When does a viral video do no good whatsoever?

When does a viral video do no good?

In one of my Client Discovery Meetings this year, I met Carol from New Zealand, a delightful lady who is very keen to use videos for her business.

We chatted about upcoming goals, her video efforts so far, and Carol was as proud as punch to tell me one of her posted videos had “gone viral”.

Woohoo! Sounds great!

What does “gone viral” mean exactly to Carol?

I asked Carol what that meant – and she replied that the video was seen by hundreds of people and she was thrilled to bits to be able to say that.

Now let’s do some research to gather more information on this video.

Let’s check the video’s YouTube statistics

Our next step was to pop over to the YouTube Channel and have a look at the statistics for that one video:

1. yes, the video had been viewed hundreds of times – fantastic!
2. unfortunately (a) there was no link in the Description for any viewer to be able to get in touch with Carol
3. and (b) there was no contact information on the “About” tab on the YouTube Channel
4. plus (c) after I watchED the video, there was no Call To Action (CTA) at the END of the video which meant there was no way for the viewer to find out who made the video (in case they wanted to know more)
5. an extra step which every video maker needs to put in place is to have a Mailing List Sign Up link on YouTube – in the video Description, About tab, on Social Media accounts, and on the website or web property they own.

 

When I told Carol that “viral” is only good if people can find you again afterwards, she was terribly disappointed she didn’t have anything in place — yet.

 

I explained about always putting a link of some description on everything posted online (videos, images, memes, podcasts etc), and Carol. slowly started to realised this had been a missed opportunity. But all is not lost!

There is still good news for Carol!

Instead of feeling sad about the missed opportunity, I reminded Carol that there was still PLENTY of good news :

1. a giant step had been taken towards the goal of creating videos for her business
2. a video had been created
3. the same video had been published on YouTube – THAT’S A HUGE ACHIEVEMENT!
4. this one step alone is probably more than most of the competitors had done so far.

Not knowing about the steps to take just means the delightful Carol is at the start of a YouTube journey, and after today she’ll know what to do for all the videos she makes in future.

What to do NEXT time before publishing videos

I’ve developed a list of steps which can be learned by following a step-by-step process which I share with clients, as follows :

1. a YouTube Video Creation Checklist PDF
2. a YouTube Video Upload Checklist PDF
3. plus a YouTube Video Distribution Checklist PDF.

Following a proven process to get the best results

These documents make it so much easier for a business owner to know which steps to take next.

• It’s also possible the business owner might decide to delegate and have a staff member or Virtual Assistant follow the Checklists – another great option.

Track the video’s statistics to see Return On Investment (ROI)

YouTube provides great video statistics for each video in every Channel.

I add each video to a spreadsheet with date of publication and a few other notes.

The YouTube statistics provide information about the viewers’ behaviours for each video, and is a great help to work out which videos are most well-liked.

• Give the videos a week or two before checking the stats.
• When a video or two seem really popular, it’s a great idea to make more videos about the same topic, from a different viewpoint.
• A series of videos on the same topic can be grouped together as a YouTube Playlist and linked to each other with the End Cards available on YouTube.

Making videos for business is an incredible way to be found online by potential clients and customers, and when the Checklists are followed, the videos will be ahead of the competition! Woohoo!