The Power of Social Media Optimization

Posted on 26. Jan, 2009 by Julius Kuhn-Regnier.

Social media optimization is now one of the most relevant topics on the Internet. Every blogger is talking about it so I will too. Today I found a particularly interesting case which demonstrates the power of social media.

A few weeks ago Monty Python created its own new Youtube Channel. Lots of high quality videos have been uploaded since its launch and the response has been astonishing with over 1.6 Billion page views. The guys from Monty Python not only uploaded videos but they also provided links to buy their DVDs.

The billion page views speak for itself but there is still something more staggering to it. Not only did their visitors increase but their sales rose by 23,000 percent- the true power of social media.

As Rohit Bhargava put it in the 5 rules of social media optimization, what Monty Python did was to “increase their linkability.” They did so by aggregating and further publishing high quality videos.

Further the guys from Monty Python leveraged the law of reciprocity. Simply put the law states that when someone does you a favor, you are inclined to do that person a favor in return.

Through the YouTube channel Monty Python’s team created high quality and free content, so you received a benefit. The only favor they asked for is to buy their products, and you probably did.