Many content creators just make a video, put it on YouTube and hope it goes viral. It’s tough. There’s a lot of stuff out there. This is why I try to make videos about something people can identify with.
Case in point: Barry Bonds breaking the all time home run record. Personally I don’t like Bonds and I know I’m not alone. So I wrote a video (performed by my friend Ryan) about how Bonds signed a deal with the devil to get the record. Here’s the strategy I employed (the video is below):
1. Have it ready: We made the video over the weekend before Bonds broke the record. I uploaded it to YouTube and MySpace as private. When Bonds broke the record I just made it live.
2. Keep it short: It’s only a minute long. The longer the video the harder it is to go viral in most cases.
3. Unique delivery: A puppet Satan helps make it stand out from the crowd.
Here’s what I learned:
If there is an event that is building up to one moment (like the home run record) it is better to create something for the buildup rather than the moment. We’ve been talking about Bonds’ pursuit of Hank Aaron’s record for almost a year. If we had written a video about that the video would have legs for a lot longer. Even if the video we made goes viral all over the place it still wouldn’t get as many views as it would have over a several month period.
Nice video I like it.
Posted by: NN | May 28, 2008 at 09:12 AM