Some characteristically brilliant insight from College Humor’s Ricky Van Veen straight from today’s (Motorola sponsored) Mashable Summit…
10 Web Content Urban Legends
Myth #1). People will want to watch your branded content: Why would anyone watch this? If you don’t have a good reason, don’t make it. If your goal is 75% to entertain and 25% to sell a product, you already have a handicap.
- Brands need to be flexible. IE, College Humor is a racy site — so if you want to partner with a media outlet like this, its content will be racy. Embrace that. To remedy this issue, you can present content that is not explicitly branded, and then reveal your involvement later.
Myth #2). People will be patient with your content: 35% tune out soon after starting to watch a web video. Also, one third of web activity is executed while watching TV.
- So, get to the point — quickly.
Myth #3). People will find your content: Your video will not necessarily go viral. Over-saturation is not the key, either.
- Have a strong seeding strategy.
– Team up with an established brand or platform.
Myth #4). The Internet is a level playing field: A link on Drudge Report yields more results than some dude’s blog.
- Tap into power users.
Myth #5). We have no idea why things go viral: There are no rules for making a viral video. But all viral videos give the user a reason to pass it on. This all has to do with identity creation: What does passing this video on say about me?
- College Humor has a hit strategy: Only hit for nines and 10s.
– The shorter the better.
– The hook comes within the first 20 seconds.
– Sweet spots College Humor taps into: Topical issues and “Candycorn” (cultural touchstones that everyone knows, but doesn’t actively think about).
Myth # 6). Experience ()
- if you’re a marketer, create experiences that allow people to show off how cool they are.
Myth #7). You should build your own community and tools: The web values simplicity and openness. Don’t limit the openness of your project. Make all tools open and easy to share. Don’t build your own features — if you want people to share photos and whatnot, use Facebook
Myth #8). Keep things professional: Show the people behind the scenes. It gives your site personality and makes it sticky. Personality drives your brand. Post photos of staff as well as videos and other content. Perez Hilton does this really well, according to Van Veen.
Myth #9). Traditional media is irrelevant to the web: TV is not over. Content creators are always working to get to TV and film — that’s where the money is. The average American watches 151 hours of TV a month, so that’s nothing to sneeze at. You get a stamp of approval thusly.
Myth #10). People will create good content for you: This is the biggest myth of all.
Along with a day of world class Social Media discussion and presentations all guests and media received a personal MOTOBLUR enabled Motorola Smartphone…
Though there aren’t any hard and fast rules about what’ll make an online video a success, I like that this list accepts this, but also tries to identify ways in which marketers can maximise the impact online (e.g. points 2, 3, 4, 5).
Solid round up, thanks for sharing.