Branded Viral Videos: The Secret Marketing Sauce

I was inspired today by this article on Mashable.

I don't know about you all, but I absolutely LOVE when companies release videos to advertise some new service or to make fun of their own brand. Brands are now able to post videos on Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine. They previously used YouTube, and videos were never really sent directly to customers' mobile devices like they are now.

The perfect way to cover a boring subject!

I remember fondly when Kathie Lee and Hoda brought up the "Ship My Pants" video on the Today show. I about died! Those two are already hilarious, but when they start talking about shipping pants, Kathie Lee and Hoda are even better.

To this day, "Ship My Pants" by Kmart makes me laugh hysterically. It probably isn't that funny to other people, but I love it.

Shortly after, Kmart came out with "Big Gas Savings."

AMAZING! I love the play on words. I can't stop laughing, and I've seen these Kmart videos probably 13 times each. No shame. It's like Mean Girls. I've definitely seen that video over 13 times.

Then there are other companies who do not do as well with their videos.

I don't know about you, but I'm not very impressed by this video created by Chipotle. They do set themselves apart from the other Mexican grills, but I don't think that this 3 minute video is worth my time...

There are a bunch of other funny videos out there, but I only wanted to share a few.

Well, let me know if you know of any other funny viral videos by brands that are worth a view! I would love a good laugh.

Private Messaging Apps

There have been quite a few messaging apps already in the social field, but there is now a new player, Vine.

(Source)

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat now have to compete with Vine in the private messaging playing field. Vine will allow users to send short videos to their friends. These videos are saved, so it is not quite like Snapchat. With Snapchat, users can take pictures and videos that will be deleted after the receiver views them for a specific number of seconds.

The pros to Vine Messages:

• Include Vine video production features 
• Send text and video messages
• Send messages to people who are not on Vine

The cons to Vine Messages:

• No group messages
• Cannot send still pictures
• Cannot send videos from camera roll

Vine has amazing video making capabilities, and I am excited to see how this private messaging works. Will many people catch on? We will just have to see within the next few months how users and the competition react. 

Happy Birthday, Twitter!

Twitter is turning 8! We were given 140 characters in a small white box 8 years ago! NOOO. I'm getting old...

I cannot believe that it has been that long since we lived life before Twitter. The years when we were going through life without giving everyone a play-by-play of our activities were so long ago. I do not remember hearing about its popularity until about 2008, but I know that it started before that.

I remember my first tweet! It was absolutely nothing special, but I wrote it 5 years ago when I was ready to graduate from high school. It was a very emotional tweet, and I hope to never have it brought up again...

So moving on to this week's article... I found The Top Ten Most-Followed Twitter Accounts on Mashable, and it shocked me!

(Check out these tweeple. I bet that you can't guess who they are...)

The article lists the most-followed Twitter accounts- 5 are women, 3 are men, and 2 are brands! Can you guess who they are? Once you read the list, you will understand how they all made the list.

Most-Followed
1. Katy Perry
2. Justin Bieber
3. Barack Obama
4. Lady Gaga
5. YouTube
6. Taylor Swift
7. Britney Spears
8. Rihanna
9. Instagram
10. Justin Timberlake

Out of these ten tweeple, Barack Obama is following the most accounts, and Instagram is following the fewest. This is a no brainer since it does not make sense for Instagram to follow anyone, but Justin Timberlake comes in second on this list for following the fewest accounts at only 69! Crazy! He has 31.2M followers but is only following 69 accounts.

The article also shows the above tweeple's first tweets. They are pretty funny so take a minute and go read the article. It's not very long!

I can't wait to see where Twitter is in 8 more years.

There's an App for That...

JOB HUNTING! 


Yes, there is actually a way to find a job on social media! While looking for an article on Mashable to write about tonight, I came across this one. The list is short, but it is interesting how the author of the article thought about using the social media platforms. It's pretty cool!

It really hit me and made me have to think...

What would I be trying to do at this point if I didn't have a job lined up for after graduation? (For those who don't know, I'm going to work for an insurance company in Arizona) 
Would I be using social media at this time? 

The author observes 5 popular platforms and how to use them to land a job:

1. Twitter- You can follow lots of different companies and people, and you can search specific hashtags such as #jobs or #hiring. You can then keep on tweeting. The more the merrier for some professions!
2. Facebook- Well, first get rid of those spring break pictures... Employers (and your friends) do not need an entire album with you on the beach with a margarita in every picture. Change your privacy settings and figure out also what those viewing your profile can see. Can only friends view your profile? Next, like the pages that you're interested in and edit your "professional skills" section on your profile. This is a lot like LinkedIn, so it's a cool idea.
3. LinkedIn- This can be your longer résumé. Résumés have to be less than a page, so increase your profile on LinkedIn to say what your résumé is missing. Review LinkedIn's jobs board and continue to connect with as many people that you know as possible. They may help you reach someone else. 
4. Tumblr- An account with lots of content can show what you are interested in. Employers might find you and determine that your interests are right for a job. You can also use Tumblr to search in the search bar for terms such as "hiring" and "jobs." 
5. Pinterest- I never thought to use Pinterest for anything but ideas for crafts and recipes that I will never actually complete, but the article actually tells you to "pin your résumé." There are some other helpful tips and links about using Pinterest to your advantage in the article.

Using social media to help you find a job is a great idea. Many companies are interested in employees with a large social footprint and proving yourself by finding the company on social media is a great way to show your worth and expertise.  

Running and Fitness Blogs

I don't know if you all are anything like me, but I LOVE to read fitness blogs. Being a fitness instructor myself, I like to see what other instructors and runners are talking about. There are so many products and so many new trends in the fitness industry that I never hear about until I read their blogs. Here are three blogs that I have been loving:

     Peanut Butter Fingers
     Carrots 'N' Cake
     Run Eat Repeat

All three of these blogs post reviews of equipment, clothing, websites, recipes, and food! They are an amazing resource for me, and I continue to tell others about all of the information that I read on these blogs.

Even better, these blogs are a great resource for companies to tap into! I've seen some of these blogs with links to products, and I've gone and made a purchase because of what I have read. I use these blogs to understand more about a product and to become more comfortable before I make a big purchase.

Yes, some of these bloggers are given a lot of merchandise to post about a product, but it still works and draws me in. I like how all three of these women will state exactly what they received from the company at the end of the post about a product. I love it.

Oh, and here is a link to something that I learned about on Carrots 'N' Cake. It's called Stitch Fix, and I am in love with it! Lucky for them, I read about their service online, signed up, and made a BIG purchase. Suhweet!! I love learning about new things because of blogs :)

Snapchat Valentine

And the worst Valentine of the day goes to Snapchat!

I couldn't believe when I saw the notification on my Snapchat icon on my iPhone home screen. I was thrilled to actually have another Snapchat... but it ended up being the annoying video from Snapchat itself. I wasted seconds of my life watching a video from them wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day, but I love it more when I'm getting lots of chocolate. My mom sent me a great care package with tons of chocolate and love all the way from Texas. It was great! But I truly did not feel any love from Snapchat in their valentine. It was a great attempt and brought me back to the site, but I wish that the Snapchat had been from a friend and not a corporation.

On the other hand, I think that Snapchat is an awesome way to share a message on Valentine's Day. Here are some Snapchats that do just that: Snapchat Valentines. These valentines are awesome and did not need much effort. The creators didn't have to pay for postage, and they were able to send the same virtual valentine to as many people as they wanted through Snapchat.

Snapchat is awesome on Valentine's Day, but I sure hope that I never get another meaningless valentine from the company.

Facebook Fraud

     I came across this interesting article on Mashable that discusses how flawed the Facebook model is. Pages are receiving thousands of likes from people that don't even exist and are made up. I still do not know if I can fully understand how Facebook is allowing this to happen. Isn't the goal of "liking" something to show how popular it is. A page should not be popular if it turns out that no one likes it. I have found that most people are now losing their trust in Facebook and looking to Reddit more. 

     I don't know if you guys are like me, but whenever I am on Facebook looking for a product or service and go to its page and see millions of "likes," it drives me insane. I usually don't look at that company again when I am thinking about making a purchase. How do all of these groups find all of these friends to like the page? There cannot be that many people who are liking these pages but are never interested enough to actually interact on the page, and that is exactly the problem for pages that are trying to get attention. Facebook rewards the pages that have the most interaction for the number of likes on the page, so a page that has millions of likes but no one interacting will be shown and supported less by Facebook. It's interesting because you would think that the pages with the most likes would be the most successful.

     The article that I posted a link to above discusses Derek Muller who is behind the Veritasium video blog on YouTube that include science experiments. Muller's engagement percentage has plummeted because he has too many likes for the amount of interaction on the Veritasium Facebook page. 

     Muller is getting a lot of support for the above video, but he still has over 130,000 likes on his page, and he does not want them. He needs fewer likes in order to stand out.

Why does Facebook not fix this flaw? How long will we see the fraudulent Facebook accounts that like everything? The days of being popular and liked on Facebook are over, and it is more important to see the few people who actually support a page.