Viral Video vs. Podcasting

According to Wikipedia A viral video is a video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through email or Instant messaging, blogs and other media sharing websites. Only 6 of the top 20 viral videos had more than 1 million hits. Many companies and individuals dream of getting that viral video that will launch them to fame and fortune. I even see consultants marketing themselves as experts. I've even been sucked into the dream until I presented (along with Franklin McMahon) at Social Media FTW '09. Our presentation was on Podcasting. As mentioned in "Podcasts: They're Fun, Educational & FREE" podcast are shows you can download via iTunes or the internet. I told the audience how fun and easy they were to produce, as a matter of fact they are easier to do than any other social media tool out there. Then Franklin started his part of the presentation. One of his slides had the number of downloads his podcast were getting. My jaw dropped to the ground. I knew he had some of the most popular shows on the internet but each show was getting almost 2 million hits each week! Viral video less than a million one time value Podcasting over a million each week, which one do you think is more effective. The real kicker is that a viral video goes viral almost by accident, a podcast, marketed well, gets bigger each week.

Here are a couple blogs Franklin produced on the subject:

How Podcasts Can Take Your Brand Around The World

Podcast Production and Marketing

Fred Abaroa aka “CostaVidaFred”
The Marketing Imagineer

Twitter: @CostaVidaFred
Blogs:
www.CostaVidaFred.com
Podcasts:
WordOnTheTweet.net
MakingMountainsOutOfMoleHills.com