10 Things the Smartest Email Users Never Do

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These are the things to avoid if you want to be an email expert.

We all make mistakes. However, when you’ve been using email for a couple of decades, you tend to have perfected your craft. (I still tell people I’m a Professional Email Processor.) These are the mistakes more seasoned email users avoid at all costs.

1. Hit reply all

Few people who have been around tech for a while still make this mistake. You get into the habit of confirming who is getting your message. It’s rare that you need to send a message back to all of the original recipients.

2. Forget to blind copy

Another thing technophiles rarely (if ever) do is forget to blind copy. It’s a newbie mistake. You also get into the habit of confirming the recipients for every single email.

3. Send an email to the wrong person

There are a lot of people named John. There’s only one person with my email address. That’s why it’s best not to just type a first name and search. If you have processed a lot of email, you know you have to always confirm the recipient’s name. Twice.

4. Permanently delete a message

We’re living in an age of almost unlimited and cheap storage. I have at least 2TB right now in my Gmail account, and I haven’t deleted a single email in at least six to seven years (really). If you want to make an archive, just create another email address and keep all of the old messages.

5. Use Outlook on the desktop

It’s a waste of time to use the desktop client. Plus, if you switch between computers constantly, it means you probably have messages downloaded to one of the systems and not the others. I don’t ever use Outlook, because it’s so time consuming and not as accessible.

6. Try to send large files as attachments

New email users get an “oops” moment when they send a file that’s too big for the recipient. Eventually, you realize there is a much better way. For example, you can upload the file to Google Drive and then just send the link.

7. Forward without explanation

This is more of a best practice, but there is a tech angle here, too. When you forward a message without any explanation, it means the recipient has to figure out why you sent it. (Full disclosure: I sometimes forget this rule.) Add a quick comment–it’s not like it takes up extra bandwidth.

8. Have tons of customizations in your signature line

You might not realize this, but not every recipient can see the blinking animated cursor next to your name. On my phone especially, I read most messages as basic text. It’s best to use a simple signature you know anyone can read on any device.

9. Send an email to dozens of recipients

This is a mistake people make when they accidentally hit “select all” in their email program and hit send. If you have a legitimate email to send to many people, it’s far better to use an app likeMailChimp.

10. Spam people

Here’s one last mistake new users make. They don’t quite realize that there are laws against sending hundreds and hundreds of unsolicited emails to people who did not request the message.

10 Facebook Trends of 2015 [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Pagemodo 10 Facebook Trends of 2015

By now we are accustomed to updates and changes from our favorite social media platform to loathe and love: Facebook.

Just this month we learned about yet another News Feed update, which led us to research ALL the changes the social media giant has gone through in 2015. Turns out that many of the statistics we learned are part of larger trends that can mean a lot to you and your business.

To digest all this information, we put together a comprehensive infographic that you can save, share, and use to strategize your social media plan for the rest of the year.

Special Offer: Save 50% on a new Pagemodo package with the code PAGEMODOBLOG50 at checkout! Click here.

For a better understanding of how these apply to your business, be sure to read the explanation of each trend underneath the graphic!

Pagemodo 10 Facebook Trends of 2015

1. Facebook Video Domination
We know Facebook passed YouTube for video views on desktop with nearly a billion more views than YouTube in August. And now, advertisers plan to follow the traffic. It is projected that advertisers will run more video campaigns on Facebook by the end of the year. Since Facebook is also favoring native videos in the Feed, if marketers want a successful Facebook video post, they may not have a choice.

2. Rise of the Social Wallet
Tipping a hat to Snapchat, Facebook started allowing money to be sent through Messenger. But, this only came after thorough testing of a direct ‘Buy’ button included in Facebook advertising. So what’s next? F-commerce. In other words, businesses may have the opportunity to host products to sell directly on their Facebook pages or direct users to their retail website. This begs the question; will Facebook be less about socializing and more about shopping? To be determined.

3. Reallocation of Paid Ad Budgets
In February, active Facebook advertisers hit the 2 million threshold, making that a 33% increase from the 1.5 million it gathered just six months earlier. That fact alone shouldn’t make it a surprise that marketers are clamoring to push more money into their social media spending budgets. It’s a good thing though, because with several copycat innovations appearing on Twitter, marketers could find other social media networks will take Facebook’s lead in favoring paid posts in the future. Better to be prepared now.

4. Skyrocketing Mobile Growth
Over half a billion mobile-only users is impressive. What’s more is that mobile advertising brought in 76% of Facebook’stotal ad revenue for the last quarter. If that doesn’t convince you Facebook advertising is the place to be – we don’t know what will!

5. B2C Outpacing B2B
Lately, Facebook’s updates are emphasizing features that cater to business-to-consumer organizations (i.e. Businesses on Messenger). It makes sense when you consider that 69% of B2C marketers plan to increase Facebook efforts and 68% will select Facebook as their number-one social marketing channel when just 31% of B2B marketers are choosing Facebook as first choice.

6. Continued Survival with Youths
Rest-assured that Facebook is not “dead” to the 12-24 year-old demographic. In a 2015 study, Facebook was found to still be the most used social media site, beating out Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter combined! This means no matter your target age demographic, chances are you can still find them on Facebook.

7. Social Login Supremacy
Does your checkout page allow users to log in using Facebook? If not, it may be time to start. Across several verticals including media, entertainment, consumer brands, and B2B, Facebook is the preferred social login. Faster login equals faster completed transactions, which equals a happy business.

8. Facebook App Diversification
As any successful organization, Facebook continues to diversify their business in trends they find worthy to invest.Instagram, What’s App, and Messenger are just three of the apps we know to have been great investments in 2015. We suspect it will just be a matter of time before we hear more about their virtual reality investment, Oculus Rift. Get ready.

9. More Devices, More Problems.
Apple Watch, Google Glass, and fitness trackers, oh my! Wearable devices open the door for opportunities of push notifications and location-based coupons (like we have seen for RetailMeNot) coming from Facebook. Wouldn’t you like the ability to send a reminder to check-in or a provide coupon to your store right on a customer’s wrist from a trusted app you know they are always logged into? We thought so.

10. A Premium on Privacy
With more and more ways to interact with Facebook, consumers will be even more privy to their privacy. This could make it difficult for cookie-reading and targeting for social media marketers. In which case, it will be important to observe how your target groups shift (bigger or smaller) and make changes to your strategy accordingly. It may mean getting a bit more creative with how you find and target your audience, but we have full confidence in your abilities.

Do you feel more prepared to dominate social media marketing on Facebook?
Share your questions or concerns in the comments!

POSTED BY  IN FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS, INFOGRAPHICS, SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY ON THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015

4 Things that Marketers Should Know About the Human Brain

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At any given time, marketers face hundreds of decisions. In testing new customer acquisition channels, advertising imagery and messaging, the process of choosing the right combination of elements can feel like a shot in the dark. Even more frustrating is the fact that the decisions have a high probability of being wrong.

Marketing is a field full of ambiguities. Rather than making empty guesses, however, there is one blueprint that we can rely on to be our guide—the human brain, and the years of research scientists have put into understanding it.

Here are four psychology studies that every marketer must know.

1) We’re wired to connect with others.

University of Virginia researchers confirmed a trend that’s been gaining momentum over the last few years: a suggestion that there is a neural basis for empathy and that we feel others’ experiences as if they are happening to us.

In a follow-up study, researchers found that the human brain will treat others’ experiences as its own—emotionally speaking, we don’t differentiate what’s happening to our loved ones and ourselves.

The empathy we feel, however, is far from universal. When it comes to strangers, we’re a bit more detached.

Marketing takeaway:

When running an ad, choosing visuals, or crafting your brand messaging, consider choosing themes related to close friends and family. Social proof, storytelling, and case studies are key—but the brand-to-customer connection will be stronger with an element of personal affinity. Inspire your audience’s level of care by focusing on, or becoming a part of, their circles.

2) We process emotions five times faster than rational thought and make gut reactions in under three seconds.

These trends come to us from an infographic shared by MarketingProfs. The trends speak for themselves; we jump to emotional conclusions before logical ones, and we have gut reactions about what we like, and don’t like, in a matter of seconds.

The infographic further points out that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, which means that there are subtle ways to deliver information faster.

Marketing takeaway:

Brands don’t have time to waste. In an industry where banner blindness is the norm, it’s essential that we forge an instant relationship with our target audiences. The trick to success here is actually no trick at all—it’s methodical, upfront research.

Get to know what your audiences care about. Translate these themes into a visual story to create an instant hook. Rely on a healthy mix of emotion, passion, and empathy to guide your approach.

3) Giving is the ultimate form of influence.

An article from the Nielsen Norman Group reaffirms what psychologists have found for years: that people tend to return good deeds. The “reciprocity principle” says we’re likely to pay back what we receive from others.

The evolutionist’s explanation for this trend is that survival was contingent on being nice to others. Friends helped each other survive in light of adversity. When we’re good to others, they’ll be good to us, too.

Marketing takeaway:

Brands often approach advertising with the perspective of maximizing sales and revenue. That’s why audiences aren’t listening—attention spans are stretched thin.

The one way to stand out and defeat advertising exhaustion is to give your audiences something of value. Teach them something new, entertain them, and enrich their lives through storytelling. That’s where branded native video advertising can make the difference for your brand.

4) The opportunity to talk about ourselves triggers the same emotions as food, money, and sex.

Researchers at Harvard confirmed what we’ve all suspected: that we love to talk about ourselves. As it turns out, people devote 30-40% of their speech to sharing information about their own subjective experiences.

When we share, our brains light up—literally. As Harvard’s researchers put it:

“Self-disclosure was strongly associated with increased activation in the brain regions that form the mesolimbic dopamine system, including the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area.”

In other words—the opportunity to talk about ourselves triggers the same emotions as several of the things we love most in life.

Marketing takeaway:

Earned media is one of the biggest opportunities in marketing today. Create content that adds value to your audiences’ lives, and people will want to share it.

To take off, content needs to be personally relevant, entertaining, and engaging. Native video campaigns, especially, have the power to take off. To start, you need is a compelling, awesome story.

Final Thoughts

Marketing decisions can be hard. When we understand our emotions—and how we’re hard-wired—we can create better, science-backed blueprints.

Every marketing campaign starts with a blank slate. This world of options can be intimidating at first, but at the end of the day, humans are predictable.

Science-backed creativity is at the heart of every successful marketing initiative. So the next time you need a little inspiration, pick up your favorite science journal!

By 

22 Social Media Facts and Statistics You Should Know in 2014

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22 Social Media Facts and Statistics You Should Know in 2014

There was a tipping point last year that has major implications for business and brands. It will impact publishing and marketing strategies and tactics in the future.

One of the worlds biggest music stars ignored the traditional mass media product launching process. She bypassed the “normal” mass media release of a radio campaign, multiple TV appearances and retail and consumer brand promotions. Instead she announced it on Instagram to her 8 million followers with the word “Surprise” and proceeded to launch the 14 songs and accompanying 17 videos on iTunes.

It was a success and it exceeded the album downloads of the previous album which had used the traditional marketing model. Its a trend that is not going away anytime soon.

Jeff’s Bonus: I’ve put together a free bonus for this post that includes my top strategies on getting more followers, engagement, and email subscribers with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more. They’re FREE, and I’ll send them all to you in a single email. Click here to get the free bonus.

Build your own networks now!

Businesses who are relentless in building a following on social media are in fact creating their own publishing platforms, growing their marketing channels and content distribution networks. It is a digital asset that grows every year. Over time it can provide huge leverage and marketing independence if done right.

So with that in mind let’s have a look at where the major social media networks are up to at the start of 2014.

Social web demographics

Social media is a blur of  tweets, shares and content. No longer is it just used by the young and the restless. It is global and embedded in every corner of the web.

So some questions. Which age groups are using social media, what countries are big Facebook users and what percentage are using mobile to access social media?

This is the who and the where of  social media users.

  1. 72% of all internet users are now active on social media
  2. 18-29 year olds have an 89% usage
  3. The 30-49 bracket sits at 72%
  4. 60 percent of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media
  5. In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media
  6. Time spent on Facebook per hour spent online by country. Here are the top three. USA citizens get the top gong at 16% followed by the Aussies at 14 minutes and the Brits at 13 minutes.
  7. 71% of users access social media from a mobile device.

The paradigm of social media only being used by the younger generation should be put to rest now.

Facebook

Facebook is still the biggest kid on the block, but there are some pundits predicting that by 2016 Google+ will surpass Facebook on “social sharing”.

Here are some of the latest figures to mull over.

  1. There are now over 1.15 billion Facebook users
  2. One million web pages are accessed using the “Login with Facebook”  feature
  3. 23 percent of Facebook users login at least 5 times per day
  4. 47% of Americans say Facebook is their #1 influencer of purchases
  5. 70% of marketers used Facebook to gain new customers

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Google+

Prying the numbers out of Google for Google+ has always been a challenge.  A bit like getting a date with the prettiest girl in the class. Not impossible but it doesn’t happen very often.

So what are the latest numbers?

  1. There are now over 1 billion  with Google+ enabled accounts
  2. It has reached 359 million monthly active users
  3. Google+ is growing at 33% per annum.
  4. The 45 to 54 year old bracket  increased its usage on Google+ by 56% since 2012

When you consider that Google+ has only been around for less than three years, then it is a success on many levels. So Google must be happy with with its investment, which is north of $500 million that it initially invested in Google+

Google+ Bonus: Get my best guides on dominating Google+, including: 10 great Google+ pages that you can use for inspiration, and 5 mistakes to avoid when marketing on Google+ Click here to get these bonuses.

Twitter

Twitter has to be taken seriously. Last year it took off its short pants and become a public company. So what is happening in the Twittersphere?

  1. There are now over 550 million registered users
  2. 34% of marketers use Twitter to successfully generate leads
  3. Twitter was the fastest growing network with a 44% growth from 2012-2013
  4. 215 million monthly active users

Twitter has also made some changes in the last few months that has made it more visual and engaging. Business should no longer be ignoring the 140 character pip squeak.

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The others

We haven’t mentioned some important social media channels. These include. Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr, Vine, Slideshare and many others.

This year expect the visual social media networks to hit more home runs.

Keep an eye on these two:

  1. Pinterest with 20 million active monthly users
  2. Instagram with 150 million active monthly users.

Pinterest and Instagram Bonus: I’ve put together my favorite posts on Pinterest and Instagram in the free bonus area. Click here to get these bonuses.

Here is an Infographic from Search Engine Journal that provides a visual medium for the social media facts and statistics you should know in 2014.

Social Media Facts and statistics you need to know
Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/17/20-social-media-facts-and-statistics-you-should-know-in-2014/#LMSP6Xy74dS5kGd2.99

20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic

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Do you wonder why your productivity has dropped over the past 2 – 3 years?

20 Stunning Social Media Facts and Figures

There is a time sink and it’s not television!

Those of us who are connected to the internet and that is 2 billion of us, have been distracted by social multi-media publishing machines that are pumping out staggering amounts of content with enticing high definition images and videos!

You cannot escape their allure as they tempt you to log in when you are out and about with either with your laptop, iPad or smart phone.

These enticing, tempting distractions are robbing us of time that should be spent doing productive work like washing your car, cleaning the house or doing your tax… and I know how much you all enjoy those activities!

20 Social Media Statistics

These figures reveal the huge black hole that our time disappears into when we visit Facebook, Twitter or YouTube or other social media sites.

  1. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook ( This number is calculated by dividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users)
  2. People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
  3. Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
  4. More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices
  5. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook
  6. 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month
  7. 300,000 users helped translate Facebook into 70 languages
  8. People on Facebook install 20 million “Apps” every day
  9. YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (as of February 2011)
  10. YouTube generates 92 billion page views per month (These YouTube stats don’t include videos viewed on phones and embedded in websites)
  11. Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month (326,294 years)
  12. Wikipedia hosts 17 million articles
  13. Wikipedia authors total over 91,000 contributors
  14. People upload 3,000 images to Flickr (the photo sharing social media site) every minute
  15. Flickr hosts over 5 billion images
  16. 190 million average  Tweets per day occur on Twitter (May 2011)
  17. Twitter is handling 1.6 billion queries per day
  18. Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users a day
  19. Google+ has more than 25 million users
  20. Google+ was the fastest social network to reach 10 million users at 16 days (Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days)

image: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/social-media-black.jpeg

The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic
Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-stunning-social-media-statistics/#aQp0WM3TL8SqE6bo.99

How to Make Your Video Rank Number One on YouTube

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You know it and we know it – being visible on YouTube has become essential to any company that wants to promote their brand through video marketing.

The problem is that being found by your potential customers on YouTube isn’t that easy – you have to beat millions of competitors with larger budgets and brighter videos.

Being visible on YouTube and ranking high in its search results requires thorough search engine optimization (SEO), a wise distribution plan and, above all, a quality marketing video.

Today you’ll learn the basics on how to rank number one on YouTube with your own video. But I’ll not just describe how to do it; I’ll explain and demonstrate each step by using a successful case study from Yum Yum Videos: their explainer video got ranked number one on YouTube under the most valuable business keywords in just 3 months, so it will serve us as a clear example on each step.

You can also get the free step-by-step eBook “How To Rank #1 on YouTube” which expands on this effective strategy.

Now let’s start this exciting video SEO journey with the first question:

Why YouTube?

You might wonder: why choose YouTube as a video hosting site? And why spend time and effort reading this piece to gain a good position in its search engine rankings?

First of all, with over 1 billion active users worldwide, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world (behind its owner Google, but above Yahoo! and Bing) so it’s not just an average hosting site.

Then, what many people don’t take into account is that YouTube is also a massive social network; it actually happens to be the world’s 3rd largest social network, behind Facebook and Twitter.

This alone makes YouTube a perfect spot on the web to promote your brand.

But the thing is, you can’t really be on YouTube without a video, and even then: you won’t rank high in the search engine without a quality marketing video, simply because yours need to stand out among the 4 billion videos that are watched on it every day… and that leads us to the next point.

The importance of having a quality video

The problem with marketing videos is that you need to make a quality one, or else YouTube will send it to the dark bottom of its page results, even if you spend your whole budget on advertising.

Why is that? Because YouTube cares a lot about complete video views, and the amount of time people spend watching a video is one of the factors YouTube cares about when setting up its SERP (search engine results pages). And, let’s face it; no one would care to watch a video all the way through if it’s not well made!

Video SEO and keyword planning

Ok, so you have a quality marketing video and you want it to climb up the YouTube results page. What you need now is a clever video SEO strategy and some wise keyword planning in order to optimize your video’s performance on the site.

Let’s learn the best practices in this area:

1. Keywords

First of all, you should learn which words from your business niche come up frequently on YouTube and how many people usually search for a particular word by using a SEO tool such as Google’s keyword planner.

However, don’t fight over the most searched keyword terms because that would be really hard to rank for. I recommend using longtail keywords instead: they’re longer and contain more specific phrases, which do include your main keywords, but have less people fighting over them.

In our case study, the longtail keyword is “the best explainer videos”.

Longtail keywords drive precise views from potential customers way faster, helping your video to rank under the main keyword too. Once you find your own, don’t forget to use them everywhere in YouTube: titles, descriptions, tags, etc.

2. Titles

Titles help people get what your video is about before hitting the play button, so it’s vital to place your keywords in it.

Now don’t forget to keep your titles brief and direct. I recommend using less than 70 characters, because longer titles are cut off in the YouTube results page.

On the other hand, try to avoid writing titles that don’t represent the true content in your video. Tricky or misleading titles cause a huge drop-off that will reduce your video’s performance.

3. Thumbnails

Thumbnails are essential SEO features because they act as the only preview for your video on the YouTube results page and suggestions. Besides, it’s proven that a spot-on thumbnail will invite more people to press play on your video, but a badly-chosen one will drive them away.

Therefore, you should choose your thumbnails carefully.

Here you can get a glimpse of the early-considered thumbnails from our case study (the upper-left one became the final choice):

As with your title, don’t cheat with a misleading thumbnail. People hate tricky thumbnails.

On the other hand, use only hi-resolution images (640×360 pixels at a minimum) and make sure that the thumbnail looks good in both small and large sizes and on different devices (TV, iPad and desktop PC).

If your image is not attractive enough, people simply won’t click on it.

4. Descriptions

Descriptions explain what your marketing video is about. You need to make them short and accurate (around 2 sentences are perfect) but don’t forget to use your business keywords.

It’s also mandatory to include a link to your own site within those two sentences, and you can add links to your social media channels as well. These actions will increase your website traffic and create a great opportunity to drive potential customers to your brand.

5. Call-to-action

Now, for this strategy to drive concrete marketing results apart from views and SEO purposes (for example downloading your content, subscribing to your newsletter, visiting your site, etc.) you need to encourage your viewers to take action by adding a clear call-to-action in the form of a clickable button.

Or you can use the YouTube Cards feature instead (which is a sidebar call-to-action), in order to lead your viewers to your website, landing page or any other video of yours that’s hosted on YouTube:

Distribution and link building

In order to set up its results pages, YouTube considers all the websites where your video is embedded and played on, and also takes into account the amount of YouTube views that come from those sites.

Then, if you really want to enhance your Video SEO strategy, you need to distribute your video in the right spot for potential customers to watch it.

Let me quickly describe those spots:

1. YouTube ads

Investing some money in YouTube Ads (aimed to the right target audience) can give an initial boost to your video marketing campaign, making you clinch a first bunch of viewers and allowing YouTube to start measuring your videos’ performance.

However, after that first push, it’s better to rank organically on YouTube, because it gives your video more credibility and fairness.

2. Link building

You must drive your marketing video forward to make it rank number one on YouTube. Besides embedding your video on your blog (and other people’s blog) use it in landing pages, press releases, email marketing campaigns and social media posts, to then measure its overall performance.

Remember that your video can turn into a powerful marketing tool to suit your online campaigns.

Here you can analyze the visit rates and sources from our case study:

Graph c - Rank Number One on YouTube

As you can see, views came almost exclusively from the embedded player source -in light green- during the first 3 months (that’s blogging and guest blogging playback).

But then YouTube’s organic visits -in purple and dark green- (those are direct searches and video suggestions playbacks) began to rise, because that’s when the video started to rank number one on YouTube’s search engine results page.

Eventually, YouTube’s searches and suggestions’ playbacks beat the embedded player source:

 

Graph d - Rank Number One on YouTube

From then on, the animated video started to gain 300% more views every day, comparing it with day 1. Views keep growing by a monthly 20% on average. As today, the video has over 30,000 views and holds the number one position under Yum Yum Videos’ most valuable keywords.

Now you’re ready to build up your own videos and set up a wise video SEO strategy to start ranking high on YouTube’s search engine results page!

Remember that you can download Yum Yum Videos’ free eBook to widen this knowledge and learn how to craft a quality marketing video to compete with.

Good luck!

Facebook Releases ‘Donate Now’ Button

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Good news for all nonprofits on Facebook. The social media company announced yesterday on its site that a “Donate Now” button will be added to both nonprofit pages and ads.

The “Donate Now” call-to-action button can now be added pages or when creating ads if the nonprofit company chooses to do so. For businesses, call-to-action buttons in ads allow users to do things like sign up for a service, play a game, download an app or purchase an item.

Upon clicking on the button, users are taken to the organization’s site to complete the donation after being notified that the nonprofit is not affiliated or endorsed by Facebook.

The Donate Now button is not new however. According to Tech Crunch, “Facebook rolled out a “Donate” button in late 2013 with specific partners like the American Cancer Society and The Red Cross. For nonprofit partners, the button was seamlessly integrated into pages and the donation took place internally with credit card info that could be stored on the site.”

Again this is great news for nonprofits on Facebook. Not only is the site making it easier for Facebook users to donate, by clicking the button, users are linked to the nonprofit’s page thus increasing page traffic as well.

– See more at: http://www.socialbydefinition.com/content/facebook-releases-donate-now-button#sthash.icaO5nRZ.dpuf

Over 30 Stats on Why You Need Online Video

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Here we have a great guest post put together by Hannah Brenzel. She’s pulled together over 30 stats detailing where video marketing is, where it’s going, and why you should take notice. Hannah, take it away…

Online video marketing is growing.

Audiences and advertisers are rushing to online video, eager to consume and capitalize on digital entertainment. In March 2013, 85% of US internet users viewed online video, and video ads accounted for 25% of all videos viewed (source). Surprisingly though, many marketers are hesitant to shift advertising dollars—this year they’ll spend $66 billion on television and only $4.14 billion on online video marketing (source).

American audiences are constantly engaging in online video viewing. In June 2013, 85.2% of US internet users watched video and the total number of videos viewed reached 44 billion, a 7% increase from May (source). As the most popular online video publisher, YouTube receives over 1 billion unique users per month who watch over 6 billion hours of video (source). Advertisers are developing an online video presence to reach audiences who are actively seeking out this kind of entertainment.

In a Rocket Fuel survey, 42% of respondents (149 digital agency professionals) claim to be moving from TV to online video this year as part of the planning process. Media buyers (72%) are also increasing their budgets for online video by an average of 53% (source). As a result, the number of online video advertisements is growing rapidly with a 64% increase from 2012 to 2013 (source).

Online video marketing is effective.

Online video marketing is effective when it comes to exposure. According to a comScore report, video ad impressions surpassed 20 billion in June 2013. Video ads reached nearly 54% of the total U.S. population an average of 121 times during the month.

Obviously, people are watching an ever-increasing amount of online video, but this isn’t the only reason you need to start creating video content. According to Nielsen and the IAB, shifting from television to digital video can enhance your campaign’s reach at a lower cost. It also makes the campaign’s reach more effective—generating an increase in general recall (+15%), brand recall (+33%), message recall (+45%), and likability (+40%).

In a study from BrightRoll surveying 150 top advertising executives, 91% believe online video is equally or more effective than display advertising, 75% believe it’s more effective than TV, and 68% believe it’s more effective than social media.

When it comes to TV, most advertisers are confident that online video can match its reach and engagement level—47% feel online video can outdo TV in generating awareness for the same level of investment, and 24% said it could at least match TV (source). The same survey found that 58% of respondents believe that for the same investment they can achieve better share of engagement with online video than with TV. Another 15% said online video would drive the same amount of engagement.

Not only can you extend your campaign’s reach with online video, but you can also improve consumer-brand engagement. Many advertisers are utilizing online video in their marketing strategies and next year, 73% will increase spending on pre-roll ads and 53% on social video (source). Also, 25% of advertisers say online video will see the highest growth in media spending—23% said mobile video. 25% believe TV will see the lowest growth (source).

This is just in response to viewer behavior; this year, time spent with digital media will surpass TV viewing time (average 5:16 hours a week with digital compared to 4:31 on TV). Marketers are meeting consumers on their preferred platform to maximize exposure and brand awareness. Evidently, online video marketing is where you need to be.

Hannah Brenzel is the Content Marketer at ViralGains, a viral video marketing company based out of Boston. She recently moved three thousand miles away her home in California to the advertising mecca that is the East Coast. You can get more great info by following her on Google+.

How To Go Viral On YouTube: The 5 Untold HACKS Behind Getting Views.

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As a business owner, Entertainment professional, non-profit or internet marketer, one of the most sought after marketing dreams is the creation of the viral video.

With over 4.2 billion YouTube views each day, the opportunity for exposure is inconceivable.  But don’t be fooled. But just because you put your video is on YouTube doesn’t mean it’ll capture the kind of attention you are hoping for. Especially without a plan and the right formula.

Do you know what does it take to accomplish the sought-after status of viral video?  Is this a phenomenon of chance, or can it be intentionally planned?

How to Achieve Viral Video Success:

TRUTH 1:

Most people spend lots of time and money creating videos. So why rush through the most important part? Did you know GOOGLE owns YouTube?

Well they do. So what does GOOGLE look for within your video that will make your video found on all the Search Engines and Rank high in YouTube’s search Algorithm?

GOOGLE only crawls/searches the First TWO sentences of your videos DESCRIPTION. So whatever you put in the first TWO sentences will be what GOOGLE uses to RANK your videos.

I always recommend starting off with the main website you are wanting to drive the people watching you video to. Then place keywords and your video’s title in the description. Always add any social links as well.

*NOTE when adding links you must use the https:// and NOT just the www. If you DO NOT use the https:// GOOGLE will NOT recognize your link.

 

TRUTH 2:

Figure out who also has to gain by your video going Viral.

When your video reaches the Millions, who are all the people and companies who will benefit besides you? In your YouTube description, fill it full of links to possible sponsors. Mention certain APPS (they are always looking for exposure), tag products, clothing lines, cars and even cities now have a strong social presence.

Contact them all and ask them to share the video. Some of them will be happy to share your video and some will not. But try them all! It will ONLY increase your chances for exposure.

 

 

TRUTH 3:

 

Release on Monday or Tuesday

Hundreds of Millions of people watch YouTube videos when they’re at work. Release your video on Monday or Tuesday to give it the whole week to gain momentum. Weekends are speed bumps.

In my experience the best day to choose is Tuesday. Mainly because people are busy catching up with emails and Monday meetings. Anticipate the timing of you release and make sure there are NOT any major breaking news that day. Releasing on a slow news day will help you in the long run.

Be mindful of your holidays, as well. Don’t release you video when people are not at the office. Remember 3 day weekends turn a Tuesday into a Monday.

 

TRUTH 4:

 

Understand and educate yourself on how things go viral on the internet.

EVERYONE sees videos on YouTube with millions and millions of views and always wonder — where did they all come from?

Find out where to post

First and most obvious, posted to Facebook, Twitter, etc. But the UNTOLD SECRET is to submit it to social news sites like Reddit and Global Video Sharing Communities.

Of all the social news site out there, Reddit pays off HUGE. My biggest advice is to following the advice in this article HERE.

Bloggers who see your video on Reddit will start publishing articles about it on sites like Kottke, Mashable, Jezebel, and Huffington Post.

You will quickly find that Blogs drive a ton of traffic to YouTube. Each blog is a giant marketing engine with millions of readers and twitter followers. It’s in their interest to get their articles up to as many views as possible, because each view FOR THEM is an ad they can serve up. You need to understand, for Bloggers, it’s all about clicks. Clicks = advertising dollars for them = more views for you.

The more bloggers send it out the more GOOGLE/YouTube’s algorithms will rank you video higher. If you want long term success on YouTube make friends with and learn about BOLGGING because their marketing power is ridiculous and are almost always behind every VIRAL VIDEO.

 

TRUTH 5:

 

What to do once you go viral

People will criticize your video but this is good because it gets them talking about you. Don’t let all this get to you. Controversy is always good.

Viral videos generally have a short shelf life. You have the coveted “15 Minutes of Fame”, and your job is to open as many doors as possible in those 15 minutes. Create as many opportunities as you can. The week you release the video it’s very important responded to as many comments, emails and tweets as you possible can.

Make sure the media can get a hold of you, do not make it hard for them to find your email address. When media interview requests start coming in accept them ALL. National TV may contact you. Feed the media beast.

Be prepared with an email capture page and know where you want to direct your traffic. Link your blog, website, and Twitter from the video. Capturing emails is still the best way to get back in front of your audience.

Don’t spend your time and money creating videos then sit back and just hope for them to go viral. Have a plan.

Having this Knowledge with not help you or help make your video go viral. It’s ALL about APPLYING the knowledge and implementing it into your next video campaign!

 

Stay well and look out for more useful articles.