The Power of Video in Social Media – Take 1 of 3
Guest post from Marc Campman
Most people still believe that using video to promote your business or yourself online is only for companies or people with big marketing budgets. Wake up. This is old school thinking. The majority of the videos on youtube are low budget. With the tools available today everybody can now produce their own video and share it online. This series of 3 blog posts will unlock the online power of video for you. How to develop video content, how to produce it and how to distribute it online.
This is where it all starts. What will your video be about. In one of my previous posts I talked about what makes content viral. This applies particularly to video. Your video needs to be funny, controversial, unique or educational. That’s what people like to see and that’s what they will share with their friends. Here are some suggestions of the sort of content you can include in your video. You can give tips, create how-to’s, present news items or you can create a series of videos to create your own tv channel. Tools that you can use to easily create your content are:
Screencast: A screencast is a digital recording of your computer screen. There is software available that enables you to do this and it also allows you to add voice over. (SnapzProX for Mac users, Camtasia Studio for PC users, Jing Project – a free lite version of Camtasia)
Video interviews: Many of today’s chat applications include a video option. Why not use this to do an interview with a customer or an subject expert and capture this video. A great way to develop content from remote sources. (Skype, Oovoo, Tinychat)
Webinars: Webinars are seminars conducted over the internet. A great way to share knowledge with a global audience. Most webinar software allows you to capture the webinar on video so you can post it on your web site for people to watch it at times convenient to them. There are many webinar services available online but one of my favourites is anymeeting.com. Why… because its free.
Voxpops: Voxpop means the voice of the people. A great way to get spontaneous reactions from people in a casual environment (on the street, at an exhibition). Usually they give a reference about your product or your business. Your iPhone is a true asset for creating your voxpops on the go. Apps like Videolicious give you an array of tools to quickly create and edit your voxpop videos.
So remember, a good viral video starts with thinking about the content and how you can source the content. Next week, we will talk about the tools you can use to produce and edit the content into a compelling viral video.
To see the pictures and find out more about Marc, please click here
Marketing in Tough Times by S.Claus
A funny little video showing how to adapt your Marketing in tough times. It’s from 2008 but still feels very relevant. Which of these Marketing tactics have you used lately?
European women spend more time on social media than men. Women 45-54 particularly engaged
We liked this from Dirk Singer @ http://liesdamnedliesstatistics.com/ Posted: 11 Jun 2011 02:29 PM PDT
Over the past two years its become an accepted truth that by and large women are more active in social media than men. There was the 2009 Rapleaf study showing that women have more social media friends. And Royal Pingdom found that the majority of social networks had more female than male users (with some exceptions such as Reddit and Digg).
Both those reports were US focused. Now comes confirmation from Comscore that the same holds true in the major European countries (the EU5 – UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy).
Across all age groups, European women spend more time on social networking sites than men. Not surprisingly, young women aged 15-24 spend the most time on social media at 8.4 hours a month. What is a surprise, is that among women it isn’t 25-34 year olds that come next, but 45-54 year olds.
In fact, women aged 45-54 spend more than twice as much time on social networks as their male counterparts (5.5 vs 2.7 hours a month), pointing to a digital divide opening up – not between the young and old in general, but with men aged 45+ increasingly being left behind.
Israelis, Russians spend twice as much time as Brits, Americans on social media
Thanks to Dirk at Lies Damned Lies and Statistics for this post.
Posted: 07 Jun 2011 01:34 PM PDT
Comscore has just come out with an interesting stat. Israelis and Russians lead when it comes to time spent on social networks at 10.7 and 10.3 hours per month respectively. That’s double the time spent by the average American (5.2 hours) or Brit (5.3 hours).
Or, to put it another way, someone in Israel will spend 21 minutes a day using social media, compared to 10 minutes a day for someone in the US.
Overall, Comscore’s stats confirm the trend of consumers in emerging markets to be more engaged when it comes to social media. Argentina, The Philippines, Turkey, Venezuela and Colombia are all near the top of the Comscore table.
These figures also support earlier stats, looking at the top countries for Facebook and Twitter penetration.
Over one in five Internet users in Brazil, Indonesia, Venezuela, The Philippines, Turkey and Argentina are active on Twitter. In the US, according to Pew, the figure is 13% Meanwhile the no1 Facebook country is the Philippines, with 92.9% penetration of the Internet population, followed by Israel (89.9%), Turkey (89.6%) and Chile (88.8%).
Indeed, even when looking at ‘new’ social networks, emerging markets seem to be scoring highly. On my feed I’ve noticed a very active Turkish Instagram community, for example 4116 photos are currently tagged #istanbul.
Good news! Mobile, Affiliate & Social Marketing spend all growing
Mobile will lead to an overall increase in digital marketing spend on affiliate networks this year despite the VAT increase, according to research by LinkShare.
The study, based on a study of 100 marketers, revealed that 45% of respondents believed mobile would be a major area of growth in 2011.
A third of respondents said they will continue investing in affiliate networks, while 31% said they intended to deliver affiliate ads to social network users.
Liane Dietrich, managing director of LinkShare UK, says: “The research paints a very positive picture for the marketing industry in 2011. The sector is on the cusp of entering a new phase of growth with mobile marketing and investment in apps set to lead the way.”
The responses also indicated that ROI and measurement continue to be the major focus area for digital marketers.
Over 57% of respondents said they will focus on delivering targeted ad campaigns instead of focusing on mass market ads.
Meanwhile, the feedback regarding the effects of this year’s VAT rise were mixed.
A quarter of respondents said the rise would significantly impact upon users willingness to spend money online, while a further 24% reported the increase would have a minor change on online behaviours.
This contrasts with 38% of respondents who said the rise would not affect consumers’ purchasing habits.
“We are now focused on helping to educate our client base on how more advanced affiliate marketing techniques can be used to help boost customer acquisition and improve the bottom line of a business in light of these trends,” added Dietrich.
Flowd User Base Increases by 500% And The Number Of Signed Artists up by 1000%
Flowd - Mobile, Music & Social App
Artists including DJs Armin van Buuren and Markus Schultz, UK pop stars The Wanted and infamous metal band Manowar, are using the platform to keep their fans up-to-date and promoting their upcoming concerts. Taking Flowd to the next level, DJs Armin van Buuren and Markus Schultz have signed up to run a worldwide loyalty programme through Flowd for their upcoming gigs as artists can see the benefit of using Flowd to communicate with their followers.
For instance, Armin van Buuren alone now communicates directly with over 1,800 fans who follow him on Flowd. “We are incredibly pleased with how artists are beginning to embrace Flowd as their primary method of fan communication. From Armin van Buuren announcing that he’s about to become a father, Markus Schultz sharing the tracklist for his next album, and The Wanted publishing pictures of their fans’ devotion, Flowd really is becoming a valuable mobile platform for famous music acts,” said Tommi Laitinen, SVP, Flowd.
HOW: Flowd is a location-based mobile application that facilitates conversations between music artists and their fans. Through Flowd, fans can keep up with their favourite act’s latest news and views, get behind-the-scenes gossip and photos and check-in to their gigs. Acts can also reward their fans for their loyalty.
REWARDS: Following the success of Armin van Buuren’s competition in Australia over New Year’s, Armin van Buuren and Markus Schultz have decided to continue to reward their fans who attend upcoming concerts worldwide. At each gig, fans following Armin van Buuren or Markus Schultz who check-in to their gigs in Flowd will automatically be entered into a competition to win exclusive fan merchandise.
WHERE & WHEN:Markus Schulz’s tour dates where Flowd check-in promotion available: 04.2.2011 Ministry of Sound London, UK 05.2.2011 Lush Portrush, UK 09.2.2011 Gianpula Malta 11.2.2011 Club Play Budapest, Hungary 12.2.2011 SaSaZu (Prague ’11 Release Party) Prague, Czech Republic 17.2.2011 Haoman Jerusalem, Israel 18.2.2011 Forum Beersheba, Israel 19.2.2011 Moda Bar Club Haifa, Israel 25.2.2011 Marquee Nightclub Las Vegas, USA 26.2.2011 Vision (World Tour) Chicago, USA 05.3.2011 Teleclub Ekatarinburg, Russia 06.3.2011 Pyramida Kazan, Russia 07.3.2011 Expo Centre Moscow, Russia 11.3.2011 Space Miami, USA
Armin van Buuren’s tour dates where Flowd check-in promotion available: 12.2.2011 SKK Arena St. Petersburg, Russia 14.2.2011 Essential Club Riga, Latvia 15.2.2011 Siemens Arena Vilnius, Lithuania 19.2.2011 Poznan International Fair Poznan, Poland
GET STARTED: Music fans worldwide can download Flowd for free from the iTunes App Store and Android Market. Find favourite music acts under What’s hot? and follow them to get regular news and musings from the artist. Fans can discover more about their tours under the Events feature on artist profile pages and let their friends and music acts know which concert they’ll be attending.
EVEN MORE FEATURES: By using Flowd, music fans will also be able to use a wide range of social networking features including check-in to places, send messages, share pictures and connect with friends through Twitter and Facebook. Fans can also customize the look and feel of Flowd by re-skinning the app with artists’ themes. “Since our official launch in early December, we’ve seen Flowd grow in popularity, and it is rapidly becoming known as the location-based mobile app of choice for established and up-and-coming artists. We’ve always believed that Flowd’s combination of location-based services, social networking and entertainment would be the future of the artist-fan relationship, and with artists like The Wanted and Armin van Buuren involved, we’re confident that we’re already being proved right. There’s a lot of exciting announcements to come, and we can’t wait to continue to revolutionize how fans interact with their music idols,” continued Laitinen.
About Us: Flowd is a location-based mobile application that facilitates conversations between music acts and their fans. Through Flowd, fans can keep up with their favorite music acts’ latest news, views, tours and offers. Flowd also provides an easy way to connect with friends, places and parties. Flowd is currently the location-based mobile app of choice of Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz and The Wanted.
Flowd – A circle of artists, friends and places you love
ABOUT DIGIA: Digia is a public company, listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange (DIG1V). Flowd is developed by Digia’s Ventures business unit.
CONTACT: For media inquiries, please contact: pr@flowd.com
Contact Details: Karen Blondell, Music Dish Email press@musicdish.net Country: Finland, Website: www.flowd.com Phone:+1 310 922 5838
2 simple ways to drive traffic with LinkedIn
Guest Post from Michael Van Osch – Marketing Coach
From a business perspective, social media is pretty useless unless you can use it to drive traffic to where you need it. So let’s address that now with regards to LinkedIn.
Here are two quick and easy tips to enhance your LinkedIn profile and give yourself the best chance of driving more traffic to your site.
On the top toolbar on your LinkedIn homepage, go across to “More”. That will provide a drop down menu, the bottom part of which are LinkedIn Applications. You’re going to add two applications:
1) WordPress or Blog Link – if you have a blog, and most of you do, then an easy way to promote it and to interest others in it is to add this application so your blog posts show up on your profile. Quick, easy and very valuable as it shows connections and possible clients more of who you are and what you do.
If you have have a WordPress blog, then obviously use the WordPress app, and if you’re using another blogging platform then go with Blog Link. Both do the same thing.
2) Reading List by Amazon.com – if you have a published book, this is a perfect place to show it (and sell it) right on your profile with this app. Take the three minutes and do it, the payoff in social proof alone will be worth it.
If you’re not an author, this is still a good app to add to your profile and show what you’re reading. By association, the books you list add to your image and show where your interests and expertise lay. Just ask yourself, how do you feel about someone who has good, cutting edge biz books listed vs. someone who lists Angels and Demons? It makes a difference.
So there you go. Within minutes your profile is richer, more complete and gives prospects compelling reasons to check you out more in depth. Men, this is this low-hanging fruit, just grab it.
Cheers Michael
