is not a new concept it is difficult to understand why it has taken marketers so long to grasp. A general consensus is that technology has made this concept a far more efficient tool, and learning how to adapt technology to suit this method has been the main stumbling block (Whitler, 2013). Given these changes, WOM, and indeed eWOM, will become more influential to advertising campaigns and it is this effect, sometimes known as the ‘snowball effect’ which allows an advertising campaign to go viral. An advert that has attempted to grasp the 3 Es is the clip below, which achieved over 6.5 million views on the day it was released.

Volvo Epic Split

References

Llopis, G. (2014) Top 7 Reasons Your Content Goes Viral. Forbes. 24 February, 2014 [Online] http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/02/24/top-7-reasons-your-content-goes-viral/ [accessed 27 April 2015]

Marsden, P. (2006) Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution. Oxford: Elsevier

Solomon, M. (2003) Conquering Consumer space; Marketing Strategies for a Branded World. New York: Amacom

Solomon, M. (2004) Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having and Being. New Jersey: Pearson

Varadarajan, P. & Yadav, M. (2002) Marketing strategy and the internet: an organizing framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol. 30 (Issue 4), pp. 296–312.

Whitler, K (2014) Why Word of Mouth Marketing Is the Most Important Social Media. Forbes. 7 July 2014 [Online] < http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/ > [Accessed 27 April 2015]

Woerndl, M., Papagiannidis, S., Bourlakis, M., Li, F. (2008) Internet-induced marketing techniques: Critical factors in viral marketing campaigns. International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, Vol. 3 (Issue 1) pp. 34-45

Viral Marketing: What Makes People Want To Share Content?

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In a time of vast viral potential through various social media channels since the development of Web 2.0, enabling the ease of creation of user generated content, it is by no means a formality to create a marketing campaign that reaches or indeed impacts the target market whom you wish it to.

Berger and Milkman (2012) completed a study to identify why certain pieces of online content go more viral than others. The results showed that content often went viral when a science was applied, rather than just hoping, the key characteristics being:

  • It was positive, dwelling on positive issues or topics.
  • It evoked a strong emotional reaction.
  • It was practically useful.

For any Ad Campaign the most important and powerful tool to efficiently utilise is emotion. Harvard Business School professor Thales Texeira (2012) expresses the importance of instilling strong emotions in video advertising and keeping branding to a minimum. She states adverts that maintain a stable emotional cycle without emotional fluctuations aren’t as effective at engaging viewers for very long. Therefore, for effective engagement there should be alternating tension and relief, creating a feeling of going on a journey.

Possibly the most recent example of appealing to an individuals emotions is the Dove Real Beauty Sketches, which has achieved over 65 million views on YouTube. Women described themselves to a forensic artist from which he drew a portrait, detailing how other people might see that individual. The realism of the advert creates a story which can appeal to many women, Dove’s primary target market, that many could relate to, provoking potentially powerful and moving emotions. This coupled with the ambient lighting and subtle music contribute to the visual success of the campaign. The advert can be viewed below.

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

A further avenue to explore is the way companies can focus on psychology when wanting an advert campaign to go viral, rather than the technology used to share content (Texeira, 2012; Schawbel, 2013). Phelps et al. (2004) examine which particular emotions can be focused on to appeal to human psyche and achieve viral content, revealing that inspiration, humour, sadness and fear are the most likely quartet that will achieve this. Research agrees with this, Berger & Milkman (2012) suggesting that content of a happy nature is more likely to be shared and go viral, whilst sad content is less likely to go viral but may be more likely to be emailed to colleagues.

Other studies have been conducted to find a correlation between the content of a video and the likelihood of it going viral. A decision tree has been developed by Botha and Reyneke (2013) demonstrating the decisions a user has to go through before deciding to share the content.

Considering Texeira and Berger & Milkman’s studies, it seems that marketing divisions should attempt to include the following in their campaigns:

  1. Create a form of audience interaction, which will aid when communicating the adverts underlying message.
  2. Create something unique or unusual, it will be more successful, especially when combined with the right music and lighting.
  3. A campaign that takes the viewer on an emotional journey will be more memorable, thus more likely to be shared.

 

References

Berger, J. and Milkman, K. (2012). What makes online content viral?. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), pp.192–205.Botha, E. and Reyneke, M. (2013). To share or not to share: the role of content and emotion in viral marketing. Journal of Public Affairs, 13(2), pp.160–171.
Botha, E. and Reyneke, M. (2013). To share or not to share: the role of content and emotion in viral marketing. Journal of Public Affairs, 13(2), pp.160–171.
Phelps, J., Lewis, R., Mobilio, L., Perry, D. and Raman, N. (2004). Viral marketing or electronic word-of-mouth advertising: Examining consumer responses and motivations to pass along email. Journal of advertising research, 44(4), pp.333–348.

Schawbel, D. (2013). Jonah Berger: How to Make Your Marketing Campaigns Go Viral. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/04/25/jonah-berger-how-to-make-your-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/ [Accessed 25 April 2015].

Texeira, T. (2012) The Harvard Business Review. The New Science of Viral Ads <http://hbr.org/2012/03/the-new-science-of-viral-ads/ar/1> [accessed 25 April 2015]

The Impact a Smart Video-Distribution Strategy Can Have On an Advert Campaign Going Viral

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As the age of the Internet and Social Media continues to evolve and become almost a necessity in the day to day lives of the modern lifestyle, many companies and their marketing divisions are creating advert campaigns that have the aim of going ‘viral’ to reach as many people as possible. However, just posting a video on one website on the Internet is like putting up a poster in a town hall and hoping to appeal to the whole county; ineffective at best, a waste of money at worst (Gabriel, 2013).

The aim of a viral advertising campaign is to connect with a target audience whom will find the advert engaging enough to feel they should share it with others, best described as a snowball effect (Oden & Larsson, 2011). Content is posted on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and other online sources such as email, blogs and web services. Consumers choosing to share content through these channels contribute to what is known as the word-of-mouth phenomena, increasing the popularity of the advert by creating a wider audience for the company.

The toughest task for a firm is deciphering what content is required for the advert to go viral and through what channels should it be distributed. According to the CEO of Sharethrough, Dan Greenberg (2010), three key characteristics exist that all videos that are created with the purpose of going viral must have to be successful. The first is a psychological motivation to share, consisting of emotions, self-expression, identity and engaging information. The second is the ease with which the user can share the video, connecting to the focus of this blog –  how a video campaign should be distributed, the easier it is to share the more effective the campaign is likely to be. Finally, the strategy should be data-driven, allowing the video to become viral.

To reach the mass audience the viral advert is targeting, a smart distribution strategy must exist behind the brand content, otherwise it will be completely ineffective and fail (Beardsell, 2009). Important distribution choices include:

  • ‘Seeding and Nurturing your Content’ – i.e. deciding which social media channel to post your video on, and nurturing the activity around it e.g. teaser trailers. In terms of recent success stories, Rockstar Games used this method incredibly well when promoting their video game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’. They produced two teaser trailers released prior to releasing the game on 13 Septmber 2013, the first on the 2 November 2011. These aided the company selling 12 million copies of the game on the first day it was on sale. The trailer can be viewed below.
  • ‘Content Partners Network’ – i.e. If working with a video blogger, using their strategy to reach fans.
  • ‘Search and Video Search’ – i.e. every brand content should have a search strategy behind it, to increase discoverability. Search Engine Optimisation makes content easier to find, allowing campaigns to be posted higher on search engine results.

For a full overview of Beardsell’s distribution strategies, please Click here to view them, as the above is just a brief overview of a few distribution strategies she discusses.

Once having chosen the social media channels you want to distribute on, the campaign must then be uploaded online. A time consuming process, however there are other companies that have a solution for this problem. Tubemogal and Blip.tv are examples that Tim Frick (2010) makes reference to, removing the time-consuming process involved with uploading your video to different sharing sites. For a more comprehensive insight into video distribution methods view Return on Engagement : Content, Strategy, and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing.

References

 Beardsell, C. (2009) Strategies for Distributing Online Video Content. ClickZ. 10 February 2009 [Online] <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1707591/strategies-distributing-online-video-content> [accessed 13 April 2015]

Frick, T. (2010)  Return on Engagement : Content, Strategy, and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing. Burlington: Elsevier

Greenberg, D. (2010) 3 Thing Any Video Needs To Go Viral. Mashable. 19 October 2010 [Online] <http://mashable.com/2010/10/19/viral-video-science/> [accessed 12 April 2015]

Gabriel, C. (2013) A Viral Audience Can Only Happen With the Right Marketing Bait. Adweek. 30 September 2013 [Online] <http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/viral-audience-can-only-happen-right-marketing-bait-152755> [accessed 12 April 2015]

Oden, N. & Larsson, R. (2011) What makes a marketing campaign a viral success? A descriptive model exploring the mechanisms of viral marketing. [Online] Vol 1 (Issue 1) Available at <http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:433110/FULLTEXT01.pdf> [accessed 12 April 2015]