2. What is Social Media? Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content(Kaplan & Haenlein).”
What exactly is social Media?Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (Kaplan & Haenlein).”Most are familiar with the few platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; but new social media platforms appear everyday (Kaplan & Haenlein).This presentation is going to focus on YouTube and how organisations have and can use it to create value for themselves.References Kaplan, A. M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite!: The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons , 53 (1), 59–68.Images from Facebook.com, Twitter.com, YouTube.com and Creative Commons
YouTube is a video sharing website founded in 2005 where users can upload, share and view videos. Users can also give comments, like and dislike videos that are published on the site.YouTube was bought by Google and operates as a subsidiary of Google.As of April 2010, 47% of the major countries’ population visits YouTube (Nielsen, 2011). References Nielsen. (2011). July 2011 – Top US Web brands. Retrieved 10th September from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/july-2011-top-us-web-brands/.
YouTube is rated by Alexa.com as the 3rd top website on the World Wide Web. This means that YouTube has the 3rd highest combination of average daily viewers and page views over the past month; only next to Google and Facebook (Alexa Internet, 2011).The site had a total of 126 million unique viewers from the US in July 2011 alone (Nielsen, 2011).References Alexa Internet. (2011). Top Sites (Global). Retrieved 10th September from http://www.alexa.com/topsites/global.Nielsen. (2011). July 2011 – Top US Web brands. Retrieved 10th September from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/july-2011-top-us-web-brands/.
Why YouTube? YouTube has an interactive platform that allows organisations to create interactive videos.This is a campaign done by Tipp-Ex that allows users to change the outcome of a video by changing the title themselves. Interaction builds a bond and improves the chances of the consumer remembering your brand tomorrow (Stokes, 2009).ReferencesStokes, R. (2009). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing (2nded). Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd.
As mentioned previously, YouTube enables uploaders to allow the responses of viewers. This means that viewers can give feedback, like or dislike a video, and even make video responses. What this means is that there is a two-way communication between the uploader and a viewer. This allows organisations to engage directly with their customers.
Old Spice is the prime example when it comes to YouTube responses. After a viral hit from the advert The Man Your Man Could Smell Like in 2010, Old Spice launched a response campaign where the Old Spice Guy would directly respond to chosen questions from commenters and tweets from Twitter. This was a huge success and created a back and forth communication between Old Spice and consumers. Even celebrities took part in the hype.
In early 2011, Old Spice launched a new fresh collection deodorant along with a set of new commercials that instantly went viral. This was followed by a Mano a Mano El Bano campaign featuring a duel between the Old Spice Guy and Fabio using YouTube videos. This was similar to the Old Spice Questions campaign where both would respond to viewers. ReferencesImages from oldspice.com
Old Spice’s initial viral video had 35 million views and is the 9th most shared global ad of all time.Over 150 videos were made with 300,000 to 1,000,000 views each and their other 7 commercials had a few million views each.That gives Old Spice a very strong brand recognition which results in sales and brand loyalty which is ultimately what they want.
Another recent campaign using YouTube is Nike Mag. This is a charity campaign held in collaboration with The Michael J Fox Foundation to fight against Parkinsons. The campaign dubbed Back for the future features videos featuring a classic Nike shoe worn by Marty McFly in the movie Back to the Future. 1500 of this Nike Mag shoes are to be auctioned off by September 18th and all proceeds goes to the foundation.
Hundreds of Nike Air Mag shoes have been sold so far at prices ranging from $3500 to $10000 with $37,500 being the highest price paid for the shoe. Sergey Brin, founder of Google has also pledged to match all donations up to the end of 2012 of up to $50 million. If the average price of a shoe is $5,000, the campaign will raise over $7 million dollars.
Other viral videos that has made their name through YouTube is such as DC Shoes. They launched a series of videos featuring Ken Blocks (founder of DC Shoes and professional rally driver) performing in various car stunts and extreme driving. The fourth and final video of the series achieved a total of 8.6 million views, 1.6 million shares and the along with the third video shares two of the top 10 spots on the all-time Mashable Global Ads Chart (Unruly Media, 2011). ReferencesUnruly Media. (2011). Mashable Global Ads Chart: All time. Retrieved, 14th September, 2011 from http://vvc-origin.unrulymedia.com/chart_keyword/Mashable_Global_Ads_Chart?interval=all_time
In a similar but more subtle way, RedBull sponsors and creates various videos on extreme sports such as snow-boarding, stunt driving, cliff diving and stunt biking. A few of their videos have gone viral such as the Danny Macaskill – Industrial Revolutions. Although the video is not explicitly done by RedBull, the organisation uses a form of brand placement where their product is subtly integrated within the video.
The number one video of all time according to the Mashable Global Ads Chart is The Force: Volkswagen Commercial with 45 million views and 4.3 million shares. Volkswagen made an unconventional choice of leaking it onto YouTube before Super Bowl Sunday a week earlier. This made all viewers of the SuperBowl stop and pay attention to the ad due to the buzz it created.
All the previous examples so far has been done and created by large multinational companies. Our final example will be by a smaller not-so-well known apparel company Vooray. Vooray incorporates many forms of Social Media with YouTube being one of them. Vooray initiated the V-Challenge which asked for consumers to create a video incorporating Vooray in some form. And the result was a 2.5 million hit viral on YouTube.
Whilst it may cost a company tens of thousands of dollars to create and film a great advertisement, YouTube allows organisations to upload videos to the public and gain instant viewing for relatively low costs. If a company is paying for a broadcast on TV or in Cinemas, YouTube is an obvious place to go to air advertisements regardless.
The plus points of YouTube is that it can be more mainstream than Television. Attracting millions of viewers daily, YouTube’s reach far exceeds that of a timeslot of a TV. The interactive platform also gets people talking and spreading the brand through word of mouth, thus creating buzz
It also sometimes is forgotten that ads are ads as people go to YouTube for entertainment such as the Red Bull and DC shoes ad. Old Spice and Vooray are good examples of how the brand can get responses from the public. In Old Spice, millions of responses in forms of parodies, video responses as well as conversation tweets were generated. Likewise in Vooray, a viral video was created in response to their competition.
This allows consumers to communicate with the brand and feel more personal and connected. This connection and communication can lead to a strong emotional attachment to the brand and enhances brand loyalty.
Often used in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter, YouTube can grow to its fullest potential when used with other social media platforms. To end my presentation, a short clip from the Vooray viral video will be played. Thank you.