The Social Media Marketing & Communications guide for Natural Health and Wellness insiders.

Shit Marketers Say: Trend-jacking and the S-Bomb

Unless you live in an offline puritan bubble, you’ve probably at least seen a link for the latest viral video on YouTube “Shit Girls Say.”

• 7,704,212 views in under a month
• 7,495 comments
• 53,730 likes

David Meerman Scott talks about news-jacking: piggybacking your message on a popular current news topic. My immediate thought when I saw this video was “Wow, this is brilliant. Who’s going to jack it first?” (Shit Girls Say isn’t exactly news, so I’m going to suggest the term “trend-jacking.”)

Laughing it up around the living room with my family over the holidays we predictably started riffing on lines for “Shit Guys Say.” (Two highlights: “How big is Cujo?” “BROWNIES!”)

Then I saw Shit Boys Say (note the Budlight.com logo).

Then came Shit Vegans Say and perhaps most notably Shit Yogis Say.

Shit Yogis Say is notable because it’s an example of trend-jacking by Lululemon. And because they say shit. Can brands say shit? Apparently Lululemon thinks so. The video was just posted yesterday and yes, there’s been some backlash. It’s edgy. It’s risky. I think it’s funny as hell. I bet it hits a million views by the end of the weekend.

Hallelujah! Christmas Food Court Flash Mob Video – Why Alphabet Photography’s YouTube Gift Went Viral

Alphabet Photography just scored a major hit with a video on YouTube titled: “Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus – Must See!”

As of today – nine days after it was uploaded – 1,665,014 people have viewed the video. Over 2500 people have commented on YouTube. It’s being passed around twitter and facebook.

Why has it struck such a nerve? I think part of the answer relates to the number one Social Media success principle (see The GIVE Principles) that I teach my clients and readers: Be Generous.

Rethinking Viral: Why Viral Video Doesn’t Always Live Up to the Hype

Re-Thinking Viral Video

“Let’s make this go viral.”

“We need a viral video!”

“How can we use viral marketing to promote this?”

When people talk about a video or an idea “going viral” they generally mean that it spreads to many people quickly and cheaply, that it builds it’s own steam – without a lot of investment from whoever spawned it. Obviously that’s a very attractive prospect to marketers.

But with all the hype about viral, some very important points can get missed.

Here are two problems with the whole “viral” concept:

Tuesday Tweaks: Put Keywords in Your Facebook, Blog, Twitter Titles

(There’s so much social media advice out there that it can be overwhelming! Tuesday Tweaks are the antidote… simple, one-step actions for improving your social media performance week by week.)

Do you know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? How would you like to get the benefits for free, just by tweaking what you’re (hopefully) already doing?

Your customers, prospects, partners, and the media all search the internet every day for the information they need. They use Google, Bing, Yahoo and other popular search engines. These search engines now include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media content in their results.

Bottom line – When people search for information that relates to your business, you want them to find YOU.

Search Engine Optimization simply means that you optimize your online presence (your website and various social media sites) so that when people search the internet, your brand comes up on top. SEO is a crucial part of any successful website or online presence.

Until recently SEO was still a very complex (and expensive) proposition. You hired an SEO specialist to add keywords to your website meta-tags and do a bunch of coding and back-end stuff that most people don’t really understand. Many companies still pay big bucks for SEO consulting to improve their search rankings and get more website traffic.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Many SEO specialists provide very good value.

But I’m going to show you one single tool to drastically improve your SEO – to connect you to your target market – without spending a single extra cent or taking any more time out of your day…

Twitter Your Way to Success: CHFA ExpoWest 2010 Seminar with Justice Marshall

(NOTE: Only CHFA members can attend CHFA Expo West events.)

From the seminar description…

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogging… Social media is rapidly changing the way customer and B2B relationships are developed and managed. How can YOU use these tools to build brand loyalty, synergize strategic partnerships and ultimately improve your bottom line?

Whichever online medium or strategic approach you choose, there are four crucial principles to observe. This seminar is for social media “newbies” who want to get started right, and for intermediate users who want better results. You’ll come away with a roadmap and concrete examples of how to use these four key principles to participate successfully in the social media arena.

See you there!

Tuesday Tweaks: Hotlink Your Company Website on Your Facebook Fan Page Profile

(There’s so much social media advice out there that it can be overwhelming! Tuesday Tweaks are the antidote… simple, one-step actions for improving your social media performance week by week.)

Today’s Tweak: Hotlink Your Website in Your Facebook Fan Page Profile Box

Part of the reason you have a Facebook Fan page for your business is to direct visitors to your company website right?

So make it easy for them! Many fan pages include a company website address (beginning with www. etc…) in the profile box that appears on their “wall” sidebar (beneath your profile picture).

But you can do better.

How Information Technology (IT) Is Different From Social Media

Do You Have a Social Media Map?

Imagine you’re trying to get to… Disneyland. You’re in a car. You ask a guy for directions. He says, “Disneyland? Oh, that’s easy. Here’s how you get to Disneyland: Press down lightly on the accelerator while you slowly release the clutch. This introduces fuel to the carburetor and engages the transmission…”

Half an hour later you’re getting a pretty thorough understanding of combustion engine mechanics. But you’re not any closer to Disneyland.

Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, YouTube… are all tools with mechanical aspects. Certainly you need to know how to use them, just like if you’re going to drive to Disneyland you need to know how to use a car. BUT – an understanding of mechanics is NOT the same as having clear directions to your destination.