Mobile Internet Marketing

With mobile internet quickly becoming the norm nowadays, it is but natural for internet marketers to follow suit and develop internet marketing strategies that target mobile internet users. Actually, mobile internet marketing is one of the newest trends at present and it is yielding pretty good results in terms of conversion. This is one bandwagon that it wouldn’t hurt any business to jump in to.

The first question is why join the bandwagon? Because it’s still a fairly new market. As we all know, it is the pioneers that more often than not strikes it big. If you look at the success of Iphone and Google phone in mobile applications, you know that there’s a large market out there. And when you consider the advances in technology, it is not far off when every mobile phone user would use their phones to access the internet in a regular basis.

But back at present. There are several successful campaigns that show the rewards to be reaped in doing mobile internet marketing. For example, Subway’s campaign in giving out coupons via messages to mobile phone showed a good conversion. Another case is in Japan, where about 25% of mobile owners make their purchase decisions from ads and messages sent through their mobile internet connection. These cases make it worthwhile to look at the mobile market and develop a strategy that market these users.

The trend is certainly catching up. Now you can see mobile apps for your favorite social media like Facebook or Multiply. Though the trend may be more prevalent with social media sites, this is still a good venue for you to launch your social media marketing. Even if you don’t get conversions outright, you can still benefit by building familiarity with your site and your reach in mobile internet.

How do you start? You can look at your existing data from your analytics tool. You can look through the data to check how many users are visiting your site via mobile browsers. If you have a considerable amount of visitors, you can start e-mailing or sending out coupons to these potential customers and see their reaction. Another thing that you can explore is creating a mobile site of your own so that people would have easier access your products. It would all begin from there.

Of course, one can still be skeptical about trends since some of them come and go. But in the case of mobile internet, it’s like the internet all over again. With the advances in mobile technology and how companies are developing this new media as an alternative to the personal computer, it’s not far-fetched to imagine that internet access would be standard with all mobile phones. That day is approaching soon. As such, it would be smart to invest on mobile internet marketing and find ways to reach that market for your product or business. Though there may be risks involved, the rewards to be gained outweigh those risks in terms being among the early prospectors in the area.

The Role of Word of Mouth in Internet Marketing

Word of mouth is one of the most effective techniques used when it comes to Internet Marketing. Because there are now many avenues in which consumers can interact with one another, a properly-planned word of mouth campaign can spread like wildfire, delivering the traffic a web site needs to get the face of its product out on the market and drive sales.

In essence, word of mouth is accomplished by creating content or making a product that is worthy of positive praise and that users or viewers will be more than happy to pass on to their friends and peers. Of course, with internet marketing, there is less “mouth” used. Instead, word of mouth materializes through social media status messages, blog posts, reviews, and other forms of widely accessible user-generated content.

One big part of word of mouth marketing is social media. With the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, many businesses have utilized them to boost their marketing efforts. Social media also provides companies and organizations with an excellent (not to mention low-cost) opportunity to interact directly with their clients.

Viral marketing in general works on this principle, as does buzz marketing. The latter aims to directly infuse interactions with the buzz that will help drive a product’s sales. The aim of buzz marketing, after all, is to avoid the usually automated or scripted marketing pitches and inject more creativity and uniqueness (not to mention spontaneity) into the experience of each unique user or customer.

When you think about it, doing marketing by way of word of mouth isn’t even all that difficult. As long as one has an excellent product or really interesting content, then the spreading of the news will take care of itself. This is why positioning and proper identification of the target audience is important, to ensure the success of the internet marketing campaign.

In a way, one can say that word of mouth is easy because it practically takes care of the marketing. There would be no need to spin the product or market the service after the initial effort, as people will be doing the spinning for you. Then again, this puts much more pressure to make sure that the product or service really will elicit positive or favorable reactions.

Internet marketing is a burgeoning industry, tapping the practically limitless potential of the World Wide Web to market products and services straight to the screens of consumers. In this effort, word of mouth indeed plays a big role—albeit one that transcends its traditional definition. This is where people really play the biggest part of marketing, and that is also the main reason why it is so effective.

Memes and Mainstream Media

Memes and Cartoons

You know how much the internet has come to influence our lives when a lolcat makes an appearance in a commercial. Alright, that has not happened yet, but many other memes have become known to the general public due to more mainstream media like television, particularly cartoons.

According to Wikipedia, an internet meme “is simply the propagation of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet”. It usually contains, but is not limited to, a joke, a saying or a rumor. In short, it’s an inside joke shared by a community that spans the globe. And thanks to the comedy-based writing and animation of cartoons, the rest of us have begun to get the punchline.

The most common medium would be television, particularly cartoons like South Park, Family Guy and American Dad. It is one of the most established and popular mediums.  Many memes and viral internet stars have made appearances on the aforementioned shows due to many things, least of which was the popularity of the memes. Some memes were used for the comedic results, some would highlight and break down new social issues that pop out during the year. One of which was the Star Wars kid, a Canadian student who’d been secretly videotaped while he swung a golf club around in an impression of the Jedi of the Star Wars franchise. He made an appearance on American Dad, doing the moves that him popular to a group of costumed convention-goers.

There was also the instance in Family Guy, where Brian, who was an anthropomorphic dog,, dressed up in a banana suit and shook a pair of maracas while singing the viral hit “Peanut Butter and Jelly Time” in order to cheer up his best friend, the protagonist Peter Griffin (the attempt was unsuccessful).

Not to be outdone, South Park, whose makers were never known for pulling any punches, laid the jokes on very thick with a wide cast of internet stars like Chris Crocker (a rabid Britney Spears fan known for his impassioned and tearful outburst in defense of his idol), the Numa Numa Guy Gary Brolsma and others lined up in front of a fictional department in order to reap the profits they earned from their stardom in the episode “Canada on Strike”. The lot of them then proceeded to brawl amongst one another, leaving each other very much dead. The show would do it again in the episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” when the boys would play World of Warcraft, the most popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) as of yet, with our gang of protagonists facing an opponent named Jenkins, after the person who famously rushed into action, only to get himself and his group killed.

Now, cartoons are more well-known as shows the younger demographics watch a great deal of the time, thus leading people to underestimate the persuasive potential hidden in the cel-shaded antics.

Viral Videos we love or hate

There are a lot of viral videos we can pick up in the internet, and they can either be hilarious or annoying. Some can be found in your inbox, or in some blog post, and most commonly in video streaming sites such as Youtube.com. Those videos come in many different kinds and lengths: it may be a short clip of some goofy antic, or live performances which has given birth many internet idols. Here are some of the examples of videos that somehow reshaped internet in their respective times:

1. The Numa Numa Dance: here, you can see Gary Brolsma dancing and lip-syncing to the tune of Dragostea din tei, a Romanian song that hits back in 2002. With his funny facial expressions and frantic hand movements, the numa numa video has entertained over 700 million people worldwide, and boosted Brolsma to internet fame. Brolsma appeared in several newspapers, radio and TV shows, and was even voted as the number 1 internet icon in VH1’s top 40 Internet Superstars.

2. The “Hitler” Meme: Have you ever seen Adolf Hitler bashing Hannah Montana, or complaining about his friend’s absence in his birthday party? Several of Hitler’s complaints are found in Youtube.com, and as the time passes, he tends to make more complaints. This video is actually a parody of a scene in the German movie Der Untergang, a movie about the final days of World War 2 in Berlin. Irrelevant subtitles are added to the scene, making it seem like Hitler is ranting. As a result, Der Untergang became famous worldwide. However, it is ironic that Youtube pulled out all Hitler parody videos because of copyright.

3. The Annoying Orange: This is a video of an orange in a regular kitchen, annoying the hell out of every other fruit and vegetable he sees. Created by Dane Boedigheimer, the first video entitled “Hey Apple!” that was uploaded in October 2009 has reached over 18 million views in Youtube. There are currently around 10 million views and over 600 thousand subscribers of the Annoying Orange’s Youtube page that began in January 2010.

And of course,

4. Rickroll: Your friend is telling you about a movie you’ve always wanted to see. You’d get all excited, psyched up about the movie! Your friend then gives you a link of the trailer. Then you click the video—

“We’re no strangers to love,

You know the rules, and so do I

A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of

You wouldn’t get this from any other guy”

Oh no… you’ve been Rickrolled. It is a practical joke using Rick Astley’s song “Never Gonna Give You Up” back in the late 80’s. The prankster will give the victim a link, claiming that it is a relevant video. To the victim’s surprise, it is a link to the “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video! As of today, there are nearly 35 million people who were rickrolled.

There are actually a lot of viral videos. Love them or hate them, they have caught the attention of web surfers worldwide.

Some crazy Fingerboarding tricks

If you haven’t heard of fingerboarding before or you’re under the impression that it’s something little kids do, then you obviously haven’t seen some of the videos on Youtube.

Here’s an example of how crazy some of the fingerboarding tricks out there are:

Of course you need some good equipment and a lot of practice to get anywhere near this level, but it’s really cool to see what sort of tricks one can do with a simple fingerboard and a skate ramp or railing. Start by reading a quick and interesting history of fingerboarding and then check out some of the other cool videos on YouTube. I recommend buying a simple fingerboard to start off with and just practicing on a desk or floor, just to get a feel for it. At first you’re going to wonder if you will ever be able to do anything more than just move the fingerboard from point A to point B, but after a little practice you’ll see that there’s a lot more to it and that fingerboarding is an art that is discovered and shared by thousands across the world.

Grab a fingerboard today and get started fingerboarding. It’s great fun!

Numa Numa Song Phenomenon: How did it start?

Who knew that arming yourself with a personal computer with webcam, internet access and a sense of humor could bring you the Internet’s share of your 60 seconds of fame, and even more? That’s how Gary Brolsma, better known as the Numa Numa guy, became an internet sensation. Dancing and lip-syncing to the tune of a phenomenal O-zone song Dragostea din tei, the numa numa video had over 700 million views throughout the internet.

The numa numa dance began as a flash movie made by the numa numa guy out of sheer boredom. The movie was submitted to a gaming site, NewGrounds.com back in December 2004, he says: ‘for the heck of it.’ Two years after, 13 million people had watched the numa numa video already! It grabbed so much attention that it was featured in the newspapers, radio and in some TV shows like NBC’s The Tonight’s Show with Jay Leno, ABC’s Good Morning America, and VH1’s Best Week Ever. The June/July issue of The Believer featured everything behind the numa numa phenomenon, quoting, “singlehandedly justifies the existence of webcams (….) It’s a movie of someone who is having the time of his life, wants to share his joy with everyone, and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks…”

Originally, the video was intended to make his friends laugh by goofing off. Brolsma never dreamt that his “joke” would later be a phenomenon in the world wide web. “I’m just a regular guy that sits in front of his computer bored out of his mind messing around on the internet looking at funny videos and other websites to pass the time,” Brolsma said in an interview.

He also had no particular reason for choosing Dragostea din tei, either. “The song itself was pretty random, I found it in another (I believe it was Japanese) flash animation with cartoon cats, I don’t know honestly.  From what I gathered, they are a Romanian pop band, now recently broken up,” said Brolsma. His viral video has also caused the song to climb the top of the music charts both in their country and worldwide.

Brolsma also added a new video, entitled “New Numa” or “Numa Two” as a ‘sequel’ to the numa numa craze.  According to him, New Numa was just a reaction to fans to give them something new from him, and to let them know he’s still around and doing well, and just overall conveying the message of fun and laughter. It has already been viewed over 14 million times in YouTube.com already.

Whatever Happened to the Numa Numa Guy?

Around 700 million people across the world watched the Numa Numa guy. Since 2004, he’s been lip-syncing and dancing to the tune of Dragostea din tei by the O-zone, and can be viewed in various video streaming sites around the world wide web. With the funny dance moves, hilarious facial expressions, and the catchy tune of the numa numa song, who wouldn’t be caught laughing at the sight of the numa numa guy and his antics?

Enter Gary Brolsma, born in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, also known as the numa numa guy. 6 years ago, he was just your average 18-year old, always pulling out the extra effort to make his friends laugh. He’s quite fond of making mini documentaries about irrelevant things, little flash video clips meant to entertain those watching it, and goofing around. In short, he’s quite the fun-loving guy. In November of that same year (2004), he made the numanuma video we all know and love. A week after it was made, he submitted the video to newgrounds.com, thus igniting the craze we know now as the numanuma.

Revisiting newgrounds.com after 2 years (September 2006), he was surprised to see that there were over 13 million hits to his original numa numa video, and his fame didn’t stop there. He appeared in a lot of magazines, radio programs, newspapers, and TV shows, and was voted the number 1 Internet icon by 40 Greatest Internet Superstars airing in VH1. The phenomenon did not only gave Brolsman international fame, but it also put the numa numa song, or the Dragostea din tei, in the international charts.

Brolsma did not stop after the first numa numa craze. Collaborating with Dan Balan, the writer of Dragostea din tei, they made a sequel video to the original numa numa craze, entitled “New Numa.” With Brolsma’s comic antics, and Balan’s new song, that he wrote specifically for the making of the video, it had over 14 million hits in youtube alone.

Aside from making goofy videos, Brolsma plays in a band. He is currently the vocals and the keyboardist of “The Nowadays” band, along with some of his closest friends. They currently unsigned, and only have one recorded song, entitled “Motionless.” The rest of the band also appeared in the New Numa video.

From a thing out of boredom, to something really sensational: it only goes to show that people around the world may share the same humor. In a way, Brolsma showed us that.

Amazing Baseball Superman Leap Fordham player Brian Kownacki

This video is incredible even if you’re not a Baseball fan. Fordham college Baseball player Brian Kownacki leaps over the catcher and scores an incredible run.

This was also part of an amazing comeback by Fordham. They scored 9 runs in the eighth inning to overcome a 9-1 deficit and win the game 12-9.

This video is going viral like crazy and has already been watched by lots of people. As usual, the power of the web and viral videos helps people broadcast and discover amazing videos within minutes of them happening. Google and YouTube already have this video searchable and indexed in their systems.

Watch the video above and then decide for yourself whether this is the next Numa Numa video or if it will just be hot for a while and then cool off like most viral videos do. I have a feeling this one is going to be around for a long time because it’s rare to see such an amazing feat and the video is just downright cool. It’s also part of an amazing comeback and we all love a good comeback, don’t we?

Why the Numa Numa Song is still popular

Every day on the web there are thousands of new videos that crop up. Do a quick search on Google for the terms ‘funny videos’ or ‘viral videos’ and you’ll see how many there are. Youtube is also full of viral videos. These videos are being emailed and shared on social networking sites on a daily basis, but there is one common problem with 99% of these videos and that is the fact that they don’t have longevity. They are funny, cool or interesting for a period of time, but then they reach the end of their life span and end up going nowhere. This is where the elite viral videos stand ahead of the crowd and there is no viral video more powerful and catchy than the numa numa song. From little kids to teens to business men and women, just about everybody has heard the numa numa song before.

So the burning question is why? What is it about the numa numa song that made it so powerful and viral that everybody keeps listening to it and searching for it? We get lots of people coming over to the site daily to listen to the song and read our blog posts. There are 2 key elements to the Numa Numa video that make it tough for people to stop loving the numa numa video and keep coming back for more:

1) The video features a very catchy song. Once you hear that numa numa tune it sticks in your head and you can’t easily get rid of it. It’s also a song that gets played on the radio so people hear it when they are away from their computers which makes it extra sticky and catchy.

2) The “hero” in the video could be any one of us. Unlike a lot of the made up videos that have edited footage, trick photography and other types of tricks, this one is a real-world type video. No stunts or made up footage. This is good old webcam footage that reminds us how powerful the Internet is and how an average Joe can become a hero overnight.

Long live the Numa Numa song.

Doing the Numa Numa dance in space? Have a look…

Amazing video of life in space where there is no gravity to weigh one down, and life is conducted under completely different conditions. Picture the guy doing the Numa Numa dance out there! Awesome!

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