The way we watch the news has forever changed with the internet, and more specifically with YouTube. Year after year, more people are turning in to the on-line world for news coverage. It seems like viewers watch breaking news on YouTube first before watching it on their television screens.

So what does this mean for marketing teams?

Before we address that question, let’s list some facts:

• YouTube – the largest video sharing site there is.

• According to Mashable.com, in 2011 there were 490 million unique users per month

• YouTube’s sharing capabilities makes it that much easier to get your message out

• Access to YouTube is everywhere (desktop, laptop, smart phones, etc.)

• The power of the replay button – if the video is really good, people tend to replay videos over and over

Not only has YouTube changed the way we watch the news, it changed how politicians market themselves. Almost every politician (if not all) have his or her own YouTube channel. This is because of the huge on-line presence that’s on YouTube. You can reach potential voters and send out your message in just a few clicks.

Probably one of the reasons why YouTube is popular is for the exact same reason why movies are more popular than books; people would rather watch something than read about it. How many times have you heard that people watched the movie-version of a book but haven’t actually read the book? Same applies to the news. People like YouTube because it is often a simplified version of what was reported. It’s typically just a clip of the original news story; plus advertisements are cut down to a short time period.

For marketing teams, video marketing can be a huge success for your candidate. If you haven’t tried creating videos, there’s no better time than the present. You can easily create videos with a phone or a cheap video camera. Or, you can put in some time and effort and create a more polished advertising spot. Either way, your team can just upload and share your video to potentially millions of viewers.

Videos are the perfect way to capture a speech, responses and events for your politician. Create a video that’s for your target audience. Don’t create propaganda; create something real that will resonate with your voters.

After developing your angle and story, your marketing team needs to be aggressive with your social media outlets. Make sure they send out your videos through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and any other outlet your candidate has. Why? Because by sharing it through the various outlets, you’re increasing your visibility and the chances of your video becoming viral.

Recently, Google released a list of the 10 most political viral videos. Although most of the videos were about/from huge public figures, the video with the most viewers was a 19-year old who spoke about a largely debated topic. However, because his speech was real and wasn’t staged/fake, viewers were able to appreciate what he had to say.

Here are the top 5 political viral videos: *Number of viewers as of (1/12/2012)

1. Zach Wahls Speak About Family – 16,414,136 viewers

2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner – 9,226,044 viewers

3. Strong (Rick Perry’s Campaign Spot) – 7,783,221 viewers

4. President Obama on Death of Osama Bin Laden – 6,272,778 viewers

5. Brother, Can You Spare A Trillion? Government Gone Wild! – 5,053,259 viewers

However, as discussed previously, the trick to a successful campaign or marketing plan is the perfect combination of old and new media. No one is ever going to search for your candidate if they do not know anything about him/her. In addition to creating a strong media presence, campaign teams can’t forget about the important traditional ways of marketing; such as the use of campaign signs and polybag signs.

CampaignPros.com is an on-line provider of promotional print materials that specializes in political and campaign marketing. The experts at CampaignPros.com have been in the political marketing business for more than 8 years. Visit www.campaignpros.com for more information.