Epic Fail – Wishin’ and Hopin’ and Prayin’ for a Viral Video

February 3, 2010 by

Turns out you can’t manufacture a viral video.

Well, I mean, you absolutely can make a viral video but you can’t make it a viral video.

The other day, I threw out a hypothesis that I could turn a simple video into a viral video by simply asking my readers and the video’s viewers to Digg, Stumble, Reddit, Tweet, Facebook, email, and blog the video. Seems simple enough, right?

Turns out, asking your readers and viewers to do this stuff does have an effect: the video ended up getting about 5 times as many views as most of my other videos. The problem was, that still ended up being only 150 views, far less than the 5,000 or whatever that I wanted.

(As a side note – yes, I realize 5,000 views does not constitute a viral video. However, for me, that would have blown my mind.)

So, what’s the moral of the story?

I think I proved my point that you get a lot further by telling your readers and viewers what you want from them as opposed to beating around the bush. However, as has been stated many times before, you can’t make a video become viral, it just sort of has to happen.

What are your thoughts? Post your comments below.

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Traffic Tagged With: , , , , ,

Make This Video Go Viral – Seriously, Do As You’re Told

January 27, 2010 by

Over my time running The New Business Blog, I’ve given a lot of advice on how to make more money online. (While I’m no Yaro Starak or John Chow, I’d like to think I have been successful enough to be taken as a reputable source.)

Without a doubt, the single most important piece of advice I’ve given is to straight up TELL your visitors what you want from them. Don’t ask. Tell!

So, on that note, I’ve decided to do a little experiment. I want to see if I can make a simple, yet stupid video go viral, simply by me TELLING everyone that’s what I want them to help me do.

The video is nothing more than me TELLING everyone who views it that I want their help in making the video go viral. Now that you’ve viewed it, help me out by embedding the video in your blog, posting it on Twitter and Facebook, voting for it on Digg and Reddit, Stumbling it, and emailing it out to your friends and family.

Think if it as taking part in a 21st century social experiment. Look at you, you little groundbreaker!

Back to the moral of the story – the reason you tell as opposed to ask is simple – you can never assume that you have been clear enough with your potential customers. If you ask, you leave room for interpretation. If you tell, room for interpretation is gone.

Look at the following two examples:

Of the two, which one do you think is more likely to get you a sale? The first one, where I’m asking if you’d like to learn more while not giving you clear direction on what to do next, or the one where I tell you exactly what to do and what’s going to happen after you do it?

Sure, the second one might come off as a little bit pushy, but since most buyers have to be coaxed and told what to do, you’re probably doing them (and your bank account) a favor by narrowing down their options.

Ok, so, again, go back up to that video, and share it with every person under the sun in every way you know how. I want to get the video up to 50,000 hits, so make sure you do your part!

(How awesome is it going to be if I don’t fall completely flat on my face and this actually works?!?)

What are your thoughts on this post? Do you agree? Think I’m a nut? Leave your comment below!

Filed Under: Affiliate Programs, Blogging, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Traffic, Traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,