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Welcome to the Age of Video Engagement

By: PR Newsire

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YouTube updates its Creator Playbook to boost engaging content

YouTube has released the second version of its Creator Playbook, Google’s video platform announced today in a blog post written by its audience development strategist Ryan Nugent.

First released in July 2011, YouTube Creator Playbook includes tips, tricks and advice for content creators who upload videos on the platform.

While part of the changes simply reflect the fact that YouTube itself hasevolved and introduced new features, it also includes several improvements.

Among the most interesting new sections, YouTube added a glossary that will help users get familiar with terms related to the platform, from ‘metadata’ to ‘vlog’.

As part of YouTube’s global push and international expansion of its Partner Program, the playbook now also includes advice on how to reach optimize content for viewers around the world.

On a higher level, the purpose of this Playbook is to give content creators the keys to make sure a wide audience will engage with their videos. After all, increasing the volume of high-quality channels is a central element of YouTube’s strategy for the upcoming months.

While YouTube makes it clear there are no set rules for good content, the presentation shares best practices from successful YouTubers, fromMysteryGuitarMan to KnowYourMeme - and encourages everyone to emulate them.

 

 

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Why Your Small Business Needs Video Marketing

Deciding on an advertising budget and determining how to spend it can be among your most challenging decisions. Advertising options have changed and expanded considerably over the past few years, and updating your strategy definitely means taking advantage of the new, digital marketplace.

So how can you create a dynamic advertising campaign with a limited budget? Video.

Video gives you the opportunity to interact with your customers by allowing them to get to know you and your business, and feel comfortable with you. This is especially important for small, local businesses. Forrester Research Group says “video is 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of a search engine.” Read: video drives search results. On the OurTown website, articles that include a photo array or a video are more easily searched on the Web and receive three times as many clicks as articles without these features.

Adding video to e-mail marketing boosts customers' interaction—such as opening the email or clicking on any of the content—by as much as 200 percent to 300 percent, says Marc Fleishhacker, managing director at WPP's Ogilvy Consulting.

You can, of course, hire a production company like WeTubeU and have them make a video for you. Here are some tips to keep in mind when making your advertising video:

• Keep it short. Studies show that we have an attention span of about 30 seconds. So if you are making an advertising or branding video, say what you have to say and then save the rest for follow up videos.

• Combine video and still images. Mixing videos and stills of your product, employees, location and anything that you believe will interest your potential customers will add variety to your video ad.

• Add a personal message. The message can be from you or one of your employees, or it can be a testimonial or recommendation from one of your customers.

• A little humor never hurts. Sometimes your own gaffes in making the video make it even more appealing.

• Give your videos a call to action. Make it clear what the viewer should do after watching the video. Add a coupon or special offer.

• Make sure your customer knows how to find you. Don’t forget to include your phone number, address, website address and e-mail. If you have a brick and mortar location, you might even want to include a map.

• Distribute your video in every way possible. Promote your video through an online ad campaign, e-mail, social media, YouTube and even your own website. There are online video services that will provide all of these services for a price if you don't want to do it yourself.

You may think this sounds like a lot of trouble, but you do need video. Video engages your customer and sets you apart from those static ads you see on the Internet. It allows you to tell your customer what differentiates you from your competition. Your videos can help you have a face they can recognize and come to trust. That’s the kind of relationship you want with your customer.

OPEN Cardmember Carol Meinhardt is co-Managing Member of Chicago West Pullman, an investment holding company and the COO of vADz, Inc, a social video advertising platform, and OurTown Media, a hyper-local news network.

Kaiser Permanente Think Big Challenge

WordPress.com upgrades VideoPress, bringing video-upload capability to iOS devices

 

Hosted blogging platform WordPress.com has announced that iPhone and iPad users can now upload and embed videos onto its blogs after it gave VideoPress, its HD video service, an upgrade.

The  upgrade means that WordPress.com bloggers on iOS devices can now comfortably upload videos, whether they’re shot vertically or horizontally, and it will take care of rotating it for you prior to publishing.

If you don’t already have VideoPress on your WordPress.com account, you just have to visit VideoPress.com, and follow the instructions. You will, of course, also need the WordPress App on your device.

VideoPress launched initially in mid-2009, and since then it has made a host of enhancements, such as the ability to natively share videos in Facebook. And in March last year, WordPress.com announced another upgrade which meant that videos embedded within its hosted sites would be playable across mobile and touch-screen devices, including iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

WordPress also noted that if you use VideoPress on your self-hosted (.org) site, you should keep an eye on the VideoPress Blog for some “exciting news” soon.