Everyone remembers the commercial Google aired on the Superbowl. Well to continue the success of that campaign Google released a fun new tool called Search Story Tool.  Not only is this a great piece of marketing but also teaches us a few things along the way.

Let’s break it down to see why this is such a great viral marketing campaign.

They kept the process simple… 3 steps is all

You write a little story add some music and the upload it after you check it out. Keeping the process clearly defined and easy to follow is a prerequisite for any viral marketing campaign. The harder it is the less likely it will take off.

Give Creativity to the end user

Everyone likes to tell their friends about something they made or created even if they had a little help. If you give a way for your end user to do a little bit of customization it will pay  dividends in the long run. Get creative and let your end user show their stuff.

Make it easy to share

If a campaign is going to go viral it needs a way to easily spread. Leveraging the end user’s social media connection is the fastest and easiest way to do just that. You don’t have to go crazy and give them every option under the sun but the top 2-3 will do just fine.

On a side note….

If Google didn’t test using Google Buzz as one of the viral tools…shame on them

Also don’t over look the ease of sending a link or embedding the media on a blog or website. It’s a great way to get your end user to spread the word even more. Nothing says Viral like being linked on millions of blogs and websites.

So to recap…

When creating a viral marketing campaign remember to:

1. Keep the Process Simple
2. Give Creativity to the End User
3. Make It Easy to Share

Don’t be shy let my know what you think and make a comment below

Before

After

Now the old look vs the new look is 1000 times better. Here are a couple things that I really like

• Branding Elements added
• Reader Engagement in the Sidebar

These are great additions to the once very boring RSS feed of your emails. But as  marketer I look at things a little different. The biggest glaring thing that I see is inserted into the footer.

Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with them branding their own product. I do that all the time. After the excitement wore off of this new feature the problem I have is that I’m an affiliate of Aweber. And if someone reads my RSS feed and clicks on that link will I get credit?

NO…

There is no way of inserting my affiliate link in there **Hint: This would be a great new feature Aweber**

I’ve sent out promotional emails for them in the past. Put banners out on several sites that I have but this would undermine everything that I’ve worked so hard to do.

Can I just get a little help here!

[stepping off my soapbox now]

The other issue that I have is just a small one.

I love the branding elements so I can keep my messages consistent but how about a link back to my own website in the sidebar or header image?

Internet users have been conditioned to look for them there and the only thing that happen is they will remain in the archive. Since this RSS feed is actually hosted on Aweber’s site I can understand them not wanting to link back to my site….

Wait….

No I can’t. I am a paying customer and they are using my content to promote (very quietly) their email autoresponder service.

WOW! This is Genius. It’s like integration marketing in reverse. I wish I would have thought about doing that with my customers.

Wait… I do. But I actually ask them first.

Even though this is a great new feature these two glaring things make it a big turn off for me and I probably won’t be using it.

Anyway… Here’s a great video about the new feature from Aweber.

Here’s what Sen Jay Rockefeller had to say:

“After six months, this Committee has found that the companies we are investigating have figured out very clever ways to manipulate consumers’ buying habits so they can make a quick buck.  American consumers have been complaining for years about these misleading practices and asking for answers – and rightly so,” said Chairman Rockefeller. “Millions of Americans are getting hit with these mystery charges every month – we have to do all we can to protect the hard working families relying on us to look out for their wallets and well-being.”

The Today Show did a segment on it which you can view here.

What you need to know about the report.

• Three Internet companies—Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty—exploit consumers’ expectations about online shopping to trick them into joining their membership clubs.
• Consumers often do not know these companies have their credit card numbers until they start seeing charges on their bank statements.
• Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty and their e-commerce partners have earned over $1.4 billion in revenue with their misleading tactics.
• There have been more than 30 million consumer enrollments in these clubs and several million people are unknowingly enrolled in these clubs at any one time.
• More than 450 e-commerce websites and retailers have partnered with Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty to employ aggressive sales tactics against their online customers splitting the revenue about 50-50.
• Eighty-eight companies have made more than $1 million by partnering with Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty, including Classmates.com, which made more than $70 million.
• Almost no one receives the “cash back award” that Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty offer to online consumers at the time of enrollment.

What do you think about this? Leave your comment below and pass it on.

A couple of questions that he posed at the end:

• how do we share?
• how do we develop relationships that yield?
• How do we collaborate? distribution

Spend the next 10 mins and listen to this video and gather the insight that you need to fix your social media strategy.

Black Friday: November 27, 2009  it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving this has been in years past the largest single shopping day of the year. If you have a retail location have you integrated your specials for that day in all your marketing and advertising?

Cyber Monday: November 30 2009, in the past few year the Monday after Thanksgiving has been the mega day for online shopping as people start to look for those special deal or those hard to find items that eluded them at the store. Send your emails early so people have them first thing in the morning.

Shipping Deadlines:Everyone wants their gifts delivered by Christmas so make sure you know the last day you can send your goods. Email reminders with incentives and if possible include free shipping (a big deal around the holidays)

• Wednesday, December 16, 2009 – USPS Parcel Post
• Thursday, December 17, 2009 – FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery
• Monday, December 21, 2009 – FedEx Express Saver, USPS First Class Mail, and USPS Priority Mail
• Tuesday, December 22 – FedEx 2Day
• Wednesday, December 23, 2009 – FedEx Overnight, UPS Next Day Air, and USPS Express Mail

The biggest thing to remember with customers is that they will always procrastinate. Keep them informed about shipping deadlines and remember in make adjustments on times to include your processing time. You will always have an influx right before the deadline be prepared and everyone will be happy. A happy customer knows what’s going on especially around the holidays.

Photo by: Premier Packaging

It has some pretty slick features as you’ll hear the guys discuss what they are doing. I can’t wait to start using it myself.

*Links to Aweber are affiliate links. Yes I use the product and I have for years.

Seth made some very interesting points. My take away from watching this video is simple…

When you are giving something away for free (an idea) people want a souvenir to take as a keepsake. That’s when you can sell them something like a book or t-shirt. Make sure your idea can spread as easily and quickly as possible and you will be able to sell more souvenirs.

Watch the video yourself and see what your take away will be.

I review a contest page that YouTube set up. They are sending someone to the Cannes Film Festival

Did you like the video? Tells us all about it and comment below.

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This is a quick video showing how to change the “Read More” tag to anything you want.