Tag Archives: video

Whether you are a regular content producer on Vimeo, YouTube, or any other video sharing platform, you probably know that getting your content to go viral depends on many factors – factors like quality, length, and “shareability”. Now, with regards to the last one – shareability – it would be a good move to define what this means. Shareability is a made up word that many in the social media world use to refer to the potential of a specific content to go viral, to be shared across social platforms. Now, how does one gauge the shareability factor of a video? Well, some would say the quality. Others would say relevance. Many would attribute it to an aggressive promotions campaign on social media. Well, all these are correct, but if you really want to go deep within, you will want to take a look at the qualities that a viewer will want to see in a video in order for him to think that he should share it. In other words, a video needs to have specific triggers that will encourage the viewer to share it to the people he knows will appreciate it like he did. And, what are those triggers? Here is a list.

Funny

If a video makes you laugh pretty much all the way through, you are most likely to share it to your friends, like you always do whenever you hear a brilliantly unique and humorous joke. Yes, those corny but laughable jokes you hear when hanging out at the office water cooler are usually the crack ups you share to your friends come the weekend. Well, the same viral concept can be applied with videos, except that it is easier since all a viewer has to do is click and the funny video will be posted on Twitter, Facebook, and even on his blog.

Cute

Any video that features a cute and cuddly kitten playing around or a baby learning to say his first words will always catch the fancy of nearly everyone in the world. Videos that have the cuteness factor integrated in it will touch the viewer’s emotions, which will most likely get him to click on that share button.

Shock and Awe

A tsunami hitting a populated beach area, a helicopter crashing, or a guy showing the world how he can dislocate his joints and contort his body are just some of the ideas for content that can literally pop the eyeballs out of their sockets. Shock and awe folks, any video with this trigger will surely go viral in an instant, especially if it is one that the viewer can relate to.

Controversial

Religion, politics, Obama’s opinion on gay marriage, these are all controversial topics. And, all controversial topics ignite fires on social media. Hence, if you want your videos to engage the minds and feelings of the viewers, make it about something controversial. This will spur the viewers to not only comment on your channel or video page but also expose it to other people with the same sentiments about the issue as well.

YouTube has heard the cries of the masses – “more quality content please”. To turn the tide against the battle of quantity versus quality, YouTube has made some big moves to ensure that the latter levels the playing field. You can scarcely see quality content – those coming from artists, musicians, filmmakers, and the like. Well, this is because they have all moved to Vimeo. Fortunately, with the new leap of faith YouTube is making, you may soon all those content creators coming back to the mother of online video soon enough.

YouTube’s New Direction

The Google-owned video giant has long been criticized for allowing copyright infringement issues and poor quality content to literally invade their platform. According to many vocal social media analysts, they see YouTube soon becoming a saturated giant, where most of the videos you will see later on are those with the essences of content spamming and poor value. As this seems to be the inevitable future, most of the quality content creators have moved to other networks that encourage the opposite. For instance, Vimeo has locked down on copyrighted and commercial content, making their community friendlier for the actual artists and filmmakers.

YouTube has apparently seen the light as they have just recently announced that their new thrust is to bring the hardcore content creators back. YouTube’s bigwigs have signed deals with a variety of publishers such as ABKCO Music Inc., BMG Rights Management, Songs of Virtual, Christian Copyright Solutions, Songs Music Publishing, and the like.

What does this mean? Well, it’s simple. With these new publishers onboard, YouTube is now poised to provide the artists, musicians, and quality content producers a chance to get discovered, build a career, and make a lot of money. Want to be as successful as the Foo Fighters, Cee Lo Green, and Adele? Good, then know that these are the publishers responsible for those popular bands and artists.

Content ID System

Now, in order for these publishers to distinguish the talents from the copycats, they need to be able to verify whether the music in a video is original or not. The YouTube Content ID System is the feature that makes this need come to life. With this system, publishers will be able to determine the copyright status of the music they hear, allowing the content creators and artists to potentially generate more revenue from their content.

YouTube appears really excited with this new move since it is something that is a win-win situation for everyone. The content creator is given a chance to distribute his content for money and possibly get discovered, the music publishers will be able to potentially discover and sign new talents, and YouTube beefs up its ad revenue through the content posted.