Tag Archives: YouTube

I’m a big Pete Carroll fan, as a coach and as a motivator. I’ve been fortunate to have met him and you can’t help but walk away from the experience feeling good.

He’s a forward thinking guy, so it should come as no surprise he’s onboard the social media train and that includes using video. It’s a big part of his Win Forever series, and I love what his team did with this “About Us” video.

If you’ve read this blog before, you know I’m big on keeping web videos short. The Win Forever video isn’t short. It’s over 7-minutes long… pushing 8-minutes.

The reason why it works is thanks to a smart little trick. They break it into two segments. The first 1:20 is a basic introduction video. If you stop watching at that point, you at least got their core message. If you continue watching the next 6:00+, you get an extended look at the program.

Doing this satisfies the casual viewer, as well as the person who’s especially interested.

Great idea! How great? Don’t be surprised if you see some future T60 videos done this way.

–Tony Gnau

Posting video on YouTube isn’t enough. Facebook, Twitter… all social media need to be in play. Businesses have to share their videos using these tools if they really want some benefit in the end.

There’s even new research to prove it. ReelSEO reports that videos shared through social media outperform those that don’t. One of the key reasons is allowing others to share your videos gives them more credibility.

People trust their friends. If someone you know posts a video, you’re more likely to watch it than if a business sends you the link.

Getting your videos out into the social web could turn a fun marketing project into a profitable investment.

–Tony Gnau

Some props today for public relations expert and blogging maven Gini Dietrich. She wrote about how all businesses these days have become media companies… and she’s right.

Thanks to social media, from Facebook to YouTube, business leaders need to realize they’re now a part of the media industry so they need to start thinking that way.

The number one thing to consider… why is our content relevant? Why should someone watch our videos? If your answer is simply… because they should be interested in our product or service… you probably don’t have many people paying attention to you.

Start focusing your content on the audience. Make it relevant to them and they’ll start showing up in greater numbers.

–Tony Gnau

Many business leaders are all about the numbers. Let’s face it, they have to be. Numbers are the backbone of just about any company, but they need to take a backseat when producing a marketing video.

Here… the story comes first. The story is what’s going to hook the audience. A good story will keep them interested, and that means they’ll be more receptive to the video’s message.

Numbers are fine. In some cases, they do a good job of backing up the story. Think of them as supporting characters, but they don’t play the lead role.

The star of the show is your story. That’s what will help the audience connect with your business.

–Tony Gnau

One of my favorite things about online marketing videos is the opportunity they provide businesses to give customers an insider’s look at the company.

I just watched a video Ford has on its YouTube channel showing people how they test a vehicle for wind noise. From a production value standpoint, the video is okay… nothing special really.

Where it excels is simply giving a guy like me a glimpse behind the curtain. I’m going to be in the market for a car in the next couple years, so I find myself looking at stuff like this.

Online videos are completely changing the way we shop. They give us a whole new perspective that consumers didn’t have even just a few years ago.

Sure, Ford has produced a video sanitized for my viewing, but it’s still information I probably wouldn’t have noticed if not for YouTube.

–Tony Gnau

Storytelling doesn’t need words, but it does need a story. That little ditty came to me after watching a video produced by Italian automaker Alpha Romeo.

The video uses time-lapse photography to show a concept car being assembled.

Did I miss something? Is that it? There’s no voice track or interviews to tell us anything about the car or the car show where it was displayed.

All it does is leave me wondering. What was I supposed to get from the video? Is the message simply, look at this cool car? I guess if I have to ask what the message is it’s not very good.

In comparison, check out this American Airlines video I highlighted last January. Similar concept… showing us an advertisement display being created, but the airline’s video does a great job of delivering a message without any words.

Video is a great medium, but businesses still have to give viewers a reason to watch.

–Tony Gnau

There are all sorts of videos that can help a company make a sale. Whether you provide a product or a service, a good video highlighting what you do can go a long way to earning new business.

But don’t discount your current customers.

A good video can also be an investment in them. If you don’t think your competitors are trying to lure their business away, you’re kidding yourself. That means its just as important to share your videos with your “faithful” clients as it is with your prospects.

It’s an investment worth making.

–Tony Gnau

I watched a good interview over at the Social Media Examiner last week, and it really hit home because it gave me a different perspective on one of my favorite topics.

Social Media author Scott Stratten talked about corporate video and how businesses need to tell emotional stories to get people to share them. He thinks this is the key to making videos go viral.

Anyone who reads this blog knows my feelings on this subject. Video is all about emotion, not facts. Call it my mantra. A good video touches emotions and connects with the audience. A powerful concept for any marketer.

Anyway, Stratten did open my eyes though because I’ve never thought about it from a “sharing” perspective, but it makes sense. People rarely share videos because they have great facts. They share videos that elicit emotion.

In some cases, facts lead to emotions, but it’s still the emotional response that’s driving viewers to share.

Emotion is apparently a key that opens many doors.

–Tony Gnau

It doesn’t take long. A good video can get people’s attention and peak their interest in less than a couple of minutes. That’s important because most web surfers have very short attention spans.

However, that’s not why I think shorter PR and marketing videos are better. Shorter is better because it allows you to do more.

Instead of producing a single, let’s say, 10-minute video, businesses should turn out five, 2-minute videos. Breaking things up into segments does a couple of things…

1. it’s a manageable time for people to watch
2. it creates an event to look forward to

I want to focus on that second point. Producing a series of videos allows a company to release them as a web series. Using our previous example, we’ll say one video a week for five weeks.

Show them over your social media networks, in an email campaign, and now you’re producing content your followers will anticipate and appreciate every week.

Less really can be more.

–Tony Gnau

Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Last night I awoke at 2:30 a.m. from a bad dream where the USC Trojans were trailing the UCLA Bruins.  Yes, I dream about football.

Bear with me, I’ll get to a relevant point.

In the dream, USC trailed by 7-points with 3:30 left to play when the defense scooped up a fumble. Instead of attempting to drive for a game tying touchdown which would at least force overtime, USC head coach Lane Kiffin elects not to run an offensive play. Instead, he kicks a 49-yard field goal cutting the lead to 4-points.

Craziness… I know. I woke up thinking why would a coach make a move like that? Sure, it closes the gap and potentially preserves enough time to go for the win, but it also paints the team into a corner. The only option available for the Trojans would be to get the ball back on defense and drive for a game winning touchdown.

It actually made me think about viral video. Many companies want to create the next great viral video, but that quest does bring risk. Groupon created a Super Bowl ad I’m sure they hoped would go viral the next day. It did, but for all the wrong reasons. Using the Tibetan people’s oppression as a gag offended a lot people and turned out to be an embarrassing failure.

Creativity is a great thing, but don’t confuse creativity with boldness.  Businesses striving to be bold need to avoid painting themselves into a corner where winning is the only option.

I’m not saying don’t go for it. Everyone’s risk-reward threshold is different.  Just keep your eyes open… and maybe a good PR pro on standby.

–Tony Gnau