Do you know that Lady Gaga has the most viewed YouTube video of all time? Yup – her “Bad Romance” music video is right on top of the list, beating hugely successful viral clips like “Charlie Bit My Finger” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby”. One can only dream of getting half as much as – or even a quarter of – the 212 million views that she has so far notched. And why not? Companies, brands, retailers, aspiring artists, ad agencies, and Internet marketers know very well how viral marketing – and YouTube – can spell instant success and bring new opportunities to their business. So let’s take a look at what Lady Gaga is doing right. Her barely three-months-old video, “Telephone”, already has close to 50 million views, so it might be a good idea to break that down a little bit and see for ourselves how we can make our own online video content more viral. Use the power – Read the full article
There have been changes to the services being offered by Google and, more notably, Facebook in the recent days, each trying to amalgamate the service they offer with one similar to Twitter, in that you can subscribe to individuals status updates and posts, regardless of being their friend or not. Facebook Facebook’s introduction of the subscribe feature allows users to follow celebrities and people they have an interest in, introducing a whole new range of settings allowing control over who can see your posts and whose posts you are exposed to on your own news feed. Twitter found itself introducing accessibility to the lives of celebrities when it started in 2006 and had many celebrity endorsements, most notably Stephen Fry. This is the kind of publicity that Facebook and Google can’t possibly replicate. So far, the celebrities I’m suggested to subscribe to consist of Mark Hoppus and Jared Leto, probably due to the lack of take-up from the celebrity world. – Read the full article
Search giant Google and social media giant Twitter both recently released year-end reports that indicate how the world searched – and tweeted – in 2010. Google Zeitgeist 2010 The annual Zeitgeist report, which represents an aggregation of the search terms that people have typed into Google Search over the past year, offers insight on 2010’s fastest-rising global search trends, in categories that include news and events, people, entertainment, sports, consumer electronics, food and drink, health, maps searches, and even humanitarian aid. Here are some of the search terms that you will find in the Google Zeitgeist 2010. For the complete list, visit the Google Zeitgeist 2010 home page. 10 Fastest Rising 1. Chatroulette: A Russian-based chat website that pairs random strangers from around the world for webcam-based conversations. 2. iPad: Apple’s tablet computer, which was released in April 2010 and generated sales of 3 million units in 80 days. 3. Justin Bieber: The 16-year-old Canadian pop singer who released his – Read the full article
In a new social media marketing ploy – call it the “Twitter Boycott” strategy – the Los Angeles Times reports that social media superstars Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Seacrest, among many others, are boycotting all social media sites until $1 million is raised for the charitable foundation, “Keep a Child Alive.” The “Keep a Child Alive” charity, which is dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care, and support services to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, is fronted by talented singer and new mother Alicia Keys. The concerted sign-off of leading celebrity Tweeters and Facebook “friends” – what is described in the campaign as “digital death” – is slated to remain in effect until the $1 million target is met. In addition to swearing off all social media activity, the altruistic celebrity superstars will post “final tweet and testament” videos to the “Keep a Child Alive” website. Lady Gaga’s final tweet is already live on their website. The often – Read the full article
A business today needs to be mobile. Your customers are using their cell phones to access business information. If you aren’t easily accessible on their mobile phones then they’re going to start overlooking you in favor of businesses that are. Here are the tools that you need in order to go mobile with your business: Reinvent your website for the mobile platform. You may have a really amazing Flash website with a lot of interactive features that looks terrific on a desktop computer. However, that’s not going to work correctly on most mobile phones. You need to also have a mobile version of your site. (Lakeshore Branding has a list of really sweet tools here.) Each different mobile platform offers a browser WebKit to help optimize sites for the web. It’s worth it to work with a professional who is knowledgeable about making your website ready for mobile devices. Do local search engine optimization. Doing SEO for your website means taking – Read the full article
Often lost in all the talk about creating content in the world of social media is blogging. Specifically, guest blogging. Sure, we have all heard about how wonderful Twitter is, and how viral success on YouTube and Facebook can propel you and your business to greater heights. But guest blogging is right up there, too, as one of the best ways to enhance your presence on the Web. So guest blogging is basically writing content for a blog of which you are not the author. Usually you’d be invited by the owner of a blog to write content for him or her. Or it may come to happen that you know a blogger – a friend, business partner, colleague, etc. – who has agreed to exchange content with you, so that you can blog on each other’s sites. Of course, guest blogging opportunities can also come up by way of energetically reaching out to the blogging world. Like answering an – Read the full article
One of the most exciting milestones that can be achieved by any business owner or retailer is a product or service launch. It marks the fruit of all the hard work that had been done. A launch, however, can also be one of the most terrifying, stressful, and expensive projects that you, as a business owner, will ever have to take on. So why not do it via social media? Traditionally, product launches feature a mix of advertising and PR efforts, pushed by a huge corporate event, media banquet, or some kind of conference. Yes, these still work. But what if you ran a business that was Internet-based? What if a great deal of Internet usage is critical in your day-to-day operations? What if you want to test the waters of Web 2.0 and use social media as your platform for launching a product or service? Don’t think it’s not possible. While many perceive social media as something that only – Read the full article
Video sharing website YouTube recently marked its fifth anniversary, and all signs point toward even bigger growth – and more video content being uploaded, broadcasted, and shared through the website. According to the recent release of statistics, YouTube enjoys an astounding two billion hits every day – almost twice as much as people tuning in to America’s three biggest prime time TV stations. The milestone, which was announced in conjunction with the anniversary, also reflects a massive growth from when YouTube was founded in February 2005. While minor glitches and copyright issues have not been uncommon, the website has enjoyed more than its fair share of sensations and successes: the viral Iranian election protests video, President Barack Obama’s YouTube interview, the massive popularity of Nike’s Ronaldinho football commercial, and – more recently – the rise of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” music video to the top of the list of most watched videos ever on YouTube. Here are other interesting YouTube – Read the full article
