Thomas Friedman, in his best selling book The World is Flat, writes about the boom in technology as “steroids” that have the potential to heighten our abilities.

I call new technologies the steroids because they are amplifying and turbocharging all the other flatteners (the idea that the world is becoming an open global market). They are taking all the forms of collaboration… – outsourcing, offshoring, uploading, supply-chaining, insourcing, and in-forming – and making it possible to do each and every one of them in a way that is “digital, mobile, virtual, and personal,” … thereby enhancing each one and making the world flatter by day.

Through this mention he coined the idea that technology can act as steroids which can inseminate business and personal growth with success and achievement. He focused mainly on how technology enriches our abilities to collaborate, work more efficiently, and to be more innovative. He didn’t touch on how technology acts as a steroid in the social media and marketing aspects, however. I’ll go out on a limb and say that it was because his first edition was published in 2005, long before the rise of the Twitter/Facebook/MySpace empires.

I would like to take the opportunity and build upon his theory that technology is a steroid to success. In today’s world technology not only increases our productivity but also provides us with with many new methods by which we can market ourselves, our ideas, our products or our businesses.

Here are three steroids that can help you get your idea/product/self to market:

Medial-TEXTalin. This steroid increases strength of marketability and gives your marketing muscles a lot of WOW factor. Om Malik, a popular tech blogger I like to follow, wrote in a blog this morning about how text messaging was used with American Idol to generate a lot of cash. “AT&T says the most recent season of American Idol show generated 78 million text messages — up from 67 million last season.” This is not to say that you, who probably don’t have any revenue sharing contracts with AT&T, can make money directly off utilizing text messaging in your marketing. It does show how successful text messaging in marketing is becoming. Teens are texting a ton! Capitalize on it! Check out how Projective Marketing delivers results in text message campaigns it runs for clients.
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I’m sure you’ve all seen some great online videos. They’re funny, they make you laugh and then they get spread to all your friends when you email them a link or post the video on your blog! The purpose behind these videos is entertainment… sort of.

The reason why people post these videos is for entertainment, usually. Some people have really gone all out making a fun to watch video and have then become famous because of it. I think it is safe to say that these videos are being posted primarily for entertainments sake. That being said, a HUGE underlying factor behind a lot of these video postings is web traffic. Why would someone want more web traffic to their blog or website? Because web traffic is the currency of the internet. If you have a lot of unique visitors to your website then you are wealthy.

Do viral videos really help someone market themselves, their business or their idea?

You bet they do! Take Blu for example (Blu is his pen name… not totally sure who he is. A Google search turned up nothing, so I went to see who his website is registered under and it is registered to a Sabbadini, Gilulia… maybe that is his real name?). He has been blogging for a couple months at least. He also has a sweet website. However, his web traffic was quite low until he released an awesome video online.

His video, seen here, has been viewed 1.2 million times! It has been posted on blogs (like I’ve done here) over 400 times! There have been over 6,000 people that have commented on his video! According to the viral video chart it is the most viral video right now.

According to Alexa (one of the top dawgs in tracking web traffic) his website has grown hundreds of times over in the past two weeks.

The way he brought in all this extra traffic is through putting his web address at the top of the video, like is seen in the video here.

How can I use viral video marketing to push my own business or idea?

Great question! Keep watching this blog to find out. Nate, VP of Sales at Projective Marketing and I are both really excited about this viral video marketing project we’re working on. We’re going to release the case study on our own video bit by bit over the next couple of weeks, so keep reading to find out more!

This age group is made up of teens and young adults who use advanced technology multiple times a day to communicate, work and learn. They frequently use some or all of the following:

• Social Networking – 75% have a Facebook account
• Text Messaging – 94% own a cell phone
• Instant Messaging – 76% use instant messaging
• Blogs – 44% read and 28% write blogs
• mp3 Players – 60% own an mp3 player
• peer to peer file sharing – 49% download music via file sharing
• SOURCE: Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa Connecting to the Net.Generation: What higher education professionals need to know about today’s students, NASPA; First edition (March 29, 2007)

Before now, terminology for this age group has been so diverse (called Y or Z Generation, Internet Generation, Millenials, etc.) that it was very confusing as to who is who. A coworker of mine coined the phrase TEXT GENeration and it has stuck at our marketing firm. It is more fitting than all the other naming terminology because it incorporates the word TEXT. If a person is more inclined to use TEXT than SCRAWL they can be considered the TEXT GENeration. Some might argue that this is too diverse a group in that some elderly are quite “hip” on technology and use text messaging, instant messaging and social networking regularly. They are the exception though.

To keep in mind when you market to the TEXT GENeration:

• They have embraced technology and uses it in their every day lives.
• They understand computers and technology and are not afraid of it.
• They are the busiest generation yet. As such, they are rarely at home.
• They watch less television, listen to less radio and read fewer books and magazines.
• Many are keen on marketing and can easily say no to traditional advertising calls to action.