Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business

Chapter 15. The Social Networks Strategy (Connecting with a Click)

Talk about a level playing field: marketing to social networks is a viable strategy for businesses large and small. You don't need deep pockets to get the conversation going, either. Remember BlendTec's "Will It Blend?" videos, which I talked about in Chapter 8? They're all made on a shoestring, yet the series has attracted more than 60 million viewers. Who can resist clicking to watch a CEO gleefully pulverize an iPhone or a Grand Theft Auto disc?

Of course, if you've got a big budget, social networking sites can add even more punch to your marketing effort. Think of the annual hoopla over Super Bowl commercials, for example. Leading up to the game, YouTube and other video sites post sneak previews of some commercials. During and after the game, hundreds of thousands of people jump online to debate about the commercials, share their favorites, see what reviewers say, and add their voices to the discussion. One YouTube video, a loop of the top 10 commercials from last year's Super Bowl, drew nearly a million views. These viewers were clicking to watch seven-and-a-half minutes of nothing but ads!

Clearly, it's a vid, vid, vid, vid world. The last time I checked, the most popular video on YouTube was comedian Judson Laipply's Evolution of Dance. It's been viewed more than 90 million times. That's Super Bowl-sized viewership for a video that's only a few minutes long. And the audience for online videos is growing day ...