Posts Tagged ‘video marketing’

2012 Online Video Predictions – OVPs

December 15th, 2011

In our third annual OVP Predictions piece we look back on the online video space from a general practitioner’s view (mine) and ahead from a leader’s view (the OVP founders, CEOs, VPs, etc.). It’s been another amazing year filled with record breaking events, ups and downs, foundings and shutterings (neither of which are words) and the addition of 10+ new OVPs. It’s a crowded space indeed, a theme you will see often in the words below. Over the years at VidCompare we’ve watched over 100 platforms ebb and flow with the threat of commoditization while roughly 15 OVPs were acquired or rolled-up into other OVPs, and 13 shut their doors. All this while video viewership continued at a breakneck pace. In September 2011 comscore reported that 182 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content for an average of 19.5 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in 39.8 billion video views (Wow).

We’ve seen several OVPs begin to specialize in an attempt to pull away from the pack with one OVP in particular making a unique move into the world of cloud-based application management (Brightcove), while Ooyala honed in on analytics and monetization, RealGravity into the world of advertising and syndication, Unicorn Media and Twistage sharpening their workflow management skills, and Magnify.net dominating the world of curated content.

Enough of the obvious, let’s move onto the interesting stuff. This year we’ve culled together an impressive list of predictions from 10 OVPs, and 2 OVP gurus. Continue on to get the inside scoop from those whom have been in the trenches since the early days and don’t forget to leave your comments.

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Learn To Be a Pro Video Marketer

October 13th, 2011

As an online marketer by profession I’ve come to know and appreciate MarketingProfs over the years with their deep and current marketing insights, so I was honored when asked to host a webinar for them in a series called Video Marketing Made Simple through their educational arm, MarketingProfs University. It’s an eleven course series with great topics and top-notch professionals offering years of experience and expertise along with some great course materials including:

  1. A free copy of the book How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck: Advice to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro by Steve Stockman (a $13.95 value)
  2. Access to the How-To Guide: A Quick Guide to YouTube and Creating Your Own YouTube Channel (a $49 value).
  3. Access to the MarketingProfs article 8 Ways to Create Enough Video Content to Last 18 Months.
  4. Access to the MarketingProfs online seminar: Creating Fresh B2B Video Content All Year Long (a $129 value).

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Be An Online Video VIP

April 20th, 2011

OnlineVideo.net is running an online video content contest for all of you video producers out there whom are creating original content that is creative and effective in reaching and informing users. The goal of the VIP (Video In Practice) contest is to reward companies who are harnessing the power on online video as part of their marketing strategy to promote and sell their products. I think this is a brilliant idea as I am both a huge proponent of online video and an online marketer so kudos to the StreamingMedia and OnlineVideo.net teams for coming up with the idea.

There are five categories that businesses can enter based on company size:

  • Small business –fewer than 100 employees
  • Large business- more than 100 employees
  • Local products and services
  • National products and services
  • Nonprofit/Government/Educational/Other organizations

The first round of selections will be narrowed by the general public, then a panel of professional judges will select one winner per category which will be announced on June 13. Submissions will be accepted through May 2, voting on May 9 – 23, and finalists announced (top 3 per category) on May 24.

They’ve already got some slick videos collected, check out these small business submissions, here. To enter your videos you can upload from your computer, submit a URL or post to a third party site like YouTube then email the description and company name to onlinevideo (at) onlinevideo.net.

Winners will receive some impressive (and expensive) software to help them further their video production endeavors including:

  • Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium ($1,699 value)
  • Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro ($299 value)
  • Sorenson Media Squeeze 7 ($799 value)
  • Telestream Wirecast 4.0 ($449 value)
  • Wowza Media Server ($995 value)

Get crackin people, this is a cool contest!

Lighting and Content – Shooting Online Video Part 4

May 27th, 2010

Now you have your camera. You’re going to need lights, backdrop and something to shoot. That sounds like a lot more to do, but the good news is that it doesn’t all have to be done in one day. Lighting, in fact, is a work in progress and believe me, you’ll make plenty of changes. There will be tons of posts coming up about lighting. Also, depending on what you plan on shooting for your online video can change lighting options. For example, did you know that there are lighting professionals that specialize in food and beyond that there are lighting professionals that specialize in shooting chocolate. By the way, you can’t shoot chocolate since the lights will melt the chocolate so you need a chocolate model. See what I mean about lighting?

Let’s start with the content of your online video. First, think about what you’re shooting. Is it a product/service? Is it a person giving a demo of a product/service? Is it a presentation? Is it an off-site shoot (meaning you’ll be going to another place to shoot video)? Will you generally always be shooting in the same area? These are all things to consider when deciding how and where to shoot a video.

Regardless of what you’re shooting or where you’re shooting, you’ll need a game plan and that usually comes in the form of an outline. Start by making a list of all the things you want to address in your online video and then prioritize them. You may not be able to get all the points you want to make in one video and that’s ok. That just means if those issues are important you can make another video. This will also help you better organize a video.

Once you know what you want to get across in the video, here’s a good rule of thumb for organizing it:

  1. Tell them what you’re going to be telling them
  2. Tell them
  3. Then tell them what you told them

Sounds redundant, right? It actually is a little, but by “telling them what you’re going to tell them” they know immediately if they want to watch the video. They’ll also appreciate the honesty upfront and are likely to come back to see other videos that do interest them. “Tell them” is really the meat of the story and what people want to see. Finally, “Tell them what you told them” is a quick wrap up and a great way to get any brand messaging across. Also, this is a good time to include any calls to action. Maybe visit a web site, make a call, or ask them to leave a comment if that feature is available on your site.

When you get your outline finished, it’s time to think about the best way to convey this information visually. Remember, people are watching a video online because they want to see something better or they don’t necessarily have the time to read about it. Take each of the points in your list and create an outline that includes the best way to demonstrate what you’re trying to get across. This will help you create a shot list and ultimately will help you when you’re editing the video.

I know, it’s a lot to take in, but a little organization and forethought can go a long way in saving time and money when shooting a video.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

Free Online Video Tips, A Case Study

January 3rd, 2010

ElliptiGO Inc. is a customer of Online Video hosting provider, vzaar. The following case study has been provided by vzaar to help illustrate the power and positive effects of online video for web-based businesses.

The ElliptiGO is the world’s first outdoor elliptical road bike. The bicycle combines the best of running, cycling and the indoor elliptical trainer to deliver a high-performance, low-impact exercise experience.

Bryan Pate, Co-Founder of ElliptiGO Inc., told vzaar that for such a must-see product, video is essential and that the “bottom line is that for our product the video is the absolute best way to communicate what we’ve created because the instant someone sees it in action they understand it.  It’s almost impossible to convey our product through text or even pictures.”

So how have you embraced video?

We primarily use video on the site. It purposefully dominates the homepage and screams play me! In addition we send out newsletters each month and many of the recipients come to the website to specifically watch the video. Whilst video-in-email remains an unchartered and unreliable marketing tactic, we do use the video on our iPhones and Blackberrys to facilitate explaining the bike in personal interactions. It’s like having a product demo in your pocket! Bottom line is that for our product the video is absolutely the best way to communicate what we’ve created. The instant someone sees the bike in action they understand it. It’s almost impossible to convey our product through text or even pictures.

Tell us about the numbers

Attributing success to one video is always hard when you first bring your website to market, but at ElliptiGO we’re not only delighted with the 133% increase in visits (doubling previous traffic) but significantly the 30% increase in average time spent on the site. We attribute much of these improvements to an initial redesign of our site and prominent placement of our homepage video.

A further website redesign in November of this year resulted in an additional 18% increase in visits and a 50% increase in average time on site which underlines the work we have put into optimizing the positioning of the video and its call to action messaging. We added a call to action “Watch the 8S in action” and customers are doing just that we’re pleased to say.

Lights, Camera, Action!

We worked with a videographer who is also a professional tri-athlete to shoot our videos. Nothing like having an expert in the field to help shape how we show the product’s benefits. You only have to watch the video to see it has been money well spent. In addition, she’s very reasonable – about $1,500 for a full day of shooting plus video production for two videos. Furthermore, this is just the start as the business has done two shoots with her now so we’re getting better at accomplishing what we want and getting the right shots and shooting at the right time of day.

This case study was provided by Jamie Parkins of vzaar.com.

vzaar