Why Incorporating VIDEO Into Your Social Media Strategy MATTERS!

Photo: Courtesy of Flickr Member Robbie Grubbs

It's Time To Start Flexing Some Serious Social Media Muscle!

The use of VIDEO as a highly effective means of promoting your business, product or service is too often underused and underrated.

Kristi Hines, professional blogger and freelance writer, posted the article below which explains how utilizing this social media super tool will both "boost your awareness and increase engagement" not only on your social media sites, but also on your business website and/or blog.  

Consumers are not just looking for sharp images or fancy-worded-descriptions of your must-have product.  They are looking for a (short, but meaningful) demonstration of what makes you and/or your product valuable to them.  Those who take the time to make short video clips for their websites/blogs/social media groups are demonstrating their willingness to go the extra mile to help a potential customer connect with the product or service they know will benefit them.

And the best part?  Most videos require minimal creativity and/or fancy equipment.  

Consider this:  What video clips have you seen that made you connect with a particular product, service, or even the desire to help meet a need?  How can you create a video clip that will draw people to your product and/or service in this way?

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5 Ways to Use Video to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

By Kristi Hines
Published August 26, 2013 

Are you thinking about adding videos to your social media mix?

Do you want to boost your awareness and increase engagement?

Social media networks provide a lot of video options.

From Google+ Hangouts to Twitter’s Vine and Facebook’s launch of Instagram Video, video is fast becoming an essential part of any business’s online marketing strategy.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to incorporate video from 5 platforms into your social media strategy.

#1: Vine Video

For those who aren’t into complex video production, Vine lets you create simple, six-second looping videos to share on Twitter and Facebook.

Showing off products at Walgreens in a Vine video.

Some brands on Vine include Xbox, HTC, Puma, Urban Outfitters and Walgreens.

Here are some ways businesses can use Vine to support strategic goals.

Tease or Demo a Product

In six seconds, you can show off the best features of your business’s productsor tease a new product launch.

The Glitch Mob used Vine to tease the preview of their new album.

Preview an Event

Got an upcoming webinar or conference? Give people a quick snippet of what they can expect with a Vine video. Take them behind the scenes of the preparation and make video a part of your event marketing strategy.

Showcase Your Portfolio

Share a six-second video sweep of your latest interior design creations. It’s more powerful than a flat photo because potential customers experience your work in context.

Pulp Design Studio used Vine to showcase their new spring line of silk florals.

Take Fans Inside

Take your fans inside your office, your store, your restaurant or any other place they usually can’t go to help them get to know your business on a more personal level. Show employees at work, hanging out and having fun. Show that the people inside your company are passionate about what they do and customers will be more confident in your service.

#2: Instagram Video

Instagram recently launched their own 15-second, non-looping video capability.

Instagram videos are distinguishable from Instagram images with a play button in the top right corner.

The service has an edge over Vine thanks to the editing capabilities that Instagram has to offer along with the fact that you can share Instagram posts beyond Facebook and Twitter to Tumblr, Flickr, email and Foursquare.

Some brands using Instagram video include Taco Bell, Burberry, Starbucks, Disney,Nissan USA, Topshop and General Electric.

Use Instagram video similar to the way you use Vine, with the added bonus of having almost twice the time to get your message across.

Starbucks shared a video of their flagship store in Pike Place.

#3: Facebook Video

Facebook allows verified users to create or upload up to 20 minutes of HD video. According to a study done by Dan Zarrella on how to get likes and shares on Facebook, video added directly to Facebook outperforms other video linked from networks such as YouTube in likes, comments and shares.

Chase uses Facebook video to show their community service.

If you want Facebook engagement for your videos, add them directly to your Facebook Page.

Brands using Facebook video include Chase, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Skittles, Burberry,Hollister, Wildfire and Angry Birds.

Here are ways businesses are using Facebook video:

Commercials

Bring your offline marketing online by sharing commercials for your businessdirectly on your Facebook Page to increase engagement and feedback. Better yet, let your fans help you choose the perfect commercial!

Skittles has 25 videos loaded to their Facebook Page.

Encourage Fan Video

Boost the activity level on your Facebook Page (and your EdgeRank score) and ask fans to share their best videos of your product. This is a great way to build up your video content without having to even create a video.

Send Personal Messages

Since you can record video directly from your webcam to your Facebook Page, why not send personal messages to fans? It can be anything from a well-known person in your business addressing current news about your business to employees recording their own tips of the week.

Show Your Caring Side

People love businesses that are involved in their community. Continue offering your fans more of your personal side and show how you help your community through service, donations, or by bringing awareness to important issues.

#4: Google+ Hangouts

If you’re looking to incorporate live video into your social media strategy, thenGoogle+ Hangouts are your best bet.

Coca-Cola uses Google+ Hangouts to add to their YouTube video collection.

Google+ Hangouts allow you to have up to 10 people (including the host) on webcam. You can also share your screen, YouTube videos and other media during your Hangout.

Since you can record Google+ Hangouts to YouTube, you can easily share them later on other social networks, just like you would any other YouTube video.

Some brands and well-known organizations that have used Google+ Hangouts include Glamour Magazine, NASA, Jaguar USA, Clinique UK, National Geographic,Cadbury UK and Coca-Cola.

Businesses can use Google+ Hangouts to:

Conduct Webinars

Educate your audience using a live stream through YouTube. You can reach an unlimited number of viewers who can watch you speak and share your screen, and you can record the webinar for your video library.

Interview People

If you like to record interviews as a part of your content strategy, you can create the Hangout just for two people, record it and upload it to YouTube after the interview is finished.

National Geographic interviewed Buzz Aldrin and Conrad Anker in the Everest, Mars, and Beyond: Hangout With Risk Takers.

Broadcast Panel Discussions

Your business can be an authoritative source in your industry when you hold regular panel discussions with industry experts. Your viewers can become a part of the discussion by chatting on Google+ beneath the streaming Hangout.

Hold Business Meetings

Need to collaborate with your marketing team and consultants face to face, but they’re scattered throughout the country (or even the world)? No problem—just set up a Google+ Hangout and you can get a total of 10 people together to discuss your game plan. You can even record it for future reference or for other members of your team who weren’t able to attend.

#5: YouTube

Last but not least is YouTube video. If you have videos on YouTube, you canincorporate them into every part of your social media strategy. On most social networks—Facebook, Google+ and Twitter—you can share a link to any video on YouTube and people can watch your videos directly on those networks.

Distinguish Your Portfolio

Add YouTube videos to various sections of your LinkedIn presence, such as your summary and your individual job listings, to turn it into a more diverse portfolio. Visitors can view your videos without leaving your profile or page.

Your Turn

These are just a few ways you can incorporate video into your marketing strategy. Check them out to see what works best for your business.

What do you think? What types of video do you use in your business strategy? What videos have you received the most engagement from? Please share in the comments!

Tags: facebook video, google hangouts, instagram video, kristi hines, marketing strategy, social media strategy, twitter vine, video content, video hangout, video marketing, video promotion, video strategy, video tip, vine, vine video, youtube

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Kristi Hines

Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and author ofKikolani, which covers content, search, and social media marketing for business, personal, and professional bloggers. Follow her on Twitter @kikolani and on Google+. Other posts by Kristi Hines »

9 Reasons For Using YouTube for Local Small Business Internet Marketing

You wouldn't travel without your wallet, would you? Well, according to top social media marketing professionals, you shouldn't blog without using internet videos to market yourself and your product either.

Look at the success of YouTube videos that went "viral" almost overnight.  There are countless videos that have caught our attention for different reasons.  

Here are a couple of our favorite videos that went viral, because they:

Made Us Laugh! 

(Charlie Bit My Finger - Again) 

Made Us Want To Dance!

(JK Wedding Dance Entrance)

Short video clips are hugely successful ways of getting information out - obviously.  But they are not just for cute show and tell of our kids, fun parties, and pet tricks.  This is an ideal way to let customers see and know what you do on a personal level.  

One small business bakery owner decided to share a few tips on making a fondant cake.  He had no idea that his short video demonstration would take off with over 200k hits in less than three months.  

Consider what a 5 minute video could do to boost your business.

The best thing about creating YouTube videos is that they can be utilized on every social media outlet you are part of:  Facebook, your personal blog or website, Twitter, and LinkedIn, just to name the major ones.  By simply providing a link to your video, people will also have the opportunity to explore the additional videos will create over time.  

This is a great way to personalize your products, promotions, and to let people get to know you on a level which shows you as a likable, trustworthy business person to work with.  

Help4SmallBusinesses posted on the Top 10 Reasons to jump on the video bandwagon.

1. Yelp.com and CitySearch both maintain that having a YouTube video on their listing for your company doubles the likelihood that the visitor to your listing will take some kind of action. What their claim leaves out is that a poorly created video will not produce those kinds of results and might have a negative effect. On the other hand, there are dozens of other good reasons to create one of more YouTube videos for your local small business other than its effect on Yelp.com.
   
   

   
   2. Not every business, but most, will generate more customer calls and decisions to shop if the client has a reason to trust you. The written word is good at this, because folks tend to trust what has been made permanent on paper or screen. But you can really increase trust by allowing your customers to hear and see your personal passion about your products and services through a video.
   
   3. The internet is hungry for information. If your YouTube video has information that your client base is seeking, they will find the video to get that information.
   
   4. YouTube has a search function. If you do a good job of Titling your video, creating a good description, and providing relevant keywords in the title, description, and tags, your potential customers will find you through the search mechanism on YouTube. They may also find you because you are related to other searches they do and videos they watch.
   
   5. YouTube videos show up on Google Searches and other similar search engines. It is not uncommon for a thoughtfully keyworded YouTube Video to show up higher than your $5000 website.
   
   6. By adding YouTube videos to your Google Maps Local Business Center listing, MerchantCircle listing, Yelp.com and others, you improve your ranking on those local search engines, and that helps to improve the ranking of your website.
   
   7. You can add your YouTube video to your website as a URL link, like thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-0VIHJCRk, or as an embed (see below). By putting the video on your website, you generate far more chances of it being seen. This is where you can really build trust and increase reasons for your customer to shop with you.
   
   8. You can add your YouTube video to your blog, your facebook, you can Tweet about it, and you can socially bookmark the original video, the article on your blog, and the facebook entry. All of these increase the chances of the video being seen, and also benefit your activities on these other web tools.
   
   9. Daily Motion and other video depositories similar to YouTube may pick up your video and add it to their listings. But if you don't want to wait and see if they do so, you can upload the same video to each one, or you can use an aggregator to put the video up on numerous of these sites all at once.

   
   You'll also want to read 2013's Top Blogging Tools and Plugins in order to enhance your business blog.
   

   
   

   Have you created YouTube videos to get your business name out there?  We'd love to hear your ideas and/or challenges with creating videos to market your business.

No Readers for Your Blog Posts? Here's A New Idea.

Reusing Old Blog Content - Great Article!

We can recycle anything, right?  Then, why can't we recycle and reuse old blog posts that we have allowed to sit and rot in the blogosphere garbage?  

We've all been there.  Spent dozens of hours, days, and weeks staring at the computer screen, typing away, assuring yourself that someone is going to read and love this blog post.  Then why do we feel lucky if one person actually stumbles onto our blog and improves our statistic significance?  

This article goes into detail explains that reusing long lost information is not limited to your blog content.  Listed below are the several places you may have not considered in your quest for creating fresh content.

• Articles you've written for article submission sites, other websites, or print magazines, newspapers etc. 
• Pages and pages of content that you or others wrote for your website
• Videos that you have produced that can be transcribed
• Material that was produced for PR releases
• Brochures about your company or product that you've created for mailers, trade shows, etc.
• Sales talks or presentations that you've recorded or that were already in print form

This same article explains in detail, several ways you can re-vamp information that was once passed over, and turn it into something with more vivacity to draw new readers to your website.  Randy Kirk writes, "Grab that great content and do whatever rewrite you need to do to turn it into great contect again.  Then you might want to use it once, or even multiple times in these nine ways."

• Blog it.
• Use it on your website.
• Online PR release
• Set up a new blog on a specialized aspect of your business.
• Do a YouTube video about the content.
• Send it out as part of an email blast (newsletter).
• Article submission is dead, but rewrite it and submit to Ezinearticles.com.
• Shop the article as a possible guest post on an industry blog.
• Be sure to tell the world about any of these efforts through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and any other social media or social bookmarking sites.

As marketing business people, we do our best to stay ahead of the ever-changing, worldwide marketing game. And while trying to keep up with the internet related aspects of business, on top of the other top priority issues we face on a daily basis, it's easy to believe we have missed the opportunity we didn't realize was even in front of us.  The good news is: this is one simple way to stay ahead of the game, as it only requires you to creatively re-create.

Hoping you find this article helpful to whatever business ventures you are currently endeavoring.