6 Viral Video Marketing Lessons To Learn From The Ice Bucket Challenge

Social feeds from across the country are chock-full of videos and photos of celebrities, inventors, CEOs, athletes and politicians all taking part in the most recent viral sensation: the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Whether you've laughed at your friend’s reaction to the ice cold water or taken the challenge yourself, postings about it are everywhere. This initiative has achieved something that's every marketer’s dream: goingviral and capturing wide attention across the nation in a month or two.

How did this simple initiative turn into a movement that has scored participation from some of the biggest names in the country, includingBill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Kobe Bryant, Oprah and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie?  

Related: What You Can Learn About Marketing From an 'Icy' Phenomenon

The Ice Bucket Challenge benefits the ALS Association, which is dedicated to raising funds to research a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as well as caring for those with the disease. It gained steam with the participation of Beverly, Mass.-based Pete Frates, who since 2012 has had the illness (also called Lou Gehrig's disease).

Startups, established firms and marketers of all types can learn from the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge. Those trying to develop a viral campaign can take the following steps:

1. Identify the goal or cause.

The goal of the Ice Bucket Challenge has been to spread awareness and raise funds for ALS research and its success has exceeded initial expectations. The objective is simple and clear and the challenge doesn’t require much effort from participants: going online to donate or pouring a bucket of ice water over the head, or both.

Today’s consumers like simplicity and direct messaging. They typically won’t take the time to read through an entire article, newsletter or web page to understand a message. Marketers, simplicity is your friend.

2. Make it fun and easy.

Few things are funnier than seeing people have ice poured all over them and watching them cringe, scream or freeze in place. The web has been flooded with comical videos and images of those who have accepted the challenge.

People like to laugh, so keep members of your audience entertained with a video or photo that they would enjoy viewing. Keeping things lighthearted lets people connect with an organization on a human level and can encourage further engagement in an authentic way. 

3. Add immediacy.

Those asked to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge have only 24 hours to do so.

If you want an idea to flourish, keep the window of time brief to propel the process forward rapidly. By giving your audience a deadline, the initiative will become a greater priority. 

Related: 5 Social-Media Marketing Lessons From the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

4. Understand the power of multiplication.

The ALS challenge calls on participants to encourage three additional people to participate, thus creating a multiplier effect.

When possible, let consumers involved in an initiative have a chance to engage with their network so as to experience the joy of others joining in. The bonus for a marketer is bringing increased exposure to a company's brand. 

5. Share on many platforms.

News of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is being shared on many social-media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

If you’re hoping for an idea or campaign to go viral, make it easy for others to share updates across multiple platforms. Don’t give people a reason to not become involved. 

6. Give participants a chance to feel good.

Everyone loves to feel a little better about himself (or herself). The Ice Bucket Challenge raises funds for a medical cause, and no matter the size of a donation, participants can feel good because they're helping others in need.

Plus, the challenge gives participants a sense of unity: They are sharing positive feelings and a goal with the rich and famous.

Setting up an initiative like this lets participants also allows for an emotional connection with an organization and opens up an opportunity for conversation. 

Contributor : GABRIELLE BOKO Executive Vice President of Marketing at Sage North America

8 Reasons Why You Should Create Videos for Your Business

Over the past year, we’ve noticed a stiff increase of demand for video productions, mostly for the benefit of improving our clients’ websites and with the purpose of increasing the conversion rate of website visitors. I predict that this will become an even bigger trend in the next few years, and that video will increasingly become the way of communicating key messages to clients.

According to a comScore study, released in February 2011, 82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online. In a 2010 report from Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic is currently video. By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video. These are impressive statistics, and when looking at the YouTube statistics below, this becomes even more convincing:

• YouTube is the second biggest search engine (after Google).
• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second.
• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day.
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month.
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years.
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or almost 140 views for every person on Earth.

So what does all of this mean for us and our businesses? It indicates that people love to consume video and we have to adjust to that fact and serve them with the type of content that they prefer. Yes, a lot of the online video consumption is driven by recreational and entertainment videos. However, there is clear evidence that video is equally prominent and impactful for business purposes.

Consider these additional statistics:

• When a video is present on a product page of LivingDirect.com, consumers spend 9% more time viewing the page compared to when no video is present.
• Virtually 60% of respondents said they would watch video previous to reading text on the same webpage, and 22% said they generally liked watching video more than browsing text for examining business information.
• 75% of all executives said they watched work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, and more than 50% use YouTube to watch those videos.
• 65% of U.S. executives surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 visit a vendor’s website after viewing a work-related online video.

All of this culminates in the conclusion that you should start implementing a video content strategy if you haven’t done so yet. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should:

1. Your clients want it.
All of the trends indicate that your clients want video from you. Not delivering on this desire only means somebody else will.

2. More content in less time
Video is a unique way of communicating a lot of information in a short period of time. According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research,watching a minute of video is the equivalent of reading 1.8 million words.

3. Branding
Branding is a complex business. Videos allow you to further craft and shape your brand. Video allows you to convey emotions that you can’t bring across with text and still photos only; it provides you with an opportunity to add different attributes to your brand.

4. Multi-purpose use
We have clients that use their videos not only on their website, but also push them out through all the other online channels (e.g. YouTube and Social Media). In addition, they often use the videos in presentations in offline settings, e-mail marketing campaigns or on TV in waiting rooms.

5. Website Quality
Videos improve the overall quality of a website, and how the website is used.

6. Show your personality and profile
Video allows you to project a better and more personal profile to your company and as well as your clients.

For example, lawyers or doctors can give videos a personal touch, which is something that clients very much respond to.

7. E-Mail Marketing
Using videos in E-Mail marketing generates 2-3 times higher click-thru rates compared to static E-Mails.

8. Video prepares you for the future.
Roughly 66% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2014. All smartphones and most  mobile devices are optimized for video consumption. Being able to provide content in video format increases your ability to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2015

The only constant is change.

From technology trends to changing business models to evolving consumer behaviors, there’s a lot to consider in order for today’s marketers to really have a handle on what’s important about what’s next.

Old digital tactics and mastering individual channels are being overcome by the need to create a common brand experience across the digital experience on and offline. Customers expect to access and consume information across platforms, apps and devices and in order for brands to “be the best answer” wherever buyers are looking, they’ll need to figure out what’s next and where to focus.

To capture some of what’s important for digital marketing in 2015, I reached out to some of the marketers I’ve worked with and come to know over the years. It’s an inspiring collection of marketing brain power and experience represented by brands like Cisco, IBM, Dell, Google, Intel, Marketo and LinkedIn as well as industry thought leaders like David Meerman Scott, Ann Handley, Jay Baer, Ekaterina Walter, Mark Schaefer, Ardath Albee, Brian Clark and many more – 21 in all.

Business content has to be more than informative. It should entertain too. That’s why I asked each marketing smartie to share a “selfie” of themselves to go along with their 2015 prediction. A surprising number have never taken and published a selfie before, so you’re seeing them here first.

From content to mobile to ads to humor to being more human – this post covers a variety of important areas of focus for digital marketing in 2015. Dig in, learn and enjoy:

Ann Handley  @annhandley – Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
Is it 2015 already…? And I just learned to routinely write 2014 on my checks…(darn it!)

So here goes: In 2015, I’m thinking about two things:

1. We’re taking the notion of “”brands are publishers”” and pushing the boundaries of that further.

How that plays out: We’ll focus on enormous empathy and customer experience (and not just more blog posts). (That doesn’t mean blog posts aren’t important, for the right company and the right customer. But it means we consider if that’s the best approach, rather than making a post the default.)

We’ll focus on more relevance and new inspirations (rather than just the tried and true).

And we’ll focus on being generously useful. 2015 really will be the year we create and curate content our customers will thank us for. Which leads me to…

2. Marketers become ridiculously proud of their writing!

In our online social world, we recognize that all marketers are writers. Everybody writes, and that’s true whether you are the Chief Content Officer or Marketing VP or the mar-com manager. Our words are our currency – they tell the world who we are, as Beth Dunn points out. They can make us look smart or they can make us look stupid – and so being able to communicate well in writing isn’t just nice; it’s necessity.

Are you thinking writing doesn’t matter in our video/podcast/Instagram world? Actually, it matters more. Good writing is like an iceberg – use your best words to convey depth under the surface. That means you’re got to choose those words well, and write with economy and the style and the end reader in mind (there’s that empathy thing again!). That’s true whether you’re writing a listicle or the words on a Slideshare deck or the opening paragraph Lee wrote at the top of this post… 

Jay Baer @jaybaer – President, Convince & Convert
It’s already happening, but 2015 will be the year of paid amplification. With content marketing reaching near-ubiquity, the success pendulum with swing toward boosting consumption of content. That will put a new focus on math, testing and optimization as content production and content distribution become equally important.

Mark Schaefer @markwschaefer – Executive Director, Schaefer Marketing Solutions
As far as 2015, there is a vast change on our horizon that will be led by augmented reality and wearable technology. This change will be so profound in fact, that I think we will look back at this revolution as something that is as important as the Internet itself.

By the end of 2015, wearable technology should be gathering enough steam that we will begin to see some early marketing applications. What does marketing look like when the Internet surrounds us like the air that we breathe? Fascinating to think about.

Pam Didner @pamdidner – Global Integrated Marketing Strategist, Intel Corporation
Marketers have been advised to create and tailor different formats of content with customized copy for highly fragmented marketing channels from TV and print to various social media platforms in order to reach their target audience. It’s the right thing to do.

Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change for 2015 is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by Going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t. Re-prioritize and be smart about resource allocation and investment.

Mike Stelzner @Mike_Stelzner – CEO, Social Media Examiner
Major change in digital marketing: Those that pitch are becoming ignored. A little bit of selling here and there is great, but those marketers who do nothing but sell, sell, sell, are gonna get ignored, dismissed and overlooked by consumers and prospects. Get cracking folks, it’s time to actually care. That means dedicating more resources to things that are harder to track, like answering customer questions and providing more value online.

Brian Solis @briansolis – Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group
I’d love to say that by 2015 we will truly see digital strategies that are integrated across social, mobile, advertising, marketing, comms, et al. But, we won’t. What we will see though is a more conscious effort to bring disparate groups to the table to learn how to collaborate across screens, channels, and moments of truth to deliver ONE experience to customers wherever they are in the lifecycle.

John Jantsch @ducttape – Founder, Duct Tape Marketing
I believe organizations will go deeper into overall strategy with digital marketing – Chief Digital Officers will help organizations lessen their focus on demand creation and heighten it on organizing an end to end customer journey through digital storytelling tactics.

Bill Hunt @billhunt – President, Back Azimuth Consulting
In 2015 companies will stop treating digital marketing as a tactic and embrace it as an ecosystem. The ecosystem will enable a singular goal of attracting, engaging and retaining new and existing customers by providing information and content that gives them everything they need to locate, purchase and use their products and services. The days to preaching to customers rather than exciting and informing them are rapidly coming to an end and marketers that can effectively connect with prospects will win.

Joe Pulizzi @joepulizzi – Founder, Content Marketing Institute
In 2015 we will see a large move among brands to buy media companies, flush with cash and short on patience to build loyal audiences.

DJ Waldow @djwaldow – Digital Marketing Evangelist, Marketo
2015 will be the year of HUMAN for digital marketers. Gone are the days of corporate-speak messaging and dull, boring campaigns. Instead, we’ll begin to see more marketers incorporate human-speak into their messaging – videos, pictures, humor, and human!

Ekaterina Walter @Ekaterina – CMO, Branderati
In the age of infobesity and increasing digital noise, visual storytelling will continue to emerge as a strategy for not only standing out, but also for nurturing and growing vibrant and engaged communities. The ability to craft visual stories that inspire emotion and spark the movement will help companies get noticed and amplify their message throughout those communities.

Brian Clark @brianclark – CEO, Copyblogger Media
2015 will continue a trend that has caught steam this year, which is mixing paid media with owned media to accelerate content distribution. The best “native” advertising helps build an audience into a a long-term business asset, and that’s a goal worth spending on in conjunction with owned content creation.

Jason Miller @jasonmillerCA – Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn
Coding will become a necessity for digital marketers. As the modern marketer strives to understand how social, content, demand gen, PR, and SEO call all work successfully within a fully integrated marketing strategy, the next skill is to add coding to their resume/ LinkedIn profile. The ability to understand how front end wed development and coding can affect, enhance, and optimize a content strategy will become a necessity for marketers instead of a nice to have.

Susan Emerick @sfemerick – Manager, Enterprise Social Strategy & Programs, IBM
Employee Advocates will humanize digital marketing experiences on behalf of their brands, outperforming traditional media investments. This will require digital marketers to once again rethink and reshuffle the budgeting decision deck.

David Meerman Scott @dmscott – Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author, Freshspot Marketing
In 2015, digital marketing will converge with digital selling in a meaningful way. Marketing (one to many) and sales (one to one) are beginning to use the same techniques of content creation and real-time engagement. The best organizations will not run marketing and sales as separate “departments” but will merge the two functions into one customer facing organization focused on revenue generation.

Ardath Albee @ardath421 – CEO, Marketing Interactions
Marketers will become obsessive about becoming relevant to their audiences and buckle down to do the work that informs the development of a digital strategy.

Tim Washer @timwasher – Senior Marketing Manager, Social Media, Cisco Systems
As brands strive to create authentic connections online, especially with Millennials, more will understand that a clever laugh or the vulnerability of silliness is the most efficient path to earning trust and loyalty. Mark 2015 as the year of humor in digital marketing.

Tom Webster @webby2001 – Vice President, Edison Research
My top change/trend for digital marketing in 2015 is the rise and eventual preeminence of mobile data. Clickstream data simply misses too many elements of the consideration and purchase process, and gives things like social media, word of mouth, and traditional media/advertising short shrift. But as a call to action from social media, a party, the radio, or a billboard arise, today’s smartphone-equipped consumers can take actions in the moment in a way that can be directly attributed to the medium that drove the action, without friction.

Consider this—I’m walking around town, listening to online radio over my phone, and I hear an audio ad for a product that might interest me. In the past, were I to hear that ad, I’d have to remember the name of the company, then go home and use a search engine to learn more about the company before an eventual purchase. Who gets the attribution credit in that scenario? Search, sadly—and a most undeserved credit it would be.

But the continual removal of barriers between message and action that mobile gives us (for those who begin to think that way) will begin to restore the balance of the Force for attribution, and digital marketers can start to get away from channel-based thinking and move towards a more human behavior-centered model, with mobile serving as the unifying principle to unite offline and offline marketing.

Adam Singer @AdamSinger – Analytics Advocate, Google
Digital analytics sophistication and (effective) usage increases: we know from research, talking to users and being an active part of the industry that marketers are increasing emphasis on measurement. Our team even launched a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to provide a free and robust resource to educate marketers and help them succeed. An ever-expanding mix of devices and channels is creating even greater pressures for digital teams to quantify their efforts, but the technology is here and the market demand for talented analysts & data-savvy marketers has been in place long enough that 2015 is the year digital measurement finally comes of age. Smart brands have already formalized their efforts across organizations and efforts. If you’re not there it’s time to catch up.

Connie Bensen @cbensen – Global Social Content Strategy, Innovation & Governance, Dell
My prediction for 2015 is that the digital marketer aka Social Bizologist (the person guiding the integration of social into the business functions of an organization) will be asking for an end-to-end content solution. We need a tool that can facilitate content efforts from ideation to publishing while tracking the usage and performance of content across the customer journey. This will allow for ease in repurposing, localization and accommodate real-time efforts.

Lee Odden (hey, that’s me!) @leeodden – CEO, TopRank Online MarketingThe convergence of marketing, public relations and advertising will accelerate even faster in 2015 and beyond as agencies and internal corporate organizations fulfill each of those roles. Content creation, search optimization and social media will be less siloed as specific departments and treated more like skills that exist across the organization. Optimizationwill move beyond individual tactics and focus more on overall customer experience across channels. Marketing is everybody’s job and more companies will leverage internal resources through social business and collaboration platforms as well as participation marketing with their community to integrate scaled content creation and social media engagement.

As you can tell, each marketer that shared insights here brings their own experience and perspective as a flavor to their prediction. Each has their own bias but collectively, I think this group represents a great cross-section of ideas that we, as marketers, need to consider for the rest of 2014 and into 2015.

What do you think the most significant changes and important trends will be in 2015? What is it about digital marketing that will be most important for your business and customers in the coming year?

Generate Leads With Video Marketing

Do you want to attract high-quality leads with social media?

Many business owners see a drop-off in new leads because they stop thinking strategically about conversions.

One way to enhance your social media marketing is to create a short, shareable social video—and implement a strategic “mini-campaign” around it to drive opt-ins.

In this article I’ll show 3 ways to supercharge your social media marketing with video.

#1: Create a Short Social Video

Converting social media fans into actual customers starts with getting fans off your social platforms and onto your email list.

First, you must move your fans from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterestonto your landing page.

Use a short social video. Videos are quick, they’re visual, they’re personal, they work like gangbusters across multiple platforms and they’re very share-worthy!

Here’s an example.

To get the most out of your lead generation video, stick to a short script—2 minutes or less. Try this simple formula:

• Get real. Start with a greeting that’s true to your personality and your brand. Be brief, but be real. And engage viewers quickly with a fun question or a thought-provoking statement.
• Get their attention with your content giveaway. Think premium—ebooks, cheat sheets, book chapters, etc. Use storytelling techniques like sharing a personal anecdote or client story to KEEP their attention.
• Get specific. What are 3-5 reasons that your fan simply cannot miss out on this giveaway? Lay them out, step by step. Always ask: “What’s in it for them?”
• End on a clear call to action. Just one! And take care not to make your CTA platform-specific. You’ll use this on multiple social media channels.

Hint: Outline your script in advance so you’re comfortable ad-libbing on production day.

#2: Plan a Social Media “Mini-Campaign”

A mini-campaign on social media is exactly what it sounds like: a planned marketing effort across several different social media channels for a short period of time.

A few pointers on laying out yours for the best, most consistent results:

• Use a theme to unite ALL of your content. For example, HGTV focuses oneye-catching photos and valuable blog posts showing off architectural touches to support their “Dream Home” giveaway. 
  Create a theme around your promotion by using blog posts, images and videos as value-added content.
  

• Prepare your irresistible offer (ebook, 3-part video series, teleclass, etc.) that solves one of your fans’ biggest pain points.
• Create a professional landing page outlining benefits—the same benefits you highlighted in your video. Here’s an example of one I used: 
  For each of my webinars, I always spotlight the benefits so my followers know what’s in it for them.
  

Next, you’ll want to plan an editorial calendar with two types of supporting content:

1. Indirect Content (a.k.a. value-added, “barrier-free” content)

Indirect content is all about building trust, so that when you do ask for a name and an email on your opt-in page, fans have already had a good experience with your free content—and eagerly want more!

Examples: This is the kind of content you’re already creating weekly: blog posts, short teaching videos, images for Facebook and Pinterest, etc. During your mini-campaign,craft content that keeps your theme top of mind.

For example, HGTV uses this strategy by posting helpful content that easily ties to their “Dream Home” giveaway:

HGTV uses valuable “how-to” posts on their social media sites that do not directly highlight their “Dream Home” contest (to avoid over-promotion), but the posts always complement the “Dream Home” promotional posts.

2. Premium or Direct Content

Here’s where your lead generating video comes into play. Regularly post direct opportunities for your fans to sign up for your offer, using your video as the teaser.

Examples: Images, status updates and tweets work best when thematically tied together and implemented over a short time period. Fourteen days works great!

#3: Leverage Your Video Across Multiple Social Channels

With your video—and plan—in hand, it’s time to identify how you’re going to maximize its shareability and drive traffic to your landing page.

Here are a few specific ways to promote your video on the big four platforms:

YouTube

First things first: upload your video to YouTube and optimize it with a URL (in the description), a great title and a clear call to action. Also, consider adding a video overlay that links to your landing page for extra traction. These are basically clickable banner ads.

Make sure to include a call to action and link in the description box.

Facebook

Share your video in a status update with a clear call to action. Then you can push additional traffic to it using Promoted Posts (set these up right on your post) and Page Post Ads (which also appear in the right-hand column and can be targeted to non-fans too).

Hint: With 60% of Facebook users now accessing Facebook from a mobile device, learn how to set up mobile-only ads in the Power Editor as well.

Twitter

Twitter is a platform we don’t associate strongly with video yet. So tweet your YouTube link (along with a link to your opt-in page) and stand out from the crowd!

Bonus: YouTube videos display right on Twitter.com; no click-through is needed.

To stand out from all of the noise, take advantage of the video capabilities on Twitter.

Pinterest

Adding YouTube videos to Pinterest is a great way to spark shares. Whenever someone comes across your pinned video, the PLAY button is featured over the image, so it stands apart from all of the static images around it.

Remember: Fill in your pin’s description with a URL and call to action.

Many people don’t know that you can pin your videos and that they play inside the Pinterest platform. Yet another place to spread the word!

Making Your Mini-Campaign a Success

Armed with a quarterly strategic plan and premium content (your video, your giveaway, plus all the indirect content that supports both), you can convert fans into quality leads and eventually, loyal customers.

And you can continue to do so all year by focusing on new campaigns, themes and content, giving structure (and measurability) to your editorial calendar.

Now it’s your turn. What’s one list-building tip that should be part of every “mini-campaign”? Share your experience in the comment box below.