The Washington Post recently published an article by Hayley Tsuakayama revealing how YouTube may be friendlier to minorities than other mass media sources.
Nearly 80 percent of minorities regularly watch online videos, compared with less than 70 percent of their white counterparts, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reveals. Moreover, among the 20 most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, eight feature minorities, mostly Asian American. In addition, many more black and Latino shows populate the top 50. Finding an audience that has been largely neglected by Hollywood, producers are now finding personalities that reflect their diverse target audiences.
Take the case of Vietnamese American beauty Michelle Phan. As of April 18, 2012, Phan is the second-most popular TV personality on YouTube. This makeup maven has a huge following, which is largely from makeup tutorials; the “MichellePhan channel” has 1.9 million subscribers and about 567 million video views. Phan ranks 20th among YouTube’s most popular channels, and recently became a spokeswoman for Lancôme. Declining to reveal how much such producers earn, Lancôme does say that hundreds of them make at least six figures annually.
Maureen Guthman, the head of brand strategy and acquisitions for the African American-focused channel TV One finds that for minorities, YouTube offers a way to defy stereotypes prevalent on network television, said. Guthman stated that [Blacks can show themselves] “completely unfiltered and without [someone] telling us, ‘you’ve got to be more this.’”
With the increasingly diverse population prevalent in the United States today, it is important that companies have online figures that represent the target audiences they seek to persuade through marketing and advertising. Since they act as virtual envoys to ethnic populations, diverse audiences don’t feel pandered to, but feel more like stakeholders in the exchange of prospective commerce. The result is that more return on investment (ROI) for companies that seek to target these audiences, and a feeling of satisfaction through the audiences themselves.
I had a really awesome video to share with you today.
Seriously, it was the greatest version of the greatest song of all time. A classic and my favorite. I was really looking forward to sharing it in this space, my blog, where I could provide an introduction about why this song is my all-time favorite track.
But the record label that posted the official video to YouTube disabled embedding.
That means I can TALK about it, but can’t show it to you here.
That’s stupid.
Here’s why diasbling YouTube embedding is stupid:
1) Embeded Views Count – Unless you set the video to Autoplay when a page is loaded, embedded video views count as video views on YouTube. In fact, YouTube lists embedding as a great way to increase views.
2) Content Delivery – People enjoy having content delivered to them instead of going searching for it. If someone sees a video on a blog and they enjoy the song or artist, they can then search for more information on it. Embedding allows the content to be served to a target audience on a silver platter.
3) Other Sharing Is Enabled – If you can share a video on Facebook or Twitter (see the screengrab above), you are basically embedding it. So to disable blog sharing is counterproductive to your own strategy.
4) Not So Viral – I hate the term “viral video.” It honestly makes me throw up in my mouth a bit. It’s not a goal, it’s an outcome. But – how can you achieve peak viral capacity if you make it harder to share the video.
I’m sure the company loses ad revenue (or just benefit from the real estate) if a video is not viewed on YouTube itself.
But is that worth compromising the actual benefit of social media?
If you don’t want it to be shared, don’t put it online.
Just a very funny video from Glaceau’s SmartWater brand.
They incorporated several themes and “celebrities” from the online video world, while positioning the former “Friends” star as a funny, self-aware, down-to-Earth star.
It just went live this afternoon, but initial metrics show a positive response.
My only complaint is that the YouTube name for the video is “jennifer aniston goes viral” which says nothing about the product and is void of the SEO-gold key words “sex tape.” Why not officially call it a sex tape? Maybe that would have gone too far for her comfort level. Not that I blame her one bit.
But as a way to make premium water appeal to millennials and way cool people of other demos, this is a home run.
One of the most popular bands on the planet in the 1970s and early 1980s was Journey.
They had hit after hit after hit. And the songs ranged from soft ballads like “Open Arms” and “Faithfully” and to rock anthems like “Don’t Stop Believin‘” (the top-selling catalog track on iTunes…ever!) and “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).”
Without a doubt, the most identifiable part of their sound was the one-of-a-kind voice of lead singer Steve Perry.
The band took a hiatus in 1984 and the most famous lineup didn’t get back together until 1995, releasing a well-received, but not THAT well-received album.
A hip injury derailed a tour in the mid-90s, and he split with the band for good.
Journey continued to tour and record, churning through lead singers for the next decade. Nobody filled Steve Perry’s void.
And it all changed when founding member and lead guitarist Neal Schon was surfing YouTube one day in 2007.
He saw clips of veteran Filipino rocker Arnel Pineda covering Journey songs…and hired him to be the new lead singer!
Pineda went from being a relatively well-known singer in an Asian band “The Zoo,” best known for their cover songs, to being the face of one of the biggest bands in the world…all because of YouTube.
The success was instant, as Journey’s next album was a major hit and their 2008 tour brought in over $35 million.
Journey, to borrow from their lyrics, rolled the dice just one more time on a lead singer discovered via social media, and it paid off BIG time by revitalizing their career. Arnel Pineda truly took a Social Media Journey all the way to the top.
And Pineda is GOOD. Take a listen to him performing “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
What I didn’t know is that he would take a giant leap of faith in the social media world, and use YouTube and Facebook to campaign to be a host of “Saturday Night Live!”
Take a look at the hilarious video below and join the Facebook group! We MUST make this moment happen!
If you ever wondered what the definition of “awesome” is, it is Cookie Monster hosting SNL!
Let’s get this out of the way: soap is not inherently “cool.”
Marketers have been trying to shove personality into stuff that removes body odor and makes you smell vaguely reminiscent of something, be it a river in Ireland or an iceberg in Antarctica.
However, Old Spice hit the jackpot this week with their new series of video responses to Tweets, YouTube comments, articles and blog posts.
1) Character: The star is Isaiah Mustafa, who is also the pitchman in the current TV campaign Old Spice is running. Having him record these spots shows that this initiative is important to the company.
2) Instant: Each video has the same talent, costume (as it were) and set, with limited props. They are all also less than :60 each, so incredibly quick to film and turnaround. Shot with a single camera and no special effects, the only reason they would need multiple takes is if Mustafa busts out laughing on set, which I’m sure happened more than a few times. With the quick production time, the video can be relevant and timely.
3) Funny: The writing is incredible. Pitch-perfect for the character…full of wit, double entendres, and complete over-the-top arrogance.
4) Viral: Every video is housed on YouTube and can be instantly shared across multiple platforms. Users can embed it in blogs (see above!), so the YouTube video gets the views while people share it around the world. And because they have the TV star in a short, funny manner, people WANT to share it!
Obviously, I’m a fan…but what is your opinion on this campaign?
I had a really awesome video to share with you today.
