By James Perrin
As the internet evolves and web trends diversify, new marketing techniques emerge. Companies and businesses don’t want to get left behind and are constantly thinking of new ways to reach new audiences. Well, take a bow video marketing. Not only is this an emerging marketing platform, but in recent times it has fully established itself as an effective way for businesses across a variety of sectors to promote new products and services. For those who are new to this platform, we shall take a look at what video marketing is and how you can benefit. What is video marketing? The answers to this question comes from two perspectives, making a video for marketing purposes, and marketing an existing video. Videos are often initially made to market the products or services of a company in the format of a video. But what next? This video then needs to distributed effectively so that people actually get to see it, and that’s where video marketing comes in. The most common way to market a video is to host this on your website and video hosting sites such as Youtube and Dailymotion. By hosting on your website, you are marketing to people who are already visiting your site, creating an unrivalled level of engagement through effective direct marketing. When a video is hosted on a social media site such as YouTube this video is there ready to been seen by a whole host of fresh eyes. Yet it needs to be marketed in a way that is targeted to the right eyes. You want to promote a service or a product and you want to engage with users so they will visit your website. In this case, you want to create brand awareness. However just like with search engines, it’s crucial that your video is actually seen by users, and video marketing is proving to be the answer. What Are the Benefits? Done correctly, the benefits are far reaching, but as I stress, video marketing needs to be created and managed correctly for it to be effective. If not, your video will be as visible as plankton is in the ocean. It is crucial that your video is seen and that you are seen as a result. So why should you consider video marketing then? • Brand Awareness • Engage with Social Media • Gaining Links • Increased Online Visibility • Improved Visitors and Sales By engaging with social media websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Youtube, you will be increasing the exposure of you brand tremendously. Websites such as Facebook and Myspace use the video medium as part of their functionality and are constantly evolving to allow brands greater effectiveness for promotion [See: Social Media Marketing: Facebook Switch to iFrames]. Using videos on social media websites opens your brands to a whole new audience, and allows you to interact with users in a way that will direct traffic to your site. Videos that are hosted on video sites should contain a link back to your site, which again is an effective way of generating traffic and improving your number of visitors. Web videos can help any business make a bigger impact with their online marketing efforts; visualise your content and let people see what you are promoting. Using this medium correctly can help boost your marketing campaign and the proof is in the pudding. Having a message that is heard is important, so a carefully managed video marketing campaign can increase your company’s exposure, drive traffic to your website and push sales as a result. That’s the key here, managed optimisation. Video is incorporated into search engine results and has become a massive sector for marketing, but by taking advantage of optimisation and a well managed campaign you can be rest assured your video will be seen by the people you want to see it. To view the original story, click here. James Perrin is a regular contributor to the Koozai blog. Well experienced in sales and marketing, James also has a passion for journalism and media, especially new media. From the latest industry related new stories to copywriting advice, James will provide you with plenty of digital marketing information.
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Smartphones have made quality photography fun and accessible for everyone. But there's still a lot more to it than just pointing and tapping if you want to lasting images. Here are a few simple ways to improve your everyday photo-taking. LEARN WHEN TO USE HDR MODE: HDR has become a near-universal feature on smartphone cameras, but unless you're in tune to photographic lingo, you might not know what it means, or when to use it. Basically, HDR mode will instantly capture multiple images of varying brightness, and combine them into one. Sometimes it's effective, sometimes it's ruinous. A good rule of thumb is that if you're shooting a high-contrast scene areas of extreme light and dark, turn on HDR. It usually does a good job of rescuing some detail in those overexposed areas. Don't leave HDR on all the time though, because if you are shooting a moving subject, you will end up with weird double-image muck in your picture. BE STILL: Blurry photos are possibly the greatest frustration for the smartphone photographer. How many times has an image looked fine on your phone, then when you blow it up you notice its every-so-slightly blurry? It's crazy-making. Unless you're shooting in a good amount of sunlight, absolute stillness is required in order to avoid blurry results. There are many ways to accomplish such statuesque postures. Find a wall, pole, or other structure to lean against. Hold the phone with two hands at all times and tuck your elbows into your body. If you want to get really into it, take a deep breath in and hold it just before you press take the pic. It helps, seriously! Most of all, don't get frustrated; especially in really low light, it's nearly impossible to get an absolutely sharp image with a phone. USE THE ON-SCREEN SHUTTER, NOT A PHYSICAL BUTTON: This is an extension of the previous tip. Many phones let you take a pic by pressing a physical button on the side of the device. Don't do that. It's harder to keep the phone still when exerting that pressure with your finger. Stick to the touch-screen and grace it with your finger ever so lightly. HAVE YOUR SUBJECTS FACE THE LIGHT: Never lose sight of the direction of light where you're taking a picture. You don't want your subject backlit, so look around and have them turn so the light is hitting their faces. If you are indoors, move toward a window and situate it behind you, shining its glorious rays upon the photographed. CONVERT NOISY NIGHT SHOTS TO BLACK AND WHITE: Shooting in excessively dark conditions leaves you with noisy images that often produce unnatural color. The solution is to convert these pics to black and white. Often the tonality is quite pleasing when you remove all of the ugly color shifts. CONTROL YOUR EXPOSURE: Nothing screams crappy phone pic like blown out spots in your image. Take a good look at the scene through your display and move around to avoid overly bright spots that will spill onto your subject. This isn't always possible to catch or avoid, but it's a good thing to keep an eye out for. If you notice your image is overly bright, tap around on various spots to engage the manual exposure and find the most balanced looking level of brightness. In the photo above, the camera was originally exposing for the interior of the train car. I had to tap on the bright window to get this more interesting shot. POST-PROCESSING IS YOUR FRIEND: Don't listen to haters that say how inauthentic and corny filters are. Sure, it's a better idea to make your own tweaks in apps that allow for more subtle controls over color and tone. TakeVSCO Cam or Afterlight for a spin. But if you don't have time for all that jazz, cozy up to Instagram and be proud of a little filtering. There's a reason they're so popular.
To see original article, please click here. By Michael Mogill of Young Entrepreneur Council
Creating strong video content for your business is a good way to reach a variety of markets and engage your audience. As the founder of a company that produces video content for some larger-than-life brands (ranging from RedBull toCoca-Cola KO +0.07%), I can tell you that video is a very effective marketing tool when done well. However, more often than not, the videos I see startups and small businesses producing are done so poorly that they often end up doing more harm than good. In the eyes of the consumer, your video is a reflection of your brand. To help you get off on the right foot with your video marketing strategy, here are the top 10 mistakes in video marketing that I commonly see businesses making — as well as tips for how you can avoid them. Mistake #10: Making a video just to make a video When you fail to make a plan, you plan to fail. That saying applies to life and video marketing. Does your video serve a higher strategic purpose? Is it branding you? Why are you making it? If you don’t know the answer, take a step a back. The Fix: Approach video with a plan as would any other marketing campaign. If you can achieve a clear business objective through video, then go for it. Mistake #9: Not branding correctly Hearing someone recall your video is fantastic. But if they can’t remember the name of your company, it’s considered a fail. Many times we get wrapped in the making of the video that we forget its actual purpose: communicating the benefits of and promoting your business. The Fix: Brand your video with your logo, website URL, or another piece of your identity — especially in the beginning. Here’s an example of a well-branded dental practice showcase video from one of our clients. Mistake #8: Making your video too long How long was the last online video you watched? Thirty seconds? Maybe two minutes? Research shows that 20 percent of people click away from a video within the first 10 seconds if it isn’t engaging enough. Plus, the more time you add to a video, the less likely people are to finish watching it. The Fix: Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. About 60-90 seconds is the magic number. Mistake #7: Not focusing on a single message Here is a hypothetical: You just watched an online video for a company that talks about its new product, its heritage, a new location, stellar employees, business awards, recent philanthropic endeavor, personal message from the CEO, and new rewards program. What did you learn? Probably nothing — in fact, it would be surprising if you even watched it all the way through. The Fix: Deliver a single message with your video so viewers have a definite takeaway. Mistake #6: Not calling out your call to action “Visit our website.” “Give us a call.” “Follow us on our social media outlets.” Did you include something like this in your video? If you leave your viewers in the lurch, they’ll be unsure of the next step to take — and you just lost a valuable lead, sale or click. The Fix: Include a clear call to action so your viewers know what to do after they’ve watched your video. Mistake #5: Failing to use SEO for your video Getting your audience to see your video online is crucial. Just posting it on YouTube isn’t enough anymore. There are specific tactics and techniques that can drive web traffic to your site and video, and rank your site as number one in search results. The Fix: Use proper video SEO techniques to increase the online visibility of your work. Mistake #4: Expecting instant results Rome wasn’t built in a day. This same mantra can be applied to video marketing. Very rarely do videos go viral. And when they do, most of the time it’s because of an established social media presence. The Fix: Understand that a good video marketing strategy requires consistency, dedication, and patience. Mistake #3: Improper placement of selling points Waiting until the end of your video to convey your selling points is dangerous. The longer a video is, the faster viewer engagement drops (see Mistake #8). As in journalism, put the juicy bits in the beginning and follow them with supporting details. The Fix: Major selling points belong at the start of your video. Mistake #2: Failing to address your target audience Sure, you have products and services that can benefit a wide audience. However, your video will be more effective if you focus on one point and don’t cast too wide a net. Different people have different pain points. You need to decide which ones you want to address. Remember, when you try to speak to everyone, you speak to no one. The Fix: Focus your message on a specific and well-defined target audience. Mistake #1: Choosing the wrong partner or producer Your viewers and potential customers are very subjective. They will be critical of the quality of your video and equate it to the quality of your business. Sure, anyone can use a smartphone to make a video, but is that how you want people to see your brand? And if you hire outside talent or an agency to produce the video, does the partner you’re working with know about your industry or understand the market? Ask a lot of questions to get the answers you need. After that, it’s time decide if your video partner can produce something that reflects the quality of your company — or part ways. The Fix: Do your due diligence before hiring any outside talent or firm to create content for your business. Click here for original article location. By ELISABETH LEAMY, SHEILA EVANS and LEE FERRAN
As the economy continues to suffer, real estate agents across the country are feeling the pinch. But many hope that a new selling technique called video open houses could help curb the decline in sales. "You capture all the essence of the fireplace going or the fans moving," Anthony Benton of HighResMediaLLC.com told "Good Morning America." "Just little things that make you feel like you are in that room. You are actually there." With half of Internet users regularly watching video on the Web, it was a market real estate agents simply could not stay away from, and myriad production companies have sprung up that specialize in shooting videos for home sales.Not too long ago, 360-degree static tours -- often just a string of still photographs stitched together -- were the height of virtual tour technology. Now these production companies are helping real estate agents take the tours to the next level. "It's much more dynamic, much more succinct, much more quality flow than the old snap-and-shoot photos allowed," Dale Mattison of the National Assocation of Realtors said. "So it just brings a new dimension, a new reality to the experience for the consumer." The videos tilt up to show off soaring ceilings, zoom in on gourmet appliances or peek out the window to show off charming neighborhoods -- and it's all professionally narrated. The videos only cost a few hundred dollars and the fee comes out of the agent's commission, just like traditional advertising. But unlike signs on the road, the virtual tours can reach buyers across the nation. "It's helping to get a lot more showings and I think a lot of the clients appreciate it because we're doing as much as we can in this market," Keller Williams Realty agent Geno Ross said. Shaky Hands of Do-It-Yourself Virtual Tour Makers Now do-it-yourselfers are also getting in on the act. A search for "house for sale" in YouTube returns more than 8,000 results. Some suffer from the lack of professional touch. One narrator highlights the house's cons rather than pros and another whips the camera around so quickly, the viewer is less likely to get the buying bug than get nauseous. But even when they are not picture-perfect, videos allow potential homebuyers a more intimate, styled look at a house that could prompt an in-person, real-life tour. Click here for original article location. By Jennifer Bergen
As a company with our ear to the online-video ground, we can say with conviction that video will have a huge impact on one thing this year: Content Marketing. In a blog post recently published by The Guardian on its Small Business Network, author Chris Trimble speaks to content marketers about why online video is the future of marketing, and why small businesses that don’t integrate it in their marketing strategies are jeopardizing their success. According to the story, a Cisco study says 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic will come from video within the next three years, and video-on-demand traffic will nearly triple what it is now. With all of this traffic coming from online video, it’s imperative that companies – both small and large – take advantage of the medium. According to a Nielsen report, 64 percent of marketers believe video content will dominate their strategies going forward. That leaves 36 percent of marketers behind in the dust. As Trimble points out in The Gaurdian article, Volkswagen’s recent campaign – three videos that received a total of 155 million views – is a great example of online video’s success. However, we can only imagine what those numbers would look like had Volkswagen made its videos interactive. Success in a video ad campaign is not just about how many times a video was viewed, it’s also about how long the consumer viewed it and if they followed through with any calls to action after watching. According to the recent Forrester Report, “Move Beyond Awareness with Interactive Video,” consumers can spend up to 10 minutes interacting with video content, which is a great return on investment considering the average completion rate for linear video advertising typically falls between 50 percent and 85 percent. We’ve seen completion rates of 90 percent and above with repeated views for the same Rapt Media-powered video. And you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to bring video into your content marketing strategy. As Trimble points out, “production costs have fallen significantly in recent years and you no longer need to be a technical whiz to work out how to use it .” Interactive Video is no different. Rapt Media’s easy-to-use, drag-and-drop platform is simple enough for anyone to work with. We even made an Interactive Video in just 72 hours to prove that it can be done with a small team and scaled up for larger budgets. Add shoppable videos like the ones created by Kara Ross NY, or branching videos that are able to house large amounts of content in one frame while also highlighting calls-to-action, like the interactive landing page created by Gaiam TV, and the resources available to all content creators are now unprecedented. Trimble also rightly points out in his post that online video content marketing should not neglect mobile. According to Ooyala, one out of ten videos are played on mobile devices, and mobile is continuing to pick up steam. At the end of June 2013, mobile phones held 41 percent more share of video consumption than it did at the beginning of the year. We’ve seen how critical mobile is to online video. Thanks to our HTML5, flash-free technology, users can view videos on any device. In our Philips “Designed to Play” campaign, 65 percent of viewers watched the video on an iPhone or Android device with the average mobile interactive viewing time exceeding 4 minutes. This wasn’t just a one-time viewing either; the average viewer interacted with the video three to four times, returning to the video to play out different scenarios. Not only is Interactive Video beneficial for garnering longer viewing times and more engagement, according to The Guardian article, Axonn Research found that seven out of 10 people view brands more positively after viewing interesting video content from them. As marketers increase their budgets for online video in the coming year, online video is clearly the future of content marketing. Implementing Rapt Media’s Interactive Video technology instead of creating a static video increases viewing time and user engagement, is easy to do on time and on budget, and enables viewers to watch the content on any mobile device for a user experience that’ll have your customers (old and new) talking, interacting, and ultimately buying. Click here for original article location. (1) 190 million Americans (61 percent of the total population) watched an average of 397 online videos in the month of January 2014.
(2) One-in-12 videos was watched via mobile in 2012, the ratio had shifted to one-in-six just a year later in 2013. (3) The duration of the average online content video was 4.4 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes. (4) The information contained in a single minute of video is equal to more than 1.8 million written words. (5) Videos increase people’s understanding of a product and/or service by nearly 75%. (6) 75% of users visit their marketers website or seek further information after viewing a video. (7) Real estate listings with videos receive 403% more inquiries than those without them. (8) 45% of viewers stop watching video after the 1-minute mark. 60% are uninterested by the second minute. (9) On average, 72 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube every minute. |
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CreatorA. Brent Lovell Archives
May 2017
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