What follows is a “reprint” of the blog post titled “Marketing ‘YouTube Resume with Navigation’ – Day 1″ blog entry that I posted on the landing page I created when I launched this YouTube video just over a week ago.

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Any successful marketing effort has some kind of underlying marketing plan, even if it is a relatively simple plan. I did not simply publish my YouTube Resume and magically expect it to spread virally. Consider that this resume is “a Product”. I recently read “The Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. Seth maintains that products need to be remarkable to be newsworthy. What is remarkable about the product here (My resume)?   It’s not my resume content that is remarkable. Many people have done similar jobs or have similar skills. The fact that it is a video resume isn’t remarkable. Many job seekers have by now created video resumes. The 2 things that are “Remarkable” about this particular resume are:

1. This is the 1st YouTube Resume with Navigation Buttons in the YouTube Video
2. The Navigation technique I developed and used here is in itself unique. It will be of interest to Social Media Marketing professionals and bloggers, not just HR folks and job seekers.

I designed my day one marketing effort around point 1 above. My social media marketing strategy for Day 1 launch of my YouTube Resume with Navigation consisted of:

1. Create a Blog-based Microsite
2. Facebook
3. LinkedIn contacts via “Ask a question”.
4. Twitter
5. Contact one influential blogger

I created a wordpress blog as I needed a “landing spot” for anyone who viewed my video resume and actually wanted to download my resume, interview or hire me. My 1st blog, Social Media Marketing in Music, resulted in a 50% increase in application downloads for a MySpace App called “Playlist Power” that my team built at Weekend Apps held at Google in February 09. So I am a firm believer that blogging needs to be part of a successful social media marketing strategy. A wordpress blog is sure easier than building a web page from scratch. I basically learned wordpress by starting a blog, using WordPress help, and searching for html tips when I wanted to try something a little more advanced. I also follow a few blogs about blogging in wordpress. One I like in particular is WebsiteInAWeekend by Dr WordPress.

I first posted news about my YouTube resume on facebook to see if any of my friends had problems viewing the video. I’d done extensive testing prior to posting, yet still, one of my friends caught a link that did not work in my blog (a last minute link I added after I completed 98% of my testing had a problem … probably the one link I had not tested).

Next I posted an update to LinkedIn, but I also used “ask a question” and contacted all my linkedin contacts in this way, both sharing the link and asking a legitimate question regarding best practices for gaining the attention of influential bloggers. This had a 2nd purpose as well, reminding all of my LinkedIn contacts that I’m still looking for work.

Late sunday night I tweeted “1st ever YouTube resume with “in-video’ navigation links & a unique “serial navigation” technique. http://bit.ly/DgQxr“. It was retweeted once in the 1st 3 hours.

I have not been using twitter very long so my number of followers is still under 100. What I really needed was someone with a lot of followers and some measure of authority in the subject area of job seeking/networking to tweet my link. I decided to contact Jason Alba, the founder of JibberJobber. I’d seen Jason present at a workshop this past spring and it was at Jason’s talk I decided that I would start a blog about something and learn how to blog. I also remembered him saying “any time you write a blog post, tweet a link to your post … trust me … just do it”. I’d followed his advice and found about 1/3 of my blog readers were coming from twitter in my 1st blog. I also remember Jason saying that he took the time to repond to inquiries and questions and so I thought, why not contact Jason Alba ? Maybe he’d tweet something about my resume. Jason responded and tweeted “This is awesome-navigation inside a YouTube video- closest thing to video resume that I can like! http://bit.ly/tatS9“. He also continued the correspondence and asked If I’d like to write a guest blog about this.

1st day results:

• YouTube plays = 201 (269 minus the 68 that I’d logged in testing prior to launch).
• YouTube navigation uses = 100 (164 minus the 64 that I’d logged in testing prior to launch)
• Day 1 Tweets and RTs (retweets) = 22
• Blog visitors = 62
• Hiring Inquiries = 0 ( I wasn’t really expecting any this quickly)

• Identify and champion new, efficient methods of brand communication

My approach/thoughts:

Every Marketing campaign is an experiment in reaching customers with a brand and product message. With traditional marketing campaigns (print, advertising, TV), these are expensive experiments. While it is important to maintain some advertising spend in traditional media, many readers and users are abandoning their subscriptions and largely going online.

I like Andreas Weigend’s  PHAME model (Problem, Hypothesis, Action, Metrics, Experiment), especially for Social Media Marketing efforts that sometimes only require a small investment in time to launch. Some campaigns will succeed. Some will require some measurement and further experimenting to improve results.

I’m using this micro-site blog landing page for applying to this position at Plantronics. Why? Not only does it provide a way to differentiate myself from some other candidates prior to an interview, but I’m also able to review blog stats and see if this page is being viewed.

• Guide product, service, and feature naming projects to ensure fit with brand and business strategy, plus alignment with corporate goals and marketplace impact.

My Insights:

This is an area that deserves thoughtful discussion. On the one hand, product names that are descriptive can have SEO value in providing keywords that can increase traffic and search ranking of the “Plantronics” corporate brand. On the other hand, brands of acquired companies like Altec Lansing have their own brand value and loyal customer base.

Product, service, and feature naming review should occur at the earliest stages of project definition. It can be costly and disruptive to project schedules to find objectionable names late in the product development phase.

• Bring a “creative infusion” to Plantronics’ marketing, enabling campaigns and programs to achieve a greater and more memorable voice to the customer.

My experience/insights:

Social Media (blogging, Facebook fan pages, twitter, etc) are becoming effective tools for reaching new audiences and creating brand awareness and product buzz. I’ve recently taken several classes in Social Media Marketing, Blogging for Business, and Public Relations. Twitter Co-marketing with various game companies with multimedia game offerings can gain Plantronics brand and product awareness for very little cost.

Focused blogs can also greatly enhance organic search ranking results. For example, search on the phrase “Online Storage Optimization”. Ocarina Networks owns nearly all the page one search results on Google from their blog micro-site.

In addition to a traditional Marketing plan, I would have Plantronics create a Social Media Marketing Plan. I can bring in a sample plan for you to review in an interview.

• Create the brand guidelines, both strategy and design, and the training program to ensure consistency and strength in brand voice across the company.

My Approach:

• Define color palette and font choices for print and web design
• Define and enforce usage rules for logo and tagline
• User friendly UI –  easy to navigate, consistency across product portfolios
• Training – Design brand standards document, brochure templates, web content submission forms.
• Suppliers – Consider standardizing on a few select creative agencies and freelancers for outsourced creative work.

Welcome to my YouTube Resume with Navigation. This is the world’s first YouTube Video Resume introduction featuring navigation links embedded within the YouTube video. Clicking on the above link or the video image displayed below will launch the video from YouTube.

YouTube Production Notes:

In creating this YouTube Video with Navigation, I also invented a YouTube serial navigation strategy/technique utilizing two nearly identical  cross-linked annotated YouTube videos that appear to play as a single video. This is also the world’s first YouTube video with navigation using this technique.