Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Jim Ackerman, Founder of Ackermania Creative (Part 5)

SM: How does a “YouTuber” push somebody else’s video through her channel?

JA: Just by liking it.

SM: So, whatever video anyone likes gets promoted to that person’s entire channel?

JA: Yes. Other people can see what your favorites are and what your likes are. And just like Facebook and other things, when you like something, it’s posted to your channel, and people can see what it is that you’re watching.

SM: OK. What other techniques are worth discussing?

JA: Those are the main ones. The thing I would say about using other YouTubers is there can be an expense associated with that. These guys have gotten so popular in some cases and have so many subscribers that they would rival a small cable network. In fact, in some cases, they’ll rival a large cable network. So, if you want to feature a YouTuber on your video, these people now have agents and you’re going to pay for their endorsement, or you’re going to pay to use them on your channel. Again, not all. If you work with smaller YouTubers, many times they will do it for the exposure that they get as well. But if you’re going to work with the bigger ones who have the large subscriber bases, then there’s going to be a cost associated.

SM: I haven’t heard you say anything about how you’re using Facebook or Twitter. Those are two very, very effective viral marketing channels that are working rather well. So, can you comment on those two techniques?

JA: Yes. I’ll comment on them, but you may not be happy with what I have to say. I think there’re some challenges with those vehicles. I think they are effective for some and not as effective for others. They tend to be more effective in a non-commercial environment more often than in a commercial environment. But depending on the nature of your content, they can work very well. Yes, Facebook Pages … everybody who has a YouTube channel should also have a Facebook Page for his product or service. In the Orabrush situation, we have tens of thousands of Facebook fans. So, it has worked relatively well in that situation. Every time there’s a new video out, we post it to the Facebook Page and we tweet about it. So, we’re using those mechanics, and they absolutely contribute to the success of the overall project. Again, the nature of what we’re doing there can work very well. If you have built a Facebook following, based on what you’re doing – and again, it doesn’t have to be humorous or entertainment-oriented. It can be how-to information. But if you’ve got a following of people on Facebook and Twitter who are devotees and are following you for the kind of useful information that you’re putting out about a given topic or category of business, then Facebook and Twitter can be quite effective as can LinkedIn.

It’s a no-brainer, wouldn’t you say? With the free mechanisms that you can utilize to put the word out about any YouTube video that you [have], you would be foolish not to use them. So, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and, obviously, post to your own blog, your email lists and your subscribers, these are the free things that you can do. And they can be very effective. They go to a closed circle. It’s not entirely closed because each one of your subscribers or followers or fans has a circle of influence that she may or may not reach out to. But what you’ll find is that people will reach out to a group of their friends or followers or subscribers for a while, and then they will make the assumption, “Now that I’ve tweeted about this YouTube channel three or four times, everybody that I’m already friends with or is following me on Twitter, already knows about these guys. So, I don’t have to do it again.” So, there is a drop off about three or four episodes in, and that’s why the pay-per-click thing, just like standard mass advertising, is designed to bring in fresh meat, so to speak, new customers, new prospects. The pay-per-click continues to perform that function.

I guess the best analogy would be, if I run a television ad on broadcast television, and I bring in – as the result of spending $10,000 – 100 new customers. Once I spend $10,000 to bring in 100 new customers, I’ve spent $100 a piece to bring in those new customers. If I’m smart, I will then market to those 100 new customers using direct mail. I could send direct mail to those 100 customers once a month for 100 months and never get a second sale and still break even — if I got one second sale in those 100 approaches – on what it cost to acquire the customer in the first place.

The same is true with pay-per-click and YouTube. If I do pay-per-click advertising, yes, it’s more expensive to bring in that customer. Let’ say it costs me $5 to get a conversion to purchase using my pay-per-click advertising. Yes, I’m only spending $.06 or $.12 or $.50 a click to get people in the door, but I’m only converting some fraction of those. So, let’s say it costs me $5 to get a new customer using pay-per-click advertising. But once I’ve got him, I can now go to him with all the free media as often as I want, Facebook, Twitter and email and my channel itself, at a nominal cost.

The two things work together. The paid media and the free media work together online just like they would in the – for lack of a better term – analog world.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Jim Ackerman, Founder of Ackermania Creative
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