How can we use video to sell successfully? We asked Erik Qualman (@equalman) founder of Socialnomics, whose $250 video was part of the formula that launched a #1 best-selling international book, Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.
As an businessman, author and professor (He is currently the Global Vice President of Digital Marketing for EF Education headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland and a Professor of Digital Marketing for Hult International Business School’s Masters program) Erik chose video as the vehicle to “get my name out there as much as possible” while sharing his passion for social media. With a $250 budget, he created his video, Social Media Revolution
“And all of a sudden, it went massively viral,” Erik told us. “Meaning that it’s the most viewed social media series in the world.”
Erik Qualman in Libson
What worked? Erik credits his video’s viral success with the following:
- Not pushing his own name or brand with the video.
- Creating with the user perspective in mind. Rather than thinking about his own brand, Erik considered what his audience “wanted to see and hear”.
- Ensuring there’s great music! Erik recommends surveying similar videos to get a feel for music options and what really works.
But a powerful video is just the first step. “Even though there’s millions of views on YouTube, what I’ve learned..it’s that second layer of selling that matters.”
“Now you can reach out to the people that are passing your video around on YouTube and Facebook–you can see that happening,” Erik told us. “And that’s when you reach out to develop those relationships with those folks.”
And reach out he did. “I’ve seen the book sales go through the roof via Twitter and Facebook because…that first layer is the YouTube video, then it’s rolling up your sleeves and digging into hard work to make it happen.”
Lyn Graft, LG Pictures and Erik Qualman, Author of Socialnomics at SXSW Interactive 2012
Like explanations of his own success, Erik’s advice to other entrepreneurs is simple and clear (if not always easy). “Within social media, it’s not complex. It’s about failing forward, failing fast, and failing better.”
“The only way you can learn is by failing, so you need to increase your rate of failure to increase your rate of learning when it comes to social media.”
And happily, we can learn a lot from Erik, too. Make sure and focus on that 2nd level of selling!
- iV -
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Ingrid Vanderveldt (@ontheroadwithiv) is Dell’s first Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), CEO of Green Girl Energy, Founding Organizer of The GLASS Forum and the managing partner of VH2 Energy Investments and Ingrid Vanderveldt LLC. She is a clean energy and sustainability evangelist, passionate and practical advocate for WOMEN + GREEN and is the creator and host of CNBC’s “American Made”. iV serves on the Advisory Boards of SXSW Eco, World Blu, Current Motor and Visionary Holdings.
