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Most companies, agencies and associations know that visual storytelling needs to be part of the online communications mix. Technology and audience reach are no longer an issue and the simple act of placing video on a page boosts overall search results. This creates divine opportunity for Marketing, PR, IR and Corporate Communications professionals, but a wing, a prayer and repurposed b-roll is not enough to shine a light on your message. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) can be a messengers best tool and this tip sheet will teach you how to use it. The people have gathered. According to comScore Video Metrix, 178 million U.S. Internet users enjoyed 6.2 Billion viewing sessions in June, 2011 for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer. Globally, more than 3 billion videos are viewed a day on YouTube alone. Demand for online video is strong and it is expected to grow by 81 percent by 2015. Thats the good news.
The bad news? Finding a specific video can be akin to wandering through the desert in search of a particular grain of sand. More than 13 million hours of video were uploaded to YouTube during 2010 and 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 50,000 hours of content uploaded every day.
Have faith, Marketers, because youll need it to succeed IF your video is NOT search engine optimized. For inspiration, look to Zappos, king of online retail and VSEO. According to The State Of Video In E-Commerce Q1 2011 by Sunday Sky, a study of keywords related to shoes resulted in 8.1% returning a Zappos video. Monthly, 77,316 website visits and more than $500,000 in revenue are specifically attributed to their video listings in search results.
Amen!
Whether your message is about stocks and bonds or heels and souls, VSEO is essential. To save your message from drowning in a sea of content, thou shalt follow these 10 Commandments of Video Search Engine Optimization.
A video site map is XML code that makes your video more discoverable and indexable.
YouTube Dashboard
Most video platforms, YouTube included, support transcript uploads, one of many keyword fields that should be filled out completely.
Tap into public demand by paying attention to the suggested search terms and trending topics.
Incorporate keywords into the title of the video and the player URL.
While YouTube is the best way to reach a large online audience, there are hundreds of UGC sites that provide targeted reach based on topics, demographics and geography.
Annotations bring attention and add interactivity to certain items in the video.
Online newsrooms with multimedia libraries and branded video players help engines and people find video.
VIII. Leverage all relevant social media platforms and tools to drive interactivity
Video is inherently a social medium and search engines reward activity. Max out on engagement by encouraging even ensuring it via media buys and earned media, coupons and contests high volumes of linking, liking, commenting and sharing. View the social media sites including, but not limited to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Digg, Yelp as content and conversation spokes that lead back to the business hub your website. Display a link to your website (or other owned media) at the beginning of the description field to generate traffic to your site. Do not use URL shorteners (ie: bit.ly, tinyurl.com) because people are less likely to click on an unknown link. US Video Consumption by Unique Users
Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, June 2011 Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix Property Total Viewing Minutes Unique Sessions* per Viewers (000) Viewer (000) Total Internet : Total 178,447 6,255,493 1,008.3 Audience Google Sites 149,281 2,311,116 324.1 VEVO 63,003 399,503 112.0 Yahoo! Sites 52,665 247,834 34.8 Microsoft Sites 50,663 286,892 32.8 Viacom Digital 49,493 274,933 76.8 Facebook.com 47,687 167,137 20.7 AOL, Inc. 43,915 251,987 49.3 Turner Digital 30,063 121,301 46.2 Hulu 26,701 156,939 184.8 Amazon Sites 21,247 43,193 8.3 Social media is not the only online video driver.
Facebook is the primary driver but a blend of blogs, bookmarks, and social networks should all be used.
Social networks, blogs and bookmarks drive video views through recommendations from trusted sources.
IX. Initiate engagement with a carefully selected hi-res image for the video thumbnail.
Make it easy to spot and make sure your image is appealing. Use people shots over product shots. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is made up of thousands of pictures. Ill say no more. Thumbnail Images & Video
Which Image Are You Most Likely to Click?
Once people find your video, the thumbnail is a factor in whether they click to watch.
X. Place calls to action and key messages at the beginning and end of your video
Now that we've used text and images to help your audience find your video and choose to watch it, one way to engage your audience is to end the video with a call to action inviting comments, clicks, likes, etc. in support of your business and communications goals. Even better is to feature the call to action at the beginning of your video, as well, because most people will not watch your entire video unless your name is Hulu or Netflix. This can sometimes be accomplished with Annotations (tip 6, above) but you should also have messages embedded in the actual video delivered by the on-screen talent and via graphical and text overlays. Video Completion Rates by Source
While online media sites have the highest completion rates, brand videos are not far behind.
Per the Tube MogulBrightcove Online Video and the Media Industry Q4 2010 report, less than 50% of viewers watch entire
Follow these ten guidelines and your video will be much closer to commanding the audience it deserves and needs to generate target ROIs. If you simply post it they will not necessarily come. VSEO is a must, but you also need a steady stream of well told stories. After all, getting your audience to notice a video is only step one. Step two is to engage them with a good story and step three is to evoke a response or action. You need all three to be successful, and I will cover more topics in the next Views You Can Use. Meanwhile, Latergy is here to help you position, create, distribute, optimize and measure video in a way that drives views and, more importantly, solid business results. The path to success may test your faith but online video will lead you to the Promised Land.
Please contact Larry Thomas (646.290.0453, lthomas@latergy.com)with questions, requests or to tell him your story.
Published by CommPRO.biz Press, the destination for integrated marketing communications knowledge.
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