Wednesday, June 30, 2010

2. Build Momentum. Ask your most loyal fans and friends to like & comment early on. Content with comments and likes show up in more often Facebook feeds.

3. Invite Interaction. The NBA Facebook page does a great job of involving fans. They'll ask "Who is the most clutch ROLE player in Finals history & why? We'll repost our favorite answers." Find creative ways to involve your audience.

4. Focus on Themes. Write about 'Going Green' or 'Simplicity in Design' or other themes that resonate with specific groups. Since Facebook is communally oriented, you'll do well if you can strike a chord with a community.

5. Post Consistently. Remember your blog? Consistency is king here too. Make sure to consistently add in good content and to keep on adding fans. Don't forget to write about what your fans want to read, not just what you want to say.

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Video Marketing Tip for Attorneys – Offer Honest, Useful Information

Video Marketing Tip for Attorneys – Offer Honest, Useful Information

Guest Expert | June 20, 2010 |

3 comments

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Imagine that you needed to hire an attorney and you decided to search out one online. For those attorney’s that have web video, which one would you choose if you were to base your decision off their video? Would you choose the lawyer who tells you how great they are and what a fantastic law school they went to?

On the other hand, maybe you’d prefer a lawyer who tells you how wonderful their firm is and how much money they’ve obtained for their clients over the last ten years? Better yet, would you prefer a lawyer who does nothing more than say “Come to me because I’m a lawyer and I’m here?”

There is a recurring theme when you watch attorney video; most attorneys’ videos are quite poor. I don’t mean technically bad, I mean their content is bad. What’s so terrible about their content? Let me count the ways:

They offer no useful information,

They don’t explain anything,

They don’t understand what their online viewer is looking for.

Why would anyone look for a lawyer online? The answer is simple. They don’t know a lawyer and they don’t know someone who knows a lawyer. They’d rather search online to see if someone can help solve their legal problem. That’s where 99.9% of lawyers miss the boat. This also applies to other professionals who use the Internet to market their services. People going online and searching attorney videos are people who have a problem. They are looking for someone to fix their problem.

How can you be the one that resonates with them and compels them to pick up the phone to call?

When an attorney creates an online video to market his or her services, he does so hoping that an online viewer will:

Find the video

Press play

Watch the full video

Be so compelled by that video that the viewer will request more information.

Let’s go through these one at a time.

1) Searchers Must First Find the Video

Many attorneys rely on their video production company to optimize their video for the search engines. Some producers know how, others don’t. You can see which ones ‘get it’ by reading the description of any attorney video on YouTube.

Those do-it-yourselfers may not fully understand why it is so critical to have a compelling headline, a summary of the video in the description and relevant keywords.

It goes without saying that even with a technically perfect video, if nobody can find your video, you’ve wasted a lot of time and money creating your video.

2) They Must Press Play

Just because a video is listed on page one of YouTube in the search results, does not mean it will be watched. Unless you have a compelling headline and content, nobody will care about your video.

Think about it again. Why would anyone beside your spouse, mother and best friend watch your video? Unless it’s a hilarious viral video, most people will not be interested in watching your attorney video. Then who will watch it? People who have a legal problem. People who need help. People who are searching for an attorney to solve their particular problem. Unless your viewer has a legal problem like the one you handle, your video will not be watched. It’s that simple. That’s why most lawyer videos never go viral. If you follow REELSEO’s Jeremy Scott’s viral video roundup every Friday, you see detailed reasons why video goes viral. Attorney videos never fit the pattern for widespread viewing of their video.

Why Attorney Videos are Never Viral

Attorney video is never funny, unless it’s a parody or a spoof. Lawyer video is pretty boring and never ‘cutesy’ in the way you might see in a viral video.

“Objection! Judge…that video has no information. The lawyer just talks about himself.”

“Objection sustained. You’re right. Next video please, and make it snappy, I want to go to lunch…”

A video doesn’t need to go viral in order to be watched. In fact, for an attorney, if it does go viral, it’s likely a mistake. But, a video that’s unwatched is wasted marketing dollars.

3) They Need to Watch the Full Message

That seems easy right? You spend your time making a good video. You think you have content that people want to watch. You upload your video and then watch your analytics. You can’t understand why your videos are not watched till the end. Most people are leaving after 15 seconds. Huh? Some stay to watch a full minute. One or two linger for 2 1/2 minutes. Yet nobody got to the five minute mark. “What’s up with that?”

Do you know why you must evaluate your analytics? So you know what you’re doing right, and more importantly, what you’re doing wrong! If nobody is watching your video till the end, you need to ditch that video and start over. You need to edit and trim your content and fix your description and headline.

Here’s a little secret that most online viewers inherently know but attorneys do not. Many lawyers talk way too much and don’t listen enough. If that’s how you come across on your video, you’ve lost your viewer forever. Lawyers talk for a living. Lawyers give advice on a daily basis. Yet, it is the video producer’s job to control the attorney by guiding him and focus what he’s trying to say.

Remember, anyone can create a technically excellent video once you learn how. However, it takes an experienced video producer to know what your online viewer is looking for and how to get your talent, in this case the attorney, to convey that message in a way that the viewer will want to watch.

4) They Should be Compelled to Act

Why would someone want to call you after seeing your video? Do you tell them something they don’t already know? Do you explain something to them that shows you’re an expert without coming out and saying “I’m the expert!” Or, do you tell them about your credentials; where you went to school; that you graduated in the top of your class at Harvard law school; that you clerked for a Federal judge for a few years, and that if they’re lucky, you might just talk (down) to them?

Guess what? If you’re a professional offering your services and using video to market your services, do you really think a viewer cares about you? They don’t. 99% of attorneys using video online today don’t understand that. A viewer who is taking the time to search for a lawyer doesn’t know a lawyer and is looking for someone to help solve their problem. Talking about yourself too much simply gives them a reason to look elsewhere. Ironically, the fault lies not with the attorney for talking about themselves, but rather his video producer, who should know better and understand what a viewer wants and needs to watch.

The only way to get a viewer to pick up the phone and call, is to create a compelling video that a viewer needs to watch. If you can learn how to do that, you’ll be way ahead of your competition.

Conclusion – How to Create A Compelling Attorney Video

So, how do you create a compelling video that a viewer will want to watch? Simple. Don’t talk about yourself; explain how you can help solve a viewer’s problem (without giving any legal advice); give information that nobody else is providing online; give the information away for free. Why do that? So that you are viewed as the wise man on the totem pole, and viewers will want to call you for more information.

About our Guest Expert: Gerry Oginski, Esq.

Gerry is a veteran New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer and is the only video producer who is also a seasoned medical malpractice trial lawyer. He has produced and created over 250 educational videos to promote his own law firm using his New York Medical Malpractice Video Blog. Gerry has also created the Lawyers’ Video Studio, to help get other lawyers get onto video. You can reach Gerry personally at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at Gerry AT lawyersvideostudio DOT com. He welcomes your call.

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About the Author - Guest Expert
Occasionally, we like to offer experts within the online video industry the chance to write a guest post for ReelSEO. We like it because it offers you readers great content, and it comes directly from those in the field that are working on the technologies to power this online video revolution of sorts ;-) If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please feel free to let us know. Read our post on becoming a guest author for additional information.

via reelseo.com

Great article by Gerry Oginski, Esq.

Posted via web from WeTubeU

Saturday, June 19, 2010

5 Odd DIY iPhone Cases

Fact: there are more iPhone and iPod touch cases in the world than there are ants. Okay maybe not, but there are certainly more than there are pandas.
If you want to stand out from the crowd, or turn your back on the retail onslaught of ready-made options, then we’ve rounded up five designs that you can make yourself.
Our tried and tested DIY mini-projects include a few eco-friendly options that reuse existing items. And no homemade round-up is complete without a quacking Duck Tape design. Craft on!
1. The Odd Sock Case
What you’ll need:
Overview
If the sock monster has got one of your socks, then this case makes use of the lonely survivor. Although it does require a bit of needle and thread action, it’s dead simple to make.
Simply lay your iPhone on the sock, and mark a line on the sock an inch below the bottom of your iPhone. Make sure the sock is long enough, so that the line is above where the heel of the sock begins. Cut off the bottom of the sock below the line. Then, turn the sock inside out and sew a seam. Using a sewing machine it’s a two minute job, or by hand a little longer — but just think how much it will hone your stitching skills.
Mods include adding some kind of fastener at the top, such as a button. A handy tip for anyone who’s sewing skills aren’t that hot is to use a horizontally striped sock — sew along a line to help you get the seam straight.
2. The No-Sew Felt Case
What you’ll need:
Overview
The boast of “no glue, stitches, or staples required” was what initially drew us to this design. What the pitch failed to mention is that it’s actually a little bit of an exaggeration.
While it’s easy enough to print out the template and cut the fabric to size, the folding-to-keep-it-closed method didn’t quite work for us.
If you try this at home, we’d suggest making this design sewable or glueable to help it stay closed.
3. The Duct Tape Case
What you’ll need:
Overview
Using good old-fashioned duct tape and a thick plastic CD or DVD sleeve, you can muscle yourself up a manly iPhone case in a jiffy with this design.
All you have to do is cut the CD sleeve to fit your iPhone and then cover it methodically in tape, making sure to leave a gap for the screen and make a flap to fold it closed.
What’s really neat is that the plastic cover holds a tiny static charge, so you can control your iPhone or iPod through the case, so this could really come into its own when the weather is wet.
4. The Juice Box Case
What you’ll need:
Overview
This design takes a common juice box (or “carton” in some countries) and upcycles it into an eco-friendly case for your iPhone.
The theory goes that you open up the box, lick it clean, stick in some velvet or felt as extra protection, and then fold, glue and sew it until it resembles something from the designer’s Flickr set.
Ours is a slight variation on the original. We like to pretend that’s because we took the design and made it better, but the truth is it’s quite tricky to make, and that’s just how it turned out.
5. The Book Case
What you’ll need:
Overview
Although the concept of a book safe has been around for eons, we got the actual iPhone-related idea from Wired, which made a case from a Moleskine notebook. We could not bring ourselves to destroy such a beautiful object, we instead butchered a little-known novel by some chap called Tolstoy that we picked up in a thrift shop for around a dollar.
Simply turn a third of the way into the book, trace the phone, and cut the pages along the outline with a craft knife and a ruler. Keep checking your iPhone against the depth of the hole and when it fits perfectly with the cover closed, you’re done.
As we did not go down the Moleskine route, we’ve made the addition of a couple of rubber bands to keep the book closed, helping make it look like a well-thumbed tome that would not warrant a second glance when placed on a coffee shop table. Until it starts ringing, that is.

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More iPhone resources from Mashable:
- Top 5 DIY iPhone Stands [PICS]
- Top 10 Free iPhone Word Games
- 10 Free iPhone Apps To Learn A New Skill In 10 Minutes
- Top 10 iPhone Apps for TV Fanatics
- HOW TO: Give Your iPhone a Spring Clean

via mashable.com

Posted via web from WeTubeU

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Use your Digital Handshake at the Virtual Back-to-School Fair

Virtual Back-to-School Fair

San Diego Family Magazine is hosting a Virtual Back-to-School Fair beginning August 1! You'll find a variety of educational and after-school options, including schools, tutoring clubs, extracurricular activities, companies that offer fundraisers & field trips and more - all in our one-stop shopping Fair! Be sure to mark your calendar for this exciting back-to-school event!

http://www.sandiegofamily.com/resources/virtual-back-to-school-fair

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