Online Viral Videos to Drive Sales of DVDs? We'll Need to Use Social Media Power Users.

When we are ready to market our 90 minute DVD, short video clips will appear online that are both compelling and also begin to tell our story. These video clips will be produced under our control while we are filming the 90 minute film. But unlike the 90 minute film, the online clips will appear to be user-generated (e.g., from security cameras, cellphones, or presentational videos created by amateurs).

For our purposes, our online video clips will be of two types: 1) viral videos (free video clips that are so compelling we hope they will become viral - i.e., passed from one viewer to the next) and 2) story support (free video clips that may not become viral, but that provide narrative elements of our story to an audience searching for Adele online). In a matter of a few days we hope to create enough attention (with both types of video online) that we gain free publicity.

Our plan is to have a least six viral videos that are available and circulating for free at the precise moment that we begin to distribute our full-length film to paying customers. To become viral, our videos must be so entertaining they'll be shared by viewers who have no awareness of our larger story.

We realize that simply placing videos on YouTube or similar sites won't be enough to drive sales of our DVD's. We'll need to use social media to drive an initial wave of viewers to our videos. And to direct that attention when we need it, we'll need Power Users to alert their fans and followers to the existence of our videos. Then, once our videos are attracting attention, we'll need a mechanism (including those same Power Users and the Media) to alert the greater audience to the availability of our film.

We are still in the planning stages, but already we realize that existing social media Power Users will play a key role in building interest in our viral videos and the 90 minute film. On our own we can seed the web with videos. But the task of alerting members of various online communities to the existence of our videos, and then the task of alerting those communities to the the existence of our 90 minute film, will require third parties.

To recap: The videos we create for our viral online videos must be so compelling that they will be passed from viewer to viewer (embedding or linking to them). Power Users will be necessary to start a viral campaign. Then, at the moment that our videos are becoming viral, we'll once again need Power Users to alert the online audience (and others) to the fact that our videos (which initially will appear to be unrelated and drawn from real life) are all part of a larger project including a 90 minute feature length film.

Here is an article about Social Media Power Users: http://socialmediarockstar.com/how-to-get-recognized-in-social-media