Social media: Adding video to your digital marketing plan

Social Media Monday is a weekly feature that helps businesses and consumers understand how to use social media tools to their best advantage. This week, Erik Bratt (@erikbratt), president of Engage Social Media (EngageSocialMedia.com) looks at the use of online video for marketing.
In the must-have online marketing checklist for your business: you’ve checked off “website,” “search engine optimization,” “email marketing,” and “social media” (hopefully some type of social presence relevant to your audience). So what other online tool can you use to make an impact?
Have about online video?

Once deemed too expensive, and too slow in the pre-broadband era, video is rapidly gaining in popularity as a business tool. In fact, video capability was the fastest-growing website feature for small-business advertisers in 2009, with one in five hosting website video by the end of the year, according to a study released last year by Irvine-based WebVisible.
Video can be used to tell a story, provide product demos, and highlight happy customers. They can be hosted directly on your website, or through numerous video platforms such as YouTube. Another bonus: they are easily shareable. Here are the different types of videos you might consider, depending on your goal:
• Screencasts — Inexpensive and easy to produce, a screencast is a video screen capture that includes audio narration. They are GREAT for online product demos. You can find them everywhere these days, on websites, in social networks, and distributed with digital press releases. Two services worth checking out are Camtasia and Screenflow (Mac only).
• Explantory videos — These videos have also become very popular in the last couple of years, sparked by CommonCraft.com, which used animated paper cutouts to great effect. Many businesses use these graphical videos to explain – in a very simplistic way – an industry problem and how their service is the solution. Check out the front page of DropBox.com, which pretty much just let’s their video do the talking. Beware, however, these videos can be costly, thought very effective. Visit commoncraft.com/network to see a good list of vendors.

  Customer testimonials — It’s always good to get happy customers talking about your brand, and video testimonials are far more effective than written ones. Testimonials in general help prospects feel more comfortable with your product or service. The price, however, can vary depending on the video quality, whether you set up a Flip camera ($200), or hire a professional to shoot from different angles (several thousand dollars). These testimonials can be integrated into corporate videos, but the price for a polished corporate video is steep.
• Video e-mail — OK, this isn’t for your website per se, but using video e-mail is great for breaking through the clutter of e-mails, Tweets and Facebook postings. I’ve personally used video e-mail to reach prospects who failed to respond to traditional e-mail, but immediately responded to video content. Vendors here include EyeJot.com and TokBox.com.
• Viral videos, branded webisodes and more — There are many different types of video content you can produce and add to your website, or push out on the social web to garner attention. One site, albeit for bigger brands, is PopTent.net, a crowd-sourced video site where a large community of semi-professional videographers compete for your project. Speaking from experience, the results are impressive.
Once you have the good videos, you can distribute, manage and track the results through sites like Viralheat.com, ReelSnap.com, TubeMogul.com, and others.
The web is no longer static — it’s interactive, and video is become an increasingly popular form of content to engage and retain customers. Consider adding it to your digital marketing  checklist.

Join the conversation: Are you a social media professional in San Diego County? We’re looking for tips and advice. Contact Money Editor Diana McCabe on Twitter @mcdiana.
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