Back to Jeremiah McDonald. I hope by now you’ve had a chance to watch
his awesome videos.
A few weeks after I posted that critique
of his network back in July, Jeremiah McDonald himself came over and left this semi-snarky comment on
the article. I think you’ll find, it has
several interesting insights:
My website is complete and utter crap, I will agree. My reason
for even doing it was that for many years my YouTube work was spread over three
different channels, and I wanted a one-stop where people could find their way
to all of them. The site was established during my time working in France… It hasn’t been updated in a year and I almost forgot
it existed. And again, my viral video was tailor made with the drawing
component in mind, hence the blog you were disappointed by. You may be right
that people from the entertainment industry wouldn’t be interested in the work
I posted on my site, but nevertheless it’s a reflection of what I actually DO.
My video went viral so quickly that I was instantly thrown into
a media blitz that took up every ounce of my time and energy for a period of
two weeks. The Today Show contacted me within hours of the video going up, and
the next morning I was making travel arrangements to go to New York and trying
to get my day-to-day affairs in order. Updating my site was the furthest
possible thing from my mind; keeping myself hydrated turned out to be far more
important. I’ve had other videos go viral but I’d never experienced anything like
this, and there’s no perfect way of dealing with it. The Internet has a way of
throwing ordinary people into completely unmanageable situations, and again, I
must stress, extra emails in my inbox wouldn’t have made a difference. Many
people were advising me to get an agent, but even finding an agent can turn
into a full-time job. I can’t just pick anybody to manage my affairs. Every
task I’ve had to perform in the last few weeks has required research and
careful decisions. When I stumbled on your blog yesterday, I’d assumed it was a
fairly recent posting and I was actually shocked to see it was posted two days
after the video went up. It’s no wonder I had two outdated examples of “press”
on my website because I was too busy dealing with the press.
And finally, even
if this viral success doesn’t result in the sort of opportunities you were
vicariously hoping for, I really see this experience as a chance to create my
own opportunities.
Aside from that weird comment about how “opportunities
that I am vicariously hoping for,” which is not true because I’ve had a couple
of things go viral and have made the absolute most out of every opportunity
that came from those things, I think his comments are totally valuable for
people who are wanting to go viral.
With that in mind, I revisited his
network, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he changed every single
thing I mentioned! Here is the list I
made, once more, with updates underneath.
- The original YouTube video that is
being passed around has a link underneath it, and that link is this: http://tellmetodrawsomething.tumblr.com/
Update:
The YouTube video description has been updated to include his main
website, news coverage, and social media links.
Well done! A +! Even the Tumblr site has a link back to his
main website. Yay!
2. I visit the website, http://www.jeremiahmcdonald.com/,
where frankly I am a little shocked to not his HUGE HIT VIRAL
VIDEO on the homepage. Jeremiah McDonald—put your video
on your homepage! Connect that branding, man!
Update:
I don’t know if he did it because of my unsolicited advice, but check it
out! He’s changed up his website to make
things much more clear, AND he’s got that famous video on the homepage. Again, well done!
The fact that he’s got his network under
control would kind of negate the rest of the steps, but let’s go down the list
anyway:
Twitter:
links back to his main website.
Check.
Facebook Fan Page: the only thing I would add to this is a clear
link back to his main website in the “About” section (before the click), and I
would recommend that he change the actual name of his page, since he has far
surpassed the required 25 users, and since changing the name will help with his
Google Page One brand equity. I have
circled both of these things in a screenshot, for your reference:
I am so awesome at circling things in PhotoShop, don't you think? I really should include that on my list of life skills.
Note:
Jeremiah McDonald’s digital network is kicking ass now, so he can (and
probably will) feel free to ignore my “fine tuning” advice. I’m actually adding him to my list of “Creative
types doing it right,” and I’m going to start directing other disorganized
creative types over to his network to observe what he’s doing right.
So, this story had a happy ending! Jeremiah McDonald is successful, his network
reflects this, and future videos and projects will have a wider audience. Good for him!
Are we thinking that despite the snarky
comment, he actually did go through and take all of my advice? It’s crazy how much strangers can help you
if you just let them.
