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Why Web Video and Social Media Belong Together

Posted in marketing, social media, video, web | January 12th, 2011 | Comments: 0

FACT: YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world, after Google.

FACT: Facebook is the second-most popular referral source for videos on the Internet, after YouTube.

What do these two facts prove?

The world is seeking and sharing information in the form of video.

And what does this mean for businesses interested in a social media presence?

Video will play a key role in building your social media presence.

Here’s a great example: Rob Katz, the CEO of Vail Resorts reduced 80% of his company’s print budget because he recognized that print wasn’t reaching his audience in a timely and effective manner. In this video, produced by Advertising Age, Katz explains why web video and social media provide a more effective strategy.

He explains, “Video sells our product incredibly well. And it’s a huge differentiator for our vacation versus almost any other vacation you’re going to take. People, especially people who are interested in skiing, their most fun thing at the beginning of the season is to watch ski videos.”

Katz hits the nail on the head, not just for the ski industry, but for the tourism industry as a whole. Stats show that 90% of travelers are heavily influenced by recommendations and reviews made by friends, or other travelers. And at least 80% of travelers research their trips online. Translation: social media plays a key role when people plan their vacations.

But Vail Resorts isn’t the only big name in the ski industry to have discovered the power of video and social media. Sunshine Village and Lake Louise both use video on their websites to showcase snow conditions, events and even allow visitors to upload their own videos:

Sunshine TV

Lake Louise TV

No matter what industry you’re in, you should follow the lead set by these companies: start using video content in your social networking strategies. RIGHT NOW. Because video has a very special way of capturing imaginations, which encourages users to share content with their friends. That’s why the world has Viral Videos, not Viral Essays.

The best way to get the social networking crowd to pay attention is to create videos specifically for use on social media. This helps you to really focus on what makes your audience interested in your brand, and more importantly, what makes them interested in sharing your content. Remember what makes people social – their ability to comment and share. That means you must pay attention to what your audience is saying, and be prepared to respond in a way that further engages people.

Another thing to remember is to properly measure the ROI of your social video strategy. Just like any media campaign, the ultimate goal is to gain consumer attention, and eventually, make the sale. It’s important for you to establish goals and to use the analytic tools available on most social networking sites to measure the effectiveness of your campaign.

And finally, don’t be afraid to take risks! After all, playing it safe with social video marketing will never translate into a viral tour de force. Get creative, and have fun!

Here’s another great article on ReelSEO offering a little more advice for businesses looking to enter the world of online video and social media.

Real Life Stories about Twitter

Posted in web | April 6th, 2010 | Comments: 0

Twitter. You have heard of it. But is it useful for anything remotely useful? The easy answer would be “no”.

If it were easily dismissible, we can cross another new-fangled technology related trend off our over-crowded list of things to keep up with. Sorry, the answer is “maybe”.

If you are finding ever-trending technology simply exhausting, please read this post for its entertainment value only. If you you’d like to find out if Twitter fits into your ambitious social marketing strategy, hopefully the following stories will inspire.

This guy cares

Comcast Cares
Frank Eliason, arguably the most infamous customer service manager in the United States is using social networking every day to directly impact business operations. Eliason is monitoring Twitter all day every day – searching for signs of unhappy Comcast (an internet service provider) customers. On his dual screen set-up, one screen is dedicated to searching live tweets from people all over the country. He’s looking for Tweople (People on Twitter) who have chosen to voice their displeasure over poor service they’ve received from Comcast. Using his second monitor, opened to his Twitter account, he can reply to these tweets in real time and get in direct contact with these customers.

Sometimes the instant contact is enough to surprise and satisfy his unhappy customers. Other times, service calls are scheduled and problems are resolved in days rather than seconds. The ability for Comcast to read and respond instantaneously is changing the way the company does business and the way it’s perceived by it’s customers. This social media strategy has a direct influence on Comcast’s bottom line.

Tacos via Twitter
The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck is a social media phenomenon in Los Angeles. It’s daily whereabouts is only available on Twitter. Check out this clip:

In these cases there is a direct correlation between social media and real results. The challenge is finding a platform that engages your clientele and then deciding how to use it creatively. Don’t give up because the pace of change is scary – with every change comes opportunity. Plan carefully and test the waters – your real life social media success story may be just around the corner.

Posted by Neil Gilbert

URL Shorteners – the long and short of it

Posted in tutorials | February 16th, 2010 | Comments: 0

They are everywhere! Strange, abbreviated web addresses. What are these things? Are they dangerous? Let’s find out!

Why URL Shorteners
The creation of URL shortening was introduced in 2002 in order to simplify long, hard to read links. The driving force behind its widespread adoption today is due primarily to the popularity of Twitter. As the social medium was quickly adopted – sharing links to interesting web content became the primary focus of it’s users. Many times, these links would come close to eating up the entire 140 character limit provided to share a tweet. Lacking the ability to share entire thoughts as completely as a typical Twitter user would like, a solution was needed to this difficult predicament. To solve this problem, Twitter turned to URL abbreviation.

How Abbreviation Works
When you use a link shortening service, your link is entered into a database and associated with a key. This key can be randomly generated or in some cases, chosen by the creator which will show up at the end of the new URL. Each time your shortened URL is clicked on, the key is referenced in a database, the URL is found and the visitor is re-directed to the correct location on the internet.

What are the Risks?
There are a few things to keep in mind when you are using or creating shortened URLs. Sometimes people will obscure their links to hide the final destination of the link. Many times, advertisers, who get paid to sell a product online, will shroud affiliate links so that people who click on them don’t know that they are being sold something. Other times, phishermen (people who are trying to steal your login information) will use URL shorteners to trick you into providing information you shouldn’t be sharing.

To minimize your risk, ensure you trust the person who is sharing this link with you and closely examine the website you arrive at before you decide to share sensitive information. It may be safe to say that you will never be approached by any reputable organization in this fashion.

One of the major risks you face in shortening your links is the stability of web service you choose to use. If your link is being used over a long period of time, it will not work anymore if your link shortening service goes out of business. Facing dead links internet-wide is a major risk introduced by the growth and popularity of URL shortening.

The Future Outlook
Some of the common URL shorteners today are websites like bit.ly, owl.ly and tinyurl.com – the pioneer in this field.

You will find that most shortening services have short URLs to improve the abbreviation process. As the industry grows, hacked domains, which are domains using country code endings (like .ly – Libya’s country code) are becoming increasingly used to create short memorable phrases for shortening services and for many other purposes as well.

Google has a URL shorterner called Goo.gl, and Youtube uses Youtu.be. Even Coke has their own service at http://cokeurl.com/

This trend of brand association will continue to evolve and grow as organizations attempt to cultivate loyalty across social networks by giving consumers the opportunity to share branded links with their friends.

URL shortening services will continue pop-up all over the internet and it will be an industry that thrives as social media thrives.

To wrap things up, it’s important that I share one last link with you to complete your education on URL shortners, please click here.

This is why your education is now complete. Congratulations!

Posted by Neil Gilbert

Google Buzz – What’s all the “Buzz” About?

Posted in current events, new technology, web | February 15th, 2010 | Comments: 1

What is Google Buzz?

Google Buzz is a new social network powered by Google.

Similar to Twitter you can follow people and have them follow you, reading and posting constant streams of real time updates. But that’s just the start … there’s the ability to add images and videos, comments, like and share posts/statuses. Integrate your favourite sites and Google Apps together in one place and do everything from your desktop, notebook or mobile device.

There have been many reactions to Buzz in a short period of time both good and bad. Many concerns about privacy, automatic opt-in from Gmail, features and uses.

Google Buzz had made a huge impact in less than a week, only time will tell what is to come in the future.

We have our Google profile set up with Buzz. We haven’t used our Gmail account a lot in the past but will be expanding on it and using it a little more to test this new social media resource.