Posts Tagged ‘Videos’

Supercharge Your Brands With Videos

Friday, October 17th, 2014

imageWe have landed into the generation where everything is transforming into digital; even the experiences! And in this experiential era, videos can do miracles for your inbound marketing. Videos, particularly YouTube provides referral traffic in terms of user engagement, retention and referrals. Videos can be tremendously beneficial for your inbound marketing attempts. In this time of digitalization and experiences, videos certainly dominate the marketing strategies. What you need to know are the steps towards charging all your marketing efforts with videos and connect with your consumers by appealing to their interests.

Videos nowadays are the most powerful tools for any brand. They are, sort of considered to bring along superpowers. Well, let’s check out why so!

There are millions of users who watch online videos everyday. According to a study, image

  • – 45% of internet users view atleast one online video a month
  • – 90% of online shoppers state that videos on a retailer’s website influence better and quick purchasing decisions
  • – 75% of executives view work related videos atleast once a week
  • – 59% of senior executives prefer to watch a video than read text
  • – Integrating a video in an e-mail can increase the click through rates as well

Now, the question is what makes the videos so powerful? What are the three most important traits of videos?

Well, Videos are said to improve:

  • imageVisitor experience – an average user will prefer to spend more time on a web page with a video compared to the one without it
  • Brand perception – Through body language, expressions, eye contact, voice, tone and appearance more information can be expressed through a video
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  • Search Engine Optimization – Videos are more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than normal text pages

The next question is; how popular are videos?

YouTube, the most popular video sharing and viewing platform reaches more people than the regular television networks. Every minute, millions of videos are uploaded.

With million videos being uploaded everyday, Instagram is next. The engagement level of Instagram videos is also on the rise and surprisingly, it is more viewed than Instagram photos.

Vine is next in the queue with millions of videos being uploaded everyday. Also, it is estimated that every second atleast five Vine videos are tweeted by people.

It is believed that by the year 2017, two-thirds of the World’s mobile data traffic will be video.

Now, you must be wondering how to take that first step towards creating video. Here you go:image

Firstly, define your audience & goal, which means define your message and the target audience it should reach

  • Repurpose a previously successful topic and explain it in a completely new way
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  • Brand your video with your logo and branding
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  • Keep it short; keep it simple & sweet, because most users click away from a video in the first few seconds, if the video is not engaging. Therefore, the optimal length for a video is considered to be 60-90 seconds
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  • Content is key because any video which is just about flash and no message or substance is of no use
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  • Title tips, there has to be something written that makes people watch the videos. proper keywords need to be integrated in the video title to optimize it for search engines.
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  • Optimize your video for search engines. The video has to be uploaded to right platforms, with right keywords and URLs.
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  • Go beyond YouTube. Yes, there’s more to explore, such as Instagram, Facebook, website, blog etc.

Encourage sharing and including an html embed code as embedded video views will be added to your ‘views’ tally on YouTube which is an important metric in Google’s search algorithm.
 Source: www.bixamedia.com

So, are you set to integrate videos to your marketing strategy? if yes, then do ensure you make it brief, branded, relevant, targeted and also pay attention on carefully curate the meta data. What are your thoughts on the importance of videos? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Impact & Use of Vine by Various Industries

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

imageIn our last blog that you came across, we had shared an Infographic on how brands are using Vine. As mentioned earlier, Vine, since its origin has exploded to millions of users followed by brands which have started to take notice too. Well, so we are here again with the next set of cool implications of this much popular app. When it comes to branded Vines, a Viner has to come up with something what we call unique, original, different, playful and passionate. So a little guidance, few tips, methods and secrets is what this article holds. Read to know how Vine can be used by an array of brands and segments in the best way!

Have a look at a few interesting ways that brands & various industry segments can use the new video sharing app, Vine.

Beauty Industry

It serves a great purpose for beauty brands to be on Vine as it provides a visual medium for them to share products, experiences and how-to videos. This helps them create a desire for their brands.

What can beauty brands do on Vine?

  • · Show makeup applications processes, a specific technique by a beauty or make-up professional or a speed-up version of a nail polish or a lipstick application
  • · Interviews with professionals who can give a hands-on lesson or a quick tip when applying the makeup
  • · Beauty tip, clarification or a recommendation from an expert
  • · An interview of a famous model or celebrity sharing why they use a particular brand can create a desire for the brand. For consumers who are new to brand, something like this will likely create brand advocacy
  • · Product Overviews can be shown that can include new products or shades
  • · A particular makeup or product that a celebrity or top models wear on an event, show or the runway

Brands can also show faces of models in makeup before a fashion event which can help consumers get acquainted with the beauty products used. This can also serve as an exclusive sneak peek of the backstage making them feel like a part of the brand family, a feeling not many consumers get. This creates a desire for the brand in consumer’s minds!

See how Revlon India made use of these 6 seconds to run a campaign on Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick- a Food-proof lipstick.

Click here to check out the video:

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Click on the image to view the video

Hospitality (Hotels) Industry

Moving on, lets not miss out on one of the most loved industry i.e., hospitality. Without filling up too much into the 6 seconds, lets see what hotels can do to spice up through Vine videos:

  • · They can show a hotel tour that includes view of hotel, rooms, grounds, spa etc.
  • · Hotel staff can be shown showcasing their skills. For example: how to plate up an afternoon tea & snack, how to make coffee or a drink
  • · Clips of an even, orchestra or live event in the hotel
  • · Short interview with guests
  • · Small but interesting features of hotels can be shown such as: flower arrangements, modular infrastructure, remote controlled curtains etc.

With a clear focus on creativity, hotel brands can certainly attract a lot of visitors and guests. Sharing these Vine videos on social media platforms will also encourage interest in the brand. Fans and users can be encouraged by replying to their mentions of the hotel. These fans or guests can also be asked to post their own videos of the hotel. Vine videos will indeed give a more human and personal touch to your customers.

Healthcare Industry

Healthcare brands can come up with the most compelling and beneficial videos. Check out what they can do.

· Satisfied patients or supporters can share their praise through a vine video attaching it with the brand’s hashtag. It’s a great way for people to know your brand better
· Highlight a new medical equipment or technology via video. How it works can also be briefly highlighted
· Healthcare organization’s support for special days, weeks or months dedicated to health issues can be shown
· Inspiring messages to encourage support for a cause, personal stories of survival, interesting facts etc. can be shared
· A new building, section or a renovation can be unveiled through a teaser
· Potential patients can be shown a virtual video tour that include high-tech features, beautiful surroundings & staff
· Spread the word about health classes, fundraising, blood donation drives etc. accompanied by benefits of the event, to encourage attendance
· A quick patient testimonial

Vine offers a great potential for healthcare brands to connect and communicate with their consumers in the most convenient and modern way.

Banking Industry

Yet another sector that can bank on interesting concept of Vine videos is the banking sector. Banks can do a lot on Vine to connect and communicate with their customers.

  • · Banks can show how to manage accounts alert preferences or deal with phishing e-mails through Vine videos
  • · Answer frequently asked questions
  • · Show an online banking journey to consumers giving a clear idea to them on what to do
  • · Create a thanking video for fans

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Click on the image to view the video

Kotak Mahindra Bank, one of the India’s leading banks had created a Vine video to celebrate the milestone of 50K followers on Twitter. This is what they tweeted:

Woohoo! We just crossed 50K followers. A #Celebrating50K #Vine dedicated for you. Thanks for your support!https://t.co/eP5L88xRVK [VIDEO]

Following this, the bank took another step to do something cool by sending a token of appreciation to the fans who engaged with these Vine videos. They sent a personalized card to each of them, further adding to the overall celebrations!

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In a nutshell, brands can do a lot with Vines. Brands can come up with:

  • · Promotional Vines – compared to long commercials you can promote a specific product or service
  • · How- to Vines – you can show Vines of how a product can be used in more than one way etc.
  • · Before and after Vines- Vines of a revamped product/brand
  • · Storytelling – convert anything that is in a written form into a video & share
  • · Contests
  • · Ask a question through Vine, conveying a social message

A normal tweet may go unnoticed, but a twitpic or an embedded video will always be looked at. Vine will be crowd-sourced & shared significantly. It can improve your search-engine ranking of your social media platforms. By using tags, social buttons and share buttons SEO can be boosted & traffic can be driven largely.

Have you as a brand or a consumer used Vine yet? If yes, then do share with us more ways of using Vine for businesses & brands or just show us your interesting Vines. So, what are you waiting for? Add Vine to your content marketing strategy and do not forget to pair the power of these Vine videos with social media.

Very Pinteresting

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

pinterestThis is 21st century. Here, we pin our interests and how? Pinterest, one of the fastest growing social networking platforms in the recent times, boasts of acquiring close to 12 million unique users in a little over a month and is already creating shockwaves across the web.

Touted to be one of the hottest start ups, Pinterest that came into being in March 2010 has lots in its arsenal to be claiming so. As Wikipedia puts it across, ‘Pinterest is vision board -styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections.’

Let’s take a look at how this new social media sensation is stacked up.

Visual Treat

A visually dominant interface that it has, Pinterest provides a user with an experience that few can complain about. With features embedded into the interface that allows one to comment,like and/or repin on the photo itself, it is a one stop console that displays interactions as well as shares, right on the user’s homepage.

Pinterest Basic

Pinterest Homepage

The moment one logs in with their username and password (currently by invitation only), one is greeted with the posts that have been recently submitted, which like mentioned earlier, are in an image board format. To the top left hand corner of the screen appears the recent activity, feeds/notifications that let the user know who has followed them, who has repined, commented on their pins and/or liked their pins.

Comfortable Navigation

The main controls of this page are on the bar at the top just underneath the logo. Aided by an uncluttered and easy to navigate drop down menu this is an all encompassing bucket of one’s interest fields. Everything (Image posts that are classified into various sub categories), videos, popular and gifts are the main tabs.

pinterest  tab
Navigation Bar

For the ease of navigation and maximizing the available space, the main bar on the top provides 3 tabs for instant post upload, knowing more about Pinterest and user profile access. They are as namely: Add+, About & <The User name>

pint 2
Adding Mechanism

Add+ is one stop image or link uploader and a new board creator. About, hosts a gamut of information regarding the use of Pinterest. The policies, etiquettes, help, careers, team, privacy, copyright and terms are included in this section and acts as a ready reckoner. <The User name> allows one to invite or search for friends who are already present or there through linked facebook or twitter accounts.

Gift Store

Gifts, is one of Pinterest’s most promising offering that opens a world of delight to its users. Regardless of any occasion, one gets to scan a repertoire of items displayed in a similar manner depending on their interests. Each item is marked with a price tag at the top left hand corner and clicking upon them reveals the details of how they can be procured. Also, there is an option to repin/like it for future reference. One can comment and engage with the one who posted the item to know details about it in the comment section available right under the magnified view. The same feature is not visible in the thumbnail format.

Gift
A Gift on Display

By Popular Demand

On the lines of the gift section, the Popular tab provides the best of Pinterest in one place. This is the most amazing section of the platform. You get to see the images which have created the maximum buzz at one place. And these images can keep you glued for hours on.

Video Library

The Video section is a work in progress right now. Although it has the similar layout to the entire platform, the mere dumping of all videos, one after the other, is something that Pinterest will have to look into at some point of time. A category wise segmentation or a mechanism to add pages rather than an ever expanding scroll is much needed.

Videos
Video Pins

Mobile Madness

Any platform worth its salt today launches with a mobile application and Pinterest, too, has an iPhone version available as of now. Keeping with the web platform, the mobile version is also as easy and simple to use. The sections on mobile platform are:

Mobile Explore             Mobile Follow
Following                                         Explore

Mobile Explore             Mobile Activity
Activity                                           Profile

While the function of these tabs on mobile phone are same as the web version, it is the process of adding a pin via mobile that is a winner. With a tap and drag photo editing option, the image can be pinned with amazing corrections done with a touch.

Pinning for business glory

The platform looks an absolute winner. There are few glitches that need to be ironed out but this platform can be an absolute delight as a classified platform. The Gift section is already drawing in small business enterprise. It wouldn’t be surprising if big players jump in too and soon!

Business Blogging

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Not long ago, blogging was considered as an online diary or journal where the writer documented his/her day to day activity. It was a space for people with creative bend to showcase their talent. It was personal and it was only shared with a select few. Circa 2011 and blogs have evolved into a vital communication tool that every brand is looking to incorporate in their marketing plan.

blog-blogging

Keeping this in mind, it is important that this social media tool be well understood and its potential be highlighted. Here we look at key ways of making a corporate blogs work for your brand. To start with, a corporate blog need not be serious and perched on an ivory tower. Like any other social media tool, blogs too can help you build a friendly relationship with your consumer. Splash some creativity and humor in the content, especially, if your brand personality is such. Be vibrant, colorful and vivacious. It can go a long way in making your blog reach out to your target audience.

Colorful Heading

A colorful blog title can personify your brand image

Being a blog should not restrict you to just putting up articles. Break the monotony by posting, video blogs and/or photo blog posts. Not only will this make your blog more interesting, it will also present you with the opportunity to showcase your product features without suggesting that you are advertising your product. Also, it can help you in letting the world know about your organization, its culture and ethos of the place. It also helps in building a strong employee-employer relation.

toblogornottoblog

Add photos to your blog

Another way of building employee-employer relationship is by allowing employees to post on your corporate blog. Empower them to promote the company’s products through informative tutorials, advice, and reviews that not only sell the products, but also offer some valuable tips. Not only will this help in content generation, it will also help in giving face and name to the organization.

Blogs need not always be about the products. It could well become a research platform for your company. Inviting the readers to suggest the kind of product they would want to use can help in getting valuable consumer insight at a very low cost. Adding comments and a rating system can make the blog highly interactive. The aim is to experiment with ideas, something that you can’t do with your website.

feed

Make your blog user friendly and sharable

An important point to bear in mind is to be unique in your style. Stand out and be seen. Change your blog theme to reflect colorful seasonal themes. Add animation to bring alive your blog. The more effort you put in, the more appreciation you shall get. It is not about being different for the sake of being different, but because you truly are.

blog-header-Grilling

If changing your style is something you cannot suggest as a brand, then choose a very simplistic, neat and corporate look. Have a professional and simple blog design. A clutter free approach helps in easy navigation and a more pleasing experience for the reader. A decent mix of pictures and words will be enough for you to get your point across. Be simple in your language as well. Always remember, the idea is to let people know what you are talking about, not to send them on a wild hunt through online dictionary sites.

Google

Neat and clean look for a corporate blog

Another sure shot way of getting people to your blog and keep them hooked is by inviting guest bloggers. Everyone is keen to know what a celebrity has to say or what a famous person thinks. Having such a person write an article on your post will help you achieve huge readership. Also, sharing of these posts will make your blog achieve virility like never before.

If you don’t have access to celebrities, then turn the table and give access to your readers about inside news and pre launch stories. Share all behind the scene action, through videos, photos, descriptive blog posts, and interview with people who have been part of the development process of the product.

 

Disney

Share exclusive details on your blog

These are just a few ideas on how a corporate blog can help you and your brand connect with your audience and potential customers. Like any other communication tool, there is no set pattern but being clear of the idea and your personality would be a perfect way of defining your blog personality.

Read more about blogging, here.

Online videos in times of Economic Slowdown

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Videos are an integral part of our communication. The impact of Audio Visual content is far more effective than Print or Radio or Outdoor as a medium. The problem lied in the cost of making videos and importantly airing them on TV channels.

All that underwent a change thanks to YouTube that first introduced a platform for user generated videos to get uploaded online. Users found a channel for themselves to express their thoughts, opinions or just their most memorable moments. Working on the basic human premise of ‘15 minutes of fame’, the concept caught fancy and soon there were millions uploading their videos for people to watch. As on Mar 2008, there were close to 200,000 videos being uploaded every day!!!

Like every concept, the users and the medium matured with time. The videos moved away from purely being ‘fun stuff’ to ‘educational’ in nature. People explained concepts, technologies and processes with the help of videos. YouTube provided people the medium to express themselves, teach others and use individual expertise for benefit of all. Google spotted the opportunity and bought youtube for a price that every entrepreneur turns an entrepreneur for.

As users increased (as on Mar 2008, there were 78.3 million users on youtube alone and by then there were several video sharing sites up), brands started realizing the opportunity the medium provided. Many cult brands like Nike, Dove, Coke nature of videos that got high consumer engagement and leveraged the medium to their advantage. Unfortunately in India, most marketers have restricted the use of this medium to uploading their TVCs on it (a rather traditional approach). No problem with that too as whatever hits that came that way can be treated as bonus!! But there are so many more benefits this medium can provide:

  • Duration: There is no more 30 sec bondage that the Brand Manager or creative guy needs to live with. The average youtube videos are 2.46 minutes long.
  • Odd video secondage: With the way media channels operate, most TVCs have to be made in jumps of 5 seconds. So the TVCs are either 15 sec or 20 sec or 30 sec or 45 sec or 60 secs film and never 28 sec or 37 sec. There have been innumerable times when the marketer is struggling to cut those extra secondage to put his TVC in the required time slot. In online videos, your brand video could be 1.07 sec and it wouldn’t matter.
  • Educational in nature: Online videos can be good medium to educate the consumer about ‘New to the World’ kind of product or any new product or service introduced by the company where there is a ‘process to be explained’.
  • Free to air: There is absolutely no airing costs online. The ads can be uploaded on all the active video sharing sites which screen that ad when the user clicks the play button any number of times. Obama’s videos got close to 20 million hits on his Youtube channel.
  • Costs: The production costs are far lower for shooting online videos. Small brands can optimize on this and produce several ads in a year to communicate fresh message to its viewers
  • Real views: The no of views captured by all the video uploading sites are calculated only if the viewer watches the video. Unlike television, where you can never be sure whether the viewer has changed the channel during the break or walked away to get chips from the kitchen.
  • The presence is forever: Unlike a TVC, the brand video once uploaded on Internet stays forever. It operates on the 24 X 7 X 365 X ‘Until that site shuts down’ formula.
  • Customization: As the production costs are low and airing costs practically zilch, brand managers can make several ads catering to wide section of audience. In the traditional media, the marketer has the play the same ad on a niche channel like Discovery as well as mass general entertainment channel like Star Plus

Indian Case Study:

An Indian Skin Care Clinic called Kaya experimented with creating online videos and met with success for their Bridal Glow package. Read the case study here.

Read more about Social Media and Social Media Marketing for marketing function