Viral YouTube Marketing Lessons from a WWE Wrestler

Hey everyone,

I've been a fan of WWE wrestling since I was 9 years old.

Whether you like wrestling or not, they do employ several powerful tactics in their marketing, from their storyline soap-operas, to their PPV selling methods and the way in which they market their merchandise.

However, this blog post isn't about the tactics employed by the WWE to 'hook in' their viewers and sell their merchandise.

It's about one particular wrestler and his quest to become a household name. He wants the WWE to 'push him' so that he one day becomes a star (and a future WWE Champion).

While many wrestlers wait for their opportunity, this guy is giving fate a push in the right direction by taking his marketing into his own hands.

His name is Zack Ryder. Even big fans of the WWE don't necessarily know much about this guy yet as the WWE hasn't done much to promote him.

However, he has a large internet following and has acheived more than 1 million viewers of his YouTube videos, without them getting advertised by the WWE (this is his own viral marketing efforts).

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw some of his videos, where he drops hints that the WWE is 'missing the boat' and has 'dropped the ball' with regards to promoting him. e.g. In the video below, you'll see him show the WWE as a spade, and him on a boat and then the spade 'misses the boat', later you'll see him trying to 'get over the fence' ... haha, classic.



Anyway, whether you find his humor funny or not is not important (I'm sure some of you guys will cringe), what is important is the impact that viral marketing has on drawing a crowd and on 'traffic'

He employs other psychological tactics in his videos, I'm not sure if they are on purpose, or if it has been thought out, but nonetheless they are effective...

One such tactic is the 'us vs them' approach to his marketing. He presents himself as an underdog, and the way he does it, it makes the majority of the viewers want to be on his side. And I can see it is working because there are dozens of forums all over the internet with people chanting and raving about the fact that the WWE should push this guy more.



Another tactic he uses is the herd effect, while making you feel like an 'insider'. He makes you feel like you are part of a community of people who watch his videos by referring to videos submitted by his followers (people try to become the 'Broski of the month') and by responding via twitter to his followers, etc.

Also, at the end of every video he makes sure people follow him on twitter, facebook and youtube, thus utilizing many different forms of social marketing. I love it.

Here's the latest Zack Ryder video:



So... What are the takeaways you can learn from all of this?

1. Viral marketing via video is immensely powerful and can be used as a strong promotional tool if done in the right way.

2. You want to have an angle or angles that make people want to tell others about your videos -> do something shocking, or be funny.

3. Utilizing 'us vs them' is a great way to get people talking and on YOUR side.

4. Interact with your followers, they'll like you more and tell others about your videos.

5. Capture leads by getting people to opt in to your email newsletter (Zack doesn't do this, but he does have over 109,000 Twitter followers, over 31,000 YouTube subscribers to his channel, and a huge Facebook fan following as well).

Finally, before signing out on today's post, I thought I'd show you another example of a great viral video (part of a series) that another person has used to market 'blenders'

I'm using this example below to showcase how video marketing can be used in a viral marketing sense in all sorts of niches:



I hope you enjoyed the above post, please post comments and suggestions for others to read.

Kind regards,
Mark Ling