ENDAVO BLOG

As Summer Heats Up, So Does Online Video Sharing

By Ryan Busing

On a recent family vacation we began to document our adventures with photos and videos with one thought in mind… Christmas Cards! Yes, it is the beginning of summer and we are already planning on how we’ll share our experiences with our friends around the world 6 months from now. And while the traditional photo cards have been around for a long time, today it’s also easy to share videos using e-mail, instant messaging, video-sharing sites like YouTube and social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

Recent eMarketer article picks up on this trend and talks about the evolution of online video sharing.  According to this article, new technologies have taken online video from a niche market to the mass audience and allowed virtually anyone to become an online video distributer at little or no cost.
Today’s web users participate in the full lifecycle of online video from creation to distribution. And the number of people who produce, publish and share online video across the social web is increasing each month. So, how can website owners and brand marketers take advantage of the social power of online video, engage their communities, grow audiences, build brands and… monetize?

The first step should be developing a solid Online Video Strategy. According to a research from Trendstream and Lightspeed Research, online video is the fastest-growing social media platform. So, your strategy should capitalize on the social power of web video through interactive features that will allow people to engage with the content, interact with other users, share content across the web and upload their own stuff. By doing this, you’ll be able to build a community around your content or brand and then monetize this community by either attracting advertisers and sponsors or turning expanding audience into loyal customers.

“So, how do I get my video online and allow all these interactive features?” you may ask. Well, the technology already exists. And depending on your business needs, you may choose to use third party websites like YouTube and MySpace, develop your own online video publishing and distribution platform or use a Platform-as-a-Service Media Management System such as Endavo Media’s Internet TV Platform.  The advantage of using the latter is in the ability of rolling it out right away while maintaining total control over your content, audience and monetization options.

So while the summer months begin to heat up, just like web video sharing, now is the perfect time to focus on your Online Video Strategy, build online communities and generate revenue from the ever-growing trend of web video. Because before you know it, the holidays will be here and you will be sending out those same old-fashioned cards…

Online Video is Causing a Big Shift in Media, Business and Society

By Pete Contardo

There seems to be some controversy around online video these days. While some studies conclude that online video is the fastest-growing ‘social networking platform’ and show that web video viewership is rapidly growing, others suggest that online video usage dramatically overstated.

Overstated or not (what's a few decimal points among friends), online video usage continues to change how people access information, use the web and consume content. YouTube is a mega information, marketing and entertainment engine. Cable companies are struggling to figure out new business models because their customers have become so used to getting the content they want, when they want it. Newspapers are becoming more open to citizen journalism by allowing user-generated uploads and comments. Small and emerging brands are competing with the ‘big boys’ by aligning with niche online communities and content providers. We can argue about the accuracy of the numbers all we want, but you can’t ignore the shift that is happening in media, business and society in general that has been caused by online video.

Online Video is the Fastest-Growing Social Networking Platform

By Tatiana Tugbaeva

According to a recent study by Lightspeed Research for Trendstream, online video is the leading social media platform with over 70% of US web users watching clips on the web. And gen Y is not alone in fueling the growth. The study showed that 65% of those aged 55 to 64 watch video online. In addition, when it comes to web video, people love to share. More than 50% of 16 and 17-year-olds and 29% of 55 to 64-year-olds shared video clips with their friends, family and colleagues.

These numbers show that online video presents a tremendous opportunity for brands and organizations to connect with their potential and existing clients online and grow audiences virally. Brands can use the social power of online video to build communities across the web and establish relationships that go way beyond products and services.

Must-Read Articles on Online Video Marketing

By Tatiana Tugbaeva

Online Video for B2B
BtoB Magazine is all about online video these days. Check out their article New online video tactics and learn how you can incorporate online video into a b2b marketing mix.

“…for online video to be an effective marketing channel, it's not enough to post a clip on your Web site or buy a video banner placement on your favorite content network. With so many more companies and individuals using video, your video must stand out and must be managed across different domains.”

Driving consumer action with video
While online video is powerful branding tool, it can also used as a great direct response vehicle that drives sales. Read 10 ways to drive consumer action with video to discover the 'secret sauce' of a successful direct response online video campaign.

"...with new production methods, quality online video can be produced for as little as $1,000 to $5,000 per piece, making video a marketing tool that can be used across web campaigns while driving high return on investment."

Choosing an Internet TV Platform that Works for You

By Shaun Pope

A few posts ago, Paul D Hamm revealed the big secret of a successful online video business – finding multiple monetization models. But an appropriate video publishing and distribution platform is also crucial to execution and success of any online video monetization strategy. So, here are a few things you need to consider when choosing an online video platform that works for you:

Monetization options. Your online video platform should allow as many monetization options as possible. Video and banner advertising, sponsorships, subscriptions, pay-per-view, affiliate programs and e-commerce should all be easily available for implementation.

Control. When you put your video on a free hosting site, giving up control is an inevitable trade-off. Having control over your audience, player/website branding and advertising options means you choose how to make money with your online community.

Analytics and Member Data Management. Comprehensive video analytics together with community members’ personal information provide a valuable insight into your audience and make a great asset for negotiating deals.
 
Interactive and Social Media Features. Over the past few years, interactive features like commenting, sharing, rating, voting, user-generated uploads and live chat have become an expected part of user experience. These tools are also essential for building online video communities. Your platform should have features that make it easy for your content to go viral and for you to monetize your videos wherever they go.

Live Streaming.  Some monetization models like pay-per-view and subscriptions work best as ‘tickets’ to live events,  especially when it comes to sports, music, entertainment, news training and education.  

Tell us what’s important to you in an online video platform. And good luck!

Promoting Online Video: SEO Lift and Viral Buzz

By Shaun Pope

In previous posts, I covered how production and publishing are central to a strong online video content strategy. But it's how you promote your content that impacts measurable results the most.

The key to success in social media marketing is participation. Posting regular tweets on Twitter, updating "what your doing now" in LinkedIn, commenting on your Wall in Facebook, and including links to ultra-relevant content in your blog posts are all opportunities to promote your online video.

While seasoned social media experts can accomplish more than a novice, it's not a secret art. The function is very much about ongoing activity online, being timely with your updates and authentic with your voice. In other words, it's hard to fake it. The name of the game is building online credibility, and in return, increasing your influence. Social media experts are not born, they're raised. The only way to get better is to engage and participate.

Okay, so social media marketing takes effort, it's not always easy to measure, and, while cheap, it's not free (as many marketing execs seem to think). However, there are ways to measure effectiveness and ROI:

1. Increasing video views by seeding viral sharing of your content and promoting your online video content as part of your everyday social media participation will drive inbound traffic. A good tool to use to measure click-throughs on specific links is URL Brief. This service lets you abbreviate the URL and provides tracking for those links. Another tip: make sure to alert everyone in your company when new videos goes live and encourage them to promote it, too.

2. Building inbound links is a great way to earn SEO "juice" for your content, as most search engines (especially Google) use inbound links heavily in their search algorithms. SEO takes time. Increasing your search engine results page (SERP) to 1, 2 or 3 is the result of continued link building over time, as well as the relevancy of your content (a whole separate topic). But it is measurable. 

In summary, alway be promoting!

• Link to your content EVERYWHERE (where relevant)
• Encourage employees, friend and followers to link to your content
• Provide video sharing features so viewers can promote your content
• Use Embed Players to let users put your content on their blogs, websites and social media profile pages.

So, get out there and Produce, Publish and Promote more video content. Want more like this? follow Shaun on Twitter, or connect with Shaun on LinkedIn.

Why a Great Online Video Strategy is Good for Bad Times

By Paul D Hamm

It doesn’t take a web genius to know the Internet has become the most important source of entertainment in most households. In fact, according to Jupiter Research, a significant number of consumers report they’d prefer giving up their cars, shopping sprees, pay TV, and movies before surrendering their broadband. Matter of fact, very few people, as a percentage, would give up their broadband in a down economy. How quickly the world has changed.   

With so many people spending so much time at home, and online ... and since content producers, artists, brands and businesses are seeking new, creative ways to monetize online video, I’m sharing five simple reasons an Internet strategy might be the right answer for your content and business.

1. Achieve global brand distribution and reach without the high costs of traditional broadcast distribution. Broadband represents the most cost- effective network through which to directly reach disperse audiences globally with branded entertainment and information. Give people something to talk about and share and provide a platform for social interaction and you have the foundation for a money making business in any market climate.


2. Broadband has become the consumer entertainment and information "utility" network. According to recent Jupiter study, when asked how the current economic conditions would affect their spending, 63% of the online adults polled said they would drive less, 60% shop less, 44% take fewer vacations, 32% go to the movies less often, 12% cancel pay-TV channels—but only 2% say they will disconnect their broadband web service.


3. Reach people at home, where they are. A stable and growing global marketplace of broadband homes and offices means plenty of people to target using broadband video and social media. 


4. Create a "green" communication and entertainment strategy. Enterprises can reach customers and employees at home using broadband video as a very effective communication and branding tool, which can reduce travel requirements, costs and impact on the environment. Educational organizations can do the same by offering more online learning content and interactive virtual classroom environments. 


5. Find new ways to make money that is market resilient. By connecting with your audiences online and providing them with entertaining and informative destinations that bring people of like interests together in a social forum, you can easily create very fertile opportunities to build brands, promote products/services, deliver valuable content and monetize through advertising and paid services. Let your fans become your own viral marketing engine.

Those are a few of our thoughts. We’d like to hear some of yours!

Online Video Publishing: Nothing's for Free!

by Shaun Pope

This post is second in a series on creating a strong video marketing strategy: PRODUCE, PUBLISH, PROMOTE - Repeat!

In the first postI discussed declining video production costs and how UGC and DIY techniques can result in more content on a regular basis. This serialized content is key to building audience in a Social Media world.

With a content production plan in place, the questions quickly turn to delivery. The explosion of video sharing sites like YouTube, Blip.TV, Vimeo and many others has given rise to the user generated content (UGC) phenomena by making it easy to publish videos online. A main driver is that these services are FREE. In large part, this has been a good thing for broadband video providers and helped generate real data behind the theory that web video is a more compelling and effective medium.

The reality, however, is that these sites are cutting a deal with you; free hosting and delivery in return for loss of control, limited understanding of your audience, one-size fits all implementations and shared-to-no ability to monetize. The cost of this approach to your business down the line can be significant.

You should ask yourself: is building audience on someone else's site in my best interest? In most cases the answer is no. So what your doing is failing to invest in something that is emerging and expected to explode over the coming years, in return for a free offer. Your video content is helping another site build-out its long-term value rather than your own. That's not FREE.

To be fair, I must acknowledge the strong points of free video sharing services. They can deliver audience... not sure if it's the right audience, but audience nonetheless. SEO benefits can also be realized, but the search results generally take users back to the site where your video is hosted, not yours. Not overly compelling when you break it down.

If you're serious about making video content part of your marketing mix, or even more so, a central part of your business model (ad supported, subscription and/or pay-per-view), a free service will never get you there. You need to invest in a content management system that puts you back in control of your content, your audience and your revenue. In many cases, the workflow efficiencies alone will justify the cost associated with having your own Internet TV platform.

But the real opportunity is the ability to drive product sales, engage with your audience (collect data), give partners/sponsors the ability to reach your audience, and/or charge access to your premium level content. To fully realize this revenue opportunity you need control over media and the user experience, as well as touch points with other business systems. This is how you should be investing in the tremendous opportunity that exists with online video.

Remember, you get what you pay for.

If you'd like to learn more about how to get your own Internet TV platform and the power of a truly branded video experience, please email me at shaunp[at]endavomedia[dot]com.

Internet TV Platforms and UGC. Do It In ’09!

By Paul Hamm

With the User-Generated Content Conference and Expo having been held this week, I guess we still have UGC on our minds here at Endavo Media, after Pete Contardo blogged here earlier this week. It’s been the buzz around our offices. And we’re encouraging content producers and brand and marketing directors to conduct a UGC campaign for 2009. C’mon, let’s take the lead on this!

Despite the success and interest generated among Internet users worldwide, UGC campaigns haven’t yet, at least on a large scale, produced consistent ROI for marketers and site owners. While we believe marketing and revenue-generating opportunities for UGC campaigns are virtually endless, they do require a smart, sound UGC strategy, patience, risk-taking, creativity ... and a genuine commitment to making it work.We believe UGC can be a very profitable component of an entire social media strategy, but not a single whim or quick fix.

Look, research study after research study today tells us that web users under age 30 are spending more and more time viewing UGC videos ... way more than watching “traditional” broadcast television. This fact alone should spark strong interest in UGC campaigns among brand and marketing directors.

As Dave Dutch points out in a recent Online Video Insider article, UGC contests can turn customers and fans into a powerful network of content creators who communicate through video. Cult footwear favorite Crocs, for instance, has set up a site that invites lovers and haters of the brand to upload videos about how they feel about the product. Beverage brand Jim Beam is also hosting a user-generated social media event — a contest asking the public to create their own Jim Beam commercial for a chance to win $25,000. These are very real, successful UGC campaigns.

Yes, offering cash and other valuable prizes will inspire greater participation. Giving enough extrinsic motivators, as  Christine Beardsell points out, can inspire a short-term intense level of UGC participation. However, a winning strategy should be a combination of cash and prizes with intrinsic motivations.

At Endavo Media, we are predicting more and more companies this year and next will begin building their online communities through various video content, including UGC contests and promotions. And these communities in turn will come to represent potential new customers or much-sought-after eyeballs for advertisers. That’s how you can monetize online video.

What are your thoughts on the role of UGC in engaging web users and building online communities to build sales and advance brands? Please feel free to contact me anytime at 877.843.7242 or email me at paulh[at]endavomedia[dot]com.