Viral Marketing Idea Friday - Stock Photo Industry
Thanks to Ben for asking this weeks viral marketing idea question:
I read your site every now and then because I want to shape my mind to of a top level social marketer.
I especially like you insights marketing ideas for boring industries.
Here is the question though. I have been cracking up head to come up with some interesting and viral campaigns for the “stock photo” industry but I can’t seem to think of anything!
Stock photos are always so generic and their quality is controlled. Very seldom can you find anything remotely funny or stupid of the pictures to be viral.
Do you think you can help me figure this out?
Ben
Ben, this is a great question and an even better industry with unlimited potential. I say unlimited potential because, have you seen how many photos make the front page of Digg? Photos have always done really well on sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit and more recently Plurk, but are some of the best opportunities for exposure for any kind of a viral marketer.
You have to think about the industry as a whole and that you are in the photography business. You may be racking your brain trying to come up with something that is specifically related to “stock” photos, but does not have to be that complicated. If you can start to come up with ideas that are around the photography industry then you are really unlimited to what you can do.
For example - you can take the funny picture approach, the disgusting picture approach, the “oops” picture approach, the amazing picture approach and of course the “you will not believe this unless you see it approach”. These are just a few of the angles you can use when thinking of ideas and titles that would work well for helping something go viral, but understand there are so many more (but I don’t feel like writing till my fingers fall off).
Some titles (and ideas) would be (taking advantage of current news) “Ten Unbelievable Pictures Of Michael Phelps In Beijing” or “The Funniest Faces Made By Olympians Caught On Film” or “There Can Be No Explanation For This Picture” (thats going to make people want to click and check it out with the title alone) “Ten Things Your Cat Does While Your At Work” (then find 10 pictures of Cats doing funny things) or “Ten People Who Wish The Camera Was Never Invented” (then share pictures of people in funny or very compromising situations) A simple Google search would help you find any of these kind of photos, but if you own a Stock photo business, or a photography business in general you should already have a pretty good database of photos to pick from. Even giving you a specific example in your industry that I think would be fun to look at would be “The Top 10 Most Lame Stock Photos Ever Taken” - I mean you yourself said that a lot of the photos were generic, so do your best to find the most generic ones. You could even give it the title “Can You Believe People Use These Photos To Promote Their Business?” I think that one would be funny and do really well! Here is a last minute one (just thought of) that I will give an example of - “10 Online Profile Pictures That Beg The Question: What Were They Thinking?” then show a list of funny profiles pictures like the one below:
It seems I am always preaching this, but if you can think outside the box when doing viral marketing, you will always find something that is a good fit and will do well. its important to remember that you are doing this to drive traffic and get exposure to your website, so no matter if they find you for content or a funny picture - they are finding you and that is the point!
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I think the points mentioned will prove effective for Ben. I think he should also consider Bookmarking viral count-downs, or lists like “The Ten Strangest Pictures Captured on Vacation” on popular sites such as Digg and Reddit.