Marketers Take Advantage of Viral Potential of Videos

7 December 2011 – Interactive elements and other engaging factors make the advertising repertoire of Web marketers and affiliates more promising than in the real world, and are industry players and movers are trying their best to make the most of what they can do.

The popularity and ongoing success of Youtube is one of the many reasons marketers are trying to harness the viral potential of videos and make use of them for their marketing and promotion endeavors. Unlike interactive forms or flash animations, videos make more of an expected impact because of our natural affinity for TV.

Not all videos become viral, however, and in the case of marketing videos, this endeavor is all the more difficult. For one thing, most of the viral videos have one common denominator: a very catchy and head turning premise, tactic, or zaniness that easily spreads like wildfire once it hits the Web. A number of big brands have winning formulas for creating viral videos – with some being able to “score” viral with videos that are too controversial as to be banned from regular viewership. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of small and medium businesses and their affiliates.

Aside from tapping into that X factor that makes a video catch on quickly and easily, video marketing is far from being a science. Some argue that therein lies the problem: no set of standards or rules like those in search engine optimization are known or agreed upon, so no metric can determine success. But another obvious setback for online entrepreneurs is just what sort of videos most of them post online.

Many post what is commonly known as the talking head, for instance. There are several things that marketers got going against them when they use such a video. For one thing, it’s downright boring. A typical mistake is assuming what works for TV works for the Web – which isn’t always the case. Another major drawback is that it lacks attention grabbing facets and in fact encourages viewers to look at or do something else while that person is talking, which defeats the purpose of video.

To effectively use video to promote your affiliate product, you need it to be more than just a different means of providing info or making a sales pitch.