For the most part, people associate the process of becoming a web sensation through a platform like YouTube with gaining a brief 15 minutes of fame before swiftly disappearing into the night. What many people don’t know is that quite often that fame also finds a way to transform itself into fortune as well – equaling overnight riches or setting a talented individual up for life with their dream career. Here are a few of the more common ways you would see viral traffic from relatively un-targeted sources transferring into profit.
1. Sell Your Song On iTunes
Independent artists have for a long time had iTunes as an option to sell their music, and if you combine that with a large audience of listeners you have the potential to make a lot of money. Take Rebecca Black, for one recent example – her song “Friday” is perhaps already known as one of the more annoying songs of all time, but has received several million downloads thanks to over 144 million views (at last count) of her video on YouTube. That has made her a millionaire practically overnight.
2. Design Your Own T-Shirts
More often than not, a video that goes viral is a spur-of-the-moment occurrence – such as David After Dentist’s “is this real life?” or Chris Crocker’s “leave Britney alone” performances. They result in a brief few minutes of fame, and are usually capitalized on by selling designs that feature the primary catch-phrase from their video.
3. Put Together A Calendar
Similarly, several viral stars choose to capitalize on their brief few moments of fame – and for a few of the luckier ones, some level of ongoing fame – by putting together their own calendar and selling it through their website. Marina Orlova (A.K.A Hot for Words) originally did this a few years ago but has now moved to perhaps a more sensible option in promoting her own book.
4. Launch A Music Career
Videos of people singing have long been one of the more popular forms of content to go viral on YouTube – particularly when genuine talent comes from somewhere completely unexpected, such as Susan Boyle’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. Perhaps the most famous example of a musician being found with the help of YouTube is Justin Bieber, whose videos being discovered by his eventual manager marked the beginning of a dream career.
5. Get A Job In Hollywood
It is only natural to think that talents exhibited on YouTube can easily be transferred to either the big or small screen, so it comes as no surprise to see several viral hits leading to cameos in feature films or TV shows – and for those more creatively-inclined, even paying work behind-the-scenes. Timing is also important, as the co-creators of “Iron Baby” discovered when their viral hit that coincided with the release of Iron Man 2 immediately led to job offers from Hollywood.
Source by Brent McCoy
