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Mediasmith Anvil |
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Volume 8, Issue 1
March 4, 2009 |
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Cracking
the Viral Code |
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By John
Padua and David L. Smith Editor’s Note: This
article first appeared in iMediaConnection’s Consumer Strategies
section. We have added an additional section to this article. To view the
original article go to www.imediaconnection.com Don't create great content and
then just hope the viewers will come. To ensure your message finds the
greatest possible viewership, consider the emerging media technology strategy
of media seeding and content distribution. The
original concept behind the media seeding and content distribution strategy
comes from an article appearing in the May 2007 issue of "Harvard Business
Review." The article, entitled Viral Marketing for the Real World and
written by Originally,
when a producer created a new piece of emerging media content such as a
widget or a video, the strategy was to simply upload the widget or video onto
a social network or video share site in the hopes the content would gain
legs. Producers relied on the concept of viral marketing, where a small group
of users spread a piece of content to another group of users. That new group
would then spread the content to another group, thus creating multiple
growing generations of viewers. Integral to this idea of viral marketing is
the concept of pass-along rates, whereas a piece of content is passed along
enough times so that the final audience size is much greater than the
original base of seed users. Under this understanding of viral marketing, a
piece that starts with a small number of users will eventually grow from
generation to generation, inevitably reaching a large audience. However,
the idea of viral marketing turns out to be more theory than practice. In
reality, for every video that gets 1 million views, there are thousands upon
thousands of videos that get less than a thousand views. The reason for this
lies in the pass-along rate of a piece of content. Though there may be some
videos or widgets that have large pass-along rates, enabling a piece to
"go viral", most content has low pass-along rates. With a low
pass-along rate, instead of an audience growing from generation to
generation, most pieces of media content will persist for a short period then
eventually die off. In
summation, by utilizing viral marketing, success becomes impossible to
reproduce. |
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Mediasmith Morsel According
to a survey by Netpop,
broadband users can be segmented into five different groups to gain a better
understanding of broadband users’ attitudes and orientation toward the
Internet.
Source: Netpop | Snapshot: United States (2009) |
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Big-seed strategy The weaknesses of viral marketing lie in two concepts: over-reliance on pass-along rates, and seed
users. The strategy requires starting with a small number of seed users and
hoping for a high pass-along rate to gain legs. Generally, pass-along rates
cannot be controlled. However, through a smart media strategy, agencies have
the capability to grow the number of seed users initially exposed to a piece
of content. As an alternative to traditional viral marketing,
agencies can employ a big-seed distribution strategy. In doing so, a planner
assumes a low pass-along rate for any piece of content. To counteract the
effects of the low pass-along rate, the planner makes efforts through paid
placements, syndication or sponsorships to grow the number of initial seed
users exposed to the piece of content. Thus, instead of relying on a small
number of seed users, the planner relies on a large number of guaranteed
exposures. By employing this strategy, a piece of emerging
media content reaches a larger number of seed users and has greater potential
to reach an audience willing to pass along the content. Moreover, every
additional exposure gained thorough pass-alongs can be considered as
over-delivery or added value to the initial planned exposure. This strategy tends to be more reliable for
reproducing success than traditional viral marketing and has greater
potential for reaching the most people with content. A
big-seed case study In fall, 2007, Mediasmith worked with Sega of America to distribute four videos. Of
the four videos, the first of the series was promoted using paid media
placements and editorial sponsorships. The other three videos were seeded
normally and received little promotion. The video that earned the most views was the one
that was supported with media and sponsorships. The video received 797,000
views -- more views than the other three videos combined. The scenario shows
that media support helps grow the seed of initial users and gives a video a
greater chance to take off than simply seeding the video and hoping for viral
growth. The scenario makes the case for the need of media
seeding and content distribution strategy in emerging media.
Source: Sega & Mediasmith proprietary data,
2008 Media
seeding and content distribution, fully defined To elaborate on the above discussion, media
seeding and content distribution essentially entails the following steps: • Taking a piece of emerging technology
content meant to be shared and utilizing innovative media planning, buying
and execution to grow the initial number of seed users exposed to the
content. • Gathering statistical intelligence with
regard to views, embeds, shares, etc., for the purposes of identifying which
content pieces are more popular than others and which means of distribution
are more successful than others. • Analyzing intelligence to find and
implement methodologies that produce high numbers of initial seed views, as
well as discovering means to increase reproduction rates. By using the strategy detailed above, producers
and agencies have the chance to create consistently large audiences for
content pieces. |
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Mediasmith Morsel Selfchec.org: Dedicated to
Helping Us Live Longer, Healthier Lives As February
was just “American Heart Month,” Mediasmith wanted to share a
website titled, Selfchec.org, the only
non-profit health initiative with tools that help the public harness the
power of prevention and wellness. Within this site is a very special
e-greeting card shop, as well as a self-check email reminder program. These
tools have the unique power to help save lives from cancer and other chronic
diseases—lives of people we may know and people we love. Millions
of people die unnecessarily from diseases each year that are preventable,
treatable, and curable. The desire to help others and prevent this from
happening is at the core of the Selfchec Website. The e-greeting cards can
support a loved one who has just decided to make a positive lifestyle change
and the automated email reminder is a fantastic way to keep on track with
monthly self exams, complete with links to procedures. We at
Mediasmith are putting our heads together to come up with strategies to promote
this important initiative and we’re inviting you to do the same. Please
take a moment to read
about the experience of the Website’s founder and the reason for
its creation. Also take a look at the Selfchec email reminder tool
(which we hope you’ll give a try and send to friends and family) as
well as the e-greeting cards.
You might find something for someone you care about. Selfchec
was created to fill the need for wellness care. Perhaps the next life they
save will be someone you love. Let’s join the effort, help support
them, and get the good word out. Source: Selfchec.org |
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Growing
the seed There are numerous opportunities available within
the current media marketplace to grow the number of seed users initially
exposed to a piece of content. The most simple of these is a basic media placement
that redirects to a video, widget, blog or other piece of content. However,
there are multitudes of other opportunities that enable content distribution. Gigya offers
one of the more interesting distribution opportunities. Gigya currently
offers a cost-per-embed model, where a buyer only pays for instances in which
a user has chosen to embed a widget onto his or her social profile. Gigya has
also partnered with EyeWonder for a
product known as SocialWonder, enabling the widget experience in a rich media
placement. Many video share sites offer cost-per-view models
for videos, guaranteeing the number of initial views of a video piece. YouTube
is beginning to play in this space as well with a cost-per-click model called
Promote Your Video. Additionally, more sites are becoming capable of
widget and video integration. Sites can be approached on sponsorship and
syndication levels to grow the seed users. This list is a short sample of ways to grow seed
users for content; the total number of methods is only limited by a planner's
capabilities and imagination. Re-imagining
Growing the Seed A few
months after writing this article and taking a look at this piece again from
a cold perspective, I find that the “Growing the Seed” section
warrants further discussion. While I stand by the concept that in
distributing new media, advertisers and producers should at first take into
account guaranteed exposures; I feel as though the initial discussion does
not capture the incredible nuance needed in seeding these exposures. The
discussion points out a number of vendors that I would like to call
distribution aggregators. Through varying methods these distribution
aggregators can guarantee you any number of views, plays, engagements and
what not. However, these aggregators function similarly to an ad network,
gaining you a sufficient “Cost per Whatever” sometimes at the
expense of precise targeting. Distribution aggregators provide good utility
for pushing content. Simply
pushing content does not capture the full conversation about a content
distribution strategy. A content distribution strategy also needs to focus on
utilizing content properly to pull audiences closer to an advertiser’s
product or brand, such that the content functions as a conduit to increase
the saliency of the product or brand. To do this, the strategy also needs to
focus on putting content in front of the audiences that would be best suited
for it. Just as it is our responsibility to target an advertisement to the
right audience; it is also a responsibility to target content to the right
audience as well. To this
end, simply seeding content through a distribution aggregator or buying a
mass number of views does not accomplish the goal. Rather, fully realizing
the distribution strategy requires careful consideration of finding the right
places for growing the seeds, so much so that the methodologies place content
in front of the audiences that will find the content most compelling. |
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Mediasmith Morsel Super Bowl Ads: Driving
Consumers to the Web This
Super Bowl attracted a record-tying amount of network commercial time (45
minutes, 10 seconds), including 32 companies and 84 commercials. TNS Media Intelligence analyzed the
post-game findings of these advertisements, breaking down the viewing into
several different categories. The “Most Talked About Advertisers”
category was dominated by motion pictures, followed by leading beverage
products. In the first 36 hours following the game, 5 of the 10
most-discussed advertisers were movies and almost half of the discussion of
the ads took place on social media sites. The
online trend continues to resonate with viewers, seen in the “Top
Gaining Advertiser Web Sites” category. Matthew
Pace, Director of Retail at TNS Compete points out that “some of the
most talked about advertisers (are) at the top of the pack in terms of site
traffic on Super Bowl Sunday,” which can be found in the following
statistics:
The
conclusion to be drawn is that the deeper the integration across all
platforms (traditional, online, in-store promos), the greater the potential
for success. And a free breakfast doesn’t hurt. |
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Gathering
and analyzing intelligence Gathering data regarding distribution is integral
in executing a sound content distribution strategy. However, doing this can
be fairly difficult, as analytics for videos and widgets are still in their
infancy and the best measures for success have yet to rise to the top. But
there are a few solutions currently available that can help field data. With widget analytics, Gigya is also a player in
this space. Gigya offers an embeddable code on widgets that will track
embeds, current viewership and interaction with the widget across different
channels. Google Analytics is also getting into "gadget" tracking
through its host of growing analytic measures. In terms of video analytics, TubeMogul is fast becoming a big player
in the space. As of this writing, the service allows for the simultaneous
upload and scheduling of video content to the top 15 web video destinations.
In addition to this, TubeMogul is able to aggregate video statistics from the
15 sites on a single dashboard. YouTube has
also recently become a major player in video analytics. With its latest release,
the largest video site on the internet offers a bevy of data and statistics
to posters of web video content. All of these services give you the ability to
track viewership, embeds and pass-alongs, all of which are vital tools for
executing a media seeding and content distribution strategy. Closing
thoughts The new emerging digital landscape enables
content producers to push the limits of interactive technology to realize
fresh and creative ideas. Yet, even the best ideas and concepts may not have
chance to step into the limelight if their producers rely only on viral
marketing. The real key to cracking the viral code is to
employ a strategy of media seeding and content distribution for new pieces of
emerging technology content. This is the best way to accumulate eyeballs. By
employing this strategy, producers and agencies have the ability to give a
fresh creative concept the legs needed to potentially grow into its own
internet sensation. Simply put, no one ever cares about the great
creative concept that nobody has a chance to see. A version of this article originally appeared in iMediaconnection on October 10,
2008. |
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