by Jace Vernon | Sep 11, 2013 | viral video
5 Reasons Jimmy Kimmel’s Twerking Girl on Fire Video went Viral – and How Yours Can Too
This article was originally featured on Business2Community.com by Jessica Anderson
Monday night on his show Jimmy Kimmel revealed that he was the genius behind the video that received more than 9 million views in less than a week – Worst Twerk Fail Ever – Girl Catches Fire! In his reveal segment he mentioned that they did nothing to advertise the video, he simply uploaded it to YouTube and, in his words, “Let the magic happen.” However, there are a few key things about the video that helped it get big in the first place – proven methods you can apply to your own videos to boost viewership.
Humor
The public loves funny videos, and Jimmy’s video was hilarious. The fact that it’s an average young college-aged girl makes it relatable, and somehow realizing that it could’ve been anyone tickles our funny bones. Even now, knowing that it was all staged, it is still pretty funny. If you want your video to go viral, it better make people bust a gut and want to show everyone – or at least chuckle a little bit.
In the Now
Viral videos almost always have something to do with current pop culture. It seemed like one day all was relatively normal in the world and the next morning we woke up and “twerk” was in the dictionary. Jimmy Kimmel used this increasingly popular shake-your-booty club move and ran with it. He knew most YouTube users were interested in twerking, wanted to watch it, wanted to learn how to do it, or wanted to just figure out what it was all about. I’m sure if he would have done a “DIY installing a refrigerator – man catches on fire” it would have been funny, but it probably wouldn’t have had over 9 million views in less than a week.
The Unexpected
All the best videos have some sort of unexpected twist. In the case of Twerking Gone Wrong the clincher was Girl Catches Fire. The video would have been great if it ended with the roommate entering through the door and knocking the girl on the ground – but the flames were just the surprise that video needed to send it shooting through inboxes and Facebook pages across the internet.
Title
Of course, if the video would have been titled only “Twerking Gone Wrong” it wouldn’t have been picked up as quickly. If it would’ve been titled only “Girl Catches Fire,” how would people have differentiated it between the hundreds of other YouTube videos entitled “Girl Catches Fire?” The key to the success of Jimmy’s video is the fact that it a couple different mini titles smashed together to let viewers know exactly what is in the video.
Tags
When a YouTube user wants to find a video but doesn’t know the title, they can type in keywords into the search box – and if your video doesn’t have any tags, your video won’t get pulled up in the searches. Jimmy’s video is tagged with several different keywords, including sexy, girl, lady, college, dorm, hot, a**, butt, dance, twerk, twerking, cute, beautiful, shake, university, pretty, fire, accident, fail, epic, vma, robin thicke, miley cyrus, etc… Only a handful of the tags are actually related to the video, and that may seem like cheating – but the beauty of YouTube is that the tags are really hard for viewers to find. So if a viewer was initially searching for “dog obedience classes” they can easily end up watching your online marketing video about which mattress is the best fit or a video of a twerking college girl catching fire.
The Moral of the Story:
Jimmy Kimmel probably wanted to prove to the world how easily a video could be picked up by millions of internet users and even several news stations without doing any extra work beyond uploading it to YouTube. However, he actually did do a little work, and your video has the potential to experience the same success as his so long as you follow the above basic rules of viral videos.
by Jace Vernon | Aug 23, 2013 | Creative Marketing, Video Marketing, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video
Best Whiteboard Animation: the Best Form of Edutainment
When it comes to trying to sell your product to consumers, especially in the current economy, you may become frustrated with their short attention spans, fast-paced lifestyles, and tendency to hum simple tunes while plugging their ears and clutching their wallets in a vice grip. If only there were a way to trick potential buyers into learning everything they need to know about a product or service all under the guise of being entertained! Well, you’re in luck! Whiteboard animation is the best way to entertain your audience while educating them about your business and all the many ways you can help them better their lives. Here are just a few examples of why whiteboard animation takes the cake when it comes to edutainment:
Improved communication of ideas
Whiteboard marketing videos don’t necessarily need to be promotional. If you have a complex set of ideas that you need to convey to potential buyers or even employees – whiteboard can help to improve learning and increase message retention. The symbolic illustrations in whiteboard videos make complicated ideas easier to understand and therefore, remember.
It’s a different kind of media
With all the many media inputs consumers are bombarded with every day, people have grown skeptical of anyone who even remotely reminds them of a salesman, whether or not they’re actually trying to sell them anything. You could have a product that will make peoples’ lives significantly easier, but if they’re not willing to listen to a sales pitch, you have no chance. Whiteboard animation bypasses message filters in the brain with its visual storytelling method. The creativity and artistic illustrations in a whiteboard marketing video can get through consumers’ thick skin, ensuring your message will reach the intended prospects.
It has an impressive teaching resume
When it comes to education, whiteboard animation has been used as chapter summaries for textbooks, to teach languages, demonstrate new software or products, or teach employees company policies or appropriate workplace conduct. Whiteboard animation has the unique ability to incorporate several different kinds of media including photos, illustrations, audio, animation, even other videos. People tend to find the variety of media in whiteboard videos much more engaging than a traditional advertisement or talking head promotion.
It’s simple
Whiteboard videos use a simplified manner of illustrating to give information to the viewers. The simplistic illustrations combined with voice-over narration promote the feeling of storytelling – in most cases taking the viewer back to the innocence and simplicity of childhood. The presence of a hand in the video, or live drawing, makes the video seem more realistic and viewers are better able to fully understand and retain the message. Whiteboard animation keeps your audience captivated by engaging them in the artistic creativity. Illustrations, combined with a pleasant background tune and professional voice-over make up a deadly trio of advertising – consumers just can’t complain about something so easy.
Originally featured on Business to Community
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | Aug 20, 2013 | video, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video
5 Celebrities that Would Endorse Ydraw for Whiteboard Animation
Whiteboard animated marketing videos have become a hot commodity in the recent years – such a hot commodity that there are a few celebrities who know all about them and would love to put in a plug for Ydraw’s creative whiteboard genius. Take a look at 5 celebrities would would endorse Ydraw in a heartbeat – if they only could:
Amanda Bynes
Bynes left movie making to get into the video scribing market, but try as she did, she couldn’t compete with Ydraw’s unwavering success. Turns out this historically balanced and well-rounded actress couldn’t handle the pressure and went seven different kinds of crazy. However, if she were in a more mentally stable place she would totally recommend investing in a Ydraw whiteboard video for your business.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga actually gets most of her outfit ideas from Ydraw videos. Our artists sketched characters in outlandish getups for audience entertainment purposes, and Lady just went gaga over them – using her endless resources to turn those imaginary outfits into realities.
Ashton Kutcher
Ashton – or shall we call him Chris – has recently proven himself a pretty good guy. With his viewpoints on climbing the ladder of success being kindness and hard work, who’s to say he wouldn’t endorse Ydraw whiteboard videos? We just haven’t had time to ask him yet.
Demetri Martin
Demetri has always been a fan of Ydraw’s whiteboard animation skills. He has even tried to replicate them in his comedy acts, yet he never progresses past a magic marker and jumbo pad of paper. Bless his funny little heart.
Jimmy Kimmel
It’s no secret that Jimmy is always on the lookout for the next hilarious viral video, but did you know that passion was sparked by watching Ydraw whiteboard videos in his free time? It’s true. He was so impressed by Ydraw’s creativity and uniqueness that he started looking for other videos to make him laugh, which brought him to Youtube. Unfortunately, there are so many videos to sift through on Youtube that he hasn’t been able to promote Ydraw videos yet – but just you wait.
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | Aug 12, 2013 | Creative Marketing, Marketing
Why Advertising Doesn’t Really Work
Ha! That’s hilarious. Advertising does work. In fact, it works so well that every single person in the entire world – minus the aborigines, the lost tribes and the Gods Must Be Crazy kind of families – has been influenced by some kind of advertising.
If during a moment of weakness while you were cleaning out your inbox, and you happened to read one of the mass emails you so often receive from your dear old granny, you recognize this short story:
A man wakes up in the morning after sleeping on an advertised bed, in advertised pajamas. He will bathe in an advertised tub, wash with advertised soap, shave with an advertised shaver and have advertised juice, cereal and toasted bagel (toasted in an advertised toaster) for breakfast. He’ll then put on advertised clothing and glance at his advertised watch.
He will ride to work in advertised car, call in to let his office know he’s running late from his advertised cell phone, and sit down in an advertised desk chair when he gets to the office. He’ll work at his advertised computer, and write with an advertised pen.
Yet this man hesitates to advertise (or market his business), saying that marketing and advertising don’t work. Finally, when his unadvertised business goes under, he will advertise it for sale.
It’s a funny little story, but it packs a lot of truth – and without further adieu, here are three huge reasons your small business needs to advertise:
Inform Consumers
In a way, advertising saves you money by eliminating sales lost simply because the consumer didn’t have enough knowledge of your product or service. You can use advertising to educate potential buyers so they can comparison shop early. If they come to you having been educated – you know they are there to buy.
Existence by Awareness
If people don’t know about you, then your company is just as profitable as it was when it was only a glimmer of an idea in your eye. Consumers are aware of the companies with the most aggressive advertising campaign. Sure, these companies might get a reputation of being annoying, but at least people will think of them if they ever have a need for car insurance.
Brand Recognition
Aside from Harley Davidson and Starbucks, none of these logos tell you what they represent – yet you already know. Why?
Advertising can seem expensive, especially if you’re in a very competitive market and are scrounging for ways to keep your prices down – however, without advertising, your consumer base will be limited to a few locals, faithful friends, and super supportive relatives. But the truth is that your return on your investment will make having an advertising campaign more than worth it. If you’re not sure where to start, maybe Granny can send out a few mass emails about your company for you? Heaven knows her reach is endless.
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | Aug 5, 2013 | Creative Marketing, Video Marketing, video online marketing
Video Hosting Alternatives to YouTube
When it comes to video hosting sites, everyone is aware that YouTube takes the cake (ok, so your grandparents are still a little unaware). However, there are other options out there. Here is a list of 5 video hosting sites that will host your marketing video just as well, but still fall in line behind the infamous YouTube.
1. Vimeo
YouTube continually outranks Vimeo because you just can’t beat free. Though Vimeo does offer a free account, there are many restrictions. Their paid account offers several high-tech video editing and hosting options that even surpass YouTube standards.
2. Wistia
If you only have up to three videos, Wistia will host them for free and give you access to all the Wistia features – including their ‘heat map,’ which measures viewer engagement every second.
If you have more than a few videos, Wistia offers a couple different options: for $23/month you can host up to six videos and $79/month gets you unlimited video hosting along with 200GB bandwidth per month.
3. Dailymotion
Despite it’s restrictions – video length is limited to 2GB and 60 minutes and upload quality is limited to 1280*720p – this French video-sharing site is a great competitor to YouTube. Daily motion allows users to watch, upload, and browse videos via tags, channels or groups.
4. Veoh
Veoh is a solid, reliable video sharing site with an added bonus of zero size restrictions. Veoh accepts several different formats and once uploaded, your videos are easy to embed them on your website or blog. There is also an active community where you can connect with other users, rate videos, leave comments and participate in forums.
5. Flickr
It’s true, this popular photo site is not only for images. A free Flickr account allows up to two video uploads per month with
90 second max length and 150MB size restrictions. A paid account giets you unlimited videos, but the same length and size restrictions apply.
+Jessica Anderson
