When it comes to content marketing, social media has become an essential part of most smart professionals’ marketing plans. They know that without a social presence, your online brand can appear outdated and unapproachable.
However, social media marketing isn’t as simple as a lot of business owners anticipate. Posting a tweet or a Facebook update now and then isn’t going to cut it!
Harnessing the power of social media can be achieved by using the following practices. Read More→
Are you considering creating an animated video for your business blog? Did you know that blog posts and articles with images perform 91 percent better than those without them (Skyword study, 2011)? Have you done a Google search lately that has video content that you can’t resist checking out? Oh yeah. I love video. You know what else I love? Animated videos!
Why is that? As a kid I always read the “funny pages.” I still do; I immediately locate the “strategic humor” in Harvard Business Review.
Apparently 90 percent of information transmitted through the brain is visual in nature. Visual content is processed 60,000 times faster than the written word.
Visual design is critical to every page you have, but never is it more important than helping your readers and customers understand your products and services. You can more easily explain the value of your business services in pictures than words.
Here’s an example from the clever marketing folks at wizMotions.
Animated videos aren’t something you can create at home, unless you’re a talented graphic designer. And most studios doing them charge quite a bit. I researched this and found a new studio with very reasonable prices: wizMotions.com.
Check out their services and portfolio to see if they might be able to create a short animated video that can spotlight your products and services. Tell them I sent you if you do. (I am not an affiliate, but I love their services!)
(P.S. This is not the first time I’ve used an animated video. I wrote about my first experience with this company when they were called Hypnovid. Interestingly, while researching “animated videos” on Google, my post “Get Blog Readers’ Attention with Animated Video” shows up on page 1 of search results. Now that’s what I call good performance for a blog post!)
What do you think? Have you considered using visual content for your business blog?
Content marketing using video is a key marketing tactic if you want to get found online, get known, and get clients.
Here’s what’s important about publishing video on your sites: Your business can get quick, effective search engine results that used to take months or even years to achieve, all for next to nothing to produce (you don’t need to buy expensive equipment and hire a producer).
Your physical presence and voice on video creates a powerful connection to potential new clients in a way that text can’t accomplish. Images are simply attractive to the human brain, and we’re hard-wired to pay attention to faces.
A few years ago I invested considerable time, money and energy to go through the mentorship program of Tom Antion. Even back then (2005?) Tom had installed a video production studio in his house and was gearing up for making his own infomercials and training videos.
As a professional speaker, it was a natural marketing vehicle for Tom. And it is for anyone who sells themselves as a service provider: executive coach, consultant, trainer, author, financial consultant, doctor, lawyer…
Tom always taught that he never invested in marketing tools he couldn’t master himself. Even though as an Internet guru and millionaire, he has staff and plenty of money to throw at marketing, he believes that any professional can master video marketing with a few basic skills and smart tips.
On Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 5 p.m. ET, you can learn from the two video marketing experts who work for Tom, Colin Martin and Marc Bullard with this free webinar.
If you haven’t registered, be sure to do so – you’ll reserve your seat, receive the access link, and the Webinar replay info:
YouTube Secrets Webinar: register here. Read More→
Do you ever wonder what Google, Facebook, and other sites record about your online viewing habits? They know more about you than you realize. And they don’t ask you, they simply assume way too much.
For example, although I live and work from Mexico, I do almost all my business and shopping in the US, in English. I find it annoying when I’m served up pages and ads in Spanish or for local businesses. That doesn’t interest me. But their algorithms mistakenly think otherwise. Why can’t they just ask me what I prefer?
Here’s a TED TV video I think worth viewing, it takes about 10 minutes.
By the way, on Thursday May 19 at 5 p.m. ET, I’m hosting a free webinar about YouTube and online video marketing presented by Colin Martin and Marc Bullard, and you can get the info here: http://bit.ly/jfLTBt
You probably already know you should be using video to attract readers to your website, but you might not know how easy and quick it is. Publishing video on your site is like a client magnet.
Trust me on this, you don’t need to buy expensive tools and hire a producer. It’s the best way to get new viewers to your website and blog. (And it’s really easy when you use a monthly production service like I do: iMotionVideo, who does it all for me!)
But what if you want to do it yourself? What are the basics you need to know? How can you learn to use video quickly?
This week, when two of Tom Antion‘s people called me up with an offer of a free webinar on video marketing, I immediately saw the value in sharing these video tips with you.
I asked them to deliver this webinar exclusively for professionals who don’t have a lot of time for marketing tactics.
Join me, along with Colin Martin and Marc Bullard, in a free webinar next Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 5:00pm ET to learn the secret tactics successful marketers are using on free hosting sites such as YouTube that are bringing an avalanche of traffic to their websites.
Register to attend and get the recorded webinar here:
http://bit.ly/jfLTBt
Online video is THE most powerful tool on the Internet for driving traffic to your websites and services. Search engines are focusing on online video to deliver the content their customers are looking for and have even changed their search parameters to push video to the top of the search results. Read More→
Having fun while learning has become my idea of a really good time. Forget drugs, booze and rock and roll. Now you can learn all about social media and the sociology of the Internet through video lectures.
If you’re an information junkie like I am, you spend way too much time over on TED.com watching fascinating videos on every topic of major importance in this world.
Unbelievable, non? It combines education with entertainment. It’s a great way to learn about the sociology of how people are using computers to connect with a global community.
My actual big screen TV is ignored (except for tennis and we’re waiting for the French Open at the end of May.)
What I find fascinating is the sociology of social media: we’re still operating with the same primitive brains. We crave connection with others and to find meaning in our lives. Now, however, we’re doing it online, on the Internet, using social media tools. Twitter is like a town square for the globe.
It’s hard to choose which lecture to watch on TED TV as there are so many good ones. I was glad to see this blog post over at OnlineCollege.org because my colleague Carol Brown has posted about 15 terrific TED Talks that pertain to social media and the Internet.
Here are some of the great talks that will help you learn more about new ways to use traditional media and innovative ways to bring more to the digital sphere – and the sociology that’s evolving.
- Peter Hirshberg on TV and the web: Take a look back at media and technology history with this talk. You’ll get a chance to see why watching TV on the web can be so much more engaging.
- James Surowiecki: When social media became news: Most of us spend a pretty good part of the day using social media, whether it’s reading blogs or using social networking sites. Here you can learn a bit more about the role social media is starting to play in reporting the news and what it means for more traditional media.
- Seth Godin on the tribes we lead: When you hear the word “tribe,” you probably think of it in the more traditional sense. But in this talk from marketing guru Seth Godin, you’ll learn about how it can be applied to how we use the web– with powerful results.
- Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia: It’s hard to remember a world without Wikipedia, but a decade ago the site was just getting its start. Learn how founder Jimmy Wales helped to create the amazing new media giant from this talk.
- Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users: You can’t do much on the web, or off of it for that matter, without hearing about Twitter these days. Check out this talk to gain a better understanding of how the site came to be what it is today.
- Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy: The internet is generally deemed a tool that makes humans more distant from one another, engaging in less real-time interaction. Broadbent argues against that here, claiming that this powerful new media tool actually lets us get closer together.
Now that’s my idea of a good time!
I was shocked to read some sample scripts for video commercials being filmed at the studios of iMotionVideo last week in Orlando. People are still confusing features and benefits in their marketing messages.
Some videos are great to watch, even if you’re not interested in what they’re selling. But others…OMG, it’s just sad.
The iMotionVideo service allows businesses to write and submit their video scripts, then they format and use actors or voice-overs to turn your script into great video commercials.
But many people aren’t clear in writing their marketing messages, confuse features with benefits, speak in jargon, and assume their viewers know what they know.
It’s a good thing iMotionVideo provides a professional actor, John Eastman. His rich baritone voice can make even the worst marketing message sound good.
Here’s what small businesses and independent professionals are doing wrong with their video scripts that they submit for one minute commercials:
What’s the quickest way to use videos for content marketing? How can you shoot a video clip in your hotel room while at a conference? I’ll demonstrate here. I plugged in my Logitech Webcam, pulled up a previous post on my blog, and spoke into the camera.
It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough, and it was done start to finish in 30 minutes. Using video blogging, you can easily get found by clients who have problems you can fix.
Click here to watch the 1 minute video…. Read More→
What’s the best way to write a script for a video? Content marketing with videos is a key marketing tool, and it’s getting easier to do.
Here’s a new video the folks over at iMotionVideo Studios produced for me. I just love this service. Left to my own devices, I’d probably make one video every few months. But with a low-fee monthly subscription for a year, I know I’ve got a one-minute video commercial coming every 30 days. This is key for content marketing.
Why would I want that many? I don’t really, but for content marketing to work you need as much content as you can, in all forms. I use them to submit to video directories, post to YouTube, and it all counts to get found in Google searches. Some content marketing things have to combine quality AND frequency.
Most of the time I focus on how important it is to write quality online content for your readers, and teach my clients to achieve maximum results, they have to be writing things that are relevant and important to their readers: how do you solve their problems. Read More→
Here’s a quick video I’m using to promote Suzanne Bird-Harris’ fabulous WordPress Sales Page Template.I love the image of the “web designer thief” that sneaks across the screen about half way through… 😉
Take a look, and if you haven’t downloaded the free audio interview and transcript we did together, go to PatsiPicksWPSalesPage.com and do so now.
What do you think about the video? I think the folks at iFlashVideo.com did a super job!
I want to share with you this nice email I got from Kathy Porter, who was on the actual teleseminar call:
“Hi Patsi – your webinar training on how to incorporate a sales page into a WordPress platform is one of the BEST things I’ve participated in this year. (I’ll be creating my own WordPress blog shortly, now that I’ve gotten my feet wet using Typepad.)
Think I can help you expand your reach with this product by tweeting and “face-booking” your affiliate link as my heartfelt thank you for making this info available.”
Kathy Porter
Creator and Owner, MrsBizWhiz
Web site/blog: www.MrsBizWhizConnects.com
