It may be a surprise to realize that people can have trust in someone who is unethical or even criminal. Having trust is more about believing in another person. However, the degree to which one person trusts another is a reflection of belief in the other person’s honesty, fairness, and benevolence. Important for establishing initial trust in business is that fact that a failure in trust is more easily forgiven if it is due to a failure in competence rather than a lack of benevolence or honesty. As a result, sometimes a business providing inferior services may fare better with their customers than a company providing superior services – at least temporarily – if people feel the first company is honest and means well.

The phenomenon of trust is summed up in the following definition. It is described as a “heuristic decision rule, allowing the human to deal with complexities that would require unrealistic effort in rational reasoning.” Lets break this definition down. Heuristic processes are trial and error approaches to problem solving which begin with the most accessible solution and go on to another solution, only if the first solution doesn’t solve the problem. In terms of business, if a customer finds himself interacting with a business owner that he intrinsically wishes to trust because the owner appears benevolent, good-natured, and well meaning – then the customer will prefer to trust the owner and do business rather than get involved into complex rational thought about what might go wrong in the business relationship.

So, what does this have to do with putting a video on page ONE of your website have to do with trust?. When a surfer goes onto your website and thinks about doing business with you – someone he’s never met – he can rapidly be won over by a short online video of you talking with him. If he is engaged by your story and connects with your personality then he will immediately wish to trust you and do business you – because that will be the easiest solution for him to take.

And this leaves us with one more important take-away lesson. A front page video needn’t trouble itself with a description of company features and benefits. It simply needs to provide a relevant reason for the user to trust the owner / business. A short 1 to 2 minute story, passionately told by the owner saying that he established the family potato chip business 30 years ago because he wanted to provide people with a crispy chip that wouldn’t lose its favor in the package is a fine example that will win trust right away.

The post Establish Trust With A Front Page Web Video appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

There’s no doubt that online video marketing is on the rise. Numerous studies and statistics prove that video works. In fact, Forrester Research found that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than traditional text pages. That’s a pretty impressive stat!

Online video marketing is attractive to many businesses today for numerous reasons. Making videos and posting them online is fairly inexpensive. Plus, online videos stay online forever. If you spend the money to record once, your video could still be getting views a year from now.

In addition, social media sites and video go hand in hand and most sites encourage video posting and sharing. The viral video opportunities are endless when you use the right strategies to create and post your videos online.

If you’re new to video, or have been thinking about flipping on your camera for the first time, here are some tips and strategies to get you going.
Six Quick Tips to Optimize Your Videos

Once you record your video, follow these tips to make sure it reaches your core audience and gets the views it deserves.

#1: Make your title count

Just like a headline to a blog post, video titles can pull powerful traffic. There are two main reasons why the title is so important. One, a great title can instantly grab a viewer’s attention. Two, when you use the appropriate keywords in your title, you are more likely to show up on search engines when people are searching for your topic. And remember Google owns YouTube, so there’s a story connection between video and searching.

#2: Provide excellent content

Take some time to think about your ideal viewer. What do you know that they’ll find valuable? What can you teach them? “How-to” videos are extremely successful because not only do they offer great value to your viewer, but also you’re able to showcase your knowledge and skill, thus positioning yourself as an expert. This is key as you continue to grow your brand.

Also, no matter how good your content is, it won’t matter if your video is too long and you lose your viewer’s attention. Try to keep them short.

In late 2009, ComScore reported that the average video was 3.8 minutes in length.

#3: Include your URL in your video

When you edit your video, take advantage of the different editing features. One easy feature is to add a text box to your video. This is where you can display your website address and it’s a great way to get exposure.

Here’s a screen shot of Mari Smith’s YouTube channel. Notice how she used a text box in her video to display key information, including her website URL at the end of her video. Smart move!

For the remainder of the article click here.

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Making and distributing good B2B video content takes time. It isn’t a quick process to arrange a video shoot, edit video and then upload it to the social web. This work though can come with a substantial pay-off if as a B2B company you understand how to do the little things to maximize the effectiveness of online video.

When it comes to online video several issues exist. Search engines don’t index the content of video well. People can’t always watch video at work because of firewall issues and out of date software. Today’s tips are to help fix some of these issues and to make sure that ROI of online video is maximized.

7 Online Video Tips Every B2B Marketer Should Know

1. Always Include URL In A Video Description – This first tip is so simple but so many businesses don’t do it. Most video sharing sites including YouTube, allow the first 30 characters of a video description to be an active URL. Not only does it make it easy to generate leads back to your site from videos, but this links also count in Google’s PageRank system. Meaning if you publish a lot of video and put links in each of them your organic search ranking in Google will be improved.

2. When Blogging A Video Include A Text Summary – This is a tactic that may add a little more time to getting your video published, but is completely worth it. A good example of this is what the folks at HubSpot TV are doing. Under each of the video is a series a bullet points that summarize what the video covers. While this is great for people who can’t watch the video it also provides text for search engines to better index your video blog posts. Adding text with video is a valuable inbound marketing opportunity.

3. Three Short Videos Are Better Than one Long Video – People have short attention spans when it comes to the web. As marketers providing content it is important that we understand this. Online videos should be short, ideally around 3 minutes, or even shorter. If you have a 10 minute interview, then break it up into smaller interviews. Besides improving the chances that more people will watch it, it also provides the opportunity to focus headlines that fit with different messages within the video.

See the remaining tips at: Social Media B2B

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Made as an homage, directly inspired by Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent classic “Man With a Movie Camera,” it was shot and edited in a little over a 24 hour period. And, by later that following day, December 27th, links to the film were being passed around on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Strategically sent to film critic Roger Ebert making him one of the first to see “Idiot with a Tripod.” Ebert thinks the film should win an Academy Award for best live-action short subject. Enjoy …

It’s certainly impressive the way Stuart is able to tell a story without any words and pulls it together with an excellent choice of music. There are no spoken words, no graphics, not even any natural sound, yet the viewer sees a story through the images on the screen. We are able to follow the progression as the storm impacts life in New York. Nice work!

Here is a link to Vertov’s original 1929 silent classic “Man With a Movie Camera,” should you wish to watch.

The post NY – A Storm Story Without Words appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

Successful online advertising isn’t just about the channel — from search to display to video — it’s about storytelling. When ads incorporate narrative elements, they increase interaction rates and the audience’s willingness to consider the product, react, or even move towards a purchase. Savvy advertisers know that nothing tells a story better than video. I would propose that the power of storytelling through sight, sound and motion is the reason why video is the fastest growing form of online advertising. eMarketer estimates that online video ad spending will grow 48% to $1.5 billion this year and hit $5.5 billion by 2014.

It’s now easier than ever for advertisers to choose online video, whether they’re national retailers or political candidates at the local level just beginning these efforts. The issue isn’t why use online video to tell your story, but how online video should tell your story. Even more important, how do you use online video to further your marketing strategy, tell a great story and generate concrete results? Let’s start by agreeing that not all online video advertising is created equal — or equal to every task — and start to build a holistic online video advertising strategy. Storytelling should move your audience emotionally and logically through the purchase funnel. Understanding how video works across that funnel and where to apply your resources at each stage is the key to unlocking that value.

Introduction – Create Awareness. The beginning of a story should grab viewers’ attention and introduce them to new places, characters, and concepts. At this stage, your video advertising must be disruptive and impactful. In-stream video is most effective in this case because it takes a short time to introduce and create awareness of your product or service. Much like television, the ad is presented in the course of viewing. So, if you are introducing a new product, then focus on driving awareness via broad in-stream buys. The goal is to disrupt, be brief, and be broad-based. And how do you know if you were successful? Research can clearly show when audiences exposed to your advertising have a higher awareness of your product than those who saw nothing.

For the rest of this article, click HERE.

The post Tell Me A Story: How Video Ads Can Drive The Best Results Online appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

As of the beginning of 2010, do you know how many websites are live on the internet? The figure has now surpassed one hundred million. If you have a small business that operates on the internet then it is fundamental to keep ahead of the competition. The potential to make money online is vast, but not without keeping up to date with the newest trends in marketing.

The following tips are vital if you are going to maximize the number of hits your site receives:

1. Now some of the most popular sites on the internet are video sharing portals. There isn’t a net user in the world that has never visited You Tube. To increase your traffic you will need to enhance your visibility. If the customers aren’t coming to you then you need to go to them. By putting together a fun and interesting clip for You Tube you will be able to reach a wider audience.

2. Understand the target audience. If you are offering a service or selling products online then you should identify the market demographic in which you expect to receive the greatest number of sales. When designing the video be sure to cater to their specific tastes.

3. Grab attention. Today with so much choice when it comes to browsing the net it is important to be able to keep the attention of surfers. Any video you make needs to be short and snappy. Do not make it overly promotional; if possible try to advertise your message subliminally.

4. Put together informative videos such as guides. Many people use the net to look up information. For example if you have a website selling cookery products you could put together a short step by step video of how to bake a cake or make a pizza. This will attract visitors who then may be interested in your products. Also, such pages will stand a better chance of receiving high search engine placement.

To be sure to maintain a strong foothold in the online world in these times of increased competition and economic uncertainty then video marketing is a must. Please take action now and implement these tips I just gave you. The life of you business may depend on it.

The post 4 Online Video Marketing Survial Tactics For Your Small Business appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

However telling stories via video is what we do at StoryFirst, and you’d probably expect us to say that. So, to support our story of “the power of web video” – here are ten top statistics from research findings of recent industry studies. We think you’ll agree that these statistics make quite a compelling case for web video to tell your stories!

1. “Brands using online video have seen lifts of 20% to 40% in terms of incremental buying, with conversions that are twice the rate of other media.” (1)
2. 21% of retail web video viewers make a purchase online. (1)
3. 26% of retail web video viewers visit a store. (2)
4. 21% of retail web video viewers request more information. (1)
5. Video landing pages generate four to seven times higher engagement and response rates than static image and text landing pages. (3)
6. Well-optimized video is fifty-three times more likely than text to appear on the front page of Google. (4)
7. 68% of the top 50 Internet retailers use web video. (5)
8. 71% of Internet users watch video. (1)
9. 65% of all videos are viewed between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. (1)
10. 33% of middle managers under 50 view work-related videos every day. (1)

SOURCES:
(1) Chris Crafton, CMO, eCorpTV.com, reported by Target Marketing at a Philadelphia
Direct Marketing Association networking and breakfast meeting.
(2) BIA/Kelsey User View study data, February 2010, reported by Turnhere.com.
(3) SearchEngineWatch, February 2010.
(4) Forrester Research, January 2010.
(5) Internet Retailer, July 2010.

What are your experiences with using video on your website and to tell your stories? Please share with us!
And, if you’d like to talk further about how web video can help you or your organization in Madison, give us a call – In Madison, WI 608-576-0174 or Austin, TX 512-782-9992.