Why do people share marketing video?
In a previous post we talked about how a video sitemap will optimize your video for the search engines so more people can find it. In this post we’ll look at the number one thing you want people to do once they’ve found your video: SHARE IT!
According to this article about viral video science at Mashable.com (and boy do we love talking about brain science around here), there are certain psychological factors that motivate people to share a video. And one of them is information.
“People are hard-wired to teach and learn,” writes Dan Greenberg, “Make a video that includes genuinely new and interesting information, and it will be shared, guaranteed.”
Explainer videos use simple drawings and headlines – along with a carefully crafted script – to present a product, service or any other idea. If you have a message that’s a little out of the mainstream, on the leading edge or just difficult for people to grasp, adding video can help people understand and remember that message.
And once the lightbulb goes off for one viewer, they’ll be so excited about learning something new that they’ll pass it along to other people in their network, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on and so on.
To see what else is working for video marketers and apply it yourself, check out this infographic from Mashable.com, How Videos Go Viral.
What are common viral video traits?
Some of the most viral marketing video are:
Short (15 seconds or less!)
While it’s a robust 43 seconds, we still think this animated video about Chrome Notebooks is concise and powerful enough to be in the “short” category!
Appeal to girls and young women
We would have posted an example here, but hey, I’m a guy! If I knew what appealed to women I’d be in a different business all together.
From companies that make consumer packaged goods (things like food, clothing, shoes, cleaning products, etc.)
Here’s a video from Moleskine® Legendary Notebooks (it features the whiteboard animation style, something we’re very excited about here at Switch Video)
And don’t forget the fun factor! As our animators pointed out in our insider interview, the more fun your video is to watch (and to make!) the more people will want to spread those good feelings around. Which makes perfect sense, since strong emotional response is one of the other psychological factors behind viral video science.
