An Introduction To Social Video Marketing

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An Introduction To Social Video Marketing

What is social video marketing?  On the surface, it’s a way to get existing and potential customers to interact with your website.  It’s an entertaining way for you to get your message across.  At best, it’s a great way to improve your overall SEO picture.  Social video marketing is nothing like those old TV commercials – instead, it combines gripping images and motivational text or music to make your customers feel they need to do two things:  heed your call to action, and share your message with people they feel would appreciate what you have to offer.

What Social Video Marketing Is Not

Social video marketing is not a standard commercial.  A film crew does not come to your place of business and build a highly choreographed visual press release.  In fact, most social video marketing for small businesses takes place with the help of a good internet marketing specialist, and a few people who have the talent to put a quick, entertaining video together.  Quick cameras like the Flip and others like it make the process of producing and editing short films a snap!

Social video marketing is not spam.  Some businesses make the mistake of being overly forceful, which is something you definitely don’t want to do – the most effective social video marketing campaigns are those that people actually WANT to watch.

What Social Video Marketing Is

Putting out a black and white definition of social video marketing is nigh impossible.  It’s different things to different people.  The best social video marketing doesn’t really even look like marketing to most consumers, which is precisely why it is so effective.  Here are just a few things that define social video marketing:

  • Social video marketing triggers a psychological response.  It creates a need, and a drive to interact.  You want your customers to see your videos and think, “Wow! I need to share this!”
  • Social video marketing uses platforms that are already in place.  YouTube and Facebook are two examples of places where effective video campaigns enjoy red hot success.  People are always watching, sharing with friends, and taking action.
  • Social video marketing is all about you and your business.  It is original, fresh, and often funny or gripping in some other way.

Can Social Video Marketing Work for Your Business?

Social Videos can literally give life to any product. Use of real people, messages, animations and music can prove to be a real motivational factor to induce a purchase decision. Not to forget the fact that video marketing can also prove to be instrumental in improving the search engine rankings of one’s website. 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is among the most critical facets of any Internet marketing campaign. SEO is so important since it determines the ranking of your website on common search engines. Internet users value these outcomes and are unlikely to search out websites that do not rank well with search engines. However, high ranking websites can enjoy a great deal of greater website traffic because of these rankings.

Inbound links aimed at your website are also essential in Internet marketing. Inbound links are links on other websites which direct users to your website. Platforms like Youtube and Facebook along with 250 other video sites that host your videos can provide valuable links back to your site.  These links are important in an Internet marketing campaign. First of all many search engines factor inbound links into their ranking algorithms which means backlinks can lead to higher search engines rankings. Also, these links may be used straight by website users to access your website. Therefore you can gain visitors straight from these links.

The use of good description with keywords, title etc can do the trick. Videos can convey the message like no other thing on the web. Chances are high that viewers will be able to connect themselves emotionally to a video message. Often a splendid video attached with a good product can increase the sale of a product by many folds. Whether its website videos Blackpool or website videos Preston, anyone can benefit through video marketing. After all, “Seeing is believing”. Therefore, one can’t really go wrong with video marketing. The increased use of video marketing by webmasters across the globe serve as a good testimony that video marketing is indeed a great promotional tool that can do wonders for one’s website.

Easy Video Marketing Tips You Can Use Right Now

I’ll be the first to admit it.

When video marketing started getting popular, I was NOT feeling it. Looking back, I can see it was because I was WAY over thinking it! (“What will I talk about?” “Don’t I need a lot of equipment?” “I’ve got to get cute every time I shoot a video!!”)

As I worked through my own reservations, I realized what a powerful tool video is and that video marketing is here to stay. It provides you with a way to create a much deeper connection with your audience and build strong relationships. By incorporating video into your marketing mix, your viewers will get to know your personality. They’ll get much more comfortable with who you are and what you have to offer.

For these reasons and more, it’s a good strategy to start incorporating video marketing into your service business. Don’t get caught up thinking that your videos have to be Hollywood quality! A less formal video will get much a better response from your audience than a perfectly polished production.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Use a simple script- You can keep your message simple by following this easy script.

A. Start off explaining EXACTLY what you will share (ie: “Today I’m going to share with you…”)

B. Next, offer 3-5 specific actionable tips that your audience can put to use right away.

C. Include a specific call to action (i.e. post a comment below, get my free ____ on my website, contact me at _____ for a consultation). Give      them something to do once they watch the video so they’ll take action.

Keep the video short and sweet (less than 5 minutes). People have a short attention span these days, so you don’t want to lose them.

2. Get the right equipment – I highly recommend the Kodak PlayTouch. It’s the newer version of the Zi8 that we have, REALLY easy to use and will seamlessly upload your videos to the web. You can even plug in an external microphone for great sound quality. I also suggest picking up a tripod (typically less than $20 at your favorite electronic store. You can also get your external mic there (again less than $20).

3. Get your web presence together – Setting up a YouTube channel branded with your name (or your company’s name) will help you easily publish your videos and embed them on your website.

4. Repurpose existing content to create your videos – You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to produce videos. You can easily turn an article or a blog post you’ve written into a video by speaking what you’ve typed. Alternatively, instead of shooting a video you can record a demonstration (like with Camtasia) on your computer or create PowerPoint slides and create an audio that you “lay over” it. (This is a bit of an advanced strategy, but very effective.)

5. Promote your video across the web – Once you’ve created your video, you’ll want to promote it across the web. At the very least, post it to YouTube and on your own blog. You can also post to your Facebook profile and/or Fan Page. You can post on site like TubeMogul which will send it out to video sites across the web. Finally, use your social media presence to drive people to the video and solicit their input.

We’ve just barely covered the tip of the iceberg in this introduction – With these steps, you can make a video a part of your marketing calendar and get more exposure for your unique business. Find out more by talking with your online marketing specialist.  He or she can give you even more specific insight about how to use this incredible tool to make your business more successful than you ever imagined it could be.

 

Social Media Management- Should I Outsource or Do the work In-house?

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Should I Outsource My Social Media Management or Do the work In-house?

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Monitoring, Social Media Training, Social Networking What to do.

The Social Media Management dilemma is whether to outsource or do the work In-house?

Each business has to make the tough decision whether they should you administer their social media themselves or should you hire a Social media manager? This is the question of the hour that a lot of Folks have, especially as their business is growing and they discover their attention is being split between 20 different numerous things.

Occasionally the decision is pretty straightforward because the business does not have a marketing budget, or do not have the energy or time to deal with their social media needs themselves.

This may or may not be the case for you.

Here are 51 ways to know whether you might need social media management or not.

  1. You still wonder if social media is a craze/fad
  2. You simply tweet one time a week
  3. You tweet, but you in no way read what everybody else says
  4. You develop the greatest results from your Twitter as you are on a layover and can only work from your smart phone
  5. You put out of your mind that you even have a Twitter account
  6. Folks ask you for your Twitter handle, and you don’t know
  7. Folks ask about your business on the different social media platforms and you don’t see the them.
  8. You maintain 10,000 followers and yet not one individual clicks to your site
  9. ROI and ROR are expressions that don’t seem to apply to your social media
  10. Facebook is something you simply do from your phone or hootsuite
  11. You can’t remember the very last time you logged into facebook
  12. Your places page on Facebook has only your address from 2 moves previously
  13. Twitter keeps asking if you wish for the tour of the “New” Twitter…that was announced in the Fall of 2010
  14. Facebook keeps trying to give you tours of their new features from 6 months ago
  15. The last wall post was thanking the public for birthday wishes from last year
  16. Your last tweet is celebrating an anniversary
  17. People think you are a bot
  18. The Public are flagging you for spam
  19. You still don’t know how to post on the wall of a fan page
  20. The phrase, use Facebook as your fan page, means nothing to you
  21. Your niece who is 16 does nearly everyone of your posts
  22. Your wall is covered in spam posts from folks trying to make you learn foreign languages
  23. You don’t know what a hashtag is
  24. You don’t really know how to do any posts on your social media platforms
  25. Your profile image still shows as an egg
  26. No one follows you back
  27. Your biggest fan is a part of #TeamFollowBack
  28. All you do is post news stories that are unrelated to your business
  29. No one can figure out what it is that you do
  30. Your Facebook posts to your Twitter account
  31. Your foursquare automatically posts to both your Facebook and Twitter
  32. All your updates are the same on Twitter, Facebook Youtube and LinkedIn
  33. The most interesting thing you posted on your wall was about your lunch
  34. You don’t know the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn
  35. Each who tweets you is speaking a different language
  36. Everybody that tweets you has an Egg avatar
  37. You have know idea what an “Egg avatar” is
  38. You don’t know why having an Egg avatar is a bad thing
  39. You post links to you website and no one clicks the link….ever
  40. You don’t know how to create a 140 character post so your tweets are continually linked to “con’t…”
  41. You only have a discussions about your kids and pets
  42. Your only updated posts are your horoscope
  43. You still think that Paper.li isn’t spam
  44. You tweet the same tweet every day
  45. You can’t think of something to post…ever
  46. You still can’t figure out how to follow somebody
  47. You are wildly successful and don’t have the time to tweet, post or submit any content
  48. You would like your Twitter to help with your sales and customer service
  49. You wish for another way to communicate with your clients
  50. You wish to bring your social media efforts to the next level
  51. You wish to put into action a social media strategy that will give you business a significant boost

Hopefully this has started you to think of where you are at in your current social media management needs.

But whether you outsource or not is really probably not the question you should be asking.

I believe that the TRUE question you should be asking is, will your social media needs be better off with a expert that focuses 100% there time on social media for you? And the second question you should really ask Is, keeping it in-house the right thing to do?

Let’s explore the outsource-in-house dilemma from different points of views based on your size and type of business situation to see if we can find the answer for you.

1. The Brand New ‘I recently Discovered Social Media’ Business

There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing or keeping it in-house. For the company that has only recently realized they should be doing social media marketing, hiring a qualified/professional company is the right thing to do.

This is because the chances of somebody in your company knowing how to actually design and put into action a successful social media strategy are virtually zero. Most of them won’t even know how to set up a Facebook business page.

Save yourself months of struggle, frustration and a massive learning curve, and hire a qualified social media company or manager. The one thing to remember is It doesn’t have to be permanent, but in that ‘year’ you can have one of your employee get some proper social media training. Then you can do it in-house yourself. Make sure it is an employee that is going to be around for awhile.

2. The Tech Savvy Company With No Social Media Experience

If you work in a technology related field, your employees might find social media marketing appealing, and are equipped to learn it immediately. In this case you should think about waiting for awhile prior to rushing out and hiring a social media company to handle your campaigns.

If your employees have the time and the willingness to learn, then sign them up for social media strategy classes so that they can eventually grow to be your social media administrator. If your employees simply have no time, or no interest in learning – then go with a social media company. Many of the best SM companies develop your social campaigns just as well as a staff member would.

3. The Medium-Large Business That Needs Social Media Marketing Now

Most medium to large sized companies can afford a comprehensive marketing budget. In this case, it’s always a good idea to either hire your own social media manager, or outsource to an expert social media management company or manager.

With each project they handle, these companies learn the best ways to control social media for your business. They are always ahead of the curve, and stay abreast of the newest trends in social media. If you have the money to spare, you won’t get better returns than from a company that works to making you money from social media.

4.Your Personal to Small Business Needs

At the end of the day you need to ask yourself the tough questions. Here are some questions to get you started. However be honest with yourself, if you aren’t you might make the wrong decision and regret it later!

  1. Are your employees skillful enough to carryout a social media campaign right now?
  2. Does somebody in your company have experience with social media marketing?
  3. Do your employees have the capacity to study social media marketing?
  4. Do you or your employees have the time needed to run a campaign?
  5. Do you have the money to hire a social media manager or business?

Think hard about the answers to these questions. Imagining that a particular person can run a successful social media campaign, is not the same as them actually doing it with a good ROI. Consider your goals, and what you want from your social media – this will help you pick what’s best for your business. A great social media strategy will help establish you as a thought leader, a bad one will lose you time and money.

Let us show you how we are your true source for all of your Social Media Management needs by allowing us to do a FREE Social Media Written Audit, Click here to contact us.

Social Media Management- Should I Outsource or Do the work In-house?