The videos done. Now let’s get it to as many eyes as possible.
According to statistic.com, Instagram had reach 300 million monthly active users as of December 2014. That’s 600 million eyeballs that your video could be missing out on.
The best lighting, sound quality and direction can’t save a video that is dull and unengaging (as much as we wish it could).
The truth is that your video must connect with your audience in order for it to make an impact. Even if your brand or company isn’t perceived as interesting or exciting, it doesn’t mean you can’t add a personal, engaging element into your videos.
Email marketing is a tricky tactic to get right. How many emails can you send without annoying your email list? What subject lines make them want to open an email? How can you get them to not only read an email, but click through to your website?
One popular way to inspire your recipients to do all of the above is to include video. According to eMarketer, one survey found that “respondents who had used videos in their email campaigns saw real returns on their investments. Fifty-five percent reported higher click through rates, 44% saw an increase in the amount of time subscribers spent with an email, and 41% reported an increase in the sharing or forwarding of emails.”
However, in order to get clicks that matter, you need to be strategic in how you attach your video to your email. While many marketers are enticed by the option of embedding videos, there are two reasons why doing so could be detrimental to your click through rate.
1. Embedded Videos Don’t Work For Everyone
If you want to embed video so recipients can watch without leaving your email, we encourage you to resist the temptation: while some mail clients support embedded videos, many – including Gmail and Outlook – do not. We don’t recommend embedding videos because of the inconsistent experience your recipients will have.
2. Embedded Videos Won’t Bring Viewers To Your Site
You’re sending your email for a reason: there’s a good chance that reason is to lure recipients to your website. What happens when an email recipient has the ability watch an embedded email in their mail client? They’ll click play, watch the video, and then delete your email. While the convenience of watching the video without needing to go to a new page is great for the viewer (if their mail service supports embedded videos), it doesn’t support the goal of driving traffic.
Include a still from your video in the email that entices readers to click. Choose the screenshot carefully – the moment you choose to highlight can play a big role in the chances of someone clicking to watch. The video still can direct them to a landing page on your website that hosts the video – allowing them to watch the video and then easily check out the rest of your website when they are finished. As an added bonus, including the video on your website can support your SEO efforts, thanks to increased click-through rates, lower bounce rates and a higher likelihood of sharing.
The sheer power of online video marketing is well known. Unfortunately, many marketers and other savvy professionals know that it can be difficult to convince the powers that be that video is an incredibly worthwhile investment that deserves to be considered when budgets are created.
Filming a video for your business is only worthwhile if the content in your video meets the needs or interests of your viewers. Before rushing to film your next company profile, product profile or piece of web content, consider the following three tips to determine what will make people click “play” instead of “back.”
With the video marketing industry becoming more prosperous by the day, employers are looking at a promising, emerging recruitment option: the use of video to help find and maintain a happy and empowered staff.
As if you needed another reminder about how significant video marketing has become, Mondelez International (maker of “America’s Favorite Cookie” the Oreo) has just signed a huge deal with Google to provide video content that reaches markets across the world.
Vine, the video-sharing app that plays looping six-second videos, has updated their app in an attempt to help users make even more entertaining videos to share with the world. If you love watching Vines, get ready to see the quality of Vines improve tremendously.
Generally speaking, people have very strong feelings about Buzzfeed. Some loathe the seemingly simplistic listicles and click-baity headlines that the website has become known for. Just as many people love – and love to share – the content on the site.
We love watching Dov Charney finally get his come-uppings as the most depraved CEO ever to sexually harass his staff, but more joy comes from proof of what we’ve all been feeling for a long time: American Apparel’s advertising sucks.
Sure, the provocative photos seemed edgy, a bit, in 2003. But when you consider that Calvin Klein had already been pushing the amateur porn trope years earlier, Charney’s in-house photo spreads, often shot by the CEO himself, seem hackneyed, at best.
While the brand started with some enlightened ideas — made in America, anti sweatshop, gay friendly — it was never a true fashion house. AA followed its basic, comfy T-shirt with tacky, retro ugliness that could never be more than a fad — oversized glasses, leotards, and leg warmers.
American Apparel’s imagination void is most obvious when you consider its stagnant and stale marketing. Pictures of half clad young people in prurient poses are fine, but for more than a decade, that’s all we got.
It’s well documented that Dov Charney is a sex addicted lothario, but after losing money for four straight years and a stock trading for pennies, the real question is for AA’s board of directors: What the hell is your excuse?