Youtube released a pretty comprehensive guide to help video creators. There’s a 70 page PDF, & a new blog. I finally had some time to sit down with the content and there are some pretty great tips / best practices that can help your channel(s) succeed.
“The Creator Playbook is not a collection of rules or guaranteed ‘tricks’ to get more views. Instead, it presents best practices, optimization tips, and suggested strategies for building audience and engagement on YouTube.”
Programming & Producing: 1. Create Great Content that is unique, compelling, entertaining or informative. 2. Optimize the first ’15 Seconds’ of your video. 3. Set a recurring schedule for your channel and maximize your production investments to determine how often you are able to release content. 4. Identify channels with similar content and/or relevant audiences and work with them to create meaningful cross-promotion opportunities and collaboration videos. 5. Use Insights & Analytics to better understand your audience, improve your content and help you develop effective programming and production strategies.
Publishing & Optimization Upload 1. Write detailed and comprehensive metadata following keyword strategies and formatting. 2. Create and upload a great eye catching thumbnail that is high resolution. (Partners Only) 3. Spot check the live video and published metadata. Publish 1. Annotate the video with community CTAs, subscribe button, and links to related content. 2. Set the video as the featured video based on how you organize your channel page’s uploads. 3. Set video as video response to a popular and relevant video on your channel. 4. Add the video to a relevant playlist on your channel. Add to Youtube Show season list if applicable.
Community & Social Media 1. Set up accounts and set specific strategies for all social media sites that are important to your content and audience. 2. Create and maintain a Blog Roll for your channel. Include niche sites or targeted sites for tent pole related content. 3. Dedicate time and resources to involve and interact with your audience. Perform outreach to blogs, sites and online communities for relevant videos. 4. Create content or segments specifically for your audience and the purpose of engaging with them. Include viewer interaction in your videos through asking specific questions, featuring fans, or by addressing the audience in the videos. 5. Interact with the viewers in the first few hours after you upload new content. Respond to comments and be active on social media sites to build engagement around new uploads. 6. Track engagement on social media sites and access the incoming traffic from those communities to your Youtube content.
“Rick Silvestrini, YouTube’s head of brand engagement products, offers sound programming advice to YouTube marketers and other content providers. “Upload in bursts,” suggests Silvestrini, explaining that many successful series introduce users to multiple new videos at once.”
“No matter how good your content is, you can’t just upload a clip, sit back and wait for people to come to you — you need to have a promotion and distribution plan.”
I don’t know if this is really a mistake or agencies failure to communicate. Everyone’s definition of viral is different and as marketers we need to make it very clear just how difficult it is for content to get seen. Having a video go “viral” is extremely unlikely and gets more and more unlikely every single day. There’s over 35 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every single minute. You need to make your content stand out, every big marketing campaign you see out there usually have a significant amount of promotional dollars behind it.
2. Thinking Small
“There are plenty of small brands that think they need to be a Nike or an Adidas to be successful in social video,” says Wood. “This is simply not true! Any brand, large or small, can score a hit in social video.”
This may seem like the opposite of their first mistake, we spend a lot of time making sure our clients have realistic expectations but that’s not to say viral success is impossible. Shoot for the stars!
3. Treating a viral video as a commercial
“YouTube requires as much thought as any other social media channel and shouldn’t be looked at as a dumping ground for marketing videos,” says Gonzalez. “Everything you post should represent your brand’s personality and inspire some type of reaction from your viewers -– whether it’s provoking thought, laughing out loud or making a purchase.”
Get involved with the Youtube community, I see brands throwing their videos on Youtube and never bothering to log back in to respond to comments, post bulletins, subscribe to other channels and just generally treating Youtube like just another place to host videos and link back to them on their Facebook page. Brands and marketers need to treat Youtube like another viable social platform otherwise their not only missing the point but they are missing out on a valuable opportunity to connect with consumers and beef up their views.
4. Putting All Your Eggs Into One Youtbe Basket
“It’s certainly the biggest, but don’t forget that YouTube isn’t the only online video platform, and it may not offer the best chance of success for your brand. Vimeo, for example, could be considered a more credible platform for creative professionals.”
If you’re spending the time and money to produce quality content, then why not get the most traction possible for said content. I’m a big fan of syndicating and distributing it to as many places as possible. I use OneLoad from Tubemogul to upload my videos across multiple platforms. It doesn’t have to be as time consuming as you might imagine. I set up email alerts on secondary video sharing sites that notify me when someone comments on a video so I don’t have to constantly log in or out. It’s not that I get a ton of traction from these channels but often time when I do a Google Video search I see videos from Metacafe, Viddler, etc. routinely showing up at the top. Fish where the fish are. Don’t be confused though, Yotuube is still the go to site for online video.
5. Basing Success On View Counts Alone
“Too often, businesses produce videos and hope to get 1 million views. On today’s social web, success isn’t always counted with stats or measured in view counts — meaningful engagement is what matters.”
The beauty of digital marketing is the ever expanding things we can measure so much especially with online video. Although Youtube hasn’t caught up to some of the other video hosting solutions like the before mentioned Tubemogul as far as analytics go we’re still head and shoulders of where we we’re six months ago in being able to measure engagement and collateral views.
Not all views are created equal, the more targeted a view the more expensive that promoted view is going to be. Our CEO, wrote about this extensively in a four part blog series last October.
In addition to the 5 mistakes outline by Mashable, I would add a sixth.
Not optimizing videos for search
You’ve heard it all before, Youtube is the second largest search engine blah blah blah. But neglecting to do basic things like add metadata to your videos can be a costly mistake. I’ve seen Fortune 500 companies putting videos up and not even bothering to add titles or tags. Youtube’s machine generated transcriptions have come along way in the last year but their still fairly inaccurate. I use these as a template and edit them to ensure accuracy. It’s important to understand the way search engines index video and do what you can to help your content stand out.
Denise McKee continues to speak extensively about all things video, content marketing and social media optimization.
October 21, Denise will be in Milwaukee for the Southeast Wisconsin PRSA Chapter meeting you can still buy tickets here.
December 6-9 she’ll be in Las Vegas for another Social Media for Government Conference. Mention her name and you can save $400 off current registration rates, while in Vegas you’ll learn how To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results
March 17 in Chicago; More info TBA.
If you missed her last presentation in Chicago, she drilled down to some great social media tips and tricks that can be applied by anyone looking to connect with markets across multiple channels.
The Golden Rule – “It’s not what we want, it’s what our audience wants”
Know your marketing objectives - and know them in advance.
Know Thy Target Audience – Just as important as knowing your objectives, it’s absolutely crucial that you know who you’re trying to reach before firing your first shot.
Tips for Twitter – A great place to start for marketers getting started using Twitter.
Tips for Youtube – Some basic tips to help you get started optimizing your Youtube channel.
Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 1 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part one of three.
Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 2 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part two of three.
Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 3 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part three of three.
It’s a pretty simple recipe, summed up nicely below in this interesting interview on iMedia with Andrew Budkofsky of Break Media.
An excerpt:
iMedia: Break — and particularly your flagship site, Break.com — has gained solid ground in the world of online video. What tips can you share for making branded video work?
Budkofsky: Strive to create video that speaks in the voice of the publisher and feels natural to the consumers. Consumers are smart and can sense when a piece of branded content is forced.
iMedia: When creating a branded video effort, the goal for many brands seems to be to “go viral” without any real strategy for achieving this, or a way to leverage a viral video into a plan that will meet established marketing goals. So how do you walk the line between creating a viral video and seeming like you are trying too hard and getting nothing in return?
Budkofsky: It’s a fine line for sure. Brands come to us all the time and tell us they want a viral video without truly understanding why or how a video goes viral. Brands should avoid spending tremendous resources on the production of videos without a strategy for syndicating and distributing them. We recommend strategies that place the video in an environment online where it will watched the most and engaged with by audiences, that way there is a tremendous amount of earned media garnered along with traditional ROI.
Kathy Hansen of A Storied Career went looking for storytellers in all types of mediums, and guess what she found? Our own Barry Poltermann.
With street cred from indie film, documentary, TV spots, and AboutFace’s content marketing, Barry seemed a perfect fit to tell how story became his story.
I am reminded today of the ‘Prime Directive’ on Star Trek, and want to muse a bit on how it relates to About Face’s work.
We are sometimes asked by clients to ‘stage’ things in some way… you know, ‘let’s bring in some props’, ‘let’s use some of our employees to stand in as customers’, ‘let’s use a showroom instead of our offices because we don’t want to see all of these cubicles”, etc.
This isn’t at all surprising, as we’ve all worked in traditional marketing. We certainly can’t fault a client for doing what’s always been done. This is standard operating procedure, right? So what’s the big deal.
But our answer at AboutFace must always be to politely decline.
Even at the risk of upsetting a client, we must remember and remind them that when we say that we do documentaries, we mean just that. We reflect the truth of our subjects and their organizations within our work.
Sure, you can argue that any ‘choice’ we make as directors and editors is, by it’s very nature, a manipulation. However, we don’t intentionally act to manipulate or ‘fake’ reality.
No Starfleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Starfleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.
So, from this moment forth, let it be said, that the AboutFace Prime Directive is:
No AboutFace personnel may interfere with the normal activities of subjects lives, characteristics or cultures. Such interference includes manipulative propping, selecting wardrobe, faking locations or otherwise altering subjects actual world or directing subjects to act in such a manner that would be out of character for the subjects. AboutFace personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even at the risk of losing a client, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental manipulation of said subject or culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.
If clients press on this one, politely remind them that we shoot actual documentaries at AboutFace, not “documentary style” ads or corporate marketing pieces.
Remember, there are literally THOUSANDS of marketing companies out there that are happy to stage/fake/manipulate/whatever on behalf of their clients and customers.
If we want to be able to say with a straight face that “we are different than they are” then, well… we must remain different than they are.
Lately, I’ve been doing my part to spread the gospel of online video content. I’ve had the opportunity to speak at social media conferences and panels around the country, and I thought I would share some of the insight I’ve gathered.
It seems that most brands are just getting started on utilizing online video content for marketing programs, as a result, there are more questions than comments about a brand’s experience. A recent round table discussion at Social Fresh Portland gave me a great idea of where people’s heads are at with video content.
Here’s some of the footage from that discussion.
I had a discussion with George Wright, the genius behind “Will It Blend”, after a presentation I gave at the PR/SM Summit in Milwaukee. It was refreshing to hear him reiterate the basic philosophy that brands need to take time to develop their marketing objectives first and identify your target audience. Seems basic enough, but all to often companies are going into video because they have the “killer idea” they think will be funny, but who is it speaking too?
Below are some more tips on supporting your content marketing initiatives.
NOTE: Don’t discount the content creation because it often requires less
time than the content marketing. Your content must be 100% engaging in order
to reach your target audience. For more on this, check out “If You Build it
Will They Come.”
Stay tuned for more on-the-road discussions, including audience reactions to the “Three Commandments of Video” and “The Puppy Theory”.
We get a lot of questions about what to expect when being filmed by AboutFace. The truth is that the experience is very different from what you might have experienced when being filmed by a Broadcast or Corporate video crew.
I don’t like to admit it, but I get nervous when I’m being interviewed. Even with all of my experience behind the camera as an AboutFace Producer AND my experience in front of the camera as an actor, I get a little tense.
I’m a ‘pro’ and ‘pro’s don’t get nervous on camera. But I do, and that’s ok.
Cameras just inherently make people nervous. If you’re about to take the time to be in an AboutFace produced documentary you might be feeling some anxiety – well worry no more. I’m here to answer all of your questions and more.
Filming with AboutFace really is quite easy. Our crews run really lightly. There are no big trucks, no lights, and no makeup department. There isn’t even a script for you to memorize or read from. It sounds cliche but we really just want to spend the day getting to know you and seeing a small part of your life.
The key thing to remember when working with us is that we aren’t journalists – we’re not trying to get a newsworthy scoop. It’s in our best interests to make you look good so you don’t need to worry about saying the wrong thing. If you misspeak just let the director know and we’ll make sure not to use that footage.
The hardest part of your day will be getting wired up with our wireless microphone (technically called a wireless lav microphone). The producer on the shoot will help you with this, it’ll help if you have a pocket or belt that we can clip the transmitter to.
The second hardest part of your day will be filling out a talent release that gives us and your company permission to use your image. Just sign your name and your done.
After that, like I said, it’s just going about your day and being yourself. Even moments that seem mundane end up being really compelling on film.
We’re storytellers at AboutFace and, if you’re reading this before an AboutFace shoot, we want to thank you for taking the time to let us tell your story.
Have more questions? Be sure to ask them in the comment section to this post (or just give us a call).
On more then one occasion, I have been asked by a client how our videos react in terms of SEO, and if we can translate our work into multiple languages. The concern being how accessible are these videos going to be to brands that function on a global level. The concern is valid, but lucky for us (and you), the accessibility of non-textual web content is advancing dramatically in the “public sphere”.
Between our work with Trek Bicycles and TravelCLICK we have translated our work in over 30 different languages. Using transcription software and video cue points, we were able to do this relatively easy, and with less manpower then the traditional idea of having 30 different transcripts translated individually.
(Please excuse the lower resolution on the below video, as this is a screen grab.)
Also, here’s some great advice from Google’s floating head of wisdom on giving your online content global accessibility.
As the Head also points out, when the public sphere starts to participate in your content, their engagement alone will develop the tools to climb the SEO ladder, making the conversation louder in the “coffee house”.
The term “Global Village”, popularized by Marshall McLuhan, is often used to as a way to describe the scope of the internet. It essentially describes our ability to communicate, through our ever advancing technology, to the farthest reaches of the planet in real time, or close to it.
I would argue, however, that Jurgen Habermas’s idea of the “public sphere” is a more accurate description of where we are in terms of global communication. It’s not just that a doctor in Nebraska has the ability to ask for advice about a patient to a hospital in Mumbai, it’s that the doctor and the hospital can converse about the patient, share x-rays and ultrasounds, and then invite other professionals from around the world to chime in on the conversation. We are now congregating in virtual “coffee houses” to discuss, debate, and engage.
One question is, how are we further advancing the accessibility of these conversations around the globe?
Content alone isn’t enough. “If you build it, they will come” worked in the film Field of Dreams, but it doesn’t play out in real-time. People will not show up to view your content unless you let them know about it first.
How did those baseball players know Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) had built that baseball field? Well, it’s a mystical movie, so they just knew. (They’re ghosts, after all.)
For the rest of us, we have to build something compelling and valuable, with targeted outreach, that prompts our audiences to show up.
There are variations on how to accomplish this. Here’s a taste of what we’ve learned:
STEP 1. Get Focused On The Marketing Goal
Many video campaigns start out with a cool idea, instead of creating a cool idea around a marketing objective.
The right order is: Objective first, creative second. Figure out what you want to accomplish. What are your goals for the campaign?
For Trek Bikes, About Face Media created a series of online videos, called “Document Unscripted” which chronicled the behind-the-scenes journey of Lance Armstrong, the Trek Bicycle 2009 Tour De France Team and their fans.
The goal was simple: to illustrate how the brand weaves into the lives of the Trek customer.
And how did we know they would want to watch? We knew that the biking fan base in enthusiastic, and that they would follow the entire team, which included Lance Armstrong. We knew that Trek customers would like to ride along with the team.
So it was simply a question of asking: What would the Trek customer find useful and entertaining?
Marketers are used to carefully identifying the goals and scope of potential projects. Content marketing strategies require the same. The creative content will be more successful if the strategy and goals behind your social media campaign are targeted first.
STEP 2. The Audience (a.k.a. Identify Who You Want To Reach)
What is the primary target audience?
For instance, “Ask Quill” was produced for Quill.com, the business to business e-commerce division of Staples Corp.
The project is aimed at the twenty-something office managers who are being asked by their bosses to become ‘tech savvy’ in a new media age.
What questions are these managers asking? What sites are they visiting? What blogs are they reading? What search terms are they using? Where are they going to learn how to integrate new software and hardware within their offices? What questions do they need answering?
By drilling into these questions, we identified a very specific target, and a precise focus for the campaign.
Content marketing strategies must be planned in advance. They are different than broadcast strategies: Social media strategies are narrow, not broad. The content must be of use or entertaining to your audience.
One broad video won’t cut it. One size does not fit all.
This brings us to messaging and the brand experience.
STEP 3. Desired Results/Goals (aka Quantifiable Bang For Your Buck)
What is the ‘brand’ experience you want the media to convey? And once you identify the experience you want conveyed, how will you convey it?
Every time you reach out and communicate to a customer, you affect your brand. Keep this in mind as you create your strategy. Here’s an example from KmartDesign:
At the same time, remember that what you communicate has to be useful and entertaining to your targeted audience. Avoid confusing what is useful for you, the marketer, with what is useful to your audience. Be hard on yourself.
For instance, with our KmartDesign initiative, we wanted to create curious disbelief about Kmart Design and use that to get across our message that Kmart has changed for the better. Every communication we put out there – from our videos to each little Tweet—is wrapped in that brand experience, in that message. The exchange below, between @shopsmartgirl and @kmartdesign is one example:
In Kmart’s kids series, there are two “how-to” episodes that highlight an activity parents and their children can enjoy together—how to customize jeans, sweatshirts and other apparel.
The viewers watch the episodes because they are entertaining and offer useful information. At the same time, they learn more about the Kmart brand.
How is your media useful or entertaining to your audience?
Are you looking for a measurable action on the part of your customers in addition to an overall branding experience?
Both are valid objectives, for which video is perfect.
We did this series of videos for Florida Tourism (Agency: BVK) — a great example of “entertaining” as well as useful to the target audience of people considering a visit to the St. Pete/Clearwater area.
“Eli’s BBQ” is one of our favorites in the series:
Now it’s time you think about how to get it out there.
STEP 4. Delivery (aka Get It Out There In The Right Way)
Do you have affiliate partners, strategic partners or other “friends” who will help you get exposure for the media?
Make an inventory of any resources you might have that can help get the word out.
With Art Chicago we used The Merchandise Mart’s broader resources like their email database, and their general website to promote the launch of ArtChicago.TV. But even more importantly, they used partner and affiliate groups (such as the Art Institute of Chicago) to send promotional emails out on their behalf.
You’ve just thought through what assets you have at your fingertips to aid your campaign. You may have realized you have a ton of low hanging fruit to pick, or you may have come to the harrowing conclusion that the shelves are bare as far as assets go.
If you’re in the latter camp, don’t Tweet “This is the end” just yet. There are ways to get the message out whether your assets are an embarrassment of riches or not.
You’ve just thought through what assets you have at your fingertips to aid your campaign. You may have realized you have a ton of low hanging fruit to pick, or you may have come to the harrowing conclusion that the shelves are bare as far as assets go.
If you’re in the latter camp, don’t Tweet “This is the end” just yet. There are ways to get the message out whether your assets are an embarrassment of riches or not.
STEP 5. Syndication/Viral (aka Even More Getting It Out There In The Right Way)
One reason KmartDesign has been successful is that we’ve used a number of methods to drive video plays, website visitors, and social media impressions. These methods include video syndication, e-mail blasts, and blogger outreach, amongst others.
How else will/could the media be syndicated or released?
Paid or unpaid video sharing sites? There are lots of options available on any budget. It is your task to map out which options you will take advantage of.
V-Blast for QuinnStories, a "behind the scenes" video series for IL Governor Pat Quinn
Will you use e-mail blasts? Blog outreach? Offline distribution, such as screenings at meetings or DVD’s?
Do you have current e-mail lists?
How robust are your lists? How targeted are they? Video can be very effective when sent to a robust, targeted list of people who will find value in what you have to say.
Now you know your distribution options and your plan. Some more thought will help maximize your impact in the end.
STEP 6. Your Website (aka Your Website)
Social Media "Side Bar" at KmartDesign.com
What is the strategy behind the placement of the content on your website?
You’ll need to have a strong strategy behind how you are presenting your media and by extension your message.
Does your media site encourage interactivity?
Do you have a solid strategy behind tying together your site, your media, and any additional social media outreach in which you are engaged?
KmartDesign.com was built to be a hub—a place to put our best foot forward while being a part of the overall, integrated campaign. Our strategy was to give a visitor a strong impression at a glance while enticing them to dig in deeper by offering them useful content.
STEP 7. PR/Advertising (a.k.a. Yes, Non-Online Exposure And Outreach Is Still A Valuable Tool)
How did all those baseball fans find out about the ghost-filled “Field of Dreams” ballpark? Who knows, but, depending on your budget, doing paid advertising or paid PR can draw attention to this media.
Consider print, TV, banner ads, PPC ads, or press releases. Keep “targeted,” rather than “broad,” in mind as you develop these.
Remember: Generic e-release blasts miss their marks. Be prepared to segment your target audience, and hone in on fine-tuned interests.
STEP 8. Data Collection And Metrics (a.k.a. Cold-Hard Stats)
Are there metrics that you would like to track?
Make sure that your social media strategy will get you the kind of data and metrics that you can use in your next social media campaign. Tools like Google Analytics, TubeMogul and Radian6, can often get you what you want to know. If you’re having great success with one type of video, genre, or length, it follows that you should increase your focus on that type moving forward.
Conclusion
Marketers are finding that putting a traditional corporate video or television commercial up on YouTube or a company’s website often provides little return on their investment.
You don’t necessarily have the magic of Hollywood to fill in any shortage in planning the way The Field of Dreams did—so, yes, build it, and make sure it is something your audience will want, and then make sure you know how to get it out there in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Keep producing great videos, and exploring other ways to use them in the future. A quick example? Kmart’s shoppable videos. Pretty cool stuff—you can watch a video, and click on the items within the video and drop them in your shopping cart.
You name it. Whatever you want to accomplish with your content marketing project, it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t an opportunity to connect the dots between the video and your call to action.
iMedia has a good breakdown of developing a strategy for using social media to address marketing goals.
“Social media has been maddeningly short on evidence. While there are plenty of social media true believers, there aren’t yet a lot of truths. And, because social media is contextual — the right tools and the right use of them depend very much on the user, intended audience, and desired outcomes — it can be difficult to figure out which social media tactics best align with an organization’s marketing strategies and measurably advance its operational objectives.
So, how can you figure out which tools are right for your needs? How can you separate truth from belief? By using a scientific approach to social media.”
Risingline quotes a book from 1938 entitled, “If You Want to Write” by Brenda Ueland:
Don’t write like an advertising writer…advertising companies hire the very brightest, wittiest young people to write for them. Not one single sentence of it is worth repeating. Why? Because it wasn’t meant. It was all written, not because the writer felt something and then said it (if you feel a thing the more simply you say it the better, the more effective), but because he tried to impress and inveigle people, convince them something is very fine about which he himself does not really care…
This is a thought provoking post from 37 Signals today concerning Google search results vs. a brands corporate web page, looking at Grub and Ellis. Which do you find more valuable as a home page?
Versus:
The post concludes by saying:
“And it’s not just this example site — I’ve found the expanded Google listings more useful than just about any home page I’ve visited lately. What does that say about the state of web design?”
“We would never build one store in the physical world.”
This is one section of a five part, wide ranging interview with senior executives at Best Buy talking about the diffusion of audiences on the web.
It is worth watching all five sections, as the folks at Best Buy are clearly on the cutting edge of this kind of thinking.
In this episode, the distributed web, virtual endcaps, shoppable web ads–basically, how do you communicate with (and market to) customers as we move towards a post-website world?
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) publishes a useful ethical guideline to any organization on how to develop an online policy, including various rules that apply to social media marketing. This is a good base for any company looking to develop best practices for their brand, employees, vendors and other associates.
Their core philosophy? Give guidelines, but don’t give rules for specifically “what people should say”. Why?
“We work with real people, and the honest opinions that they form on their own. There is a fundamental complexity here — if you respect consumers and value their genuine opinions, than you can’t tell them what to say. We don’t script consumers; we ask them to share their opinions. Similarly, we can’t control the second- and third-generation conversations, what friends tell friends. But we can instruct them well about ethics, encourage them to be honest and open in all downstream conversations, and create a culture of ethical communications.
Some principles are absolute, however, such as our recognition that the consumer is fundamentally in control in this new environment and that marketers cannot lie or deceive.”
If you are working on any social media “best practices” for ethics, you can begin with this Online Database of Social Media Policies — a great list of social media policy guides of large organizations.
Yes, typical of social media, my title is littered with buzz words. However, this is exactly what this post is about, how to get people to watch my video.
As I am developing a great list of how to’s for Video SEO, here are some sites I have come across.
Marketing Jive has 14 Best Practices for Video SEO as well as growth chart of some common video sharing sites.
My other great find is put out by a company called Stone Temple Consulting. In which they have provided some explanations as to how search engines look at your video.
The video file itself. This will usually accomodate a title, a description/summary, and some keywords / tags. Note that this is only useful for those video search sites, such as Truveo, that look at this data, which is currently a small percentage of the video universe. On the other hand, entering this data does not take very long.
The web page on your site where the user can access, or read about, the video. This is normal HTML we are talking about, so you can customize the content to your heart’s content. Title, keywords, meta description, and on page text, etc. Pay particular attention to the on page text as you can write a nice, keyword-rich and compelling description of the video.
Keep your video files in one directory. This makes it easier for the crawler to find them all.
Stay away from flash video players. Flash is still not search engine friendly.
Make use of a Video Sitemap. This will make it easier for the crawlers to find your videos.
These are some great reads among, I’m sure, thousands.
An iMedia interview with HEAVY.COM CEO Simon Assaad that has some good insight into online video advertising… what works, what doesn’t work.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The breakthrough will come when advertisers start to develop content that looks and feels less like advertising.
Success with video advertising will come via a structural change in the industry, when marketers move away from making 30-second advertisements…
“You can actually make a marketing experience that says more than just, ‘Here’s my message, see my ad, I’m done,’” he continues. “It’s actually an experience that people are engaged in, appreciate, and walk away from thinking, ‘Wow, that was really cool. I really like that brand.’
The classic mistake he sees time and time again is when brands and marketers try to develop hits or entertainment, and they turn into an obvious advertisement.
Don’t put all your eggs into one basket, because the odds of creating a hit are long.
Find someone who knows what they’re doing when it comes to viral — a company that can show its word-of-mouth successes — and this may not be your agency.
“Here are the key elements VSEO, which should be practiced with any and all videos you distribute on the web to gain visibility and relevancy:
Meta-tags: Like a web page, these are keywords associated with your video, built into the coding of both the video and on the page where it lives.
Context: The contents of any page surrounding a video will be indexed to help find relevancy to some broader keywords.
Unique URL: Every video should have its own URL to ensure all contextual and metadata indexing is as relevant as possible.
Format: Knowing your content and potential viewers can determine the most appropriate format. For some viewers, HD is very important. For others, fast downloads is the priority.
Seeding: The more places a video is available for viewing, the higher your page share with any video search engine results can be.
Deciding what you want out of your video will help focus your VSEO efforts appropriately. The two options are promotional video, where the video is the message and is geared toward distribution and seeding efforts, and stationary video, where the video is used to draw traffic to a specific site, creating inventory that can be monetized.
Promotional: Meta tags and format are crucial for indexing your video, as you must rely on only what is packaged with the video and not necessarily the surrounding content as it is shared.
Stationary: Format, context and unique pages are all important, as these will allow publishers to most effectively monetize content for VSEM purposes.”
