Ten Online 2012 Video Stats That Will Amaze You

Online video ad viewing increased dramatically in 2012, with audiences choosing to watch video ads 4.6 billion times, or about 13.2 million times every day.

Records were broken by the likes of M&M’s Superbowl Ms Brown or Kony 2012, with the former getting 85% of online views driven the ad’s virality (not by paid ads) and the latter counting 41 millions video views in just one day.

Online videos are effective for branding and can deliver your message on any platform and any scale, from internal communications to global campaigns. Read about other outstanding videos trends in 2012 here.

And your company? What does your video communications plan look like for 2013?

Ready for the next level? See the  iFilm portfolio and let's schedule a meeting to discuss the next project. Email Dave Henry or call 713-504-5765.

Feed Your Appetite for Video Story Telling

"In his presentation at SocialMedia.org‘s BlogWell conference in Los Angeles, Kaiser Permanente’s director of digital media and syndication, Vince Golla, talked about how the company brought its fans’ genuine, unscripted stories to a bigger audience without hiring an expensive production company." See full article and video links here.

One of iFilm's clients recently described our journalistic style of corporate video production as "more engaging and tells a better story than our scripted corporate videos." Although we make scripted corporate videos too; we agree that storytelling is frequently best found in real sound bites from the people most passionate on a topic. Your budget does not have to be huge to tell a real story. 

A recent sample of our storytelling video is here.  Contact Dave to start your project today. 

Online Video SEO ~ Best Practices for YouTube

Great article on YouTube optimization from Blue Sky Marketing ...  

Properly optimizing your videos on your YouTube channel can greatly increase the chances of them showing up in organic Google search results ~ which is the “holy grail” for  most marketers. However, it’s important to remember that Google is typically driving video based search results to YouTube.com instead of corporate websites or landing pages. This means that your channel needs to reflect your brand.

Below are some specific steps corporate marketers can take to optimize their videos on YouTube.com.  Full article here.

Five Reasons Video Can Help in the B2B Sales Cycle

Five Reasons Video Can Help in the B2B Sales Cycle

Feel like you need to work on your video content but haven’t gotten started?  More B2B marketers than ever are developing content marketing strategies to engage potential customers early in the decision making process.  Below are five reasons that video should be a key component for your content marketing strategies and specifically on social media channels.

        Research

Today’s consumers are tech savvy and their first impulse is to “Google” up a solution. There is a good chance they will begin researching products and solutions to solve their business problems long before they contact potential vendors. Videos do a great job of introducing your company or explaining exactly how your solutions solve specific business challenges. Video can help your brand and content get noticed ahead of the competition.

Real People

Yes, you are selling to other businesses but your target audience is made up of actual human beings with emotion and bias built in. Visual content, specifically video, is simply more engaging on social networks than text based content. People prefer watching to reading.

 Spreading the Word (Multi-Channel Messaging)

Many B2B marketers naturally think of using video content to use at trade shows, presentations or on their websites. They also need to consider a YouTube channel for their company. Benefits of a YouTube channel include search engine optimization. Marketing videos can easily be shared everywhere your company maintains a social media presence including Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Twitter and Tumblr to name a few. 

Social Sharing

Videos are shared on social networks 1,200% more than links and text posts combined. Most marketers would agree that a personal recommendation is still one of the most powerful influences for a potential buyer.

Mobile

When was the last time that you left home without your smart phone? They are ubiquitous and B2B marketers must find a good way to deliver content across a wide variety of mobile devices. With video it is simpler as most videos play in “full screen” mode on most mobile phones, solving the screen size challenge of accessing content on social networks.

Video is a very powerful tool for engaging potential customers across a wide variety of media.  If you are a B2B marketer trying to find an effective way to make use of your company’s video archive, consider the use of video to better communicate your message to your social media communities.

Congratulations Leslie!

Several years ago I was lucky enough to land an assignment from USAID; create a video about Leslie Hawke.  She was receiving their "Outstanding Citizen" award for her amazing work with Roma women in Romania.

(As we were we finishing the shoot, she asked "Who are you going to use for the voice-over?"  I paused for about half a second.  "Your son would be good," I said.  Her son is Ethan Hawke.)

I saw today that she recently got married.  Congratulations Leslie.

Here's a link to the video's opening segment.  You get an idea of her courage...

http://youtu.be/VrknKudrMBs

Broaden your video's reach

From Christian Arno:

"In this global day and age, savvy marketers are directing their efforts overseas. It's now easier than ever to appeal to a multilingual market. It just takes a translation here and there, modification of your SEO, and bingo -- you're appearing on screens all over the world." 

The rest of the article can be found here but very good thinking about global video.


At iFilm, our clients are frequently large multinational or global companies that need to convey their messages. In some instances, we simply add different audio tracks. In some, we have to trans-create the video so that it crosses cultural barriers. Fortunately in a city like Houston, we can find the resources for our projects that can participate in that dialog.

What videos are you making and how do you ensure that they speak to your audience in the right way?

Seven Tips for Marketing a Business with Video

Great article on video marketing from Entrepreur:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220593

My Favorite Highlights:

• Video connects customers on a deeper level because it covers and reaches out to different types of learning styles
• Videos also help sites show up higher on the search engines. Use relevant keywords in the video titles and descriptions when you upload them to sites like YouTube.
• Include a call to action in your video.  
• Pick a focus. Make sure the video has the essence of your brand personality and carries a single message or story. Do not try to cover 15 things in a 60-second video.