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CONTENT THAT resonates is key, there is no argument.
I’ve always said just make great content, and you’ll get
the views/likes/subscribers you were hoping for.
In the content world today, that’s not entirely true. Content is still
key, but realizing the content context is also huge. Where people
are consuming it, why they think they should and how they were
referred to it plays a huge part. We have the UnScientific proof.
Last year, we shared a clip of my “Millennial Rant” on the
UnMarketing Facebook page. One of the things about this
new video landscape on Facebook is that 85 percent of videos
are watched with the sound off so we also added closed-
captioning, so people could read what I was yelling on stage.
We sent it out to just under 50,000 “fans” on Facebook
and it did great. It got over 250,000 “views”.
That’s a great number for anything on Facebook, since the
average reach of a brand post is pitiful, but I’ve seen many
humor clips on Facebook go into the tens of millions of
views that were only kind of funn y, and I knew this clip was
gold. (I’m not being arrogant. Most things I say that I think
are hilarious, aren’t, but I’ve had the luxury of doing the
content on stage to thousands of people as a keynote speaker,
so I know when they laugh, and laugh hard, it’s gold.)
The video was tickling the funny bone of our immediate
fans, and they were sharing it, but then it would drop off.
So I had the team at Atomic Spark Video add a text
title bar to the video to entice people to watch it.
And KABOOM! It received over 13,000,000 views, and counting.
The amazing thing is I had already sent out the clip, so it was a
repeat to our fans. You’ll notice that the title had to be something
that would entice people to want to watch it. We’re treading
dangerously close to encouraging brands to put, “Woman Puts
Hand In Blender. YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT!!!” on every Facebook video, and for that we are truly sorry.
Why did this happen, and why didn’t it take off the first time?
We used the concept of “Third Circle” in the Book Of Business
Awesome/UnAwesome to explain how things truly go viral.
Your brand’s page is
in the middle and you
put out your content
on Facebook. A small
selection of your first
circle (fans) get exposed
to it and decide if it’s
worthy for them to
Like/Share/Comment,
which in turn, triggers
the content to be sent
out to some of their
own first circle, which
is your second circle.
Getting people who already love your content to react to it
isn’t the challenge. They know you, they’ve self-identified as
fans of your brand already and are willing to consume and
distribute your content based on the fact they’ve Liked your
Facebook page. However, when the content hits the second
circle, that’s when most content dies of context irrelevance.
Sure, one of my Facebook friends shared the content I’ve seen
on my Newsfeed so it automatically has some clout to it, but not
usually enough to get someone to click on a video and listen to
it. The content must entice on its own, free from the friend bias.
If people have never seen me on stage, why would they think
this clip of a speaker is anything but another irrelevant talk?
That’s where the video headline comes in. We made sure it was
enticing enough to make people want to stop the newsfeed scroll
and listen for a few seconds at least and give the content the full
chance. Once the people in the second circle consume the content,
and they share it, with no original brand relationship with you,
that’s when it hits the third circle and has gone truly viral.
We don’t want everyone to assume that the only thing stopping
your video from getting millions of views is some text in the
header, but at least give your video content a chance of being
consumed by making it interesting before the click.
It’s a classic case of second circle evaporation.
MEET
SCOTT &
ALISON
Scott and Alison Stratten are co-authors of 4 best selling
business books, co-owners of UnMarketing Inc and co-
hosts of not only The UnPodcast, but five children, two
dogs and two cats. This site, the show and the books
all represent their thoughts on the changing world of
business through their experiences of entrepreneurship,
two degrees (Alison), not lasting long as an employee
(both) and screaming at audiences around the world
(Scott, Alison is more polite).Unmarketin.com
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