Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Selling the Sizzle With Video: Part 2

Optimize for online.
Video on your website finally makes affordable what was once limited to expensive and inefficient advertising on TV – viewer engagement.

Even better, it’s targeted toward just the right people, measurable and relatively inexpensive. Keep in mind, though, that it offers its own set of unique viewing challenges. Here are eight ways to make sure the time and investment you've put into your video are shown to their best advantage online.

9. Edit for interactive viewing.
Porting video over to your website is relatively easy. But remember that online audiences are actively seeking specific information and have no time to spare. Make sure your online video gets to the point.

10. Re-purpose to meet each audience’s interest.
Corporate videos are often seen as “one-size-fits-all.” But what interests one audience can be irrelevant to another. When planning your video, consider all the audiences you might want to eventually reach.

11. Remember that people respond to other people.
No matter how dazzling the technology you use to present your message, there’s no substitute for sincerity. Heartfelt, unscripted sales messages and testimonials can be invaluable for putting a human face on your organization.

12. Engage in a way that’s online-friendly.
Home made videos can be uniquely charming – but often miss the point. When you have a lot of internal audiences to please, a surer path is to develop content that’s both entertaining and relevant to viewer interests, and aligned with your organization’s brand.

13. Make it Google-optimal.
As video’s popularity on the Internet has skyrocketed, the latest algorithms from Google weight videos’ relevance more heavily in searches. Make sure your meta-data is comprehensive, and that your file naming and architecture makes your video easy to find.

14. Consider the viral possibilities.
While corporate videos are great for getting the message out, it’s rare to find one that’s so absorbing that millions will pass it along. Want to try? Go for the bizarre, amazing, unusual and truly newsworthy. If you’re just not there yet, go for the heart. Hit that and you can’t miss.

15. Make it easy to share.
Video on the web makes a great conversation starter. Promote the possibility by making sure your video can be embedded, emailed, downloaded and posted to social media sites like YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo and Blip.tv.

16. Track your ROI.
Studies show it’s not unusual to find that adding video to a site can drive 36% more clicks, 20% more inbound calls and more than double time spent on a site. Track your video’s performance online by giving it a unique call to action, trackable URL, coupon, discount code or its own phone number. To maximize your trackability and justify your investment, there are even some reasonably priced applications that combine video, tracking and lead-generating functions in an all-in-one package.

Gerry Hanlon is a Producer and President of CustomCorporateVideos.com, a hi-def video production company specializing in maximizing video quality and ROI on budgets that make sense for times like these.

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