YouTube the Hit Maker

Funny beats pretty in social media. If you want a video to go viral making it hilarious is the easiest way. However, it’s not enough just to have a funny video. You’re video has to actually advertise your company. Hundreds of YouTube videos are funny enough to get millions of views, but most of them are not advertisements. So before you start making something funny, make sure your brand is inextricably linked to the humor. In our last blog we talked about the Old Spice commercials. Those were an excellent example of using humor in a way that involved the brand. You couldn’t watch those commercials and forget what they were advertising. Make sure your focus is advertising not being funny. Humor is a means to advertise not the other way around. That being said, how do you get people to watch your video on a medium like YouTube?

YouTube is a voluntary audience. Unlike television, radio, magazines, and other traditional advertising avenues where you have a somewhat captive audience, YouTube is entirely voluntary. Each YouTube user will watch only the video he/she wants to. So the question is how do you get people to willing watch your video? Or even better, how do get people to willing forward your video?

When looking at YouTube we can see several key characteristics that make videos popular. Look at what makes a YouTube video popular and tailor your video to meet what people are already watching. Here are two examples of popular YouTube videos. We're from Seattle where nothing beats making fun of Portland so the first example is from a show called Portlandia which makes fun of Portland. The second is from a YouTube series called Epic Rap Battles of History. The series takes various historical and fictional characters and puts them in a rap battle. Darth Vader vs Adolt Hitler has 26 million views. Here are some ideas of what makes a popular YouTube video.

Timely

Making video that references or is related in some way to current events perks to the interest of the YouTube community. Political jokes, celebrity parodies, are a few examples of this type of video. For example, Saturday Night Live getting Tina Fey to do Sarah Palin impressions only worked because they acted quickly and did the impressions during the presidential elections.

Sex

This is advertising 101, sex sells, and it’s no different on YouTube. The top YouTube videos will always include an abundance of scantily clad women. While sex sells it also seems to have somewhat of a ceiling on it. Video that rely solely on women in bikinis tend to do good but not great, probably because of the lack of originality.

Blindside the Viewer

Shocking or unexpected videos also gain popularity on YouTube. The first Geico caveman commercial is an excellent example of this phenomenon. The Geico spokesman explains that ‘Geico.com is so easy to use that even a caveman could do it’, only to have the camera zoom out to show a caveman throw down a boom mic and storm out of the studio yelling, ‘not cool man, not cool’. Surprising your audience in a pleasant way work very well.

Originality

Originality is something that is easier said than done. Everyone wants to be original, but those you successful tend to have successful videos.
Extraordinary Skill

Everyone likes watch crazy skill. An example of this was Nike’s Joga Bonito campaign before the 2006 World Cup. Nike put together videos of some of the world’s top soccer players doing strange feats of skill with a soccer ball. The negative of this tactic is that most brands do not have an extraordinary skill associated with their product.

Brevity

Almost every popular YouTube video is less than 5 minutes and many are less than 2 minutes. Keep it short and punchy.

These only a few ideas of what make a successful YouTube video, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what type of videos make it on YouTube. Remember that there is more to a good video that just the number of views you get. Currently Justin Bieber has the all time most viewed YouTube video, and I think we call all agree that no amount of views, or money, is worth being responsible for a Justin Bieber video.