Pretty much anyone involved in custom video production is going to tell you video is an important part of any effective marketing plan. And we’ve all seen those videos with millions of views that make it to the top of the list. With that kind of example, the idea of having a viral video can get tweaked in the wrong direction.

First off, a viral video doesn’t mean that it has to have millions of views. That’s good for small business owners. If you own a small coffee house with a local clientele, is it really going to help you if millions of people see your viral video?

Here’s another problem. What determines when a video will be viral? Many of the viral videos went viral due to their entertainment value. Funny, amazing, interesting or whatever it was that clicked and it just got shared by a LOT of people all at once. Some of those moments just happened to have been captured on camera and weren’t rehearsed.

And how many funny commercials have you seen that everyone can talk about, but they don’t remember what company or product was being represented. They remember the video, but couldn’t tell you the product.

What’s the point of all the promotion if it doesn’t lead to sales? NOTHING!

I offer you this advice. Get busy creating content on a blog, including video content. Make sure you include written descriptions on YouTube or wherever you’re hosting your content since search engines can’t “read” video, which hinders indexing (for search results).

Here’s the hot tip. If you share all of that content on social networks like Facebook people have the chance to share the content. If you write and video about OTHER people and share it with them, they sometimes share it with their friends who share it with their friends.

Even if you don’t get millions of hits, you can get twenty, thirty or more hits you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Free exposure. Who’s to say what might happen if you do it consistently? And if it’s being shared, even by just a view, it still is viral. It might not be famous, but it’s viral.

On of the most popular blog posts we had was written about an actor we’ve used in our Canon Boot Camp several times. I interviewed her, wrote a blog post promoting her work with us, and the other projects she was doing, and shared it with her on Facebook after I posted it on our blog. She went on to share it with her network, and before long, we’d had nearly 100 hits on the article.

So just consistently create and share content and you’ll win out over about 80% of your online competition.

And while you’re here, if this article helped you in any way, please share it on Facebook or Linkedin!