If a young adult with nothing but a video camera and his imagination can achieve success on YouTube, so you can your brand…

Entertain

Shane Dawson has an ensemble of characters with eccentric personalities who are woven into his story-lines to create laugh out loud videos. Don’t let the “homemade” aspect of his videos fool you. Dawson spends many hours coming up with funny skits and does an excellent job of acting out his characters, which include Shanaynay, Ned the Nerd, and S-Deezy.

“It’s about pleasing the audience and making them feel like they subscribed for something,” says Dawson.

Be Genuine

Shane has cried in front of the camera on multiple occasions. His troubled past (he was 150 pounds overweight in high-school and was abused by his alcoholic father) is endearing and brings him down to earth. In his videos Dawson often makes fun of himself and has a care free, humble personality, which makes him likable. On his fan base, Dawson says, “I feel like they’re my friends and I really care about them.”

Encourage Feedback

At the end of most of his clips Dawson encourages his viewers to comment in the comments sections of his videos or take make a video response. By encouraging community interaction of his content, Dawson is making his audience invest in him, which leads to a loyal fan base.

Market Yourself

Dawson knows that entertaining content alone is not enough to generate traffic , which is why he creates videos, which relate to already popular topics. Take a look at Shane Dawson TV’s 5 all time most viewed videos and you’ll notice a pattern of his video targeting popular topics…

FRED IS DEAD!

Click here to view the embedded video.

LADY GAGA TRIED TO KILL ME!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

“TELEPHONE DUDE’S VERSION”

Click here to view the embedded video.

TWILIGHT NEW MOON: BLOOD

Click here to view the embedded video.

LAST FRIDAY NIGHT *SPOOF* KATY

Click here to view the embedded video.

Although the actual content of some of his videos only slightly relates to their respective titles, the sensationalist looking titles lure his viewers in and, by the time his videos are over, his watchers are not disappointed.

Shane Dawson never expected to be as popular as he is now, with other 2 million subscribers. Too many people or brands focus on “becoming famous” or “being well known,” when they should be focusing on the actual product they are selling. So, if you’re a brand, forget about becoming a YouTube sensation over night and focus on what kind of value your can bring to a YouTube audience.

If you’re a website selling the latest electronics, make video reviews of the latest electronics. If you’re someone who has a skill (singing, comedy, drawing, dancing, etc.) make a video, which entertains or informs your audience in a compelling way.

Nickolay Lamm is an internet marketing specialist who manages InventHelp Scam Watch and other web properties.

For just under €20 you can claim a place on the shirt or the shorts. This creative way to raise money for a cause is called crowdfunding.

The cool thing about crowdfunding is that small causes also get some attention. We all know about WWF, Unicef and Pink Ribbon, but there are lots of other charities and causes that deserve our donations. Through organizations like Pifworld, small causes can be set up and donated to. With these little charities, you know exactly what your donation will be used for and you can keep tabs on the developments.

Of course this is slightly different from the Rotterdam Basketball outfit sponsoring. You are not making the world a better place by paying money to have your photo placed on a shirt. But (and this is another cool thing) you can be part of your favorite team without the necessity to be filthy rich. Kind of like the supporters of Ebbsfleet United, who can invest in their club and decide who’s playing in the coming match.

What do you think about crowdfunding? Is it a good way to create room for small causes or will there never be enough fans to support a project so that it can become one of the bigger players?

Source: Dutchcowboys

The trailer has shown over 600,000 views since 4 March 2010, so the creators must have done their homework in a smart way.

How do you rate the trailer?

Source: Viral Curve

And that’s about time. Because to me, Red Bull has been a core identity brand for many years. I loved their cool events and sponsorships. But the never ending boring series of TV commercials made me change my mind. I started to dislike the Red Bull brand due to their TV ads.

Per 1 March 2010 every Dutch consumer with a creative mind can send his script to Red Bull Decide The Story. User created scripts must fit the mandatory format, in which the animated “anchor” cartoon will stay the main character. The TV spot must be 15 seconds max.

The best rated scripts will be produced into a TV ad and will be aired on TV. The winning script writers will be involved in the production of the spot.

I do hope to see some fun scripts. And really hope to see a refreshed Red Bull brand. Because they will need a cosmic collission to find all the available GRP’s on this planet that will make me a Red Bull fan again. How do you like the current Red Bull TV commercials?

The One Frame Of Fame concept proved to be effective. Almost 7.000 fans already send in their pictures. Continue to read on about the concept.

The concept is simple. To participate in the videoclip, the user is asked to perform a move in front of the webcam and record the snapshot. This snapshot is being placed within the videoclip instantly.

After the video upload, the user is being asked to spread the message via social networks such as Facebook, Hyves and Twitter. The concept even made it to the Dutch NOS news.

In my opinion a great concept to engage fans and make them part of the product. Check out the website One Frame Of Fame for the last version.

Source: Marketingfacts, Dutchcowgirls

As you might know, Sensation is the world’s biggest dance event, invented by our Amsterdam based friends from ID&T.

And Lego has inspired more people to create great online videos….

How about this amazing video 8 Bit Trip that was created by Rymdreglage from Sweden. The guys spent about 1,500 hours on moving Lego bricks and taking photos of them!

Their Lego inspired video generated 1,7 Million views in 5 days!! And it reached the # 2 position of our Viral Friday week 35 edition.

If you have spotted more great videos in which Lego is the star, don’t be shy and share your collective wisdom with our community. You can do so by adding the link (to great example Lego videos) in the comments below.

Do you also feel Lego could embrace this social media marketing opportunity by starting a UGC Lego competition? To ignite this competition Lego could find the Lego social hot spots and communities, to next identify and invite these Lego fans and influencers to participate in this competition?

Social marketing can be rather simple. If you combine your core identity brand with an invitation to your sweet spot clients (your fans) to participate, you have a winning social media marketing concept.

I hope some brand marketers can find the time to step away (just one week) from their traditional push campaigns to act socially smart. If you don’t, your users will not wait for you and start their own fan page or community.

So if you like to be a little bit in control with your brand, make the first move. Just see what for example happened to Ikea and Hennes & Mauritz.

Lee Washington from London is currently studying product design. And he seems to be paying attention. In above video he is presenting an idea to prevent tangling of iPod headphones; when not in use, the two wires join together.

Lee was inspired to develop these headphones after having seen this woman on the train, struggle to untangle her headphones. Lee was very surprised to see his video hit over 123.000 views at YouTube and Vimeo within just 3 days.

Lee is currently in conversations regarding protection – patent law dictates that he has 12 months from release of the idea.

I think we all hope, that Lee has helped Apple to understand that the frustration of untangling headphones before you start listening to music, shows a need for new product development.

What do you think? Is Lee’s idea smart enough for you to spread his video a bit further? I think we should show Lee some love and support, do you agree?

If you like his idea and spread it to 10 friends, his idea will connect to millions of people coming weeks. So, how bad do you want Apple to take this idea into production? You might be in control next…

To freshen up your mind: To participate, entrants were asked to submit an original video focusing on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, and the game of golf in general. Based upon the videos submitted, a panel of judges has selected up to five finalists, whose videos can be voted on by the public. The contest winner will be selected based upon a combination of judges’ scoring and public voting.

The 5 final videos are really nice to watch, it seems that these finalists really have put some efforts into their productions. We strongly doubt if one of these videos beats the famous Walk on Water video with 3.7 million views and counting, but of course we still support EA with their will to create strong viral content.

The $50,000 winner will be announced September 23. Voting ends on August 31, so if you want one of the 5 finalists to win, start voting now! ViralBlog wishes Good luck to all the finalists!

Now take a look at the final 5 videos here:

The Caddy

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pull A Tiger

Click here to view the embedded video.

Out Of The Box

Click here to view the embedded video.

In The Game

Click here to view the embedded video.

Controller

Click here to view the embedded video.

On the YouTube page you can select the options what 3D glasses you are wearing, or if you have none, to cross your eyes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I recommend going to the YouTube page, get your 3D glasses on and pick your 3D View Style.

United has scrambled to respond, also in nontraditional ways. Its first comments came not in a press release, but via Twitter.

And as the global recession and the consequent drop in air traffic force the carriers to cut back on services and consider charging extra for everything from checked bags to onboard meals, the Internet, and social media sites in particular, is giving once-faceless travelers a global — and instantaneous — platform from which to air their grievances.

Confronted with these middle-seat Davids-turned-Goliaths, airlines, like other consumer-oriented businesses, are racing to find their own ways to use social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to forge deeper relationships with passengers — before things go wrong.

I can only add: why do so many brands spends tens of millions of budget on their brand promises, (i.e. their overpromising and shouting ad campaigns) but their efforts in guarding their brand experience mostly end-up being one big act of avoidance (instead of delivering their existing clients an out of this world customer experience).

I feel that social media with its consumer ratings and reviews and user created videos like this, will put extra pressure on brands. And I like it. Finally the consumers are in control and brands cannot longer get away with their neglecting behavior. So more and more brands will need to learn (faster) that CRM and an outstanding Customer Service Department are key ingredients to become a core identity brand.

To get this done, brands need to change the DNA and behavior of their communications departments dramatically. I know too many brands where 10-20 communications people are running around fulltime. Their biggest worry is their brand’s messaging, or in plain English: their new campaign with TV commercials, print and outdoor ads. Nobody seems to care about the existing clients, well working shops, sites or customer service.

I have been a marketer at 3 listed companies for about 9 years. When I asked my MarComs people: who of you ever spent one morning or afternoon at our customer service department, to learn and understand how our clients feel about your brand promises? Everybody was shocked and most people started to explain why they had absolutely no time to do that.

So I asked: actually you are telling me that you are all very worried about our brand promises, but none of you has ever taken the effort to listen at our call center, to learn how your promises are being perceived by our clients? Next months all of my co-workers had to spend one morning a month in our call center and one morning a month they had to visit our retail stores to do mystery shopping.

And I can tell you, my people came back with a very long list of what should improve in our services and campaign messages. Next they implemented that list. How on earth can a brand afford to spend so much time and money on their promises but continuously escape its responsibility to deliver the best customer experience?

But back to United Airlines again…

“Thanks to social computing, travelers’ tales are no longer confined to what they tell to their coworkers and neighbors,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a vice president and airline and travel industry analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco, adding that roughly 60 percent of travelers in Europe and North America engage in some form of social networking online. “They are out there in public for the whole world to see.”

Airlines in the United States have been the quickest to embrace social media as a low-cost public relations and marketing tool, in particular to spread the word about fare sales or to make announcements about new routes or services. Carriers like Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines are among the most active users, each with online “followings” in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people.

Even some airports, like Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta and Logan International in Boston, are using dedicated channels on Facebook and YouTube to provide travelers with information like how to use the airport train system or to give updates on construction projects or changes to rental-car facilities.

Interesting is to see this video statement where Dave shares his thoughts after the success of “United Breaks Guitars”.

The full article can be read: The New York Times