Ryan Seacrest leads the way with Social Media Efforts

Do you know an Artist or performer who has successfully integrated social media into their marketing efforts?  Many artists are beginning to see the value that social media can play when it comes to increasing awareness of their products.  Ryan Seacrest has masterfully led the way with a social media strategy that has helped launch new opportunities for the American Idol host.  I thought Seacrest was a good example for a discussion of social media and it’s impact on your business and marketing efforts.  In this post, we will take a closer look at Seacrest’ career and business ventures in particular and see how social media has assisted his efforts in launching his own production company.  Can some of his strategies work for your business?

Ryan Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air With Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 Radio Show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks, and the internationally syndicated chart show American Top 40, also syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. On television, Seacrest hosts E! News and American Idol.

Seacrest has been able to use his on air popularity to gain fans and stay in touch with them through social media.  He has over 4,711,200 Twitter followers.  He is a leader in using Twitter as a way to stay in touch with his fans.  There are few that can argue that they haven’t come across Ryan’s Twitter feed. At one point or another, as the intrepid leader, Seacrest runs an account spouting information and content that ranges from the adorable, to the astonishing, to the absurd and everything in between. The business magazine Fast Company has recently recognized his efforts, and named him the Most Creative Person On Twitter.

His approach to social media is to have a conversation with his followers.  This approach has allowed Seacrest to build relationships and gain the trust with his connections.  He also has launched a successful career and his own production company, Ryan Seacrest Productions (RSP). 

RSP has developed several reality TV shows including Keeping Up With The Kardasians and most recently Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC.  He has many more on air and in development.  Seacrest uses his on-air time and Twitter to communicate to his audience about these programs.  He creates a buzz about what is happening on the show and always promotes the time and channel his followers can tune in to see Food Revolution. His social media strategy seems to have worked too.  Seacrest was just labeled the most powerful man in Reality Television, stealing the title from his former boss Simon Cowell.   

So, how can you use social media to enhance your business?  It will take some time as it has with Seacrest.  However, it is a great way to build awareness, gain trust, and launch your own successful entertainment venture.

References

http://www.fastcompany.com/1757066/the-10-most-creative-people-on-twitter

http://ryanseacrest.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/RYANSEACREST

Making Your Video Go Viral

 Recently, I have been researching different ways to launch my creative content business Raybabe Productions Inc.  Digital Marketing is a crucial part to the success of my company because there are many low cost or no cost strategies to drive business.  Perhaps developing a creative video that shows a piece of my creative content could be posted on the web? What next?  How can I make this video go viral? 

David Meerman Scott from WebInkNow.com has an incredible blog on Digital Marketing and Leadership Strategies.  I found some great tips on how to make a video go viral on the world-wide-web.  Here are the eight tips Mr. Scott shared.

The most important thing is to make sure the video is funny, amazing, remarkable, or have some fascinating information or be controversial.  The video needs to have a reason for people to pass it on.

TIP #1

The first tip is that you don’t need to hire a professional.  A homemade quality video can work great.  Plan ahead and shoot several takes to get it right.

 TIP #2

Your video should be less than two minutes.  Think very short.  Although YouTube will accept a video that is less than 10 minutes, try to make the video between 30 seconds and two minutes. 

TIP #3

To best promote your video, you'll want the video title or description on YouTube to be accurate and interesting. Use descriptive keywords and language that people will find when they search for videos.  Make sure to use the correct categorizations on YouTube so people can find it.

TIP #4

Some companies try to sneak corporate-sponsored videos onto YouTube in a way that makes it seem like it is a consumer-generated video.  Scott warns us to not attempt “stealth” fake customer insertions on YouTube, as YouTube is adept at fleshing out the fakes. 

TIP #5

The fifth tip is to try a series of similar videos to build interest.  This tip may help me as I introduce the characters of a slapstick comedy film.  Perhaps a few short funny videos to help introduce my characters?  Collectively, they could tell an interesting, amusing, and short story.  These videos could create interest and link them to my films’ website.

TIP #6

When uploading your first few videos, you are likely to hear a deafening silence. You'll be waiting for comments, but none will come. You'll check your video statistics and be disappointed by the tiny number of viewers. Don’t get discouraged. It takes time to build an audience. Make sure people know it is there and can find it. Create links to your video from your home page, product pages, or online media room. Mention your video in your e-mail or offline newsletters, and create links to your video as part of your e-mail signature and those of the others in your organization.

TIP #7

You also need to make sure bloggers know about you.  Sending a link of the video to bloggers or commenting on other people's blogs (and including a link to your video) is a good way to build an audience. If you comment on blogs in the same space as yours, you might be surprised at how quickly you will get viewers to go to your video.

TIP #8

Finally, while Scott believes it is difficult to purposely create viral marketing buzz, it is certainly possible. He suggests creating a number of campaigns and observe what is a hit, then nurture the winner along. Think like a venture capitalist or movie studio and try a number of things in order to get that elusive hit.

These tips were very useful for marketing my video content and they could also help you.  Check out the link at the end of my post to view some of the nominated viral videos from the 2011 Webby Awards.  My personal favorite is the Digital Nativity.  Let me know if you had some success with your video going viral by sending me a comment.  I’d love to hear your thoughts about digital marketing and viral videos.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/viral-video-nominees-webby-awards-2011_n_848377.html#s263501&title=Bed_Intruder_Song

http://www.webinknow.com/2007/08/8-tips-to-make-.html