So you want to make a viral video the Cape Cod Wave way? Our viral video has more than 1.6 million views on Youtube.
And we have the secret.
But first, get ready to send a large amount of cash money in small unmarked bills, and then have a seat because I am about to share exclusively with you the inside secret to how I created a video that has more than 1.6 million Youtube views, and appeared on the Today Show, the CBS Evening News, and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Wait!
Before I go any further, I need to speak to someone.
You.
Send a large amount of cash money in small unmarked bills. It could work. It probably won’t, but it could. There’s only one way to find out.
Yeah you. Yes, I am looking directly at you over there. Don’t think I don’t see you. You haven’t sent any money for this incredible exclusive Cape Cod Wave advice yet, did you? And you think this is going to work?
You haven’t got a prayer without sending money.
No chance.
Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Is that clear?
Do you see how this works yet?
With a donation, this advice might work. Maybe, possibly… hey, who knows it could work better than without a donation. It might not, but there really is no way to find out unless you send many small unmarked bills to:
Cape Cod Wave
Box 29
Falmouth, MA 02541
The more money you send, the better this advice might work. Or not. Again, there is no way of knowing unless you send a lot of money. Right?
Have you sent the money? Was it enough? Double check. Make sure. This is a matter of blind faith.
Okay, you can now open your eyes and keep reading…
Viral Video Advice
So you want to make capture a viral video the Cape Cod Wave way?
Here is the advice in two easy steps:
- Always carry a camera with you.
and, this is crucial…
2. Get lucky.
A Story About Turkeys
One of my favorite ways to write is to walk.
It may not look like I am working, but a long walk is the best way I know to process thoughts on a story. So I often go for long walks… or as I like to call them “a long walk off a short pier.”
One year ago, I was about to go on a walk when for some reason a voice from a previous story I had done on Pete Seeger’s photographer echoed in my ear. “Always carry a camera with you,” John Economos told me. “The day you don’t is the day you will see a UFO.”
As an aside, I told this story to my brother when he visited from Australia and he immediately told me before a walk, “Well then leave your camera at home. I want to see a UFO.”
Anyway, on this particular day in December 2015, I was about to go for a camera-less walk when I heard John’s voice in my head. So I grabbed my little camera, strapped it to my belt and went out for a peaceful, adventure-less walk. So I thought.
As a background, there are turkeys in the town of Falmouth.
The turkey gang of Falmouth.
I first noticed the turkeys on one of my many walks. They were hanging around Main Street, even blocking traffic. I had done a video of them and named them “The Turkey Gang Of Falmouth.”
The turkeys had even become a minor tourist attraction. But nothing I hadn’t seen before. Turkeys? Been there, done that.
So when I saw the tourist-attraction turkeys in Falmouth in December 2015, it was no big deal to me. Oh, them again. And I kept walking.
It was like he was a lion tamer. Only he was fighting off turkeys.
Well on this particular day, I was walking up a street in Falmouth when way up the street, I noticed the most unusual thing. The mailman was stopping, getting out of his truck to deliver mail and he was being chased by a gang of turkeys.
Turkeys were attacking the mailman.
I looked again as I kept walking. The mailman had a stick. It was like some sort of a blind man’s stick, like it had a red pole at the end or something. He was fending of the turkeys with the stick.
It was like he was a lion tamer. Only he was fighting off turkeys. A turkey tamer.
I heard John Economos’ voice in my head.
There it was. The UFO.
I ran. I ran as fast as I can.
Truthfully, I am of the age where running is no longer dignified. But I ran. Without dignity.
And there I was, feet away from the mailman’s next delivery.
There was a mailman. There were turkeys. And there was me.
I had a camera.
As I ran, I thought I’d take some photos of this crazy thing I was seeing. And at the very last instant, for some unknown reason, I decided to shoot video instead of photos. I do not know why. It just struck me like the thing to do.
The mailman got out and did his thing. The turkeys did their thing. The mailman fended off the turkeys. They all walked passed me on the way back to the mail truck.
And the mailman said two words. Two golden words. I knew it as soon as I heard him utter it.
“Every day.”
It was incredibly difficult to keep silent. But I did. I handed the anonymous mailman my card, and made no effort to contact him. I was the journalist who refused to do journalism.
I instantly had a conspiracy theory, and I liked my conspiracy theory better than anything I might find out.
It was December. It looked like revenge for Thanksgiving.
Going Viral
When I told the CEO of Cape Cod Wave, Laura M. Reckford, what I captured, I had hoped for 3,000 views on Cape Cod Wave.
“This is going to be big,” I said.
Within a few days, we had 30,000 views.
It was big.
Then, a really odd thing happened.
Did you know about viral video agents? Me neither.
Our Youtube channel is connected to Cape Cod Wave. Essentially, when we post a video, we first put it on Youtube and then embed it on Cape Cod Wave, and then write something to go with it.
We have covered many bands doing this. We have done many videos this way. We never paid attention to our Youtube channel.
Until we woke up and discovered more than 300 comments on our video. And that it had been viewed more than 800,000 times overnight.
And there were letters.
Did you know about viral video agents? Me neither.
But for a brief moment in time, I felt like Alex Rodriguez. There was a bidding war. We played it cool. It was, frankly, hilarious. And while we didn’t make anywhere near what Alex Rodriguez made to watch one pitch, we did make money.
But the money wasn’t even the funniest or weirdest part.
The viral video agent found a way for our Turkeys Attack The Mailman video to appear on the CBS Evening News, the Today Show, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and many other places.
So that’s how you do it. It’s really quite simple.
Don’t forget to send money.
Come on, besides stuff like this, we do some really good journalism.
Or at least buy a hat or a t-shirt. What the hell. You’ve read this far. It’s the least you can do. Secrets like “get lucky” don’t come for free.
And this is how it’s done…
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