Viral Marketing on Youtube: A Look at LisaNova’s Sexy Videos
Back in August 2007, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote about banner blindness and indicated that plain text, faces and cleavage (or other private body parts) were the three design elements most effective at attracting eyeballs. While Nielsen didn’t examine any popular internet websites specifically, this eye-tracking research holds true in many instances.
Take Youtube for example, it’s well known that the use of sexy screenshots can help your videos get a lot more exposure. People are much more likely to click through on videos showing cleavage or the body of an attractive male/female.
This is something that video creators/uploaders exploit to their advantage. What they do is that they insert a suggestive clip or picture within their video so that it shows up as the thumbnail. Sometimes the content of the video has little or nothing to do with the screenshot.
For example, users will click through expecting to see an attractive girl and end up watching a man talking behind a webcam. This practice is widespread and it has become a common marketing tactic for many who want more views for their uploaded videos.
Having noticed this phenomenon, Wired reports that Youtube comedian LisaNova has taken this practice one step further by offering copyright-free video clips of her role-playing as different characters. Available for download at her website, these racy videos show her acting as a sexy nurse, emo college girl and bespectacled librarian, among others.
She calls these ‘collabcharacters’ or characters you can use in collaboration with your videos. Basically you download her video clips and insert them into your videos, with the aim of using these sexy images to increase your video views. See her video below for more details:
I like how this initiative benefits LisaNova. It increases the utilitarian value of her videos. Previously, her uploaded videos were simply entertainment. People watch them and left comments. That was all. But right now, her videos have become short, tasty brand bites, the ones you can contextualize and incorporate into your own content on Youtube.
It’s a smart way to spread her name even further. People will insert her ‘collabcharacters’ into their videos and the accompanying word-of-mouth will help her get some new fans. Right now, LisaNova has 98K+ channel subscribers (a strong launchpad) and as long as she keeps creating new clips, images of her will continue to infect more and more videos out there.
She’s also doing the smart thing by asking for feedback and suggestions from other users:
I am going to be uploading tons of character collab clips, so that we don’t have too many people using the same image/clips. But I would LOVE your suggestions so please if you are planning to make a video and need a great collab clip, let me know and i will try and make it. Whatthebuck was doing a video about Kim Kardashian so I was able to make him a personalized collab clip.
By offering free customized videos, she’s making sure that her brand is malleable enough to accommodate different contexts and audiences. Content producers will seek her out. It’s a wonderful pull-strategy, especially when a site like Youtube has such a varied userbase.
She also recommended that people who use her collab clips leave an attribution link in the description box, which points back to her profile and her download site/forum. Word of mouth online is strongest when its accompanied by links. There is great value in getting free links on relevant Youtube video pages, all driving interested traffic back to her.
In essence, LisaNova has done quite a few things right: First of all, she recognized the phenomenon or trend of using sex to promote Youtube videos and found a way to leverage it. Trends are often indications of demand and it’s important to know how to read the community you’re targeting in order to increase your viral potential.
She then created and released free content. Free, because it allows zero-risk consumption, something that aids initial mass adoption/participation. This is important when you want to build influence and buzz. She then set up a new community away from the site, to allow fans to mingle with each other. This is a good way to test new initiatives and receive feedback.
Along the way, she offered to collaborate with other content producers while making full use of the medium (videos) to make her brand spread easily among myriad audience types/contexts. To sum up, this is an excellent example how to market yourself effectively in the new media environment of blogs, social media communities and user-generated content.
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Using videos to market thyself is very beneficial. However, what if one prefers to remain anonymous in order to maintain a “private life”? You have done an excellent job at marketing your website and ideas while remaining anonymous, to some extent. (that is something to be admired) *hugs*
Interesting strategy. I would have never thought of that. Of course, if I had a body like that to sell stuff, I’m sure things would be much easier.
She’s a genuis. A true innovator. Thanks for sharing this.
Smart girl….Thats all I can say…She is making best use of her assets…And that I guess business is all about…Good luck to her.
Excellent way of preparing folks for an eventual upsell to ‘premium collabcharacters’ and custom ones plus other related services. If you could combine this with clicktracking, it would make for pretty interesting research. E.g. Which collab characters get the most clicks, and in combination with what titles?
BTW, that video is freaking hilarious!
If this is the new wave in business marketing leave me out. If a business is in such condition that it needs these kind of bottom feeding tactics, that business is in trouble from the jump and teasing the public with porn will not help it. This is not innovation. It is selling flesh and it’s old. Kind of surprised to see a thumbs up on Dosh Dosh. You must not have children or a family yet Dosh.
The past week I’ve seen information on another site that its okay to lie about subscriber numbers until you get real traffic and now this. What’s next? Maybe someone will innovate and sell children on video to bump up traffic? This isn’t great business. It has nothing to do with business. Other side of the coin? It is a huge turn off to millions of people online who see it for what it is.
Fitz said it, shes a genuis. Making the most of viral marketing on YouTube.
And while I’m commenting, I’d like to tag you Maki. If you want to know more about the tagging, take a look here:
http://sportsandcooking.com/ge.....ord-memoir
This seems to be a great marketing tactic for Lisa Nova, but I’ve got to wonder why anyone would include a thumbnail of cleavage/sexy woman/etc. for their video. Sure, people will click through, but they are certainly not qualified visitors. As soon as the real video starts and they realize that it has nothing to do with the thumbnail, they’re gone. And even worse, people who may have been interested in the true content of the video will probably never click through to it because they’ll think it’s porn.
Interesting marketing tactics, and interesting responses. Sex sells, that’s just a fact whether people like it or not. The question if you’re getting quality views is valid and depends on the target group. But Lisa Nova is just utilizing the trend to get her own name (and cleavage) around. Excellent personal branding.
Really? Would any of you really use any of the clips she has, even on non-serious content? She’s not exactly a good actress yet and her facial expressions don’t flatter her. And those are not “sexy” clips. Not in my books. On the flipside, if she improves her acting skills and takes commissions for custom collab characters that aren’t so sleazy, then she might keep busy for some time.
Using soft-porn is obviously effective for attracting certain types of audiences, but personally I think its disgusting. I’ve read DOSH for a few months now, and I noticed the tone of the writing has been changing, from very fresh, even inspiring sometimes, to more & more clinical & pedantic. Judging from the new proto-corporate-slimeball logo, & the take on porno-marketing (”I like how this initiative benefits LisaNova. It increases the utilitarian value of her videos.”), I think this blog has officially sold its soul. Good luck DOSH, but its time for us to part ways.
@ Peety
Its possible to use videos to market yourself: just hire actors or co-opt popular video bloggers with an established audience. Studios, tech blogs or businesses are doing already doing this on Youtube in someway. You don’t always have to be in the limelight…
@ Fitz
You’re welcome!
@ Gab Goldenberg
I think LisaNova actually runs a company doing viral videos so all the buzz is probably good for getting some marketing contracts. Being a comedian, it might also lead to some acting jobs or whatever..
@ Vanessa, Michael Jattan
First of all, I’m not endorsing her tactics nor suggesting that what she is doing is right. I’m purely using her as a case study to show illustrate certain new media marketing tactics: primarily, the free model, content producer collaboration, interpreting/leveraging social trends and the pass-it-on viral effect.
Personally, I thought the whole thing was just for fun. You can probably tell from the infomercial-style spoof video that I posted. Perhaps her humor is more suitable for the Youtube crowd. Her massive subscriber figures are probably an indication of how in tune she is with that particular audience. It works for her but might not work for everyone else. No big deal.
I don’t think what she is doing is particularly deceitful because she did specifically recommend that the clips only be used for relevant videos or inserted with a sponsor preface, although the whole goal of this initiative fuels the irrelevant use of sexual imagery in Youtube. That’s something I don’t think is good for content producers on the whole, although it depends on their goals.
In the end, the culture of using sex for marketing/attention is to be blamed. This has been going on since the mass communication industry was set up and she’s just a by-product of it.
@ MrCooker
Thanks for the tag.. I’ll check it out!
@ Jim Gianoglio
You’re completely right. People do go away after realizing the true content of the video and the low ratings on such videos are an indication of their distaste. I guess these video uploaders are going for the strategy of getting as many eyeballs as possible with the hope of gaining some semi-qualified/interested viewers (the ones who stay on to watch).
@ Hjortur
Since her style has always been irrelevant (most of her videos are parodies of celebrities), yes…this method does suit her personal brand. It works for her but may not do as well for the users who splice her clips into their videos.
@ Jonson
I’ve already seen a few videos use her characters already and her characters can’t be too sexy (or it’ll be offensive). As I’ve mentioned in an earlier comment, I think paid custom collab characters might get her some extra income although I’m not too sure what her overall plan is. It seems more like a fun viral prank to me.
@ Michael Jattan
Awww it’s too bad you have to go.. good luck to you as well, enjoy the rest of the internet!
Nothing more interesting than this form “the rest of the internet” Michael Jattan! Do you agree Maki?
Its true, that a visitor and the number of visotors are not really an indicator of a successful sale. Leads through sex are not converted unless you are selling sex. Use the concepts and retain your own target markets.
I like the way she winks at the camera each time she says that her content is ‘funny’. It’s an in-joke for sure, as I don’t think I’ve seen anything less amusing for quite some time. I wonder if that was intentional on her part, on an unconscious act; that, on some level, she knows that she isn’t funny, but thousands of people seem to think she is.
Surely the only person this possibly benefits is Lisanova herself? I can see a few people taking her up on this - mostly fans and, ironically, the people she portrayed as basically desperate losers in the clip - but who else, really?
She is to be applauded for her innovation, granted. I’m not sure there’s much else here beyond self-promotion, cleverly spoofed in a way that makes it seem like she’s aware of this, whilst at the same time making it out to be something quite different.
All that aside, before reading this post, I’d never even heard of her. Popularity is a very hard thing to ever understand but some things just seem beyond explanation. In this case, however, as Maki originally said, it clearly just comes down to the face, the cleavage, and the very plain text.
This is more looking from the other side of things. Obviously this is a great gig for LisaNova.
As far uploaders/video creators, yeah it is a great way for people to initially check your video or website and you may get a great deal of hits because of it. If you are solely trying to get traffic that is one thing, however, if you want people to take your work, video, or website seriously, this is only going to be a detriment. Maki, if you started submitting marketing articles with LisaNova thumbnails, you would most likely lose credibility and though the short-term gains may be great, the long run implications (particularly to your reputation) would be greater. It is true that DoshDosh would probably not need to implement this tactic to achieve its objectives but a video creator trying to gain notoriety might attempt it. Do you think that overcoming that initial hurdle of gaining traffic and views is worth degrading your brand? Or is it easier to gain trust and rebuild your reputation after having a base of followers? Should anyone who wants to be taken seriously even think of trying this?
I have some more thoughts but I kind of wanted to see what other people thought.
P.S. Great article!
-xdeliriumx
It may be a good idea but if the clip or picture inserted has nothing to do with the video, it might just annoy the viewer.
It won’t be good to the future of the owners’ other videos.
There are five collab videos on Lisa’s site, once a whole host of users have all started using them, YouTube will be just full of the same thumbnails.
The concept is good but I’m not convinced with the longevity.
Darren, sex doesn’t sell, but it does grab attention. The target audience probably already would have clicked — the idea of having more clicks and target is simply because statistically any traffic is better than no traffic. It’s a ploy that might not efficiently convert, but the bottom line is that if done right it will help the overall ROI.
That sexy video can go viral, so why don’t we make sexy blog design. But still confusing how can we make it viral mechanism .. ?
@ Sheamus
I’m not too sure if other Youtube users will really benefit from this initiative. I’ve seen a few videos using her clips and they have had a lot more views than their previous items but the novelty might die off in the near future. I like the innovation as well, which is pretty much why I wrote a post about it. I can’t think of anyone who has thought of a similar way to insert themselves into other people’s video clips.
@ Patrick
To answer your questions, I think that its possible to gain a following first using marketing tactics like this and then develop credibility later on. Does it degrade your brand? It depends on how you use the clips and what you want your brand to be.
Personally if I’m trying to build a reputation on Youtube, I won’t use LisaNova’s standard clips but may hire her (or other actresses/hosts) to develop customized characters that are unique to my brand. If you want to use her standard clips, I think its important to make sure that they are used for videos that are relevant in theme or mood (irrelevant/humor/entertainment etc) since it just flows better that way.
But then again, many others might use the same characters, which will harm your ability to differentiate.
@ Wii Boy
You know, I thought the same thing when I was writing this article. It’s not going to work unless she constantly creates new characters and promotes them. But with a built-in viewership of 98K subscribers, every new character is get a decent amount of exposure. Enough to make it go around the block and get inserted in some videos.
But that’s not enough. If I were her, I’ll work on collaborating with other popular video creators/uploaders and perhaps even media companies while using this as a portfolio of some sort.
@ Shaun, Darren
Yes.. any traffic is better than no traffic. Like I’ve mentioned earlier, relevant traffic cannot be forecasted or predicted all the time on the web. Amongst untargeted and general traffic is a group of interested visitors who will subscribe, collaborate or view more videos.
I am one of those corporate people trying to push our boring watered-down bullshit on YouTube. I won’t be able to get the Lisa Nova clips signed-off by legal.
Good idea, thanks bro
It will be interesting to see where she goes with it Maki. If nothing else she will certainly be getting some exposure (no pun intended!). I had not heard of her before reading your article for example.
This is a great article - I just referenced it in a similar column I wrote for ProduceYou discussing the Bill O’Reilly video. You can check that out here: http://produceyou.com/well-do-it-live/
But how do you get the girls picture to show up. Doesn’t YouTube randomly select only three stills and you have to pick from those three?
We have been experimenting with this for some financial commercials and our 3 year research program. Pretty nice results
I also saw recently another blog telling about a company that promised 1 million visitors on no cure no pay base.
They simply hype the video’s for you… Pretty bizar
Genius! Pure and simple… Genius.
well I have watches lisa novas videos and hahhaha its really funny aside from being a very hot woman shes really good in acting thumbs up
I hate you lisaNova.
But, not enough to send your video around saying I hate this girl and the over-the-top style 7th grade personality driven in your face obvious, hey look at me world.
You are gross, gross in the way that eating 12 Macdonald’s quarter pounders while doing jumping jacks and watching one of Bush’s speeches, all the while being filled with the overwhelming feeling self worth.
You know, Just commonplace, everyday kind of hatred, no offense.
Using sexy images is always the quickest way to grab attention but it’s also the cheapest way and I think is not appropriate for marketing serious things. But on the other hand this girl is really sexy in that nurse dress
And great idea all in all.
Huh? I thought that video was a spoof. It nabbed her some great publicity (this is the second time I’ve heard about it) but would anyone actually use those clips to insert into their videos? And how pleased will viewers be when they click the link and see that they’ve been swindled by a “collabcharacter?”
Questions: Would any respected business really want this kind of sleazy collaboration? The point is made it will sell to somebody. But could you really take a company seriously that would add this to their marketing options? The comments to the video really do answer the question. That is the audience they are looking for I guess.
I wonder if the overall marketing industry which already has a bad name on the Web want to risk something like this adding to its bad rep. Makes you wonder where marketing is headed on the Internet. If this is where its going its scary. Makes you think they are extremely desperate for new ideas. Since marketers are supposed to be part of the hub of innovation this kind of collab does not look good for them as an industry.
Ha, this is so true, whenever I skim youtube and see some skin I always start the video then wonder when that spot comes up.
It might be good for a short while, but I doubt it is a long term thing. The main beneficiary of all this will only be Lisa Nova, so on that count, it’s a really smart thing to do. She might land a real job as an actress this way, IF she manages to get the attention of some headhunters.
People! Sex Sells!
Take a look at the “Most viewed Videos” and you’ll quickly figure out why I said this. If I can sell a bed showing a pretty lady on screen, I can pretty much sell anything with that.
However, this is selling. It’s not marketing. Marketing is different. It involves a thought out strategy for a long term benefit. Videos on YouTube are sales mechanisms.
On the other hand, you could just be looking at getting noticed. Lisa’s a comedian - so any acting jobs or gigs could be a possiblity with all this attention. Either ways, there’s stuff that you can do and there’s stuff you can’t. And Lisa sure can. She sells!
So, let me understand this. You’re saying Lisa is making porn a legitimate marketing or selling tool for businesses? Because really there is nothing innovative about these videos. What she is using is the oldest profession as it has been dubbed. It’s called prostitution. Every business man whose name has ever been written in a little black book has been waiting for this I suppose.
Imagine being able to watch her video collabs and be able to tell your wife, “Honey, its just business.”
I agree. She sells it. Men buy it. What else is new? What’s next in marketing? Family porn hour?
It’s really great way to attract visitors..I didn’t know about this way but now I got you point so I will sure try for one of my website.
Anyways, thanks for sharing this great way..:)
I’ve been following Youtube marketing for my blog, Pariah’s Guild. Thus far, I love it. Great tactic btw, although I wouldn’t use porn for my blog..
OK, she is doing a great thing. She is making hell lot of the buzz and promote herself. She is, most probably, having lot of fun doing it. What I don’t understand is how is she monetize all that?