Category: Branding
Video Marketing: Expand Your Brand With Web Video
Video: An Effective Marketing Tool
There is no doubt that web video is growing in popularity with no end in sight. Recent reports show that 80% of the entire internet audience views a video every single month*. Even more impressive, YouTube, the 2nd largest search engine behind Google, states that 2 billion videos are watched everyday*.
Videos are not just being viewed while sitting in front of the television. In fact, 25% of Americans said that they watched a video on their phone in the past month. With this massive audience, strategic use of web video can be an extremely effective way to promote your brand.
Be Strategic
Although web video is popular, it still has to be eye-catching and create an impact. much like an effective blog post. It takes strategy to make a video become viral, or to instill a lasting effect on its audience. Just like any marketing tactic, if it doesn’t provide a “wow factor”, it’s more than likely going to be passed by. It takes strategy and creativity to make a video become viral and instill a lasting effect on the viewer. When creating a video, ask yourself why you’re doing it, what marketing question does it answer and how does it solve a problem for the audience. Having these answers can help create a solid foundation for your use of video and move you closer to opening a new door for promoting your brand.
Be Interesting
Even when it comes to video, content is king. Regardless of access to deep pockets or a stacked creative team, your video can incorporate meaningful content and provide your audience with solutions. There should be a reason for people to view your videos and if done properly, your video will urge viewers to check for more videos in the future. Creating compelling content will create a greater following and carry your message to a larger audience.
Be Persistent
Being persistent is a vital. To build a consistent and loyal following, your videos need to not only have strategic content, but there needs to be a consistent follow up with future videos. No matter how compelling your initial video is, people will lose interest quickly if new content is not released on a consistent basis.
While video is a much more interactive way to reach your customers, it has a lot of the same characteristics as other main stream marketing tools. Much like anything worthwhile, practice makes perfect. So be strategic, be persistent and create a compelling, purposeful message.
(*Comscore Statistic and *YouTube Fact Sheet)
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SEO Tools Keep Evolving, Is Your Business Adapting?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) remains a hot topic for businesses in terms of how to effectively get their online message in front of the right people. Although basic SEO methods have remained consistent, resources keeping evolving and new tools continue to become available. These factors keep the mastery of SEO more and more complex.
However, you do not have to be a master of SEO to benefit from it – even implementing the basics are still vital to effective SEO. Content is still crucial and the use of effective keywords and meta tags, including meta descriptions, continue to offer improved organic search results. Link building within the pages of your company site can be an effective way to increase the number of inbound links. New outlets such as social media networks and efforts made by Google offer additional ways to create compelling content that is indexed by the engines and appears in search queries.
Social media has shifted the way people search and it is increasingly important to adapt to such shifts. Information is now exchanged online at such a fast pace that Google itself has introduced new methods for filtering through it. Google Caffeine makes it possible for search results to display information that revolves around the social media sector. Now that more social media feeds are beginning to show up within search results, it is crucial for effective keywords and content to be placed within your communication. It is more than just stating what’s on your mind, it’s doing it in a way that creates keyword-rich updates that will ultimately get more people to know and “like” your business.
Another shift in SEO is the ever-growing popularity of YouTube. Since Google took over the video king, search queries now produce YouTube videos in organic results, sometimes even on the first page. Carefully tagging your videos with relevant keywords within YouTube can be an effective way to get your videos seen.
Localized search has also become increasingly popular and internet users now expect to find nearby businesses with their queries. With the growing emphasis on Local SERPs, it is important to know what factors will increase the likelihood of your business listing being seen within a local search. Although Google’s algorithms for search are their own secret ingredient, you can do things to increase the placement of your business within local search listing results. Actively engaging in sites such as Yelp!, creating a page for your business so it can be reviewed and responding to reviews can improve your business’s search results. For more information on localized searching, you can read our blog post “Putting Local Search Tools to Work for Small Business”.
Being aware of new factors that effect search engine optimization can help create a much more effective SEO campaign for your business. It is important to stay engaged with online content, and to strategically develop what you want people to learn about your business when they search online.
Have You Done Your Competitive Intelligence?
In a global market, where customers demand that businesses be diversified and on the cutting edge, where is your competition’s most readily available source of information? Online. So, where is your greatest insight into your competition? That’s right. Online. Like many of you, your competitors put everything that customers want to know on their websites, including services, products they use, tools for engagement, calls to action and in some cases, pricing. Here at Barcelona Creative, we’re putting that public information to good use for our clients.
For 20 years, we at Barcelona Creative have been trying to go the extra mile to come up with new and better ways to serve our customers. We are excited to offer “Competitive Intelligence” research in our quest to make our clients more informed, and therefore, more competitive in their respective fields and in their online presence.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the practice of gathering and analyzing data on your industrial competitors. Competitive intelligence is proving to be the smartest, most efficient way to view all of your competitors because it’s based off of online material. If you’re working to literally keep tabs on your competition’s product and service offerings, and how they are communicating these to their online communities, competitive intelligence is proven to be one of the most logical methods. Barcelona Creative has the tools to help you do this through detailed research, analysis and detailed recommendation reports on your strengths, as well as the untapped potential for your business online.
At Barcelona Creative, we have found that competitive intelligence is one of the smartest ways to keep clients ahead of the curve and we are very excited to offer this service. We believe that CI is a compelling way to directly correlate your competitors’ successes with the products and services they offer, and fine tune your online presence.
Advertising Should Help You Build Trust
While I’m not suggesting that traditional forms of advertising are going away, it is pretty hard to argue with the fact that fewer and fewer consumers are placing their trust in the media today. This makes it even more important for marketers to use new media and social marketing tools that make it possible for you to listen, contribute to and engage people in a friendlier, more casual way.
In contrast to media advertising, where we “push” your message out to the audience, social media tools allow us to “pull” prospects, customers and others who read your content into engagement with your company or your brand.
Even news releases have changed because of these tools. Unlike traditional printed press releases distributed by mail or email, tools like PitchEngine enable us to combine photos, videos or other graphic elements into a social media release or hosted microsite. When keywords are placed strategically and search results improve, fans, friends and others can read this content and respond positively.
The Audience Is There
With 79% of adults in America using the Internet at least occasionally and 63% having a broadband connection at home, the online audience is continuing to grow at a phenomenal pace. When you add the fact that 40% of social media network users are between the ages of 35 and 54 and 9% age 55 and older, we feel very safe saying that some portion of your budget should be directed to new media.
Using traditional and new forms of media, our job is to help you reach your audience, engage that audience and build relationships that can be converted to buying decisions. For a no obligation review of your marketing activities or help finding strategies that may be right for your business, give us a call at any time.
You’re LinkedIn… Now What?
LinkedIn is a professional social media network that was started in December of 2002 and launched in May of 2003. While many associate this form of social media with resume posting, if you think that’s all you can do with it, then you’re missing out.
Lately we’ve received a lot of questions regarding LinkedIn: how to use it, what to use it for, and what are the benefits for a business? As always, Barcelona Creative is here to help you champion the intricacies of professional social networking.
In addition to posting your resume, LinkedIn allows you to develop your business/marketing/sales, brand yourself, job search, follow companies and organizations and recruit.
When you create your profile on LinkedIn, you can join and create new groups and join industry networks. Once you become part of these groups (you have to request membership and be approved), you can connect with other group members to grow your networks and participate in questions and discussions.
For the average LinkedIn user, your homepage consists of very basic, yet useful tools. Here are some that you should become familiar with:
Search Tool: The Search Window on LinkedIn allows you to search various companies and executives. Searching these will allow you to view what networks companies are most linked to and whom you are connected to that are a members of various companies.
Inbox: The Inbox feature is worth more than just basic messaging. This is the way to check new connections and find out whether or not your requests are accepted.
Your Contacts and Your Networks: Through the section on the right labeled “Your Networks” you can see not only who has joined LinkedIn in your networks recently but how many additional professionals your connections link you to. Those to whom you are connected are great resources, so don’t be shy. Asking to be recommended by former employers, colleagues and clients is common and can add credibility.
Jobs you should take a look at: This is the meat and potatoes that lead so many people to join LinkedIn. When you follow a company, you can see who’s been hired or changed positions within the company and what job opportunities currently exist. This also means that, as a business, you can post available positions within your company.
Links or News: This allows you to contribute what you know and what you are reading in the news. Utilize this tool in a professional capacity, as this website is geared toward the world of experts and colleagues in your field.
LinkedIn, when used to its full potential, offers so much more than a website to post your resume. It’s a chance to establish your identity in your professional arena and grow your network to help you build your career.