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Marcel the Shell
22+ million views
This YouTube clip, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, caused such a stir that Jenny Slate, whose voice is Marcel’s and whom may be better known for dropping the F-bomb on Saturday Night Live, was interviewed by NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams.
Jenny Slate, comedian
Brian Williams
In fact, Marcel was such a hit that Jenny published what became a best-selling book about him.
And 23 million? That’s what I call viral.
But viral’s not that easy. Here’s why.
According to YouTube, more than 48 hours of new video content is uploaded every minute?
Yup, 48 hours a minute. Nearly eight years of content uploaded daily. That’s the equivalent of 240,000, two-hour-long movies every week. More than ABC, CBS, and NBC have broadcast over the past 60 years.
So if someone offers you some magic formula for taking your content viral on YouTube, given the competition, I’d question the claim. In fact, 56 percent of all videos get less than 500 views. And only 4/10 of one percent receive a million views or more.
However, Google stats also indicate that small businesses can boost sales by six percent if they can get peeps to engage with them on YouTube. And I emphasize the word “engage.” Views aren’t enough. Peeps need to share, like, and choose yours as a favorite.
Why? Because YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the U.S. — larger than Yahoo or Bing. And like Facebook and Google, and those other search engines, YouTube has its own algorithm for what appears first on their search pages. And engagement counts.
Here are five other YouTube SEO tips that can help:
1. Use YouTube’s keyword tool for suggestions on keywords
2. Try Google AdWords to get an idea of what peeps look for in their Google search (not necessarily the same for YouTube, but it will give you ideas)
3. Use keywords in your YouTube titles, descriptions, and tags, aka YouTube metadata
4. Utilize the entire character limit for titles, descriptions, and tags. Maybe your viewers don’t read it, but the YouTube algorithm does
Character limits
Title: 100 characters Description: 800 words (5K characters) Tags: 120 characters
5. The video thumbnail has impact; use the most dynamic possible close up
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