video

How to Choose the Best Video Channel for Your Business

Choose the Best Video Channel for Your Business

Video should be a part of your marketing strategy it if isn’t already. If you are not in it yet, how do you choose the best video channel for your business? Of those who are already using videos in their marketing strategy, 76% report that the strategy increases sales while 47% found that it decreased customer support requests. There are a few fears that can hold a business or brand back from jumping into developing video content. Fear of being on camera and the thought of high costs are the top two concerns that I hear.

In 2017, the average consumer watched over 1.5 hours of videos online each day! I can say I enjoy a daily dose of equestrian, aviation, dance, and lots of music videos but I don’t think my watch time approaches over an hour day.

Everyone knows YouTube. Of those marketers who are already using videos as part of their strategy, 87% said they are using YouTube to share content. All but 10% felt it was an effective part of their marketing and branding plan. It’s a no brainer – there are one billion YouTube users. The channel has something for everyone, regardless of ages.

YouTube is the most popular video channel for viewers and for marketers. It is a no-brainer that if you want to be produce videos that this is channel should be part of your strategy. Remember YouTube is not just a video hosting platform, it is also the second largest search engine in North American and Europe.

YouTube isn’t the only channel to consider. You’ll get more ROI out of your effort if you can share across multiple social channel, on your website, and in email campaigns. Instagram offers a number of opportunities to share video content. Depending on which part of the channel you share on – feed, stories, IGTV, or highlights, the length of the video can vary quite a bit. Even with IGTV, most videos are under 15 minutes, averaging just a few minutes in run time. More metrics are available to Instagram business accounts.

LinkedIn also allows videos now, but the adoption rate is not nearly as good as the YouTube numbers. Much of this is because of channel age. Videos are relatively new to LinkedIn compared to YouTube. Also, the business social network does not have the global reach that YouTube enjoys. Although it is has loosened up somewhat since the sale to Microsoft, its content is still almost entirely business oriented and expected to stay that way. We don’t see the satire, gaming, and how-to videos that make up much of YouTube’s watch time. That said,, about 38% of marketers who are already using video content use them on LinkedIn. That is expected to rise to about 55% by the end of 2018.

Facebook also offers a variety of video sharing options. There are paid posts and boosted posts. We can also use videos in stories – a blatant Snapchat rip-off – and of course in organic posts. Boosting an organic video post is an excellent way to gain more insights on your audience. Sixty-eight percent of video marketers have used videos on Facebook.

Surprisingly only half of those using video on Facebook have used Facebook Live. Interactive video, like those seen on Facebook and alternative platforms like Twitch, are still not as popular. Interactive videos, where the personas in the video broadcast can respond to audience input in real time, are gowning in popularity. Channels like Twitch were once a forum for mostly gamers, but the push is on to make it more educational, information, and mainstream. Facebook Live videos are considered 81% effective by those using them for marketing purposes.

The only video channel that is not growing for marketers is Snapchat. It’s just not working for the average brand. Lack of metrics contributes to this lack of adoption.

There is a still an opportunity for brands to insert their marketing messaging into videos – ether organically on their own channels, in interactive videos, or as paid advertisements. A video strategy done well, can increase revenue and decreases some costs. Videos are effective way to connect with clients and other stakeholders. They create an emotional appeal that can raise brand awareness allowing viewers to get to know you and your company.

Data Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2018 by Wyzowl

How to Repurpose Live Videos

by Admin

How to Repurpose Live Videos

Live video is one the of the newest phenomena in video marketing, is live video. Three major social channels, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, are favoring live video in their news feeds. Live streaming began with Facebook Live. At first, it was only available to mobile users, now Facebook Live can be streamed from desktop devices as well.

Although Instagram does have a scant website to access its channel, posting and streaming are not part of the website functionality. To post ant type of content, users must use a mobile device.

YouTube is also now offering live streaming video, names YouTube Broadcasts. Contrary to the Instagram functionality, YouTube broadcasts must be streamed using a desktop device unless the channel has over 100, 000 subscribers.

You should be incorporating video into your marketing strategy. It is increasingly difficult to get through the Facebook and now Instagram algorithms. The limited reach of some posts make is difficult to get your content seen by users even if they like your organization’s Facebook or Instagram page.

Facebook always favors its latest functionality. Currently, that new shiny toy is video content, especially live video. I have consistently witnessed live videos earn nine to ten times more reach than all other types of posts. If you do not, then you are probably falling short of reaching more of massive social audiences:

Facebook reports the social media giant has over 1.86 billion monthly active users
Instagram boasts over 600 million monthly active users
YouTube stats show it has over 1.86 billion monthly users that watch 3.25 billion hours each month

Some feel that a ten minute to one hour live video is not the best use of resources regardless of the reach. However, there are ways to get more out of the live content created by reusing the same content on other online channels.

Ways to repurpose live video

Crosspost

Crossposting is a way to share videos across multiple Facebook pages. Many organizations have more than one Facebook page. For example, a brand may have a Facebook page for the corporation and one for each of several retail locations. It is time-consuming to post a video to each local stores’ Facebook page and too expensive to create an original video for each.

Facebook pages can share videos, including live videos with a native Facebook feature called crossposting. Go to the settings of each Facebook page and add each page you want to share a video with. Pages must mutually add each other in order to share videos.

Each page will have its own metrics on views and engagement.

Embed Live Videos in a Webpage

All Facebook Live videos can be downloaded immediately after the broadcast. Instructions on how to download any Facebook video, including live broadcasts, are in the blog post.

Repurpose videos in emails. Embed videos on your website for website visitor engagement. A video on embedded on a landing page can increase conversion rates by an amazing 80%! [1] Live videos can be broadcast live on a web page, but a new embed snippet had to be added for each live stream.

Facebook Live videos can also be uploaded to YouTube. However, Facebook live videos all have a square aspect ratio. YouTube adds pillar boxes resulting in a video that is not as visually appealing. The best format is a 16:9 aspect ratio for a YouTube.

YouTube Broadcast videos can also be downloaded and repurposed. They are better for embedding on web pages and email campaigns because of the ideal aspect ratio. YouTube videos can also be pinned to Pinterest and shared on LinkedIn. Neither platform allows native video uploads, but both allow videos to be shared.

Unfortunately, Instagram does now give us the capability to download Instagram Live videos.

Email Campaigns

Videos embedded in emails can increase click0-thoughs by 200% to 300%! That is an amazing improvement. Download live videos and embed them in email campaigns that lead to an optimized landing page. For just a little more effort, your business can see a lift in clicks and conversions.

Paid Marketing Campaign

Since video content is so engaging, reuse these videos as creative content in social media and AdWords-YouTube campaigns. Both types of videos can easily be turned into ads on their native platforms.

Develop a Remarketing Audience

Watch time is a good indicator of viewer interest. Facebook and AdWords, both have retargeting options based on watch time. This data can be used by advertisers to remarket to an audience based on the amount of time they did (or did not) watch a video. No download and re-upload is required. In Facebook, this is a custom audience. YouTube offers savvy options such as retargeting viewers who viewed any video from a channel, viewed certain videos (ads or not) and more.

Sources:
[1] http://www.eyeviewdigital.com/documents/EyeView-White-Paper-Making-Video-Accountable.pdf
[2] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics#sm.00004yrok0rpmfjjsun1p0jbvrht7

Why Your Brand Should Use Facebook Live

by Admin

Why Your Brand Should Use Facebook Live

Video marketing is not a new concept in content marketing. It has been a preferred form of connecting with others for years. Video lets us connect on a more personal level, demonstrate a product, or even serve as front-line customer service.

Up until recently, producing videos was affordable only for medium to large budgets or brands. The cost of recording, editing and distributing video content has decreased dramatically due to the impressive quality of smartphone cameras. It now is a reasonable and achievable for businesses of any size to commit to incorporating video into their regular marketing strategy.

If a brand already has a video content marketing plan in place, it is likely that YouTube is one of their distribution channels. Don’t forget about Facebook though! Videos produced for YouTube channel can be repurposed to on a website, in email campaigns, and uploaded to a brand’s Facebook page to earn even more reach.

Now we have another player in the video game: Live video. If you have not embraced scripted videos, such as tutorials, comedy channels, and product reviews, then you probably did not rush to create your first live video!

Live video comes in a few forms. There are super short-form videos such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories. The live video a brand should be most interested in right now is Facebook Live or YouTube Broadcasts. Both offer video creators the ability to broadcast live right from a smartphone of desktop computer. No special equipment needed.

What Facebook Live and YouTube Broadcasts?

It is challenging to punch through the Facebook algorithm and earn organic reach from a post. It’s also difficult to build up a following on YouTube when just starting out. Consider live video and opportunity to get more out of each channel.

When Facebook has a new feature or offering, Facebook wants that new feature to succeed. That means, until there is adoption en masse, the newest feature, whatever it may be at the time, generally works really well and gets far more reach than an average page post.

YouTube is a Facebook competitor and launched its own version of live video, called YouTube Broadcasts. The YouTube rollout has been a little slow for some channels, but it is there now for many creators.

Live video broadcast on both Facebook and YouTube have yielded some impressive reach and interaction. There does not seem to be a limit on how many times a channel can post and still get an increased reach. Meaning, that there does not seem to be a video “banner blindness.” Viewers keep coming back for more racking up huge watch times. They are not shy about interacting with the broadcast either.

Even restricted industries, such as gun dealers, that are difficult to market because they are limited in their use of many online channels can benefit from live videos. They too are enjoying increased viewership when live. We have consistently seeing pages and channels get over nine times the reach an ordinary post earns.

Is live video this year’s flash in the pan?

Whenever there is a new social channel or feature, marketers wonder, “Will this last?” They have to weigh their options and resources and figure out if this new feature or channel in online marketing is the latest fad or something that is worth building up.
It safe to say video marketing is here to stay. The concept of video marketing is not new, but delivering it live is. The two largest live video platforms, Facebook and YouTube, are established titans in marketing. Even if the effects of live video fade or the algorithm stops favoring this format, then at least the lasting effect will have been a larger viewership and a bigger subscriber base.

It is worth investing time and resources into live video.

What Is Your YouTube Channel’s Average Watch Time?

by Admin

What Is Your YouTube Channel’s Average Watch Time?

Earlier this year I was speaking on the topic of social media audits at a conference. During my talks on audits, I always include a section about videos and how to work with YouTube. During the Q&A portion of the session, an audience member asked a question about YouTube Analytics. He wanted to know how I work around YouTube’s “lack of good analytical data.” He was disappointed in the lack of information.

I weave video into every talk because it can add so much more to a marketing strategy. Many don’t use video because of production costs or the trepidation that can accompany being on camera. However, I never felt that YouTube’s Analytics dashboard was less than what I needed.

Videos are good content for most industries. Brands, services, live events, and more can all benefit from short form video. It is an easy way to tell your brand’s story, connect with viewers, or demonstrate a product quickly and effectively. Cisco reports that 70% of consumer internet traffic is due to video consumption*. Trends predict that 82 percent of all consumer Internet traffic will be from video by the year 2020.

Consider video content almost a necessity for a successful marketing campaign. We see that social media paid ads perform better when a video is included as one of the creatives.

Including video content on a website was once a luxury, but the cost of producing a quality video is far less than it was just five years ago, making it affordable to anyone with a smartphone.

It’s true YouTube Analytics does not give granular data views such as tree maps of user acquisition the way Google Analytics (GA) does. It also does not give YouTube creators the ability to segment viewers’ interests by Affinity Categories or In-Market Segments. However, YouTube does give admins useful data that is exactly what they need to grow their channels and increase watch time.

To see a channel’s analytics, go to the channel – mine is https://www.youtube.com/metronycom Subscribe while you’re in the neighborhood, won’t you? Log in as an admin user and go to your Creator Studio by choosing it from the right-hand menu. Over on the left-hand menu, find the “Analytics” section and dropdown the menu. Please note that users must have admin credentials to access a channel’s analytics data.

YouTube offers quite a bit of view data laid out in tabular from as well as graphs. In case you do not have a channel yet or never peaked at your subscriber trends. Here is a list of what is available:

YOUTUBE ANALYTICS

Overview

Realtime
Revenue reports
Revenue
Ad rates

Watch time reports

Watch time
Audience retention
Demographics
Playback locations
Traffic sources
Devices
Translations

Engagement reports

Subscribers
Likes and dislikes
Videos in playlists
Comments
Sharing
Annotations
Cards
End screens

The best stats that a new YouTube channel can use to grow their channel are the watch time reports. Navigate over to the “Watch Time Reports” heading. The first report in this section is called “watch time.” This is most important of all. This report tells a YouTube creator how many minutes viewers are sticking around to watch a channel’s content. This report can be adjusted to show data over a variety of durations. I generally have mine set to show me the last 30 days so I can see a running average. However, I like to see how the channel is performing over the last quarter and then year-over-year.

Below the graph of watch time is a table of data containing the watch time for each video and number of views for each video in your channel. This is another critical data view. This will give a creator a solid view of what content is resonating with their audience. It can also be used to get ideas for new content.

Average view time is in the far right column. View time and average view time tell video creators quite a bit. First, this report shows if viewers are bouncing. No, this data view does not show a bounce breakdown the way Google Analytics does, but it does show time spent on the video – equivalent to time on page in GA. This is important because it essentially indicates that a video is boring, optimized poorly, or possibly targeted at the wrong audience.

Another thing view time is useful for is where to place cards and annotations. I’ve covered both of these in blog post and video format. The crux is, if you know your average watch time is less than two minutes, you’re links or messaging had best occur before that mark!

I’m not purporting that watch time is all you need to manage a channel, but for growing a new channel, it truly is a ton of extremely useful information packed in to one data view. There are similarities between Mama Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics. YouTube Creators can now see their channel stats in real time! We can see that videos are being watched, what country viewers are in as well as their device used and even the operating system!

Are there any upcoming updates to YouTube Analytics? Well we already have two. The newest additions to the analytics section are Translations and End screens. I covered end screens in a previous post. I expect that YouTube annotations will probably be deprecated eventually and we will all be forced to use end screens. I do sue end screens on a few videos but for the most part, I am using both cards and annotations. They are wonderful for branding and increasing watch time if. That’s a big “if!” Are your viewers are sticking around until the end of your videos? Watch times can tell you!

I can see in my watch time that viewers tune out as before those last 40 seconds where end screens begin so for now, I’m using annotations, cards in in-video captioning to increase conversions!

*Source:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/complete-white-paper-c11-481360.html

How to Add Video to Your Marketing Strategy

by Admin

How to Add Video to Your Marketing Strategy

This is part one of some number of blog posts about video marketing. I am so into now and encourage colleagues and clients to use employ video in their strategy. Video is an important addition to any online marketing strategy. For the record, I am talking about short-form video, specifically those under five minutes in length. A well-rounded marketing strategy consists of not only quality images and graphics, but video content as well. Video can be used on all major social channels, as a standalone strategy on YouTube, and of course, on your website itself.

Video is one of the most compelling way to tell your brand’s story. Viewers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a demonstration video. The number of YouTube video uploaded doubles every year. Finally, 33% of all online activity is spent watching videos.[1] Is that enough to convince you to begin incorporating video in your marketing efforts?

Just a few years ago, small and medium businesses would balk when I suggested they incorporate video into their website or marketing. The expectations for video quality were high, much higher than they are today. Sure, it is still nice to have a corporate video that explains your brand’s core values or mission statement. It is a luxury for small business on a budget, but not necessary. Online viewers want to see the real “you.” They want to experience a product or brand with you. They don’t want to be talked at.

So what do I mean when I say viewers will accept a lower video quality? Well, what that means is you don’t need a soundproof studio and expensive audio-visual equipment to produce your YouTube channel. An acceptable video can be accomplished with a smartphone and a decent microphone. That’s the hitch! As long as the SOUND is quality good, meaning there isn’t wind noise, or low muffled voices – then you are good-to-go!

I have several thousand dollars (cheap by A/V equipment standards) invested into my video studio setup. It took time to build up. I researched products for a long time, stuck until two speaker friends of mine gave me tips on how to move forward. I decided to stick with my Canon DLSR camera to save money, but it will be replaced shortly. I bought tripods, soft boxes, sockets, and bulbs. A room in my house had to be rearranged. Actually many rooms were rearranged until a produced friend helped me choose the best setting. My next major investment was a Zoom external recorder. This improved the sound of my videos tremendously! The introduction of the Zoom recorder meant I had to find some software for editing. More about that later. A $100 lavalier microphone is a plus, but not needed if you can find a quiet place to record.

I founded my YouTube channel with the promise that I would cover the equipment used to make the video. I am going to cover more about video content creation and posting in coming blog posts. The first and ONLY equipment you need to get started is a smartphone and an idea. I’ll cover the equipment I use, editing, terminology and then of course statistics! And yes, part of this will be in video format! Stay tuned and if you have not already please follow me on my YouTube channel!