Getting Traction for Your Video
Two Guest Experts:
Peggy Dau is the founder of MAD Perspectives (Yes… another “Mad” company). Her company guides businesses on how to use social media to create an audience and generate leads.
Zach Smith is the founder of Analog Method. His company designs and programs web applications to generate business success.
Ladies first …. so here is Peggy talking about using video in social media:
Social Media is about engagement. It doesn’t always work and for many companies has turned into an alternative “push” marketing channel. However, the opportunity for engagement does exist. What does that mean? It means an interaction between 2 or more people, sharing thoughts and responding to comments.
Video is the best way to share content as it’s more memorable. But at its core it is not social. It’s one way, unless of course you are video conferencing. The challenge is to create engagement around the video. Social media replaces the water cooler as the forum for that engagement. Viewers of the video can post comments, debate the topics shared in the video. This is working very well at the consumer level if you consider the volume of conversation that surrounds content posted by TV series on Facebook. For example, I “like” Mad Men. Every week, AMC posts excerpts from that weeks episode inviting comments on the topic highlighted. Engagement is occurring between viewers (not so much between viewers and producers). AMC also posts incremental “behind the scenes” content to further engage the viewer.
So, how does this translate for business? It comes back to the same old questions. Which social platforms are business customers using to consume content? How interactive are those platforms? Will the company monitor the channel to actually engage with the viewer? Will they probe for thoughts or prompt & invite debate? I actually think this could be a great idea for the right type of business – invite followers to view a video as they like, but then invite them to tweet up to debate the topic. Could be about the technology, relative benefits of the product/service, trends to drive further product development, whatever. Tools to simplify sharing are great (click here for some options). I’ve also checked out Unruly (love those brits!). Bottom line…. Ask how and why do you want your potential customers to engage and then ask how do you drive and support the engagement.
If you have any questions for Peggy, please feel free to contact her at:
Zach gives some tips for placing a video on an actionable landing page:
· Set a primary goal and maybe one (1) secondary one with a lower commitment. What is the call to action (CTA)? Perhaps the main CTA is to purchase a widget, so the secondary one could be to subscribe to get valuable information through the newsletter. The temptation of putting everything on your landing or home page will reduce its impact, so keep the content and design simple and focused.
· Stay consistent. The same message that brings the user to the page should be used on the page itself to keep continuity.
· Measure, test and refine. Make sure you have metrics and conversion tracking in place to know how people are responding to your landing page. Ideally, you’ll want to pit several versions of the page against each other to see which messages and designs elicit the best response.
If you have any questions for Zach, please feel free to contact him at:
