Tag Archives: YouTube
The average person spends 15 minutes a day watching videos on YouTube. The site exceeds more than 2 billion views a day. There’s no denying that video is a powerful online tool, so why then are so many small businesses avoiding it like the plague? Adding video to your Chatham-Kent small business website design can dramatically improve not just the look of your site, but also how you rank in search engine results.
Why Video Works
As informative and effective as text can be, it doesn’t have the same visual “wow” factor as video. Just ask your average 12 year old what’s more entertaining, reading a book or watching a television show. Video grabs your attention and keeps you engaged. What’s more, video is easy to digest. Believe it or not, you can cram an awful lot of information into a very short video – far more than I’d ever be able to write in this blog post! From instructional videos to hilarious comedy spots, video can help you education, entertain, and enlighten your online visitors.
Search Engines and Videos
The important thing to remember when loading a video to your website is the fact that search engines can’t technically “watch” what is happening on the screen. This means that a search engine like Google can’t automatically and independently determine what your video is about… yet. Google is doing everything they can to integrate voice recognition and image recognition into their ranking algorithms, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now, search engines need help understanding the content of a video. Luckily, there are some proven techniques available.
How to SEO Videos
If you’re hoping to load videos to your website you’re going to first need to find a hosting solution. Hosting videoes can be cumbersome work. The fastest solution? Create a YouTube channel and stream all of your video via their platform. It will make the whole process easier, including the task of SEO. When you load a video to YouTube, remember to play close attention to:
1) The video’s title
More than 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute – now that’s a lot of video to try and pick through in order to find just one: yours. Make things easier for search engines (and for viewers) by giving your video a descriptive title that includes important keywords. Not sure what keywords to include? YouTube offers a keyword suggestion tool that helps make this process easier. You should also include these keywords in the video’s description as well as in the video tags.
2) Closed captioning options
YouTube’s caption feature allows you to provide viewers and search engines with a deeper understanding of your video. To add closed captioning to your next YouTube video, select the “Captions and Subtitles” menu on the editing page. This will allow you to include a full (search engine-friendly!) transcript of your video. YouTube offers closed captioning in over 120 languages, which is great for companies that market to foreign consumers.
3) Content
It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing content or filming it – it has to be unique, relevant, and useful in order for a human viewer or search engine to see it as beneficial. Focus on presenting your ideas in an original manner and people will be sure to appreciate it.
Readers,
(Look at your blog, now back to me, now back to your blog, now back to me.)
Sadly your blog isn’t mine, but if you stopped producing boring content and really took a chance on your next blog post, you could start building a dedicated following, like me.
(Look down, back up – where are you? You’re on a boat.)
If it sounds like I’m talking gibberish, you obviously aren’t familiar with the latest ad campaign from Old Spice that’s flooded the Internet and television stations over the past six months. Here’s the link to the official video webpage for a quick refresher. In these spots, a ruggedly handsome man named Mr. Isaiah Mustafa attempts to convince female viewers that purchasing Old Spice body wash will make their boyfriends and husbands just like him, at least when it comes to their scent.
The videos go about things in a truly unique manner, drawing overt attention to their overly-produced nature. The commercials themselves are pretty funny, but they’re just the beginning. The Old Spice Guy marketing campaign is also dominating the Internet on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This week, Mr. Mustafa proved he was more than just a set of rock hard abs (on a boat) when he began to respond to the comments left by visitors to Old Spice’s various social networking accounts. So far he’s responded to everyone from Perez Hilton and Rose McGowan to obscure online visitors, and there’s no telling who will be next.
Turning Nothing into Something
Up until this week, millions of consumers could have cared less about Old Spice and their latest product line. The stereotype has always been that Old Spice is just that – a spritz worn by older men looking to feel younger. But all that has changed thanks to Mr. Mustafa and his chiselled physique. The campaign is genius, really. It’s unique, hilarious, and entirely social. Kids everywhere are quoting the commercials, and as of July 13, @OldSpice had more than 22,188 followers on Twitter and some 573,685 fans on Facebook. Old Spice has transformed their image seemingly overnight, all thanks to their integrated marketing approach.
Understanding the Old Spice Approach
In my opinion, the latest Old Spice marketing campaign has become a huge hit for three basic reasons:
1) It’s clever.
The Old Spice commercials are brilliant not just because they’re funny, but because they’re funny at their own expense. Buying body wash isn’t rocket science – you simply purchase one with a nice scent. So, instead of trying to convince us that their body wash is the best, Old Spice takes a completely unexpected route, entertaining us with ridiculous sets and cheesy lines. Teenagers everywhere are probably buying this stuff by the case simply so they can recite the ridiculous script over and over again, (what’s in your hand, back at me, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you like…)
2) It embraces online communities.
The first commercial was hilarious, the second one was ok, but the fact that Mr. Mustafa is engaging with fans via numerous online communities 24 hours a day – well, that’s pretty ingenious. The short 30 second clips that Old Spice is posting to their YouTube account and Tweeting about are perfect for sharing online. They’re short, they’re funny, and everyone knows about them. One look at Mr. Mustafa’s abs and you know a tiny tidbit of ridiculousness is about to happen on your screen.
3) 90% of the video responses don’t even mention an Old Spice product.
The Old Spice Guy online campaign has become a pop culture phenomenon, and the people at Old Spice are smart enough to know it. Mr. Mustafa wouldn’t be nearly as funny if he kept talking about body wash every five seconds. The fact that he’s “the Old Spice Guy” is plenty enough advertising for the folks at Proctor & Gamble, and enough to keep Mr. Mustafa and his towel in the public spotlight for at least a few more days.
(Look again, your blog has turned into diamonds.)
Should Chatham-Kent sports teams use social networking websites for marketing and recruiting purposes? Ian Kennedy, local sports columnist for the Chatham-Kent Daily Post, is a big believer. Kennedy was kind enough to provide CIK Marketing with the following post. If you’re involved with local sports, listen up!
How Chatham Sports Teams Can Use Social Media
Over the last few months, you may have seen some bad press about social media in sports. For the pros, misusing sites such as Twitter and Facebook is easy. One verbal slip up or misread post can go viral. For amateur sports teams, including those in Chatham-Kent, social networking shouldn’t be seen as a liability, rather, social media should be viewed as a budding opportunity.
With the ever-growing presence of teens and parents on social networking sites, social media resources including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Ning, and blogs can be beneficial for young athletes, organizations, parents, and fans. How you ask? It’s simple really. Social networking in sports is common place, and it’s time for organizations in Chatham-Kent to get onboard. Here are some ideas for how local sports teams can utilize popular social networking sites.
Facebook:
As the largest social networking site in Chatham-Kent and worldwide, Facebook has several uses for amateur sports teams. Organizations such as the Wallaceburg Red Devils and Chatham Maroons could benefit from promoting Facebook Fan Pages. Teams can post news, events, scores, and more for their fans. As well, Event Pages can be created to invite hundreds or even thousands of Chatham and Wallaceburg residents to games. If even 1% of those invited attend the game, the Event Page would be a huge success. Social networking in sports isn’t just for large organizations. Small club teams throughout Chatham-Kent can utilize Facebook groups to keep athletes and parents up to date and connected.
Twitter:
Twitter is one of the fastest growing Chatham-Kent social networking opportunities. Picture yourself as a soccer mom or a dad taking his son to football practice with the Chatham-Kent Cougars. Wouldn’t it be nice to receive up to the second messages regarding schedule changes, cancellations, or even have someone Tweet to set up a carpool? If you own a Blackberry or iPhone, Twitter updates are at your fingertips. If you can’t attend your child’s game, you could be receiving instant Tweets updating the score of the game. Starting a team profile is easy and would allow messages to reach large groups simultaneously.
YouTube:
Is your team looking to draw in fans, recruit athletes, advertise an event, or showcase athletes? If you answered yes to any of these, YouTube needs to be a part of your Chatham-Kent social networking campaign. YouTube is now being used for marketing anything from major corporations to tiny sporting clubs. Creating a YouTube channel is easy; all you need is a digital camera, video camera, or even a quality cell phone, and your computer. Uploading top plays by athletes on your team allows instant access by millions of viewers and will promote your players, draw in fans, and build your program.
Blogs:
One way to connect your Chatham social networking efforts is to run a blog. Blogging has become a vital component of social media in sports and business. Blogs are readily available and can help keep fans connected to news, events, scores, and even give personal looks at players. A blog is a great way to keep fans connected and help link them to your other social networking profiles. On your blog, you can include photos, registration or ticket information, schedules, and statistics.
Social networking in Chatham-Kent is beginning to take off. Whether you’re involved in hockey, football, tennis, figure skating, soccer, or archery, utilizing the power of social media in sports will help your team connect to players, parents, and coaches, and to grow and communicate with your community fan base.
Want to connect with Ian Kennedy? Check out his official blog, follow him on Twitter @InstantReplayIK, or become a fan of his Facebook page.
Need help kicking off your sport team’s social networking campaign? Contact CIK Marketing – we can help!
