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.

Video in your 2011 Marketing Plan

Before starting on any video project you need to ask yourself first, what is my business objective? As you create your 2011 plan, ask yourself how online video helps with those objectives.

As much as iFilm wants the video production work, companies should avoid spending resources on the production of videos without a plan for maximizing their production cost and for syndicating and distributing them. What does that mean?

We recommend that you have a plan prior to production of all the places that your video elements can be repurposed and utilized beyond the initial production. Talk to other departments about how they could use footage in achieving their goals. Heck, iFilm will even work with you in pre-production to sort out that plan.

Here’s an example … informational footage for your website could also generate a spin-off video for a recruiting campaign where your employees speak about why they like working for you. (Recruiting will be a hot topic as we exit this recession.)

Syndicating and distributing? Well, videos shouldn’t simply live on your website (but having a video there will dramatically increase your site stickiness over your competitors).

You also need to get them on industry sites and have a plan of where and when. Putting them on video sharing sites is good for SEO with the right links back to you. Where else and how else will you use this video to market your company? Can you use it via mobile to educate new employees on company philosophy as part of training? Can you solve other communication problems with this footage? iFilm will be happy to engage in that dialog as well.

If web video is NOT in your 2011 marketing budget, revise the budget.

Video is not a nice-to- have, it is now a must-have. Need help crafting this plan? Call Dave Henry at iFilm Productions.

Online video

"Today, 71% of the US online audience watches video on the Internet, and the number of streams consumed should more than double by 2013. An explosion of video content from users, professional studios, and marketers is driving this growth." -- Forrester Research

Just because you add video to your site, it doesn’t mean that viewers will watch it. Use the chart below(also from Forrester) to checklist your online video.

Overall, implement these six rules for video:

1. start with excellent quality content produced by a reputable firm; 
2. optimize video for search; 
3. distribute video across the Web; 
4. add context to the video on the Web page; 
5. reduce video load time; and 
6. enable video sharing. 

On Web Movies

SEO statistics show that online video viewings daily has passed the total number of searches on the “core” engines.  (Core = Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Ask.)

And that if you post a video on your website’s front page, up to 80% of visitors will click on it FIRST. 

Eighty percent?  More videos than queries on the big five?  Are you kidding me?

A decade and more ago, everyone talked about “the convergence.”  The biggest challenge would be the battle between the ‘lean forward’ nature of computing and the ‘lean back’ posture for watching movies and TV.  Well the future is here and nobody cares.  We’re screen agnostic, and we watch moving pictures on any device.

(I’m leaning back just now, even as I type, because my tilting laptop table from Ikea nuzzles perfectly against my comfy armchair.)

So, if you build videos into your site, they will come.   Here are four things to think about:

1.  You have 5-10 seconds of initial attention span to work with.   The video needs to be compelling from the start.  Look for a hook – a single graphic or image, engaging music, a unique voice and great copy – that demands they continue to watch.

2.  Give it personality.  In the You-Tube era, surfers expect a certain quirkiness and authenticity.  Try not to be slick and over-produced.  The whiz-bang animations that look so good in the edit suite will be wasted on the small screen.

3.  Tell a story.  Meaning it has a beginning, middle and end.  And get a call-to-action of some kind in there, even if it’s just a web address at the close.

4.  Help the virus spread and watch it grow.  Make your video search-engine friendly with tags and easily shareable with links.  And make sure you use all the cool metric tools on your host site to see who’s viewing.

One great source for ideas is the video mash-up Vidque.  Check out http://vidque.com/business/popular/

For thoughts about your online video needs, remember that iFilm consultations are free, and screen agnosticism is part of the DNA.