What Can Social Video Do For You?
or - GRSM: Now in Technocolor...
I've been writing a lot lately, it's just been in the form of site content, quotes and proposals. Since the next Grand Rapids Social Marketing Lunch is dawning on us again next week, I thought I'd post something about last month's meeting. In case you don't know, The GRSML is a free, open to the public, lunch and learn, Networking opportunity. You bring your own lunch (generally). The Free Water GRSM was pretty well attended as the speaker was a good draw. @aaron_creo or Aaron Creo (outside of the twittersphere) spoke on Video as a Social function. He listed all the various stats that many of us have seen and showed a couple videos that have gone viral along with a couple campaigns like the Old Spice one and the Toyota Sienna Swagger Wagon. I've talked these up quite a bit on Twitter and Facebook over the last few months, so it was nice to see Creo adding some cred to my posts. That wasn't my take away from his talk, however.
- Video is a captive audience
- You can craft messages for specific types of people
- With online video there's no media buy
- People are sharing more than ever before
- Not for profit organizations are great candidates for video use
Mr. Creo also gave a few do's and don'ts for organizations wishing to dive into social video:
- Only make videos that make sense
- Utilize tips on framing and lighting from sites like http://www.tiltnpanstudios.com/videotraining.html
- Ask questions like "What does your audience expect from you?"
He also reminded us that Video is permanent. Once you post it, someone somewhere has downloaded it and can repost. So, make sure it's done right and that your message is clear, on-target and well thought out.
I've been talking up YouTube over the last several months and am writing some scripts for clients, to give my company some visual/verbal feedback on work done for them. These are mostly bullet points reminding my clients of what was accomplished and things they said to me, like "Wow!" or "That's exactly what I wanted". Things like saying, "that is so cool" and a hug after the meeting I can talk about but until the permanency is posted on YouTube and linked from my site... It's just me talking about it. There is so much more credence to the client in their own words. LinkedIn is great for recommendations, but watching someone talk about how well you've performed for them is even better. Just this morning I posted a video to a client's site linked from a local news outlet. The article was about ArtPrize, a local arts event that you can win. This client is a venue for ArtPrize and when the news channel did the report, it was mostly about the event and not the venue, but the clients face and venue exterior were actively shown throughout the piece. She was able to help explain ArtPrize. Not only did she receive some free press, but now has the better ability to showcase her business to the world from her website. My recommendation is to incorporate YouTube or other social video sites into your overall Social Media and Marketing strategy. YouTube is the 2nd most used search engine in the world, behind Google. If you can be found there, how much business do you think you'll garner?
Comments [0]