Presentation at FutureM Boston 2013. Spoiler: We don't recommend trying to do viral. It's not good for your brand, your marketing dollars, and your career.

1. Mythbusting: Engineering a
Viral Video
FutureM 2013
October 18, 2013
#futureM #viralvid

2. What is a viral video? !
Wikipedia:
"A viral video is a video that becomes popular through
the process of Internet sharing, typically through video
sharing websites, social media and email.”
Why should marketers care?!
!
!
FREE Awareness?!
FREE Views?!
!
2

3. The Whole Hog of A Viral Video!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
3

4. Agenda!
The whole hog of a viral video
• Heart: creating good content
• Ribs: social outreach and sharing
• Underbelly: robots and incentivized views
• Brain: engineering it with data
• Right Feed: paid YouTube ads
• Tail: luck
4

5. Brilliant commercial that went viral?!
84% of views from paid views
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6. Brilliant commercial that went viral?!
59% of views from advertising
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7. The Heart: Good Content!
Brain!
Heart!
Ribs!
Tail!
Underbelly!
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8. Sometimes things just come together!
3,243,299 times
shared on
Facebook
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9. Good content is often a steady view earner!
• Know your targets intimately
• Example: Build Direct from Canada
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10. Steady view earners deliver better ROI!
• Know your targets intimately
• Example: Build Direct from Canada
10

11. The Ribs: Social Outreach and Sharing!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
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12. Real virality is often smaller!
541,296 times
shared on
Facebook
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13. The ribs: social outreach and sharing!
Relevance
Passionate
Enthusiasts
Subscribers
Participation
Crosspollination
Connecting to your real target audience
4
4
4
4
4
Make relevant content
Lobby tastemakers and find passionate enthusiasts
Build subscribership
Encourage participation
Use cross-pollination of email, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, G+
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14. Seeding promises!
“Get your video seen by the right people.”
“We generate millions of monthly opt-in views on social
networks, mobile devices and YouTube.”
“We use proprietary technology to turn target
audiences into engaged viewers and engaged
viewers into customers.”
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15. Caveat emptor: Seeding can be seedy!
A supposedly “organic”
blog post generated by a
seeding campaign.!
!
!
!
“…XYZ — the viral
video house behind
this clip. XYZ knows.
Shop at XYZ.”!
15

16. What are you getting when you seed?!
Click-through rates for
a seeded campaign:
Views: 284,894
Click-throughs: 17
CTR: 0.006%!
Compare to average
YouTube ad
CTR: 3.5%!
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17. The Underbelly: Bots and ‘Incentivized’!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
17

18. Buying robot views: 1M views for $800!
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19. Why this is a bad idea: Google will catch you!
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20. Slightly better cuts: incentivized views!
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21. The Brain: How to Engineer It!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
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22. How many people are watching? What?!
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23. What is your target audience watching?!
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24. Understand the audience and competition!
Look at metrics on:
• Audience size
• Most popular content
types and sub topics
• Social media
reactions
• Viewer sentiment
• Traffic Sources
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25. Metadata: what matters and why!
•
•
•
•
•
Titles
Tags
Descriptions
Target links
Annotations
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26. Track YouTube search and social rankings!
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27. The Right Feed: Paid Ads!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
Feed!
27

28. Paid, owned and earned media work together!
Promoted
Video
Ad
YouTube
Ads
YouTube
Channel
Social
Sharing
Much
more
cost-­‐
effec8ve
than
TV
and
online
display
ads
A
video
channel
that
you
own
and
control
fully
Build
a
community
around
your
video
content
Website
Driving
conversions
through
highly
qualified
website
traffic
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29. YouTube ad placements: Choose carefully!
Best practices:!
1. Use varying formats (search,
in-display, pre-roll)!
2. No need to stick to 30second spots!
3. Use time of day according to
target!
4. Geographic focus if
necessary!
5. Don’t always optimize for
direct website clicks !
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30. The Tail!
Brain!
Ribs!
Tail!
Heart!
Underbelly!
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31. LUCK!
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32. Serendipity can happen!
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33. Engineering results: It all works together!
Organic YouTube Traffic
Pre-campaign
Campaign
Channel subscriber growth
Pre-campaign
Campaign
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34. Summary!
• Heart: Know your audience before you
create
• Ribs: Share the passion and seed carefully
• Underbelly: Don’t do it
• Brain: Track and clone yourself to success
• Right Feed: YouTube ads done right are
worth it
• Tail: Be ready when luck happens
34

35. Get this presentation?!
Go to pixability.com/futureM2013!
•
Bettina Hein, Founder and CEO
4 Email: hein@pixability.com
4 Phone: (617) 710 5772
4 @bettinahein
•
Rob Ciampa, EVP Marketing
4 Email: rob@pixability.com
4 Phone: (617) 774-9600
4 @robciampa
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36. YouTube Advertising: How It Works!
1. Select:
Choose one or
several of your YouTube
videos as ads.
2. Place:
Put ads where
your target audience
already is.
3. Call to Action:
Users can click through
to your website for more
information.
§ Value for money: Charged per engaged video view, not per click or
impression!
§ Extremely flexible: Various cost per view (CPV) ranges available
depending on format and targeting!
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37. Does it have to be Gangnam Style?!
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38. When should you buy incentivized views?!
• Never to inflate
views
• Awareness only
– do not expect
any action
• When there is a
good match of
demographic
• Example:
promotion of
video game
launch on
gaming site
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39. Factors that matter: YT’s changing algorithms!
• Viewing time
• Total viewing session initiated
• Channel layout
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40. YouTube TrueView Ad Formats!
Skippable* Pre-Roll
(in-stream)
Keyword Search
(in-search)
Display ads
(in-display)
* Skippable after 5 seconds
• Value for money: Charged per engaged video view, not per click or
impression
• Extremely flexible: Very different cost per view (CPV) ranges available
depending on format and targeting
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41. Placement Analysis!
•
Discover detailed data
on relevant channels
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audience size
social engagement
traffic sources
search rankings
Example: 4x4/Off-Road Cars
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42. It’s magic…?!
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43. It’s magic…?!
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