- Feature Article: Using Video-Sharing Sites to Boost Your Marketing Campaigns

- Note from the Author: More Tips on Creating Attention-Grabbing Movie Messages

- Special Message: Express Your "Expert Persona"
with Video Avatars

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More Tips on Creating Attention-Grabbing Movie Messages

Today we'll continue our recent theme of boosting online visibility by creating low-cost video for educational and marketing purposes.

My last newsletter discussed several ways to produce inexpensive video using various types of recording devices and/or software.

Today's installment covers several video and slide-sharing venues where you can upload your finished video productions for maximum exposure.

As a quick review, video marketing can open creative new avenues for proliferating training, opinions, demonstrations, persuasion pieces, and so forth. Very short videos of just one-to-five-minutes long are a particularly effective way to communicate a powerful marketing message. And most of the examples in this issue are both low-tech and low-cost, so you needn't allow budget to become an obstacle.

For these reasons, I hope you enjoy today's features, including "Using Video-Sharing Sites to Boost Your Marketing Campaigns." And please join the conversation by leaving your comments on my blog!

Here's to your business prosperity,

Adele Sommers, author of the "Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" success program

P.S. If you missed any previous issue, visit the newsletter index!

Express Your "Expert Persona" with Video Avatars

Wild, wacky, whimsical, avant-garde...these are just a few of the adjectives you could use to describe the fascinating effects that are possible with the Logitech® QuickCam video recorder and its fun and user-friendly Video Effects software.

When communicating with your audience through recorded video, you can have the Video Effects software decorate your face with any number of accessories, such as the fake nose and mustache the fellow at right is wearing. These decorations are all superimposed on your head live, as you're filming yourself, and they track your movements as you turn or change expressions. View the video to see some of the *amazing* costume changes you can undergo in a matter of seconds as you don masks, glasses, hats, crowns, jewelry, scuba gear, and loads of other get-ups!

Would you like to create a "expert persona" masquerading as an animated character, animal, robot, vegetable, planet, automobile, stick figure, skeleton, space alien, or object? You can do that, too, using the QuickCam recorder and software.

These types of animated characters, known as avatars, spark immediate interest and fascination because of the lifelike way they replicate mouth movements and facial expressions. Imagine yourself portraying a wise wizard imparting expert advice, a zany sock puppet telling a story, a teenager talking to her peers, or a flower dispensing gardening tips -- just a few of many roles you could adopt. The intelligent software follows your every move and actually replaces your face and background with those of the avatar while you are filming.

According to the Logitech FAQs, no special software is required to see Video Effects content. The resulting footage is the same as normal pictures or video produced by the camera. Only certain QuickCam models (around $99 and up) support the video software. Some of the effects are bundled with the software and camera, and the others you can download for *free* from the Logitech site.

Using Video-Sharing Sites
to Boost Your Marketing Campaigns
by Adele Sommers

In the last five years, astonishing advances in online video viewing and sharing have occurred! If you want to broadcast your message far and wide, one or more of the venues discussed below might be right for you. For example, you can post short clips or full-length videos of a product overview, advice on specific topics, "how-to" techniques, presentations, training, and much more, using sites such as these:

• Video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, Google Video, Viddler, and Vimeo

• Slide-sharing sites, such as AuthorSTREAM and Brainshark, which let you share slide presentations in a narrated, "video-like" format, if desired

This article briefly describes a few of these venues and also includes three case studies to help spark your imagination regarding what you might share. If they're popular, your videos can quickly help you get high rankings in Google. They also might spark invaluable word-of-mouth buzz that can perpetually propel a "viral marketing" campaign!

A Quick Tour of Video- and Slide-Sharing Venues

Below are a few of the *free* sites where you might want to park your productions:

• YouTube - Most people know that YouTube is an online video-sharing Web site where visitors can upload, watch, and share video clips. YouTube had helped revolutionize online video by developing a technology that makes it far easier to view video in Web browsers than it once was.
  
  YouTube also helped pioneer the ability to easily embed video into Web pages. This feature lets you place videos on your Web site, blogs, social networking pages, and just about any other page where you can add HTML code.
  
  Google acquired YouTube in 2006 -- thereby combining the greatest force in search and online advertising with the front runner in online video.

• Google Video - Google's initial video sharing site still offers the ability to view videos that have been uploaded in the past. However, it is no longer accepting new video uploads as part of its *free* services. Instead, users can post videos either on YouTube or on Picasa, Google's image-sharing site.

• Viddler - On this site, you can upload as many videos as you want with nearly unlimited space, record videos directly to the site using your Web cam, include comments and tags at specific points in the video, and share your videos with RSS and iTunes.

• Vimeo - This venue lets you create groups (mini-communities) around the content you upload or watch, organize your video into channels to showcase a particular theme, upload video in high-definition format, collaborate with others on a video project, and customize a video widget for your blog.

• AuthorSTREAM - For PowerPoint presenters, this site helps you share your presentations on the Web as a unique link (URL) to send via e-mail or embed in your blogs or Web sites; download your presentations as video and share them on YouTube or via iPods, or watch them on your DVD player; present slides live over the Internet without any software downloads; and showcase your work in your own personalized presentation channels.

• Brainshark - This site offers a range of features, including the ability to upload a basic PowerPoint presentation (with or without narration), add your narration on the fly using Brainshark's own Web- or phone-based audio recording tools; include quizzes and surveys; deliver the presentation as an autoplay "video," if desired; and offer it as a training course with learner tracking, quiz scoring, and course completion data all included. Note that some of these options are *free* and others are fee-based.

Next, the following case studies provide a few short, low-budget examples of the many ways people are using video-sharing sites for their business messages, usually to drive traffic to their own domains.

Can you promote blenders with wild success on YouTube? It's certainly being done, but not in the typical commercial fashion. By creating a series of nutty "Will It Blend" videos, Blendtec Home Blenders has garnered a fervent following by churning all sorts of nonfood products to demonstrate its product's prowess.

The series has enjoyed several million views as it shows items ranging from iPads to golf balls being pulverized into particles. Blendtec's videos also have attracted tens of thousands of viewer comments, which, according to my research, have resulted in unprecedented Internet traffic, media placements, contacts, and profitability.

The initial video required only $50 to create, yet the subsequent YouTube promotion literally built a brand for Blendtec's home products. The mixture of "humanness" and off-beat humor definitely contributed to its success, and the edgy, low-tech style creates just the kind of proof consumers need to believe that the product will indeed "blend anything."

As we've just seen, well-designed, "low-tech" videos can be just as engaging, if not more so, than many of the slick productions or otherwise grainy homemade movies people upload by the thousands to video-sharing sites.

Consider CommonCraft.com, a business that specializes in using a "simple format and real-world stories to make sense of complex ideas."

According to the Web site, the owners design "products and services in plain English using short, unique, and understandable videos" using a model they call "Paperworks." You can see many examples posted on YouTube.

Follow the link to see a short video on Social Bookmarking, an excellent example of their hallmark style that is largely based on simple paper cutouts, yet highly effective in getting key points across. (Note: This video also has been translated into "plain Ukrainian," as have various others!)

Can you do this kind of thing on a small budget? Of course you can! It's the ingenuity behind your script that grabs and sustains your audience's attention.

Movies can evoke powerful emotions, and for that reason, uplifting, inspirational videos can inject riveting elements into a promotional campaign. Depending on the subject matter, you might combine evocative footage with moving music that causes your audience to shift into an altered state of mind and heart.

By creating a strong, empathic relationship with your audiences, you not only awaken them to whatever "call to action" you might place at the end, but also perpetuate the word-of-mouth advertising for your message.

I personally have received dozens of links to these kinds of videos, as captivated colleagues or friends enthusiastically forward them to everyone they know.

Two potent examples in this genre are:

• The "Free Hugs Campaign," which has no apparent commercial purpose. But with nearly 24 million views, it's a testimony to how we can ignite a compelling social commentary with low-cost video and an enthralling message.

• "The Jackrabbit Factor," which features inspiring visuals, melodic music, and a thought-provoking story. Its main purpose was to launch a bestselling book and related downloads. After enjoying enormous popularity, this movie was only recently added to YouTube.

• Tip: Many videos in this genre consist primarily of still images, mood music, and text. You can achieve a similar effect inexpensively with PowerPoint slides and transitions, using Camtasia Studio to convert them into Flash productions.

In conclusion, when you harness the power of sharing simple or elaborate video on a high-traffic site such as YouTube, you effectively open your message for worldwide consumption. Your imagination is your only limitation in crafting messages that will engage your audiences in spreading your ideas and following your call to action.

Copyright 2010 Adele Sommers

More "Viral Marketing" Ideas...

Want to get people coming to your Web site in droves just to see your cool special effects?

Here's a great example, contributed by one of my subscribers, of an animated product catalog with attention-grabbing visual and sound effects that are certain to get you to tell everyone you know about the site.

Landing on the catalog page takes you through a hilarious adventure as the products proceed to set one another other off in a zany chain reaction.

The fun and novelty make for nonstop "buzz," and should inspire us to think beyond the ordinary to design our own "special attractions" that are worthy of repeat visits in their own right.

Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of "Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" -- an award-winning Special Report and Workbook program.

If you liked today's issue, you'll love this down-to-earth overview of how 12 potent business-boosting strategies can reenergize the morale and productivity of your enterprise, tame unruly projects, and attract loyal, satisfied customers. It's accompanied by a step-by-step workbook designed to help you easily create your own success action plan. Browse the table of contents and reader reviews on the description page.

Adele also offers no-cost articles and resources to help small businesses and large organizations accelerate productivity and increase profitability. Learn more at LearnShareProsper.com.

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