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5 Reasons You Must Use Video in Your Social Media

Bold statement: If you’re not using video in your social media, you’re

Making a huge mistake
Being penny wise and pound foolish
Not truly understanding where social media is, and where it’s going.

Choose any two.

First there was the radio, an experience that was eventually improved and enhanced (some say) by the invention of television. Fast forward about 50-60 years and the personal computer begins to emerge. Then came modems – linking them all together. Soon there’s there BBS method of communication, then the ‘world wide web’ and then email. Email soon is improved and enhanced (some say!) by social media and chat.

So where are we now? We live in the age of Social Media. People have settled in and now tweet and update their statuses all very comfortably. But don’t get too cozy. Because the next enhancement and improvement to your social media efforts is already here. It’s called video.

These days if you’re only using text in your status updates, or DMs, or tweets – you’re really missing an opportunity to grab your customers and prospects attention. You need to get good at incorporating video in your social media. To do anything less and you might look like the rotary phone of the internet!

Here are 5 reasons to embrace video in your social media campaigns:

It’s intimate. Videos give you a chance to really let your customer get to know you. Even if you balk at the idea of you yourself being on camera, you can still get so much more of your brand across via a video than you ever can via text.
It’s fun! Putting a video together using Animoto or iMovie is far more fun than staring at blank screen with writer’s block.
It’s educational for them. If you are trying to teach your clients or prospects anything complex, a video can do in 2 minutes what might take you 1000 well written words to achieve. And, btw, that’s assuming they’d bother to ever READ 1000 words.
It’s educational…for you. Creating video is the perfect reason to really think about how you really want to come across to your clients. What tone of voice you want your brand to convey, what kind of music you might choose. It all goes to strengthening your brand. So if you never thought of these things before – videos will force you to take this very important step.
It works! Video sells better than text ever could. In fact, Internet Retailer “reports that visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not, based on OnlineGolf.com results.” (Internet Retailer, April 2010)

That alone should convince you. But if it doesn’t, I’ll soon be posting 5 more reasons. I’ll have you using online video if it’s the last thing I do!

Are you using video in your social media? Is it working? Not working? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

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Filed Under: Business, Featured, Internet Marketing Strategies | Internet Marketing Training & Tips | Solutions for Internet Marketing at DonCrowther.com, Posts, Social Media How-To, YouTube Tagged With: Social Media Strategy | Social Media Marketing Plan for Business | Social Media Marketing Training at DonCrowther.com, video, YouTube

Can corporate videos go viral?

Want to go viral?

We know that videos can go viral that are about dance

and they work if you can sing like an angel

Or if your little brother keeps biting you:

But can it work for company videos?

Let me break it to you – it probably can’t if you just create a promotional commercial.

But it can, if you get creative, and can create something viral worthy. It probably won’t get 100 million plus views, but you can still get tons!

You could blend an iPad:

You could put an alarm on your Microsoft software:

yes, I know that wasn’t a Microsoft video, but it should have been!

Skittles is going to hit soon with some of theirs:

Here’s a Craftsman shot that’s got a great chance at scoring viral:

to join the success of this one:

and don’t forget this one:

So, why do these, clearly corporate videos go viral?

1. They’re cool

2. They’re unexpected

3. They’re not just purely promoting the brand, they’re promoting cool and unexpected.

So, what cool, unexpected thing can you put onto film that will build your company, brand, or image?

Know of other great viral corporate videos? Disagree with our conclusion? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Filed Under: Business, Online Marketing Strategies | Online Marketing Solutions | Tips & Training for Online Marketing at DonCrowther.com, Posts, Social Media How-To, Social Media Strategy | Social Media Marketing Plan for Business | Social Media Marketing Training at DonCrowther.com, YouTube Tagged With: blendtec, craftsman, viral videos, YouTube

How To Reduce Video Skips and Buffering

There are few things more frustrating than having to wait while a video pauses in mid-view to buffer.

While most people intuitively recognize that the process of delivering video to your browser is a complex one, most are totally unaware that these factors change drastically from one second to the next, taking you literally from a snail’s pace to lightning fast from one second to the next. For example, in the last 10 seconds my video viewing speed has ranged from a turtle can beat 371 kbps (kilobytes per second)to a nice 2003 kbps with an average number in the 600-900 range.

Want to see your speed right now? Go to http://www.youtube.com/my_speed#, drop down below the graphs (which we’ll talk about in another post), and click the Show Test Video link.

There you’ll see a graph showing a series of numbers on top of a video. The key numbers to watch are the ones labeled Streaming HTTP and XXX dropped. Those two numbers show the variability of your video streaming process. Watch those numbers for a minute or two.

Surprised? Most people are.

So, how can you improve your ability to watch streaming videos without having them pause to buffer?

Some factors, like distance to the computer where the video is located, aren’t under your control, but other factors are.

Here are some things you can do to improve your download speeds:

Remove multi-tasking on your internet line – if three other people in your house are trying to download music, watch videos and talk on their VOIP phones while you’re trying to watch a video, everyone’s speed will be significantly reduced.
Turn off auto-pinging of internet services, like email, chat services, and other services that automatically access online data.
Remove VOIP and move your phone to cell or landline services because VOIP services utilize your Internet bandwidth to operate.
Upgrade your bandwidth with your ISP. Many ISP’s are now offering tiered service levels, allowing you to pay more for higher bandwidth, rather than just upgrading their entire network. It’s amazing how much faster speed you can buy for just a few extra dollars per month. You also may find that you can get significantly better bandwidth by shifting to a totally different ISP for your service.
Shift your video viewing to less popular times. Weekends are horrible, nights are oftentimes not much better, because millions of other people are off work, watching video and gamining online. If you can shift your video viewing times to less popular hours (during normal working hours, during the late-night hours, etc.) you’re likely to see cleaner lines and have a better viewing experience.
When given an option, choose to access videos from a server that is closer to you than farther away. As much as I admire the technical infrastructure in some foreign countries, when faced with a choice, I’ll watch a video hosted in Omaha versus one hosted from Oslo any day.
If online speed is mission critical to your work, consider getting an additional Internet line just for your mission-critical tasks. The relatively small increase in costs may well be justified in higher productivity and decreased frustration.
Finally, if online speed is mission critical to your work, you may even want to consider moving to a different location that gets you closer to the backbone of the Internet, or at least one that gives you multiple different internet access options. Trust me, I ran an Internet marketing business for 6 years on a 19.2 baud line, and faster is definitely better!