It’s also one of the hottest refuges for scammers and BS artists.

I recently made the mistake of doing some pro bono work for a good cause run by amateurs. (Long story and a mistake I will never repeat.)

Throughout the process, I’ve been told I have to meet with this social marketing expert and that one, the implication being they have something of value to bring to the party that’s more important than actually getting the job done. (These folks LOVE meetings. They don’t like work.)

Meanwhile, I patiently try to explain to these wing nuts that the only currency that means anything in Internet marketing is the size of your e-mail list (prospects and customers). Not how many “friends” you have, how many people “follow” you on Twitter, or how much chatter there is about you in the blogosphere.

Hey, I like Twitter and I know people who get some good things from Facebook, but I don’t know anyone who would trade a solid e-mail list to become king of Twitter or Facebook.

Conversely, I know plenty of social media masters who are one step away from living in a “van down by the river.” (Google it. If you don’t know the Saturday Night Live routine that phrase is from, you’re in for some serious laughter.)

Anyway, after listening the the millionth and one social media “genius” I took a look at some of my own social media stats. (My social media weapon of choice being video.)

Here are my numbers:

1. I’ve pushed one video over the 2,800,000 views mark
2. I’ve pushed two over the 1,200,000 views mark
3. I’ve pushed seventeen over the 100,000 view mark (sixteen singehandedly, one in partnership)

Total cash expenditure: zero dollars.

It was all accomplished by viral marketing, also know as “word of mouth” and all these hits were kicked off with mailing to an e-mail list. No Twitter. No Facebook.

I’m sure there are social media “gurus” who could turn these stats into speaking gigs at the latest social media conferences, television appearances, and books on how to “crush it.”

Me?

I’m very unimpressed by my own accomplishments.

Why?

I’m in SALES.

How many leads did I generate? How many sales did I close? How many people did I induce to come back and buy a second and third and fourth time?

Let’s get real folks.

Social media is gravy.

You better have a meal to put it on.

Focus on what matters.

My friend Rick Goldsmith has just received his second nomination for an Academy Award, this time for his feature length documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” which he made with Judith Erhlich.

Rick’s previous nomination was for “Tell the Truth and Run.”

That was back in the days when the web was young (mid 1990s.) Rick and I put together one of the first web sites built around a movie. The site looks pretty primitive now, but pioneering things often do. (We haven’t updated it in at least ten years, but it still gets the job done!)

It’s pretty amazing to get nominated for an Academy Award, even more amazing for it to happen twice.. especially for films made on a limited budget and on serious subjects.

Rick specializes in making films about people who tell the truth under difficult circumstances, something this country and world can use a lot more of.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step One

Truth be told, I don’t know 101 techniques to get nominated for an Academy Award, but I do know the details of how Rick got nominated the first time. It’s a story that has inspired me continuously since the day I first heard it and I’ve shared it with many people over the years.

The topic: George Seldes…the grandfather of investigative journalism in America.

Among other things, Seldes was the first to report on the cover up of the science that showed modern cigarettes were designed to be addictive and caused cancer (this back in the 1940s!) His work inspired Studs Turkel, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, IF Stone, and the subject of “The Most Dangerous Man in America” Daniel Ellsberg.

Rick learned about Seldes after learning that Seldes had passed his 100th birthday and shot some interviews with him using a Hi8 video camera.

Over time (and on his own time), Rick developed these interviews into a full length feature documentary Tell the Truth and Run which captured not only the details of Seldes’ remarkable career, but also many of the big events of world history from the World War I to the Cold War. Along the way, he recruited Susan Sarandon and Ed Asner as narrators.

Step One: Make a great piece on a subject you believe in and get it done any way you can.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step Two

The original version of “Tell the Truth and Run” was actually a video which made it ineligible for an Academy Award, so getting a nomination was the furthest thing from Rick’s mind. Nonetheless, he carried out the second essential task in making a film which is to tirelessly promote the finished work.

One of the places he brought his work to was the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. A lady in the audience came up to him and said: “That’s such a great film. It should be nominated for an Academy Award.”

Rick filled her in on the facts. In order for a film to be nominated, it has to be on film (not video) and it has to have a run in a New York or Los Angeles theater. (Dear reader: Check the details. The requirements may have changed since the mid 1990s.)

The lady then asked Rick what it would cost to transfer the video to film and exhibit in a “real” theater in order for the film to be qualified. He told her and she raised the money and made it happen.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step Three

Step Three is to contact the Academy and put your film in the running. I imagine all the current information you need to know about how to do this is on their web site.

Here are key take-aways from this story:

1. Rick made the film he believed in, not something he thought would be sexy or award winning
2. He made a beautifully crafted piece of work, in spite of a low budget and in spite of a scarcity of free time
3. He got the film out there and by doing so created fans for it
4. With the help of one fan, he thought “outside the box” (don’t you hate that term?) and turned an illegible video into an eligible one by learning and and following the rules
5. He threw his hat in the ring

End result: An Academy Award nomination.

So what happened?

Did “Tell the Truth and Run” win?

No, that year the prize went to an acquaintance of mine Leon Gast from my Film Center days in New York City. (If you’re in the film biz you know the legendary/notorious Film Center on Ninth Avenue.)

Actually, Leon was more than an acquaintance. He was the client of an audio post-production firm I helped my friend Bill Markle (aka William Markle) get off the ground back in the late 1980s when digital sound editing was brand new.

Leon’s film: “When We Were Kings” – a documentary about boxer Mohammed Ali.

Truth be told, no one was going to beat Ali in 1996, but this year, for “The Most Dangerous Man in America”? – I’m cautiously optimistic.

After all, the Saints won the Super Bowl. This may be the year when ANYTHING can happen.

I’ll be watching the Award ceremony in New Orleans and you know what happened the last time that happened…Go Rick!

Ken McCarthy

P.S. I’m not going to miss an opportunity to plug my own work…

Our annual seminar is coming up soon – April 9 – 11 in Chicago.

You can learn about it and actually start learning from some of the industry’s leading experts, right now – for free.

Details: The annual System Seminar 2010 – Chicago

Why you should consider investing your time in looking into this?

If you’re interested in Internet marketing, it’s possible to learn directly from the guy who put on the original Internet marketing seminar and was an early innovator in the areas of: banner advertising (1994), legitimate e-mail marketing (1994), auto-responders (1997), PPC (2000), online video advertising (2004) and now mobile marketing (2007.)

Since then, we’ve put on dozens of trainings and helped countless people – including many folks who are now industry leaders – get started in the business on the right foot.

You could be our next success story. Why not? Our students, friends, and clients have a remarkable track record of doing great things.

Details: The annual System Seminar 2010 – Chicago

I mean do we really need digital transmission and HD quality on our television sets? Really?

But here’s a use of HD that is truly exciting: real time transmission of live performances to theater audiences around the world.

A variation of this has existed for a long time (ex. championship boxing matches), but this is a much more interesting use.

The next best thing to being there

The pioneer of this new approach seems to have been the NY Metropolitan Opera.

Make senses.

Opera is expensive to produce and it’s near impossible to take a Met show on the road which means hard core opera fans (and there are few thing more hard core than a hard core opera fan) were deprived of the Met experience.

Prairie Home Companion is another logical candidate

Much of Prairie Home Companion’s charm is the fact that it’s a LIVE show, but of course, a live show can only be in one place at a time.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of fans listen to the show on the radio every week. It will be interesting to see how this works. I have a feeling it will be a hit. It’s great to people watch, eat popcorn and laugh along with a good show.

A genuine viral video

How about 1,234,411 views for one page in September – with no advertising, no SEO, no nothing? Just raw viral power. 

Just in case you didn’t read that right, that’s over ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND views for one page in one month.

Now that I am a genuine viral marketing "expert", here’s what I’ve learned…

But first one more number…

Total views for this video so far: 2,336, 649.

How did I advertise it?

I mailed the address to my list of less than 20,000 once – then again a few months later. And that’s it.

Here’s the real beauty of this…

It’s not a YouTube hit. All this traffic is coming to my site. I’m getting opt-ins. I’m selling clicks with Google.  This one page broke five figures net revenue in September (according to Google’s AdSense accounting program.)

So how did I work this piece of Internet marketing magic?

Two words: Dumb luck.

That’s right. I’m throwing my away my chance to be the next Malcolm Gladstone ("Blink" and "The Tipping Point") by cutting to the chase and telling the truth.

That being said, there are a few fine points I can share about how to profit from an occurrence like this when it happens…some things you can do to enhance the chance it will happen…and the "big secret" behind this and all other viral success stories.

Principle #1: It’s all about the list

Give me the right list and I can put a deranged chimpanzee in the White House. Just a sidebar: Did you know that Karl Rove was, and still is, a primo direct mail guy?

(Note to Bush fans: I did not say "George Bush is a deranged chimpanzee." I could have been talking about Bill Clinton. Or Rutherford B. Hayes.  So don’t rat me out to Bill O’Reilly, OK?)

Anyway, having a "hit" on YouTube is the booby prize.

Yes, it might generate some "friends" but all Web 2.0 BS aside, I don’t want friends, I want subscribers (list members) and I want thousands of them. Preferably tens of thousands of them. (Come to think about it, hundreds of thousands of them.)

You want people to come to YOUR site, not YouTube’s and you want to aggressively go for the opt-in. If I hadn’t done that from Day One – and mailed my list a great new video every day – I would not have had a good sized list to launch the video to in the first place.

Now, because I took this approach, creating a 10,000 – a 20,000 – even a 50,000 + views per video, video promotion is no big deal for me. I can do it in my sleep – to my targeted list.

Notice all the qualifications there…I have a targeted list…I mail them something great and relevant every day…I work constantly to grow the list.

By the way, 100% of my list growth comes from word-of-mouth. Friends tell friends. I do a lot to grease the wheels to make this happen, but that’s it. I’ve never spend one second on SEO. I’ve never bought an AdSense ad. I’ve never sought publicity. I’ve never tried to be viral!

I started with a small existing list of less than 500 active people and a little more than two years later, I’m closing in on 50,000 active subscribers. 

There’s enough room in this particular market for me to hit 100,000 easily, probably much more. But being the "one foot in front of the other" kind of guy I am, I’m not thinking about that. Right now, I’m look at 50,000 and then I’ll look at 100,000 and when I get there, then I’ll start thinking about the next milestone. 

So please, if you want to become "Mr. Viral" (Or "Ms. Viral") realize that it’s all about the list. Passively waiting for the magic to happen…or buying expensive "viral marketing" courses…or reading Malcolm Gladstone books… is not going to make it happen.

Principle #2: If you get up to bat enough times, eventually you will hit a game-winning grand slam home run

Since the summer of 2006 when I started the video magazine site that this super hit is on, I’ve posted 436 videos. Four hundred and thirty six (436.)

My big winner was video #325.

Now please pay close attention to the next thing I’m going to say:

"Not only did I have no idea that this video would take off the way it did, I also almost didn’t post it because I didn’t think it was good enough."

Please read that about 10,000 times and then send me a check for $10,000 because that’s what that advice is worth.

I remember distinctly being tired that night and almost blowing off posting a video that day altogether.

If I had done that…well, let’s just say it would have been a five-figure mistake.

Instead of being able to write about what a marketing genius I am, I’d be quietly grumbling about how much darn work this web site is and how all this Internet video stuff just is a lot of hot air.

What’s the lesson: In addition to being focused on list building, I work my ass off.

A new video every day. Every freaking day. Without fail.  Through thick and thin. For better or for worse. I get up to bat every day.

I laugh when certain people tell me how hard they’re working – and then I look at their sites.  No quality. No consistency. No critical mass of content. No commitment. Of course nothing is happening.

Behind every overnight, viral success story, you’ll find a maniac who is probably working a little too hard

Just to put your mind at rest, I don’t create the videos. I just get them from YouTube or Google video, grab the embed code and put the videos on MY site. Perfectly legit. Google wants you to do it (which is why they give away the embed code.)

By the way, here’s another news flash…I never expected this site to be successful financially. It never occurred to me that it was even possible. I built it first for myself, then for some friends, then for all the strangers who started showing up and were really into the topic. 

You can cut me another $10,000 check for that piece of advice too. I just gave you the formula for risk-free business success.

Bottom line: No one knows in advance where their big "hit" is going to come from. You create a hit by putting lots and lots and lots and lots – did I say lots? – of stuff out there.

Ask 1,000 successful people. I’m sure that in 99.9% of the time, the thing that "made" them was only a tiny fraction of all the stuff they’ve done over the years and in many cases it came as a total surprise.

Principle #3: Play a game worth winning

Getting a million people to watch your video of a kitten in a boot on YouTube is sweet.

It’s also the definition of a booby prize – unless you can somehow extract value from being the guy or gal who got one million people to watch a video of a kitten in a boot. (Good luck on that one. Let me know how it works out for you.)

No, no, no. Numbers alone are meaningless.

Focus on two questions:

1. Is this video helping me build a targeted list?

2. Can I monetize the list?

If 10 billion people watch your kitten in a boot video on YouTube, you may get your fifteen minutes of fame, but that’s it.

If you don’t have a targeted list that you can mail to where you know the people: 1) trust and like you and 2) are interested in the topic you cover – you will not make any money on the Internet.

I know, I know, there are all sorts of exceptions to this. If you can pay your mortgage with the hope of being one of the exceptions, great. Have at it.

On the other hand, if you want to treat the whole "video on the Internet" thing like a business, you will think in terms of building an audience.

(Time to write me another $10,000 check. I just gave you the one thing the Web 2.0 people never talk about. They’re always going on and on about "community." I’m all for community, but it’s audiences who pay my bills.)

There’s a second part to this…go after groups that monetize well.

In other words, if you have a choice of creating content for pan handlers who sleep in doorways or a content for people who are wondering where best to invest their 401Ks, go with the latter, or ANYTHING that results in people buying something.

We’re talking about advertising and publishing. That’s the business you’re in if you’re doing this to make money. 

Google AdSense makes the whole process absurdly simple. Let’s pray that they stay in business, maintain the model as it is, and don’t get insanely greedy.

You send your list members to your new video, you surround it with AdSense ads, a percentage of viewers will click on something, and cha-ching, you’ve got cash.

I know this sounds too easy and too unsophisticated to be of any really value, but I’m sorry that’s how it works. No business plan, no cash flow projections, no pitches to investors. You just get checks and you cash them. How embarrassing.

The size of your check?

It’s a very simple formula – another really embarrassingly simple one that will never get me admitted to the "Captains of Industry Hall of Fame":

"Size of list + relationship you have with list + monetization potential of topic = size of check"

No one – not Google, not God, not George Bush – limits the size of the check.

If you can get the formula right, it can be any size you want.

How to learn more

I’ve shared everything I can easily share with you through a keyboard, but I haven’t shown you: 1) the video, 2) the site it’s on or 3) the software I use to create and manage the site.

If I showed you the page that is getting all these hits, you simply would not believe it – until you saw the stats. It looks like nothing. Remember: I almost didn’t post it because it seemed a little boring.

And the site itself? Well, it looks like it was created by a deranged chimpanzee.  Me in this case. I sketched it out on the back of a cocktail napkin two and half years ago and have never changed it since. It’s ugly.

The software? It’s not magic, but it does let me create, publish and promote a new video page in about fifteen minutes day.

If you want to "get under the hood" and see how it all works, plus get additional words of wisdom
on viral marketing (there are a few other things to know), I am going to be sharing this material in two places… Chicago, this November 8 – 9th and London, UK, November 15 – 16th.

I’ll be offering a full blown tutorial on this as a bonus session at two seminars I’m offering on Internet marketing.

No tape recorders. No cell phones in the room. And you’ll have to sign a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement to attend the bonus session where I’ll be covering this.

Here’s the deal:

You can use the info to start your own business, but if you violate the NDA and teach, publish or otherwise share the inner workings of this system, my attorneys will see to it that you put all my nephews through college.

I have three of them and their parents have their hearts set on Ivy League schools for all of them. Did I ever mention that both my brother and sister are attorneys? For real.

I’ve joked about this, but clearly I’m stumbled on a formula that can create a multi-million dollar business starting with zero capital and needing no employees.

It’s worth a lot…and if you join us in Chicago and/or London (truly smart people will come to both), you
can walk home with it in your gift bag. 

Details:

Chicago: http://www.SmartBeginners.com/bootcamp

London: http://www.TheSystemIntensive.com

Ken

P.S. Even if I weren’t sharing my video publishing and promotion system with you, both these trainings would be worth ten times the tuition.

I’m the only person who teaches Internet marketing who can fill a room with people who started with zero and are doing six, seven and in one case over eight figures a year in online sales.

It’s pretty rare for me to offer a small group training these days and in both cases I’m going to be supported by amazing guest speakers.

P.P.S. I’ve been writing about video on the Internet for as long as I’ve been teaching Internet marketing – since 1994.

Doesn’t it make sense that I’d be the first guy to really "crack the code?"

Remember, if you get up to bat enough times, you’ll eventually hit a grand slam home run.

Here’s to yours….

Chicago: http://www.SmartBeginners.com/bootcamp

London: http://www.TheSystemIntensive.com