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Lady Gaga and Zynga Team up to sell Unicorns and Music in Farmville

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:50:06 +0000

Just when you think you’ve seen it all…

If the idea of grown adults playing an online virtual farming game (and often shelling out real cash to do so) doesn’t surprise you, then check out FarmVille‘s newest neighbor: Lady Gaga. Yup, the Pop Princess of Weird has partnered with online social gaming wizards Zynga to bring you the future of cross marketing. And it hurts so good.

If you are unfamiliar with the FarmVille sensation (which boasted 11 million players in August 2009 one month after its release, 33 million in September 2009, 80 million in February 2010 and now numbers are in the hundreds of millions worldwide), it is a virtual online game available on multiple platforms now including: Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, Android, Farmville.com, MSN Games, and Yahoo!. As the name implies, players build a farm complete with crops that need planting, watering, and harvesting, animals that need tending, and buildings that offer unique benefits. Players (or “neighbors” as they are called in the game) can visit each other’s farms helping out and giving virtual gifts. While the game is free to play, in-game items can be purchased to enhance game-play or give certain advantages.

In a cross-marketing play, Zynga has partnered with Lady Gaga to promote her newest album “Born This Way” through the game. One leg of the promotion is that if you purchase a $25 Game Card (like a gift certificate for in-game “money”) from Best Buy, you will receive Gaga’s new album and other game items as a free download upon redeeming it in FarmVille. Not a bad deal if you play FarmVille and had planned on buying “Born This Way” anyway. [See banner ad above.]

FarmVille players can also visit a Gaga-themed farm titled “GagaVille” featuring crystals, unicorns, and colorful trees where they can unlock and listen to songs from “Born This Way” after completing tasks. The music streams are powered by radio giant Clear Channel’s digital radio service iHeartRadio, marking the first time they have partnered with a social gaming firm. “In addition, Lady Gaga will announce codes that unlock exclusive Lady Gaga-inspired limited edition virtual items on 148 Clear Channel stations on May 17, including New York’s Z100 and LA’s KIIS-FM.”

“I want to celebrate and share ‘Born This Way’ with my little monsters in a special way that’s never been done before,” said Lady Gaga. “Zynga has created a magical place in FarmVille where my fans can come play, and be the first to listen to the album.”

That “magical place” comes complete with a Gaga-themed shopping experience. Players must spend real money to buy virtual items like the unicorn “Purple Ponytail”, a “Fame Sheep”, “Sparkly Glasses”, other outfits for your character, a “Crystal Stage” and fountain. (But don’t worry – items like the “Bedazzled Tractor” and “Violet Gem” can be bought with coins earned in the game.)

The promotion also reaches across other Zynga games and platforms. Words With Friends (basically Scrabble), the popular mobile social game available iPhone, iPad, as well as Android devices, will feature a daily “Words with Gaga” contest, giving players a chance to win Gaga prizes including tickets to an upcoming concert and a signed copy of “Born This Way.” Zynga is also rewarding players with limited edition Lady Gaga virtual items on RewardVille.com.

This is the second time Zynga and Lady Gaga have teamed up. In March 2011, the two entertainment icons teamed up to raise more than $3 million for Japan relief efforts.

UPDATE: 5/19/11

I just ran across a banner ad for the Gaga/Zynga promotion on YouTube. The video insert features a farmer and his family planting real crystals and brushing pink haired ponies – pretty funny actually….

Advanced Tactics to Maximize Your SEO Opportunities from Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz

Corrie Davidson — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:18:10 +0000

Rand Fishkin, the CEO & Founder of SEOmoz.org, managed to stuff an inspiring presentation on “Advanced Tactics to Maximize SEO Opportunity” into a too-short 25 minutes presentation at the What’s Next DC 2011 Conference on Monday, January 24th. With organic search results becoming increasingly competitive, Rand’s specific tactics supplemented with examples and case studies had me eager to try some new techniques to pimp out our website. You can view his slidedeck here. (All photos by Nakeva Corothers). Some key takeaways included:

Google & Bing said: Facebook public shares and Twitter tweets directly impact search engine rankings. An individual users influence also affects this.
SEO is still under-invested. SEO surfaced links (organic listings) get 82% of clicks from the 1-2 billion searches on Google every day. Much more than PPC terms which only get 18% (People are ignoring the “ads” or paid listings). Yet 85% of budgets go to PPC campaigns, and only 15% on SEO (firms, consultants, software, etc.)
Human beings search for really weird stuff. We really are unique snowflakes. The top 12,000 keywords only account for 18.5% of searches! 70% of searches are long tail odd terms.
According to Google, 25% of searches that occur every month have never been seen before, have never been typed into Google before (10+ years).
Google has happy searchers – despite what critics are saying. “Noise” or irrelevant returns are people’s biggest complaint. When asked, “How well do search engines help you find information?” 47% said Excellent. 42% said Good. 10% said Fair. 0% said Poor. 1% said Not Sure.
Key SEO Principle: Accessible, good quality content.
Avoid all-flash intros. They are the WORST thing to do for SEO. Search engines will not find you.
Key SEO Principle: Keyword research & targeting. You have to target things people are searching for, and optimize your titles accordingly.
Key SEO Principle: Link Building.
Key SEO Principle: Social Sharing. Engage users on your site (social). Utilize social media and viral marketing.
What Matters in Search Engine Rankings: 24% Trust/Authority of the Host Domain. 22% Link Popularity of the Specific Page. 20% Anchor Text of External Links. 15% On-Page Keyword Usage. 7% Traffic and Click-Through Data. 6% Social Graph Metrics. 5% Registration and Hosting Data.
Be Cautious: Don’t get jaded if junk ranks higher than you. Being the best knowledge source does not mean you will rank highest. Popularity is a big factor in SEO. You may not be best or brightest, but if people like you, you’ll do well.
Remarkable SEO Tactics: Own and control your Link Juice. Google’s “nofollow” is a no-go now. (Rand mentions the #whatsnextdc website as a stellar example of consolidation and using link anchors wisely.)
Take advantage of 301 repoints and Rel Canonical. (Rand recommends putting it on every page.)
Find and fix the errors on your page! Save your SEO juice! There are free programs that can help you do this.
Be a Link Magnet. Build a platform where users contribute on your site and give users an incentive to contribute. (Example: Quora.) Get influencers to guest blog for you. Use Embeddable content to make linking a default behavior. (Example: Vimeo.)
You can “Skip the Normal Rankings”. Videos rank higher easily (submit video xml sitemaps). Get included in Google News. Images. Blogs. Social Circle. Rich Snippets.

Stay Engaged:

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The Future Shopper, How Offline is the New Online from Bryan Eisenberg

Corrie Davidson — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:43:21 +0000

Bryan Eisenberg, Managing Partner at Eisenberg Holding, was the second presenter at yesterday’s “What’s Next DC – Your Marketing Communications Roadmap” Conference. He held one of the two 45 minute time slots with “The Future Shopper, How Offline is the New Online”. It was a great presentation on how the convergence of communications, logistics, and financial technology continues to evolve to reduce the friction in the customers’ buying process. (Photo by Nakeva Corothers) Takeaways included:

Yes, we need to teach more college students about digital marketing as that is where the world is headed, but you can’t understand the future unless you understand what happened in the past. You must understand old trends to excel at new ones.
We are due for a major change in financial transactions. Facebook credits for example. 41% of people on Facebook play games like Mafia Wars, Cityville, Farmville and use “virtual credits”.
Logistics: When Romans built roads, trade expanded. People could buy/sell more things with more people. Introduce planes, trains & automobiles – an ever expanding marketplace.
Communication evolution is all about how do you get the message out to more & more people – beginning with the advent of the printing press.
Everyone in marketing should read “The Clue Train Manifesto“. In 1999 its authors proclaimed “the end of business as usual” and recognized the changing trends.
Social media is all about connecting individuals together.
87% of internet users have used the internet to browse and research products and services.
42% of shoppers research products online and then buy online.
51% of people research products online and then buy in store.
32% of people research online, go and visit the store, and then come back and buy online!
16% of people visit a store and then buy online.
“All media is digitizing today.” Examples: AXA is the first Insurance Company in Belgium to launch an iPhone app. They launched it with the first iAd in newspapers and magazines. Users placed their iPhone on the ad which then comes to life on their iPhone. At the end, a product demo plays and then users are prompted to download the App.
CBS and Pepsi actually embedded a screen into a the print magazine Entertainment Weekly with ads for tv shows.
Best Buy: Why Best Buy Loves Mobile “Our job as retailers is to create tremendous buying experiences for our customers.”
Recent Study: More people willing to go without sex for 30 days than go without their cellphones. The world is changing.
Google Dashboard has more info about you than most people you know… have you checked yours lately?
Mobile is changing the way people are buying, the way we are shopping. See: TaxiMagic. See: Red Laser (over 2 million downloads). See: ShopSavvy. See: Layar – Watch video.
3000% growth in mobile shopping queries.
If everyone knows everything about your products and everyone else’s, why should they buy from you? How are you going to stand out?
Future: Personalized, customized ads and experiences. “People want this kind of technology.” Personalization is HUGE. Amazon knows this.
“Recommended for you” statements converted 74% of survey respondents in regards to mobile shopping.
Online, every detail matters. Do you have a model in your ad? Have you tested her eye direction? Having her look at product as opposed to looking at you, generates better response. People want to know what shes looking at and so interact with the product better.
You can’t persuade people on Facebook the same way you do on Google. It doesn’t work. It never will.
There are 4 basic personality types, and they all gather information differently. Logical-Competitive: if info isn’t right there and tell them exactly what they are looking for, they bail. Logical-Methodical: they look at every little detail, analyzing every link. Emotional-Spontaneous: attracted to pictures, etc. Emotional-Deliberate: look at reviews, personalized things.
Overstock.com had 90% bounce rate on movie page. Changing one graphic on a website resulted in $25 million in sales. You must test your websites. Eye tracking. Search terms.
Macy’s introduced the “Magic Mirror” allowing you to try on clothes virtually in their stores.
Adidas has a virtual footwear wall, allowing shoppers to browse and get info on all of Adidas’ products – whether they are in-stock or not.
See: Kinect.
It’s not your competitors that you have to keep up with – its your customers. You have to understand where your customers are going. (2 yr olds can interact with an iPad.)
Your Goal: Figure out how to be cross-channel, to be nimble. You have to look overseas – look at the trends in Japan, in China.
Its a lot of hard work. Its a lot of steps. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
To be a successful marketer you must be: Customer intimate. Remarkable. Authentic. Nimble. Continuously improving (Always be testing!).
Marketing today is real time.

You can follow Bryan on Twitter at @thegrok

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#DCWEEK 2011 Dates and Registration Announced

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:49:36 +0000

The folks over at DCWEEK have announced this year’s event dates! DCWEEK 2011 will take place in Washington DC, November 4-11, 2011.

“DCWEEK is a festival in the US capital focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators of all kinds. It’s a series of 100s of distributed events powered by the community and complemented by core conferences, parties, and projects created by the festival organizers iStrategyLabs and Tech Cocktail. DCWEEK 2010 was assembled in 3.5 months and drew 6,000 attendees from around the world.”

Last year, I attended two days of DCWEEK and really enjoyed them. I met people I still talk to online! Check out our blog entries from DCWEEK 2010:

Registration is now open, and is free for the first 2000 attendees!

For sponsorship inquires please email: goto@digitalcapitalweek.org
Submit an idea for a topic or event
Join the Facebook Group
Follow DCWEEK on twitter (Use #dcweek)
View the 2011 DCWEEK Overview and the Metrics from 2010

Online Video: Who’s Watching?

Corrie Davidson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:12:30 +0000

Online video watching is steadily increasing among all user demographics. Below you will find some statistics from a survey by Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

The percentage of all adults who watch video online jumped 14 points in the past two years, from 52% of all online adults in May 2008 to 66% in May 2010.
80% of Millennials watch online video.
55% of Older Boomers have watched online video, up from 30% in 2008
20% of G.I. Generation have watched videos online.
Over the past few years, comedy video viewership has grown more than any other type of video asked about in our surveys: in 2009 half of all online adults (50%) had watched a comedy video online.

Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 29-May 30, 2010 Tracking Survey. N=2,252 adults 18 and older.

Takeaways from the Government Video Expo 2010 in DC

Corrie Davidson — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:57:55 +0000

This week Washington, DC played host to the annual Government Video Expo. In addition to an exhibit hall full of equipment and technology (and more displays playing Avatar than I ever care to see again) there were certification classes, paid conference sessions, free presentations, and community meetings. The Expo runs Nov 30-Dec 2 2010, but I attended yesterday to scope out the scene, walk the tradeshow floor, and see what the manufacturing industry had to offer. In this article I will talk about the presence (and lack) of social media among attendees, and advice on how to get work as a freelancer for government agencies, in addition to mentioning some of the sessions I attended.

Social Media and Creating Meaningful Connections at a Tradeshow Event

Having attended conferences and seminars of this nature in the past, I have grown used to live tweeting and connecting with people online through the event’s hashtag and then meeting up in real life or continuing the connection post-event on Twitter. I was surprised by the lack of attendees participating in social media during the event – despite the Expo being populated with such technically savvy people. Granted, the wifi was bad and there was no free internet (the convention center charges $24.95 per day for access – OUCH), but even I with my simple cell phone was tracking hashtag use and tweeting. Based on my observations and experience, I would recommend the following for Government Video Expo (@gvexpo) and its vendors to better engage attendees next year:

Have an official hashtag for your specific event. In this case, there was an official hashtag – #gve10. But not everyone got the memo. #gvexpo is the most used, and even #govvid10 made some appearances. The problem here is by not unifying the conversation, you lose a lot of notification and connecting opportunities. A more prominent (and pre-event) release of the official hashtag would have helped here.
Encourage vendors to display their twitter handles prominently on their booths. I for one actually had some difficulty tracking down some Twitter users/companies as their booth signage did not match their usernames – and i wanted to win that iPad!
Get someone to sponsor free internet! Surely one of the major brands and technology companies in attendance would have stepped up – I (and I know most of the other attendees) would have rather had internet access than any of the raffle prizes yesterday. Live tweeting means links, photos, and content blasted out to the world in real time! It creates buzz and free advertising for your event.
Include attendees twitter handles on their badges – it makes it easier when looking for people you planned to meet up with and allows you to connect with people offline who you have seen around online.
Vendors should have whoever is tweeting for them be at their booth! When you are talking to someone online, go to the booth as asked, and then no one their knows what you are talking about (or what Twitter is in some cases) then you feel stupid and leave with a bad taste in your mouth. (Also, always have someone at your booth – nothing worse than an unattended booth especially if you have questions! Looking at you Petrol!)
Offer a Twitter Raffle prize. Next year, give prizes to a random tweeter each day (they have to see it and claim it on twitter!) or give one to the most prolific tweeter of the conference (who tweeted about the event). Its a good way to make sure everyone is using the right hashtag too.

(Several manufacturers, Panasonic shown here, had sample sets complete with actors so visitors could test out cameras and displays.)

Meet the Government Producer’s Panel

The Television, Internet, and Video Association (TIVA) hosted an interesting panel really focused on how freelancers could best work for government agencies. Responses from the panel members below include how they want to hear from you, what they want to see, and who they need. Tanya Spann Roche of Think Speak Act Media moderated the panel and lead off with some general advice. To work with most government agencies:

Must have a TIN (Tax ID Number) (free to acquire)
Must have a DUNS number (free to acquire, though they will try to sell you their services)
Must Sign up in the CCR database (free, but must renew this annually – and they may not notify you!)
Its good to have the ability to take credit cards/bank cards with a genuine Merchant Services Account as it is illegal for many agencies to use paypal.
For larger contracts (in excess of $100k), you are required to use the E-Verify System to guarantee employees are legal citizens.
For “micropurchases” (or those under $3k, no competition or posting by a government agency is necessary. Purchasing is completed by micropurchase cardholders.
Purchases by a government agency over $3k require competition and small business set aside. Purchasing is completed by contracting officers.
For purchases over $25k, government agencies are required to post the need on FedBizOpps.

Matthew Zappile, a Producer for the United States Postal Service was the first on the panel to speak. He began with a sizzle reel of the work they do at the USPS which is geared toward employee training needs, lobby digital signage, USPS-TV on demand (check out their youtube channel), event production, press materials, and information workers can access on Blackberries or on the mobile devices they carry with them. There is a lot of fear of the internet and social media at the USPS, Zappile said, but they are trying to move forward with it. For production, Zappile is on a 4 person in-house team with everyone wearing several talent hats, and if you want to work with them:

For freelancers they often hire editors (must know Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and more – they are an FCP studio) and other crew members – with multi-talented people being the requirement.
They DON’T need writers, producers, or single-skilled people.
Don’t send them DVDs – they want to see your work online – and their email can only handle 5MB or smaller sizes.

Bob Martindale, the Director of Post production at AARP-TV was careful to specify that he only works in the broadcast department for AARP – they have multiple media departments that produce their own video. While not a government agency, with 30-40 million members, AARP is the world’s largest lobbying organization. A lot of work is done by freelancers in Martindale’s department, if you want to work with them you should know:

They are an AVID shop and are always looking for freelance editors who can utilize After Effects as well.
They do take on other crew members as well – especially local contractors for remote work.
He is NOT interested in resumes! He is interested in resume reels.
Prima donnas need not apply. “We are selecting, not settling.”
If you do a lot of work for them, you will eventually be asked to move to a payroll company.
You can send him DVDs, but he’s impressed by a good website with videos online.

Ron Meininger, the Chief of AV Communications at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (under the US Department of Commerce) is responsible for producing all general marketing media and most technical and training videos. Speed is a major factor for Meininger and so most of their processes and hiring is based on decreasing the length of time it takes to produce a project. As a result, they create most of their projects with multiple vendors. If you are a writer, videographer, editor or anyone else and want to work for them, you should know:

Captions (and 508 Compliance) are a federal government requirement.
You can find their purchase needs (especially for larger projects) on FedBizOpps.
Speed is crucial. they often use services like yousendit to shorten the review process.
If you are a Voice Over Artist: “I don’t want to get post cards! Call or email me.”
If you are a videographer or an editor: “I don’t want to see demo reels or a clip here and a clip there. I want to see a COMPLETED program.”
“I want to hear from people first before they send me stuff.”
Don’t send DVDs – send an email with a link to view your work online.

Panasonic: Your First Look at AG-AF100 4/3rd HD Camera

Jan Crittenden Livingston, Product Line Manager at Panasonic, gave attendees a first look at Panasonic’s new AG-AF100 4/3rd HD Cinema Camera (shown in photo on the left). While some claim this tiny wonder could be a DSLR killer, Livingston says with a $5ooo price point, its really the next step up from DSLRS. The AF100 is not meant to replace ENG cameras (does not have motorized servo zoom), but is geared toward indie filmmakers and production companies. Virtually any lens can be mounted to it, and it writes to SD media. The AF100 is Panasonic’s first camera to do both undercrank and overcrank in 1080. It offers uncompressed audio and utilizes AVCCAM recording.

DC Metro Final Cut Pro User Group

The full day was capped off by the monthly meeting of the DCFCPUG which boasted food (provided by sponsor AJA Events), a massive attendance, and the most informative talk of the day: Intro to Stereoscopic Aquisition by Gary Adcock. Adcock is a HUGE believer in 3D and has worked on many major projects in the industry. He’s done 52 3D projects in 2010 alone. He stated that 3D is not a fad and its not going away and then launched into an increasingly technical definition of terms and specifications involved in 3D equipment, media management, and production.

(DC Film Community Corner at Government Video Expo 2010)

VBRICK: The New Government Communications Strategy: Video as a Vital Resource

John Bowman, Director of Federal Sales at VBRICK, shared some data from an interesting Gartner User Survey Analysis: Video Content Management and Delivery: Streaming Goes Mainstream (August 2010). While his brief talk quickly skewed to the benefits of VBRICK as a video streaming solution, some points were:

Training is currently the #1 use of IP Video
Most companies are buying hardware or software to host/deliver video.
Most companies use corporate WAN to deliver video – though over the internet is growing.

(Tedd Tramaloni, a Production Specialist at Snell Group, works on a multi-screen display.)

Video: About Captico

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:28:11 +0000

Learn a little more about Captico and meet some of the team in this short video!

Digital Capital Week 2010 – “A Slice of DCWEEK”

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:08:37 +0000

DCWEEK has finally come to an end for creatives in the Nation’s Capital and now its time to recap the bits of knowledge gleaned by roving reporter yours truly. Digital Capital Week (DCWEEK) is a 10 day festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital. It took place from June 11th to June 20th, 2010 in venues across the city with the mission of strengthening the capital region’s digital economy via events focused on creativity, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, content creation, and innovation.

One of the unique aspects of DCWEEK is its openness. Anyone can participate, host, sponsor, lead a project, or just throw a party. Most sessions were free, though some events did require you to purchase a ticket.

I personally attended Media 2.0 Day and Gov & Org 2.0 Day on June 15th and 16th, 2010 respectively, live tweeting, note-taking and recording audio, in addition to snagging a couple of quick video interviews with various event attendees, including: Audrey Matthias of istrategylabs, Angela Hausman of Hausman & Associates, Lauren Garcimonde-Fisher, Allyson Kapin of RAD Campaign/Women Who Tech, Carie Lewis of The Human Society, Eric Lewis of The Bivings Group, Kathy Dunne of Exponent Partners, Caitlin Currie, Connor Turner of Armadillo Studios, Inc., Tyler Gray of The Bivings Group, Sukumar Ganapati of Florida International University.

You can view the video here: A Slice of DCWEEK – Digital Capital Week 2010

You may also be interested in Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Gov & Org 2.0 Day and Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Media 2.0 Day.

Video: “Social Media for Business” Series with Emily Paterson

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:09:35 +0000

In this 3-part video series, Emily Paterson presents Social Media for Businesses, beginning with an Introduction to Web 2.0, then a quick look at Blogging 101, and finishing with an overview of Twitter 101.

Intro to Web 2.0 lightly digs into the origin of Web 2.0 thinking, what makes it different from previous thought, and why businesses should care. Emily emphasizes the need to add real value to your web presence and mentions: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter.

Blogging 101 defines what a blog is and can be, provides some reasons why you should be blogging, gives advice on how to make a successful blog, and lists some tools and resources you may find helpful.

Twitter 101 analyzes current statistics on Twitter’s growth and use, citing examples such as the Dalai Lama, @mashable, and Bill Gates. It takes a simplified approach to break down the anatomy of a tweet providing helpful knowledge for those new to the micro-blogging tool such as the language you use, what you should tweet, and some tools and resources to help you be successful. (Check out Captico’s Twitter account)

Video: Weekly Web Redux: User Interface Instructions

Corrie Davidson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:48:42 +0000

This video is based on this edition of the blog version of “Weekly Web Redux: IA and Google”

The Small Print: Writing User Interface Instructions
http://understandinggraphics.com/design/writing-user-interface-instructions/

People assume certain things about the functionality of a website. Generally, these can be noted as common interface elements (button rollovers, selected states, etc…)
Mental models are “general ideas about how things work.” Think of them like muscle memory in sports only with interactions on a webpage.
Following common mental models prevents user frustration.
Know your audience and tailor the user experience accordingly.
Be precise without loosing anything important.
Descriptive words on call-to-actions improve user experience.
Avoid passive wet noodle writing. State what should be done don’t ask.
Margins and padding help define content grouping
Be a font nerd. Don’t deviate from your site guidelines. Make fonts readable.
A picture is worth a thousand words to the less savvy (illustrate how to’s in less obvious situations).
Whenever possible make calls to action “personal” targeting your user directly. When possible I would also use personal information that you have available. Example: “Hey [username], welcome back”.
Instructions should be freely accessible to anyone (508 compliance?).
Always test your instructions with those who haven’t used your product. Do they make sense?

Video: How Business Professionals Are Using the Internet & Social Media to Promote Their Companies

Corrie Davidson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:51:31 +0000

The Internet, Social Media, and Your Business

Interviewees included:
Jay Williams, Jay Williams Design Company
Norman Bozin, FFUSA
Art Ayris, Kingstone Media Group
Garland Griswold, Logolize It
Kevin O’Neill, Mid Atlantic Networking
Mark Stickels, ExFuze
Joelle Kosmin, Send Out Cards
Tammy Bowers, Rolling Ads
Satchie Carvounis, Security Trust Company
Anita Berns, Brown & Bigelow
Jeremy Broadhurst, Metro Technical Services
John Taylor, TIARTA
Chris Curry, New York Life
Shari Sternberger, Elements of Energy
Natalie Jobity, Elan Image Management
Jerry Schwartz, BNI Maryland

Video: Just for Fun – Outtakes from Captico

Corrie Davidson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:15:56 +0000

We thought we’d give you a funny short video to chew on while we finish up our newest video featuring interviews with VP of Engineering Todd Fisher, Application Engineer Jonathan Phillips, and Marketing Analyst Delphin Thebaud.

Captico Outtakes from Interviews

3 Basic Steps for Using Video to Better Market Your Business Online

Corrie Davidson — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:03:54 +0000

Everywhere you look online it seems, video is popping up. Whether its product videos, customer testimonials, storytelling, commercials, promotional clips, or just goofy personal installments, everyone has jumped on board. Network television has Hulu.com, the bloggers have their vlogs, filmmakers are using Vimeoand AtomFilms, photo sharing sites like Flickr and Photobucket host video, even social networking giants Facebook and MySpace have joined the party- and of course, many still count on the all mighty YouTube to host and link to their video assets.

1. Decide if you want it.

Companies left and right are adding video to their product pages, to their “about us”. They are posting information and promotional segments on their websites. You can now walk a potential customer through a complicated process, or the steps for using a product. You can give them a better look at what they are buying and entice their senses. According to the BIA Kelsey Group, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30-40% and phone inquiries by 16-20%. Web video is a proven selling technique and is far cheaper than traditional advertising.

2. Get it done.

Whether you take a DIY approach (perhaps through a blog format) or hire someone to do it (Captico can include it in an SEO/SEM campaign), you find a way to get some videos put together that reflect your goals and brand image. Remember that this video can add to your credibility, build trust, and improve your customer experience, so whatever you do, do it right. If the goal of your video is to sell a product, make sure that it:

a) Tells the viewer why to buy the product or service;

b) Explains what they need to do or the steps involved clearly – whether that is “click the buy button” or walks them through a sign up process;

c) Motivate the viewer! Make sure you have a call to action and end the video on a strong note!

Your video does not need to be lengthy or overly flashy- in fact its better if its not, customers can see through overly scripted sales pitches- but you need to keep your end goal in mind and focus the viewer onto doing what you want them to do. [I recommend reading Creating Persuasive Interactive Video for E-Commerce.]

3. Get it out there!

Whether you host the video on your own site or embed it from a YouTube service, you need to get it in front of people. Post it on your Facebook page and add it to your Google Local Business Listing.

Don’t forget optimization in your video plan though. Search engines return what are called “blended results” meaning they find images, videos, articles and more, so you want to take advantage of this. According to a recent experiment by Nate Elliot of Forrester Research, when analyzing search results from common queries, they found that on the keywords for which Google offers video results, any given video in the index stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text page in the index. That’s HUGE for any business. Elliot suggests the following tips for optimizing your online videos:

a) Insert keywords into your video filenames. [Google pays a lot of attention to the titles of videos]

b) Host your videos on YouTube, and embed those YouTube videos into your own site. Google says its algorithms consider how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the ‘views’ tally on YouTube. (And yes, nearly every video we saw Google blend into its results came from YouTube.)

c) Optimize your YouTube videos by writing keywords into your videos’ titles, descriptions, and tags.

d) Embed videos into relevant text pages on your site. The context provided by the text on those pages (which is hopefully already optimized for search as well) will help the search engines figure out what your videos are about.

e) Also create a video library on your site, so Google knows where to find your video content. (Google Video Sitemaps can help with this too.) Write keyword-rich annotations for each video in the library.

[You may also want to read additional Video SEO Tips and Techniques.]

You may also be interested in reading: ROI: Web Video sells. Even if customers don’t watch it!

ROI: Web Video sells. Even if customers don’t watch it!

Corrie Davidson — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:58:30 +0000

Video. You need it; customers want it; and boy is it useful.

Studies and statistics continue to show that using video on your website not only improves online visibility and adds to your company’s credibility, but it also engages customers in a way that increases conversions. In fact, recent case studies by Treepodia show that videos help sell products even when customers don’t watch them. Shoppers who viewed the videos were MORE likely to buy than those who did not view, but -based on multivariate testing- visitors who did NOT watch the videos converted at a significantly higher rate than those who saw the same product page without the option for video viewing. This gets back to the credibility benefit. Customers assume that if you believe in your product or service enough to show it in detail and explain it thoroughly, then you have nothing to hide and it must be “good”. (This is another reason why good website design is important. Having a beautiful and easy to use website makes it look like you invested in that asset and to do that you must be doing alright- you look more legitimate. Video is an added asset. Its comforting.)

When it comes to actually surfacing your video on your website, you can either link to the video hosted elsewhere (a dedicated video page, a 3^rd party like, Youtube, etc) or you can actually embed the video on that product’s page so viewers simply hit “Play”. Mark Robertson, the Founder and Creator of REELSEO references Treepodia in saying “If you add a simple link to video from any given product page, you can expect something between a 5%-15% video view rate, while a video player embedded on the same page will deliver a view rate ranging from 10%-35%.”

But don’t limit yourself to simply product videos! There are lots of benefits to having videos on and off-site about your company.

You may also be interested in reading: 3 Basic Steps for Using Video to Better Market Your Business Online