video

Instagram – Four Types of Videos

Instagram – Four Types of Videos Used on Instagram

Instagram offers four ways to use videos. Videos can increase reach on Instagram and make your account more visible. Instagram videos can be recorded live or uploaded later. The social media channel allows uses to edit videos for the correct length.

Instagram boats over 1 billion monthly active users. It is considered the social media channel to be on for any marketing to US consumers under the age of 45. For many regions of the world, Instagram in the only social media channel, regardless of age, because it is a mobile only app. Although, the web app has recently added a few more features, Instagram is still easier to use and remains a mobile device app. This makes it popular in areas, such as Africa, where there is far less laptop and tablet use.

Videos offers a good way for brands and individuals to connect with an audience. Videos allow a business or brand to make a personal connection with consumers. Videos can promote products but can also show potential customers what everyday life looks like at the office. Social media also allows brands to converse with followers.

Instagram has several types of video content. The original was simple video post to a user’s newsfeed. Newsfeed videos are simple to create. They can have filters and users can choose a cover image for the Instagram video. Stories also allow videos although the maximum length is shorter than a newsfeed video. However, stories have many advantages such as stickers and hashtags to help gain more reach. IGTV is the newest type of video content on Instagram and is also the longest length video allowed on Instagram. This is an underutilized type of post as brands have been slow to adopt it. The content that is posted is generally repurposed form elsewhere. IGTV is an opportunity to gain more reach an Instagram. Highlights are videos saved from other posts. Highlights are great for what appears to be categories on an Instagram profile.

Four Types of Videos on Instagram

Newsfeed
Highlights
IGTV
Instagram Stories

Instagram newsfeed videos are up to 60 seconds long. Instagram Story videos are 15 seconds long. IGTV videos can be 10 minutes long offering the best opportunity for a longer video. Approved Instagram accounts can go up to an hour on IGTV. Highlights are saved from other content.

How to Post Video to Your LinkedIn Newsfeed

by Admin

How to Post Video to Your LinkedIn Newsfeed

LinkedIn has lagged behind other social channels in many features and updates. One of these was allowing videos to be hosted natively on the site. Up until now, users could not post a video directly to LinkedIn – it had to be shared from another video hosting site. LinkedIn engineering added a new feature and users can now host a video directly on their own newsfeed.

Since Microsoft acquired LinkedIn we’ve seen more than a few changes to the site. One of the most notable was the change to the privacy policy and who can see users’ posts. Posts are seen by other LinkedIn users, but they may also be seen by non-members as well.

The next major improvement is video hosting to share content on LinkedIn. Previously, LinkedIn users could only share a video from other video hosting channels like YouTube or Vimeo. Videos can be posted directly from the app but not from the desktop website. The only thing needed to post videos is an updated version of the LinkedIn mobile app.

Videos are one of the best ways to convey a message. They can be used to make a personal connection, demonstrate a product, or talk directly to potential consumers. LinkedIn has over 500 million users. It’s a unique business-oriented social media channel.
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LinkedIn videos can be recorded from a smartphone or other mobile device that has the app downloaded. Posted videos are not “live” like they can be on other social channels like Facebook or Instagram. Before the video is posted, users have the chance to back out and try again. There is also an opportunity to add some text to the post and describe what the video is about.

The LinkedIn app now allows users to post a video directly to a user’s LinkedIn newsfeed. IN the past LinkedIn only allowed users to share a video from another video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo. Learn how to post a video to LinkedIn. Follow to steps in the video and you’ll find it is rather easy to do. I have more video on LinkedIn. See the links below for more LinkedIn tutorials.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS:
How to Be More Productive on LinkedIn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ0FBQUPhf0

Get More LinkedIn Connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaE694x1jLU

How to Set LinkedIn Privacy Settings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGDUqYzYOO0

Get Increased Visibility with Facebook Live Contributors

by Admin

Photo credit: Facebook

Get Increased Visibility with Facebook Live Contributors

Brands and businesses have been jumping on the Facebook metrony Live stream bandwagon. Social media users watch over 100 million hours* of video every day on Facebook! Live videos typically get nine to ten times more reach than an average Facebook post, so any savvy social media strategists are grateful for the algorithm-busting gift.

Get More Reach and Visibility with Live Videos

Live is the best way to interact with your followers. It also helps a page gain more followers. People love watching a video and it becomes more interesting when they can actually interact and chat with their favorite channels.

Adding a Live Contributor helps to boost that reach even more. A live video contributor can bring more visibility to the channel by announcing the upcoming live session on their own Facebook page, email list or website. Choose a contributor who has a sizeable social media following of his or her own. With planned event teasers, their audience will come watch on your page too.

Adding contributors allows a page to add more content. Business owners only have so much time in a day, having a Live Contributor adds even more content to a page, keeping is interesting and favored in the newsfeed.

Facebook Live broadcasts can last up to four hours. Ten minutes is the recommended minimum length.

Page admins can monitor live broadcasts in the Video Library. While the video is live, they can click on the “edit” icon to see live details. If needed, Page admins can also end the contributor’s live broadcast from the video detail screen.

Facebook page admins now have the ability to add live video contributors to a page’s role. This role is unique since it only allows the contributor to add live video and then choose to post it to the page, or not. After the video ends, the contributor has no more control over the page of any content, including the posted live video.

Live Contributors do not have access to any administrative functions of Page
Live contributors can go live on the iOS and Android apps

How to Assign a Facebook Live Contributor

Assigning someone as a Live Contributor is administered under a page’s settings. You must be a page admin to assign this role or any other. Admins must be Facebook friends with the person they are assigning a role to. To add someone as a Facebook Live Contributor, navigate to a page’s settings. Under “Page Roles” and add the name of your Live Contributor.

Source:
https://newsroom.fb.com/products/

How to Download a Facebook Live Video

by Admin

How to Download Facebook Live Videos

Yes you can download a Facebook Live video!

If you are not using video as part of your content marketing strategy, you should consider the latest offering in video strategy: Facebook Live videos. Videos help brands connect on a personnel level. Videos can be used to demonstrate products, as first line of customer service, and to raise brand awareness.

Thirty-three percent of millennials say they buy a product because of watching a video online. [1] Almost half (46%) of video viewers completed a purchase after watching a branded video on social media. [2]

YouTube still has the overwhelming share of video views. Half of social video views take place on YouTube, 36% occur on Facebook and the remaining 14% happen on other major social channels. [2]

Once too expensive for the average business to even consider, video production costs are much less than they were just a few years ago. That is partially due to the quality level that users are willing to accept. We have grown accustomed to watching user generated content (UGC) produced on smartphones. We are even willing to make purchase decisions based on content produced by total strangers. Some social users demographics even prefer UGC video over branded versions.

There are many quality levels, video lengths, and of course, genres to work with. We can work with scripted (see the metrony YouTube channel for examples) or live streams. Each has its advantages. One of the biggest benefits to Facebook Live videos (and its equivalent, YouTube Broadcasts) is that they are extremely cheap to produce. The only possible post-production editing is to add a custom thumbnail, if desired. Other than that, creators are simply record with a mobile device or a laptop and it is done!

Facebook Live videos can be downloaded and re-used in other marketing channels. A Facebook Live product demo can be embedded into a web page to help increase conversions. The video below is an example of a Facebook Live video. I used it to demonstrate how easy it is to work with Facebook Live!

Downloading Facebook Live Videos is easy once you know where to look.

To Download a Facebook Live Video:

Navigate to the Facebook Live video you want to download on your Facebook page and click on the video for the close-up view, then:

Click on edit post at the bottom of the pop-up window [Figure 1]
Click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the post
Choose HD or SD to download it!
Re-use and re-purpose!

Figure 1

Like YouTube Broadcasts, Facebook Live videos are automatically save to your page. Be sure to check out the views and you’ll see that the live videos keep earning views for days after the initial live broadcast.

Why Download A Facebook Live Video?

Savvy brands and marketers can re-purpose live videos to get more reach and conversion out of their creation. Downloaded a Facebook Live video and then upload it to a YouTube channel. Embed it in a website product page or included it in an email campaign.

Live videos are currently earning ten times the reach of an ordinary post. Anyone experienced with the Facebook algorithm knows things change, and the increased reach may end. Savvy brands can repurpose live videos to increase page likes and reach.

For those of you who are still camera shy, try out the suggestions in my video, “How to Create a Video Without Being on Camera.”

Sources:
[1] https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/video-marketing-ads/40-reasons-video-will-be-essential-in-ecommerce-marketing-in-2017/
[2] https://www.brightcove.com/en/company/press/three-four-consumers-link-social-video-viewing-purchasing-decisions

How To Use YouTube End Screens With Your Videos

by Admin

How To Use YouTube End Screens With Your Videos

Videos are an effective way to tell your brand’s story or to demonstrate a product. Add video to an email, and see how click-through rates increase! When they add genuine value, videos increase the amount of time website visitors stay on a page and are associated with higher conversion rates.

If you are you using videos as part of your marketing strategy, you may also be hosting them on a YouTube channel. At least you should be. YouTube has over one billion users! That is more than 30% of the entire internet audience!* If you have not launched your video marketing strategy because you are camera shy, then consult my recent post on Entrepreneur.com, “How to Create Video Content Without Being on Camera”, which demonstrates several ways to help you get your brand on YouTube.

One of the challenges video marketers face is how to deliver the viewer to the conversion with the least number of clicks. Meaning, if someone is watching a video on YouTube, how do you make it easy for the viewer to click over to a website or campaign-landing page to make a sale? YouTube offers several optional features to make videos clickable. These include end screens, annotations, cards, and channel branding watermarks. Each feature is available to all channels.

If you are trying to build your viewership on YouTube, end screens are a feature that is easy to add to any video to help you increase your number of subscribers and watch channel time. YouTube end screens can help increase subscriptions on your YouTube channel, send viewers to your website, sell online, or even crowdfund.

YouTube end screens are both prominent and clickable.[Figure 1] An end screen shows as two overlay images that appear at the end of a video. Content creators may choose to use up to four end screen elements to show to viewers such as subscribe to the channel, suggest the next video or playlist to watch, promote another channel, or link to an approved website (yours or an ecommerce site like iTunes.)

Figure 1 Photo credit: YouTube.com

I recommend choosing the “subscribe” element to encourage users to subscribe to your channel. When a viewer subscribes to your channel, as opposed to just watching videos and leaving, they receive an email notification from YouTube every time the channel has a new video uploaded. The email notification encourages the reader to watch the new video, which in turn, increases your watch time.

Encourage viewers to remain on your channel by suggesting the next video to watch with an end screen. Choose the “video or playlist” end screen to direct viewers to watch another one of your videos or playlists. Don’t let your viewers stray to another channel’s content; suggest what they should watch next on your channel!

Choose to “link to an approved website” to get more potential customers to your website or ecommerce platform. I use this option to send viewers to my own website. If you are selling online with a major ecommerce platform like iTunes, Google Play, or Shopify, then add a link to your store with an end card. This option is also useful for crowdfunding campaigns.

The biggest downside to end screens is that they only appear during the last 20 seconds of any video! That means if your watch time is short and viewers are not staying until the end, then they may never see your end screen. Another negative is that end screens also suppress the channel’s branding while they are showing. That is easily corrected by choosing the “subscribe” option as one of your end screen elements. With three templates available for easy setup, end screens look very professional! Just choose which elements you want to use.

Besides end screens, YouTube offers two other features that are also clickable – annotations and cards. Video creators can opt to use either one to direct viewers to watch another video, to promote a channel, or to link to an approved website.

As with everything, there are advantages and disadvantages. I always recommend using YouTube cards with your videos. Cards can be used in conjunction with end screens, annotations, and channel branding. They appear as a small notification in the upper right corner of a video, as the letter “i.” Like end screens, cards show on both desktop and mobile devices. Unlike end screens, cards are not especially prominent.

The advantages of annotations is that they can be designed to be prominent, they can occur at any time in a video, and they can prompt users to take action. However, annotations only work for desktop viewers, and with over half of YouTube views occurring on mobile devices, end screens may be the better choice!

End screens and cards both work on desktop and mobile devices. They can be used separately or together. However, content creators cannot use end screens and annotations together, as YouTube does not allow both to exist on the same video.

Review your channel analytics to see what devices your viewership uses most. Look at your channel analytics, specifically at watch time reports and devices, to determine what is best for them and what is going to work for you. If you see that your users are not sticking around to the ends of your videos, then an end screen may not be the best choice for you.

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html

Spend $150 on Ads – Get a FREE Video Spot – Courtesy of YouTube

by Admin

Spend $150 on Ads and Get a FREE Video Spot – Courtesy of YouTube

YouTube has offered to pay the cost of having a professional YouTube filmmaker create a video to promote your business! It gets better. The filmmaker comes to YOU! Sound too good to be true? Well it is true! Businesses in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco that commit to spending only $150 on YouTube videos advertising – a small price to pay – can get a YouTube-vetted filmmaker visit their business to film a video spot free of charge!

Videos are the most compelling way for a business to tell their story to current and potential customers. Videos should get their message out within the first ten seconds! The goal is to capture the viewer’s attention and get them to watch the remainder of the video. Good quality sound is an absolute necessary. Viewers will tolerate videos shot on smartphones as long as the images are clear.

The free filming is available through YouTube’s Director onsite service. Although the service is only available in six U.S. cities, more locations may be added in the future. Watch time on YouTube is up more than 50% for the third year in a row. YouTube reaches more 18- to 49-year-olds on mobile devices than any TV network. Digital advertising is predicted to exceed TV spend next year for the first time with a total of $77.4 billion. [1]

Brands can now buys spots for “Breakout” viral videos which allows advertisers to insert spots into the “hottest and fastest-rising” videos on YouTube.

[1] Source: “Here’s What YouTube Promised Advertisers at Its Star-Studded BrandCast 2016.” AdWeek. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2016.