And what do you do now?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: Currently, I spend much of my time learning, researching, developing, and testing social technologies. My main areas of focus in business are consulting and training people, brands and organizations how to best utilize social media. The other part of my business is social media marketing, social public relations and reputation management. This is where my team and I act as your ambassadors to the word and represent your brand in the social space.

So, the obvious starter question – what is your definition of ‘social media’? How does social media relate to business?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: I’m glad you asked that. Social Media is the evolution of the internet. It is so integrated into our internet experience now that the definition continues to evolve. It could be defined as: the social experience we have when viewing, sharing and engaging with content (media) online. For businesses, there are many different functions for social media. First it was just marketing, but now it is being used effectively in sales, recruitment, human resources, networking, internal operations, customer service and so much more.

You wrote a great ‘Open Letter to Business Leaders’ urging them to embrace social media. Why is social media so damn important – can you give us an analogous example of what ignoring social media would be like for a business?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: Basically just like we have social media, we now have social business. Businesses will need to become social just to exist. In business, the question isn’t should we use social media, but how should we be using it. This means if you’re looking to sell your professional services or products and you have little to no social media presence you will easily be overlooked.

Using the excuse that your customers are not using social media just does not fly. There are very few small businesses that are still making a ton of money without social media. Social media is not just about making money today it’s about being able to engage and connect with your customers, employees and community. These activities will bring you new customers and help to keep the ones you already have.

As a business it can be easy to just think short term. That being said a successful marketing plan should be at a minimum of 12 months long. The same is true for social media. Social media is not a one time fee or effort. To be effective, you’ll need to continue to share in real time about you and your business. Fresh content is key, you will just get lost in cyber space without it.

And now… video and social media! How does video play a role in social media today? How should/can it play a role well, for business?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN:

 Although the way we are doing business is evolving, we still do business with people we know, like and trust. One of the best ways to connect with your people is through video to give them the opportunity to get to know, like and trust you.

It’s kind of like this: You are new to the area and need to find a coffee shop to go to, but there are several around. If you saw a video of a certain one, where you were introduced to their style, the ambience and their friendly staff you’d be more likely to go to that one. It’s familiar to you now, and you know what to expect.

Where do we see cutting-edge social interaction with video today?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: 

Streaming video platforms like ustream & livestream give people the opportunity to stream live video from anywhere in the world. People can watch, engage and share ideas around content like never before. They can chat, tweet, Facebook with each other and experience the content together in real time. Additionally, there are a kazillion apps for sharing video content like Social Cam and Viddy which is like Instagram for video.

How should a business looking to use video to get in ‘social-sync’ with their audience start about it? In addition to hiring you, what should their first steps be?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: The first step they need is a plan. They need to decide who they are and how they want to represent themselves to the world. They need to figure out their story – What makes them unique and appealing to their audience. The other important thing is that the video doesn’t necessarily need to be self-promotional. Deciding on a list of things that you can share that defines who you are and what you stand for as a company is invaluable and engaging in the social space.

For example: If you are a Realtor or a Financial Planner, you may do a quick video on an upcoming community event or charity that you support. This will let people know what’s important to you to help them see you as a person, and not just a business.

You’re constantly keeping up to date with technological and societal developments – what are your predictions for the future of social-media and video?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN: The future for social media and video is going to blow our minds. We will be able to engage with video media in a way that will make it feel like the person could be in the room with you.

Video conferencing will become the primary way that we will communicate in the business environment. Video and text will merge, and video will one day make the need for traditional text communication obsolete. Kindergarten aged students are already starting to be taught on tablets (iPads) and these new technologies are becoming second nature to them at a very young age.

Thank you for your valuable insight Sean! How may readers get in touch with you?
SOCIAL MEDIA SEAN : I can be found through all the major online networks, try me at:

www.socialmediasean.com
www.about.me/socialmediasean
www.twitter.com/socialmediasean
info@socialmediasean.com
Skype: *SocialMediaSean

BRAD FELT: CreativeJuices is a Victoria, BC Marketing and Branding company. It is a bit different than most freelancers in the city as I come from an advertising background rather than a graphic design one. While the essence of great design is always prevalent, it is ultimately about increasing brand perception, and customer conversion.

I have been fortunate to had most of my career at Copeland Communications, at one time Victoria’s largest agency, as a Junior Art Director. I worked with some fantastic peers and gained valuable experience on some large, noteworthy clients. After a few stints of working in Toronto and Vancouver, the call of home grew louder until I ended back where we started.

You list “Design + Direction” loud and clear on your site. What is the significance of Design for video marketing?
BRAD FELT: Obviously the significance of Design is big! In the world every man-made material around us has been designed by someone – someone else had that idea in his or her mind, and designed it to be so. Consciously, and sub-consciously you create an opinion based on the design, and that reflects your judgment of the company/product. So be mindful of keeping your quality high.

How does Design play as big a role as ‘Direction’, in Marketing and Branding?
BRAD FELT: Direction is just another way of say assistance with strategy and market research. Design is the visual implementation of the strategy that best communicates to the targeted consumer. Design is equally as valuable as Direction; it just has be done in the right order.

In your time as a senior art director at an agency, how did you see video advertising play a powerful role?
BRAD FELT: This is a tough one to answer. With the inception of the TV PVR (personal video recorder), toss in the expense of quality ads, and reaching audiences has become a difficult task. That being said, video advertising is the complete package when coming to telling a story and evoking emotion. When done right it envelopes the viewer through dramatic music, gravely voice-overs, provoking scripts, and stunning colours and action. There is a reason that the Cannes Advertising Film Festival, or the SuperBowl ads are so popular and enjoyable to watch – they’re designed to work.

How does design play a notable role in good video advertising?
BRAD FELT: Every element should funnel back to the consistency of the brand. Lighting, camera angles, set design, wardrobe selection, hair/makeup. All these factors need be addressed and monitored to ensure that the tone and culture matches that of the brand.

What’s a great example of a current campaign using outstanding design and sticking to it’s branding cues?
BRAD FELT: The one that always comes to mind the Old Spice Guy. You know the one, everybody does. [Editor: so popular - we’ve covered OldSpice several times before ] It spread like wildfire and was a phenomenon. Besides being witty and comical, it was consistent on every platform that it was on. TV spots mirrored the website, which mirrored the print ads, which matched the Social Media sites. Every detail was looked at: fonts, colours, lighting, music, messaging. The OldSpice campaign was seamless.

When passing up on a seasoned video marketing & production team, what will the do-it-yourselfer be passing up on?
BRAD FELT: A video production today has to be more than just point and shoot. A pro team has the resources for proper lighting, and the knowledge around effective production; strategy, scene cutting, editing, and sound editing. While the hardware costs are coming down and more accessible for the DIY’er, it doesn’t include the knowledge of a professional.

When strategizing their next project, what are some key tips that our small-to-medium business readers should keep in mind with regards to design?
BRAD FELT: Wow, there are lots of pointers that apply here, so I’ll stick to the most important. I would say the 3C rule is key. Consistency, Clarity, and Conciseness.

1. Consistency: Pay attention to branding and messaging, does it all work together as a family?
2. Clarity: Be clear as to who your target market really is. Trying to catch the “Men and Women, 18-65 years old” market is an impossible and expensive venture.
3. Conciseness: Don’t try to cram ALL your offerings into every material piece. Clutter = Confusion.

As an industry veteran, any predictions for the future of advertising, in general?
BRAD FELT: The advertising industry has certainly changed at a rapid pace from the Mad Men era. With budgets shrinking, and overhead costs dinging agencies, I predict more small, specialty shops are going to thrive.

What are the best ways to find you?
BRAD FELT: I can be found pretty much anywhere: my site is www.creativejuices.ca, email is bradfelt (at) creativejuices (dot) ca and phone number (250 508-1409) are the new old-school method, and still best. Otherwise I have Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Google+ accounts to track me down!

Related Article: Brad Felt Opens CreativeJuices, MarketingMag.ca
Related Press-Release: Canadian ad-man fires up CreativeJuices with Big Ideas, Cisionwire.com

Welcome! What are you each known for in the online business world? 
CHRIS BURDGE: I have been creating online marketing strategies for clients since 1994. This actually pre-dates the world wide web back when I was developing campaigns on a BBS (Bulletin Board Service) for members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. What I’m best at, and therefore known for, is helping companies use online marketing, particularly social media, to effectively grow their businesses. In some cases that means acquiring new customers, in others it’s increasing share of wallet or decreasing costs by improving operational efficiencies.

In terms of social, I started pitching companies on social media in 2008 but it was too early. Many were interested in what social media was but none were ready to allocate budget towards it. By late 2009 things were starting to change. That’s when I approached Paul with the idea of Social Media Camp. I saw how excited people were about WordCamp (a one-day event focused on WordPress blogs) and knew that a broader conference dedicated to all aspects of Social Media would catch fire.

PAUL HOLMES: I’ve been a fan of communications technology since as long as I can remember, from running my own BBS when I was 14, to using the Internet long before there existed a World Wide Web. Almost predictably, I became an early adopter and advocate of Social Media, shortly after the public launch of Twitter. I was memorized with the possibilities this new medium brought, and have thoroughly enjoyed watching it evolve. Through my advocacy, I started organizing events and getting invitations to speak from a myriad of places. This all led up very naturally to the launch of Social Media Camp.

My career in IT spanned 21 years, and included starting, running and selling a number of businesses. Now that I am no longer working directly in IT, I have the luxury of seeing Social Media the way the rest of the world sees it – as a tool to connect. IT no longer holds a monopoly, now everyone can be a geek!

Together you founded Social Media Camp – What lead to it being created?
PAUL HOLMES: Social Media changes everything, and has infiltrated every part of our society. There was an urgent need for people to learn how to use this technology more effectively. As with any technology of this magnitude, there is a great deal of anxiety, and a great deal of excitement. A conference seemed like a logical need, and we discovered quickly that we weren’t far off the mark. Moving forward, we see Social Media Camp as a coming together of not just people from our area, but from around the world. We want to bring the greatest minds here, and show the world that the City of Victoria (BC, Canada) is not only a beautiful place, but a destination for forward thinking technology.

CHRIS BURDGE: While I suppose social media is “maturing” it seems to be growing and changing as fast as it matures. SMC is even more relevant and necessary today than it was 2 years ago, which is why it continues to grow in both size and scope. I’m really, really excited about the line-up we have for this year and what is going to come out of the intersection of the speakers, trainers, workshops, awards and hundreds of people and businesses hungry to learn, use, network and grow!

Largely in part to social media, the online video medium is developing rapidly – in what ways are corporate social media trail blazers using video effectively?CHRIS BURDGE: Indeed, online video is maturing, and being used much more by businesses of all sizes. The increased usage is due to a combination of video being much cheaper to produce, and the ubiquity of video capable devices like the iPhone, Blackberry and Flip – not to mention social media making the spreading of videos to 1,000′s of people as simple as a mouse click! Video is quickly becoming the most popular content on Facebook, Twitter and Google+!

Two “corporate social media trailblazers” that come to mind in locally are Liquor Plus and the Long Beach Lodge.

I like what Rod Phillips ( @Rod_Philips ) at Liquor Plus has been doing. He developed a video channel for the retail business he calls “LP TV” which is published to their website as well as their Facebook page and of course the Liquor Plus YouTube Channel. He uses video to help viewers understand wine as well as discover new products and find the right pairings to meet their needs.

Perry Schmunk ( @perryschmunk) General Manager at the Long Beach Lodge in Tofino, BC, is a social media trailblazer that has incorporated video very effectively to create an emotional response to their beautiful location and the “memories” created by families that stay there – see their YouTube Channel. Perry also uses video to demonstrate the personal touch one can expect at this 60 room resort on the shores of Tofino with his in-person blog style videos:

PAUL HOLMES: I think immediately of the “Old Spice Guy” campaign. As you’ve covered in previous ReelMarketer interviews, the television (and online) ads had the actor shirtless on a horse andwith diamonds in his hands – all very memorable. The interactive video campaign which followed was the most impressive combination of an “old media” campaign with a “social media” angle. The towelled fellow created several videos in response to Tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube comments and so forth. At one stage, he and celebrity Alyssa Milano engaged in several video tete-a-tete’s that struck the viewer as not only hilarious, but genuine and unscripted (and perhaps they were, who really knows)!

It will be hard to recreate the magic of this campaign. The last vestiges of “old media” audience concentration certainly helped, and this is disappearing rapidly with the movement away from television, or toward PVR recording of television. By introducing a character that was already familiar to many audiences, and because of the originality of the campaign concept, it also became newsworthy, which contributed greatly to it’s success.

Old Spice is the most consistent example of successful video marketing we get! Moving on, how has video become a more viable marketing medium for both SME (Small to Medium Enterprises) and mom-and-pop operations?
PAUL HOLMES: The expectation of perfection doesn’t wear on small enterprises the same way it does on large corporations. If a corporation produces something that’s unpolished and “folksy”, it just doesn’t seem to work as well. Of course, the real answer to the question is that the tools have become stunningly cheap to afford and simple to use, thus making video a accesible medium for nearly everyone with an internet connection and a camera.

CHRIS BURDGE: Paul nailed it there. Having said that sometimes the simplicity of making a thing can make people lackadaisical – case in point the flashing text and animated GIF images of the late 90′s when everyone wanted to be a web developer. The same could happen to video because it’s so easy to create. The sheer volume of video will make it even more important to have a strong “on camera presence” with good quality audio and lighting. Good content is table stakes – sure, you may get someone to pay attention once. But it’s great content that will keep them coming back for more.

Is there a video using social media example each of you can refer to that a presenter at SMC has personally/professionally used?
CHRIS BURDGE: As I touched on earlier, Perry from Long Beach Lodge was one of the panelists on the “Tourism” panel at Social Media Camp 2011. He talked about how they have maintained an occupancy rate way above industry average with an effective social media strategy of which video plays a major role. Their latest video “Come on By” has already been viewed over 1,100 times in two months (in their slow season), not too shabby for a reasonable small resort on Vancouver Island.

This year we are very excited to have CBC TV Host and Journalist Jaeny Baik ( @JaenyB ) doing a 90 minute workshop at Social Media Camp in June 2012 focussing on “On Camera Coaching and Video Marketing Strategy”. I love this very simple video Jaeny made of “How to Walk and Talk on Camera”:

With Google flexing its reach, how should an organization start relationship building using Google+ to integrate their current and future YouTube content?
PAUL HOLMES: Google+ is busily tracking all the shares of your video. It’s my guess that having a bunch of legitimate shares (or +1′s) on Google+ for your video can’t possibly be a bad thing. Of course, the +1 button is already available on YouTube (click “Share” first). It will be interesting to see if Google attempts to marry the “Favorite” and “Like” features more, considering all the options: Like, Dislike, Add to Favorites (or another list), Subscribe, Add Friend (now “Add Contact”), and Share (which allows you to post to 10 networks, including Google+). This side of video marketing has to be just a bit daunting for the beginner marketer.

CHRIS BURDGE: Originally a skeptic, I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of G+ (Google Plus). I’m really enjoying Google Hangouts and what you can do with them – I’ll explain more in a bit. I see they’ve incorporated a YouTube tab into the right column making it very easy to embed YouTube content into your G+ posts and I’m sure they will continue to make that even easier.

The big story about Google Plus for me is its effect on search. My Google Plus brand page is already in the #1 spot in natural search results after only a few weeks, ahead of my LinkedIn account which is more than 5 years old. Google is definitely giving its own content preference. Those in the know will be able to leverage that for competitive advantage and video, especially YouTube, will only be gravy on this already delicious meal.

When working with either a professional video production company or a creating a (DIY) do-it-yourself video project, what are some key points to bear in mind to best make sure an engaged audience with video?
CHRIS BURDGE: Like anything else on the web – content is king. So whether you’re working with a professional or going DIY it’s critical to spend time developing a strategy and great content. That starts with knowing who your audience is and creating for them. Your language, dress, tone and manner and location should all cater to your customer. If you’re a social media trainer catering to newbies don’t throw around terms like G+, Edgerank and Klout score – unless of course you’re explaining what they are – the viewer won’t know what you’re talking about, they’ll feel dumb and will figure that’s how the rest of their experience with you will go.

Aside from that, it’s important to have good audio quality. Actually that can’t be over-emphasized. There’s nothing worse that spending all kinds of time and energy producing great content and then shooting a video that can’t be heard because the microphones aren’t close enough or there’s background noise.

PAUL HOLMES: I concur with Chris on the importance of audio quality. It’s often what sets apart the good and bad videos online. No viewer can tolerate a video with terrible audio for very long. The same can be said about shaky cameras; if you’re going to do-it-yourself, invest in a camera tripod and use it whenever possible.

Some other tips for do-it-yourselfers is to capture in the right light, ensure the subject is in the frame, and take a sample shot and play it back before filming the whole sequence so you know if it’s all working as it should.

Also, while a VLOG (video blog) style format is fine, it’s a bit tedious to fill an entire channel with this style of content. Try mixing it up with interviews, top 10 lists, or some other formats to keep people’s interest.

Taking a stab at the future, what trends would you say we may expect with social video? It took a while for twitter to ‘be a fit’ in the mainstream. What are some companies we should keep tabs on?
PAUL HOLMES: Why does anybody send a text message instead of making a phone call? Question our assumptions – we need to look at the same human psychology when asking why somebody would send a Tweet instead of making a video (if indeed both were just as simple, and they will become so). I suspect there is room for both in the social universe, and there is little doubt video will continue to increase in popularity. Although there are many companies that have and will continue to make strides in this area, I suspect the big players in social will be the likely big hitters. With the advent of Google+, and the muscle of YouTube (consider their recent foray into pay services as a gauge of their interest in innovating), I really think Google is the odds on favourite to dominate the “Twideo” space. But don’t count out the other big players, including Facebook and Twitter. Of course some other players will come, and could turn my prediction on its head. I think they would do this by establishing a strong, loyal following, and getting noticed for doing so (much as Twitter did).

CHRIS BURDGE: When you talk about video most people think about recorded videos. There are certainly going to be more companies doing interesting things with recorded video.

What I really excited about is where live video calling is going. I think live video is set to explode in terms of usage by individuals and companies. The launch of Google Plus’ “Hangouts” and Facebook’s integration of Skype has made it much easier to connect with friends and colleagues by video. I especially like G+ hangouts for its simplicity, additional features like white-board and screen sharing and multi-person video calls (up to 10 people). I have created a social mentoring group and we use G+ Hangouts to meet once a week. Its awesome.

Tell us about what to expect at Social Media Camp 2012!
CHRIS BURDGE: We are bringing many of them together next June to offer an intensive 2-days of exploring, learning and sharing social media across all industries from small business to non-profit, corporate, government, media, the arts and education. SMC 2012 on June 8th and 9th will be our third annual SMC. Each year we build on the success, energy and creativity of the previous year. There are so many incredibly talented and creative speakers, teachers and visionaries.

The highlight of SMC 2012 is our keynote speaker, New York Times Bestselling author and AdAge Power150 Top5 blogger, Chris Brogan. Tickets are now on sale SocialMediaCamp.ca

PAUL HOLMES: Chris has said it well. I’m excited about Social Media Camp because it’s a truly exciting opportunity to meet amazing people who are talking about creative and interesting things.

Dearer to my heart, though, this event has put Victoria on the map as a leader in Social Media in North America – not only are we an amazingly beautiful city, but we are a city with a thriving technology sector, and forward-thinking leaders in Social Media.

This year, we will truly be inviting the world to come and experience Victoria. People will share, learn, connect, grow and find new opportunities and new ideas. And they will leave with fond memories of an amazing place doing amazing things.

Visit Social Media Camp 2012: http://www.socialmediacamp.ca/

Welcome Andrew – it’s great to have a chance to sit down with you a year after the release of UBC Lipdub! For those of you who don’t know, tell us about who you are, and what your claim to fame is!
ANDREW COHEN:Well, I am a recent BFA graduate of UBC, and I wrote, directed, choreographed, and executive produced UBC LipDub.

What is a ‘lipdub’ video? Where did the idea for this ‘lipdub’ originate?
ANDREW COHEN: A LipDub is a style of YouTube video that follows anywhere from 75 to 1000+ students (or community members) along a designated path in a single tracking shot. People enter and exit frame while lip-synching words to popular music that gets dubbed on top of the images in post. Often, shenanigans ensue, as university students left to their own creative devices can think up some unique things.

LipDub originated (according to my research) by a media design class in Germany as a school project. The premise caught on and soon schools in France, Poland, Israel, Brazil, Spain, USA, and Canada followed suit. Even though the trend started 2 years ago, it continues to be a way for universities, and now high schools and even retirement homes to show their spirit.

In doing research for UBC LipDub, I must have watched 70 or 80 different LipDubs. I saw what worked, what didn’t work, what moments I found compelling as an audience member, etc. It was an incredibly influential tool to devise the content I wanted in our video.

How did you get grabbed by the Lipdub bug? What was the ‘ah-ha, I must do this’ moment!
ANDREW COHEN: I was sitting in a cafe last October studying (of all things) when I decided to take my requisite 5 minute Facebook break (as all conscientious students do). The first thing I saw was this video that some friends had commented on. I didn’t really know what it was, but the screenshot looked bright and fun and the title had “Michael Buble” in it. It was the UVic Lipdub, by your previously interviewed guest Shawn Slavin, actually. I watched it, and by 0:39 (when everyone started bopping their heads in sync) I was hooked. Utterly hooked. I watched the entire thing with bated breath. Then i watched it again. Then I watched it again. Then I gave up studying and started researching everything I could about this ….phenomenon. Then I made a list of things I would want to attempt that I hadn’t seen.

I took that list to the head of the student society at UBC and pitched him the idea. He immediately recognized this video’s potential, and the passion with which I approached this project. He agreed to help produce it, and we were off! Over the next 6 months, I ate, slept, and breathed LipDub. My team went from me in a coffee shop, to twenty eager students, to 60 awesome volunteers, to 1000 amazing cast members on D-Day (Dub Day). Not to sound cliche, but I still remember that day, the entire day. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, but it was the most amazing day. I’m honestly having trouble trying to capture it in words. As a member of this generation that often tunes out be it in the form of plugging in to an iPod, or streaming YouTube videos, what have you…the feeling of being so unbelievably present and aware for the duration of the day is something that I know does not happen often. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

People are often shy when it comes to the camera – even creating a simple webcam video can seem like a burden! How did you know it would work? During preparation, what gave you the confidence to go ahead and run with it?
ANDREW COHEN: My initial reaction was surprise and excitement to the first LipDub I saw. Then I showed it to dozens and dozens of people. Everyone had a similar reaction – one of awe and delight. That’s how I knew I was on the right track. Call it grassroots market research if you like.

Also, everyone I approached to join the team was hooked almost instantly. It was truly one of the easiest sells of my life. Everyone wanted to be a part. And if they didn’t, it was alright because LipDub was a rather fluid concept that could be changed based on whether or not we had a bus or a bouncy castle or a helicopter. But in the end, we had all three.

What was the shoot-day like?
ANDREW COHEN: Shoot day was insane/amazing. D-Day we called it. Crew was called for the crack of dawn. Blue skies, no clouds, gorgeous. Around noon the cast members began arriving. We quickly sorted them through our computers and they were split into their performance area. They learned the flashmob dance sequence. Then we began filming. We started with the dance sequence behind the Museum of Anthropology. As soon as we started filming, the sky filled with ominous grey clouds…which we were prepared for. Note: the blue ponchos. We had our helicopter for 30 minutes only so we had to stay right on schedule – which we did. We set it up and shot it over and over again. I made the cast run in and out and dance their faces off…maybe ten times in thirty minutes…in plastic ponchos. They were all troopers! Then we set up for the long shot. The long shot opened with a one minute spoof on the Old Spice Commercial, then travelled a distance of approx. 1.2 km on steadicam and transit bus. Our Cam Op/DP was awesome, as he went up and down stairs, on and off a moving bus, onto mulch…I didn’t make it easy for him, that’s for sure. I walked along side the camera cueing the performers, the Sound Op was behind me with a blaring speaker, and the First AD beside me with a stopwatch so we knew where we were on our time sheet. We had this beast planned out every second.
I was fortunate enough to be a part of the 2010 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and I had advisors who worked on the ceremonies that helped us with our logistics. Their expertise was invaluable. Nothing like solid organization!

What was the reaction like upon release?
ANDREW COHEN: We released the video at our Launch Party in Robson Square, in downtown Vancouver. We had a free concert with up-and-coming local bands, along with the official premiere of our video on a 10ft screen. This was the first free concert that Robson Square had hosted (outside of the Olympics) and we were honoured that they partnered with us to make the launch a success. Media came down, as did a speaker from our charity partner–the Make-A-Wish Foundation, as did hordes of fans and intrigued passersby. Due to a technical glitch, the video actually froze in the middle (nothing like a live performance, eh?) so we restarted, and the crowd applauded. The response was overwhelming. Simply overwhelming. For days, my inboxes were flooded with messages of thanks, of congratulations, of support. My team and I convened nightly to count how many hits we were getting, reading comments, etc. It was an amazing social experiment for us to see what happened when people take ownership of a project like this. When people from universities…that shall remain nameless…started bashing our video, the outpouring of support from the online community was absolutely astounding. Within seconds, seven new people would go to bat against whatever these naysayers were spouting. Some of them had no affiliation with the project or UBC and were still defending us. That really showed me just how much people can attach themselves to things they love; things they feel represent them in a way. The heads of UBC were incredibly thankful, as this was the most effective marketing tool they ever had…and they hadn’t even commissioned it. We were just some ambitious students that wanted to see how many new faces we could meet.

What made ‘it’ Viral? Choosing one element, what was ‘it’ that made the video viral?
ANDREW COHEN: I’m still trying to figure that out. We did our absolute best to ensure that the 1000+ people that participated on Dub Day had the best possible experience, in hopes that they would feel proud of what they were a part of and want to share it.

What’s something you learned that surprised you about creating a video of this scope? Or, if you were doing this exact video again, what would you do differently?
ANDREW COHEN: Differently? Um…we would have had a better sound system for the pool. I screamed my head off, then when my voice gave out, I flailed like a lunatic. It sorta worked…

In your opinion, what is a common misstep you see many organizations trying to create viral video making that could easily be corrected?
ANDREW COHEN: I think it’s hard for commercial organizations to create viral media for millenials. Corporations that think and operate like corporations usually miss the point entirely. I think it’s a challenge for a 50-year-old in an office to be able to make a 20-year-old in a dorm laugh. So all you corporate big-wigs, hire us to be on your teams…and don’t be disheartened by some unconventional not-entirely-thought-through concepts.

Any advice on creating a viral video?
ANDREW COHEN: Passion. If you have it, and you can convince your team to have it, then you’re golden. If there were a formula, everyone would do it. I guess that’s what makes the successes sweeter — because they are so rare.

What equipment was needed to create this?
ANDREW COHEN: We had 5 cameras; the main camera was a Panasonic HVX 200 (Amazon Review), we also had a Canon 5D Mark II (Amazon), a GoPro HD (Amazon)…I can’t remember what the underwater camera was), fig rig, steadicam, gyroscope, helicopter, scuba gear, portable speaker, megaphone…and an army of excited students.

Thank you! Anything parting words you’d like to leave us with? Any particular Lipdub favourites we must watch?
ANDREW COHEN: My favourite moment in our LipDub is the ‘Braveheart moment’ when the camera emerges from the truck and a mass of blue-clad students come barrelling onto the field. Gives me chills every time.

LipDub was easily one of the best experiences of my life. The response was overwhelming, and I still feel the effects of it. I decided to start a company with some of the key players to be able to create more large-scale community-based event-videos like LipDub. We have also branched out

As a web strategy and design company, one of our central roles at Sage Internet Solutions Ltd. is to advise people how best to spend their marketing dollars.

For example, we have a client who was looking to attract young dental hygienists for work placements. We were able to target a young educated market through a Facebook page and advertising, giving this target the specific information they wanted the way they wanted it. On the other hand, we advised a bed and breakfast to go the Google Adwords route as their target market might not digest information the same way.

Being Strategic: Video Not for Everyone

Video is a specialized marketing strategy and we don’t advise it to every company when marketing dollars are sparse. For some clients, it’s simply not the best way to spend their money. If we were to advise the dental hygienist to set up a YouTube channel and start creating professional promotional videos, how quickly would her $500 monthly budget be used up? And would she see a reasonable ROI (Return On Investment) benefit?

There are clients we do advise going the video route right out of the gate as it benefit them. One example is a fishing charter client of ours. Outside referrals, almost all of their business came from their website and that wasn’t much. We understood they needed site traffic to increase and they needed it fast!

Video: A Component, Not a Standalone

There were some basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) considerations we wanted to target before anything else, such as drafting a researched keyword list and optimizing the site with it. We also wanted to create a blog so we could get a flow of fresh content going on the site. But video was to play a central role in our SEO strategy.

Strategic Planning: Selecting the Tools

From our perspective, the fishing charter could easily create a wealth of short (2-3 minute) videos using basic branding very quickly that would entice their audience, benefiting both. Links would draw viewers to the charter’s website. The videos wouldn’t need high production value to be effective for this market and YouTube’s editing software would suffice for text and any music they wanted to add. There weren’t many other companies doing video in their specific sport fishing market so it was an open field.

There were a few key analytics we wanted to target through video: traffic numbers, click through rate, percentage of return visits, the length of the average visit and the bounce rate. Improving these analytics would drive the site up through the ranks by showing Google the site was high quality.

Green Light: Setting Traffic Goals

For traffic, we wanted Google to index the company’s videos on the first or second pages of search results for their top keywords. Google earmarks a place for YouTube videos pretty high for most searches so we felt this would be a great opportunity (Google is closing Google Video so Youtube is the best option). A stream of videos indexed in coveted locations would give the company a unique piece of real estate their competition wasn’t taking advantage of and could drive traffic to the site.

Fully Integrated: Website Video Embedding

Embedding the videos on the website itself, we wanted not only to increase the average length of the visits, but also give the site a higher click through rate. By creating a more engaging site through video, the percentage of returning visits would also move in our favor while the bounce rate would drop. Improving these analytics would advance the site through the ranks, eventually catching up with their videos on Google.

Active Role: Supporting the Greater Strategy

Although video seemed like the logical choice for the fishing company, we didn’t want to choose it over written content. Articles primed with keywords are still (and will always remain) a top SEO consideration for any company interested in page rank. We therefore divided the tasks with the fishing company. They would produce the videos and we would write the articles. The result would be a powerful two-pronged attack, leading to great exposure benefiting the client.

Ultimately, we felt this company would gain the most from having their website rank well in Google rather than through other channels. Although social media is a great tool for drawing traffic (and can even help with some SEO), it didn’t seem like the absolute best way for the fishing charter to spend its marketing dollars or time. When this company is benefiting from our efforts and has reached its SEO goals, we’ll move into some secondary marketing strategies like social media or Google Adwords.

For now, video is our Big Kahuna.

Great to have on another director doing big agency work on again! Where do you live and what do you do professionally?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: I live in Amsterdam with my wife Monique and our three lovely children Julie (5), Sue Ann (3) and Philippe (1).
I have been producing TV commercials for the national and international market for some 20 years now – working both for production companies as for agencies. Three years ago I started my own business – www.roosenstein.com – offering my experience as a producer to both production companies and directors as to agencies and creatives.

What are some big accounts you’ve worked on, and with which agencies have you worked?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: Just finished the shoot of for new commercial for a beer called Grolsch; other accounts Ive been working for include different Unilever brands, Hyundai, PHILIPS, Delta Lloyd, Skoda, the Dutch government, the city of Amsterdam, Ahold, NIKE, Dance 4 Life, Bounty, NOKIA etc. I did that working for all the big international network agencies in Holland like JWT, TBWA (Tribal) DDB, Ogilvy, Y&R, Euro RSCG, Publicis etc.

How did you get your start in commercial advertising? What caught your eye in the video, film & television field?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: During my studies I started a company that did location management for feature films, TV series and television commercials. That made me curious in the overall skills of film producing especially TV commercials. Internationally acclaimed director Will van der Vlugt gave me the opportunity of learning the trade. Since then I worked for different companies and agencies giving me the chance of working with a variety of directors and creative directors. I have always loved film as a medium – my father first took me to the movies when I was 6 and has continued doing so ever since. I love the dynamic of producing commercials – visualizing a creative idea with a selection of the most talented people in the business,

What is it about good video advertising – note ‘good’ as a keyword – that makes the video medium so appealing and effective for consumers?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: The power of the visual language needed to tell a strong story in 30/40.

What is your current favourite ad right now, and why?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: This project, titled “Make Me a Morning Person Sleepy” (watch below):

Because we made it with the Tribal DDB team in a very limited amount of time with an ambitious budget with a fantastic result. It is a fun, ‘reel’ film using different types of content – such as animation, different types of camera footage, sound design etc. Also I feel in that fun and surprising way it clearly states the advantages of using the product.

What part of the production process is most commonly under-estimated by clients less familiar with commercial video production? Why do they often overlook this component – what makes it important?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: In general I would say time for execution – sometimes leaving too little time at the end of the creative process to properly and in detail visualize a great idea. For instance sometimes it is very important to after the first few days of editing the film you need to let is rest for an extra day. To sleep over it – give it some time and see if you can come up with an even better way of telling the story.

With inexpensive technology available now, we’re seeing more DIY (Do It Yourself) productions than ever before. If the cameras and editing equipment are comparable now, what value does hiring a professional ad agency and production team continue to offer over DIY?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: I’m sure some ideas you can easily execute yourself. On the other hand I feel that can only work with a one time success, a one time strong idea. If you want your brand to have a solid base and continuity in telling the story of your product on the long run I’m sure that as a company you need the focus, talent and experience of professionals.

You are working on the cutting edge of big-time video marketing, creating and seeing upcoming trends months before the rest of the world! Any predictions for where video marketing is headed in the near future?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: The quality of the equipment for digital filming, editing etc. will continue to improve. Leading to a an even more fragmented and specialized market. Also leading to more opportunities for companies to select their suppliers. At first we run the risk that this development might lead to the loss of knowledge and experience – if the market for video marketing gets too efficient (as in money and time) driven instead of quality driven. In the near future however the quality of the work will become important again for the marketing divisions of the large brands leading to a new productive period of fantastic work.

We live in an exciting time Robert – thank you for taking time to share your story! Where can readers learn more about you and see your work?
ROBERT ROOSENSTEIN: Thank you for the opportunity too! Please visit my site: www.roosenstein.com

Effective video marketing simplifies connection with the viewer. Many of the tried-and-true attributes of “classic” TV advertising are now affordable with inexpensive cameras available. Merge this with the newest feature of the Internet, social interactivity!

Quite simply, advertising online using the “opt-in” model (making the choice to press the play button) lets the viewer play a role in the buy in! It affords them ownership, and for those that click play, they’re trading their time for the value they expect from your video! In these cases, videos aren’t viewed as commercials, pushing to get viewer attention – rather, videos deliver valuable information.

Snapshot of Video E-Mail Marketing

Online video marketing in simple terms is a marketing technique used by business groups in presenting their products and/or services with the use of concise, captivating, and information-filled videos. The aims of such are to open the eyes of potential clients and to persuade them to buy the products and services the company is offering.

Benefits of Online Marketing

Undeniably, people at present are more inclined to view a screen (whether on television or on computers) than to read a work on paper n our busy world, all we have time for now are sound-bytes. Moreover, imparting information comes at a higher speed with the use of images than through text. Video shines in this arena – the perfect sales pitch sound byte are scripted, created one and repeatedly indefinitely.

The core benefit that online marketing holds over the conventional text format method is that videos convey the central idea quickly with less fluff without taking valuable time of potential clients. Web surfers do not waste so much time anymore in articles effort. Being concise is an art – let’s talk about later! To understand fully the idea that you are trying to communicate with them. Instead, you can hand over the same idea in just a few minutes and most importantly, in an eye-catching and alluring style. Be memorable, be entertaining, offer a reason for viewers to come back for more great valuable information!

The Best time to Use Video as Marketing Tool

When a business comes to a decision to push their products and/or services, videos present a great method as these enable the company to connect with prospective customers in an engaging, concise and socially aware way than the visual advertisements presented on televisions. With the knowledge that most turn to their small-screens to look for information, online is an easy and highly desirable platform to invest time and ‘consume’ recent, reliable and useful information.

Key Strengths of Video Advertising

The use of video in soft-sell or hard-sell methods is genuinely a great choice that a business of any size can easily jump on board with. Online video is far more desirable than most mediums for advertising – unlike television ads, we typically seek video content WE want to watch. It’s a buyers market. It grabs the attention of the internet user and transfers the idea that you want to convey an engaging and effective style when compared to plain text. If looking to compared two cars to decided which to buy, with the options of reading a text article or a video on the same topic, which one would you choose to view?

Online video allows for creative presentation while communicating the usability and importance of a product or service. Definitely, you can spark the minds of your potential clients when you transparently illustrate the value the consumer will receive. By utilizing these strategies, you can form a connection to your prospects since they have come to a deep understanding about what solutions you are offering them.

Some Ideas to Consider

If you want your video advertisement to be a success, you should not simply make a video, upload it in the Internet and then kick back, and wait. It’s highly unlikely that people will simply happen upon your latest creation and send it on the road to viral-land. The journey to a flourishing outcome is akin to the approach of ad agencies looking to create a viral video campaign. Understand; your videos are the main fuel of value-seeking consumers – be that entertainment value, or searching for a ‘remedy’ to a ‘pain’. As such, it is important that you allot ample time in planning and creating your videos. Otherwise, the spark you have made online will just turn into embers medium and long run.

Work Smart, Not Hard

Be grateful, the development of technology at present gives you a lot of chances to check traffic and to scrutinize outcomes. Have enough time and exert much sweat to gauge the influence and performance that your videos have had on potential consumers. Look for applications that will let you know the number of potential clients who opened your website after seeing your video advertisement from another site, until what parts of the videos were viewed by the visitor before it was closed, the figure by which these visits were converted into profits, et cetera.

Work Smart – it’s a cliché for a reason! Regardless, if you have devoted time and sweat in making one or more videos, it does not give you an excuse not focus on coming up with ‘gold’ content! Leadership-value is still vital for your business to soar in the world of online marketing. Treat the user as a second-rate, and risk being black-listed in the mind of the viewer – they’ll never return, your opportunity to make a first impression is over. Provide web surfers adequate information about the site. Keep in mind that video marketing is intended to offer a solution (value), publicize your brand, to attract new traffic from other areas on the internet to your site, and most ultimately, to trade information for profit from clientele.

We advise you embed your video immediately on the first page of your website similar to the giving of business cards. Leave off autoplay turned off. Easy to play, and with a good tailed video worthy of your brand, it’ll be a good first impression. If you leave your video only on a page deeper on your site, it’s likely a much smaller portion of your web-traffic will actually view it, and so the return on investment (ROI) of that video will be lower than it could be!

Making Videos Favorable for Search Engines

• Make your video not only favorable to search engines but as well as to content search engines. A brilliant tactic to apply is the usage of meta tags for the text content of the website where your videos can be viewed.
• Create significant titles to your videos – think like a News Paper editor – shortest title retaining the best bang for the buck.
• In the headings and accounts of your videos, use important keywords. It will be less difficult for search engines to mark your video files and connect it to your websites.
• If you have connected your videos from other areas of your website, then use anchor texts.
• Create a concise one. Turn a normal person’s 10-minute reading of a paper or text page to a 2-minute viewing of your video.
• Produce detached video site maps that can be uploaded to video and content search engines.
• Do not forget to place RSS feeds. Metadata can be included also.
• Examine, calculate, and analyze. Test. Rinse and repeat. Continually tweak the above variables!

Distribution of Video

• Make your video Social Sharing friendly! Remember to include suggestions such as “Share on Facebook” or “Retweet on Twitter” at the bottom part of your video. Digg.com, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ all have easy sharing options as well.
• The important ingredient of a profitable video marketing online is “submitting”. The most excellent options are video hosting sites such as YouTube, Blip.TV, or Podcasting since your videos can be posted without any payment and these do not decrease your site’s bandwidth.
• Share your videos effectively. Permit web surfers to connect to your videos if you really want to make your company recognizable by many. The usage of viral marketing videos is the finest means to make your company, as well as your products and/or services, popular in the world of online marketing.

Conclusions

Internet marketing videos have to be concise so that internet users will not lose their interest in viewing your site. Remember: if a video is undesirable, it will be ignored which isn’t great for the ROI! Online video advertisements should be substantially brief compared to those commercials on television. Consequently, potential consumers in the internet do not want to squander their time fruitlessly on less enticing advertisements – make your video enjoyable, and a good use of your viewer’s time!

Hello Eric, you’re a seasoned pro in your field, and have worked in some big name, well known films! For the uninformed, please tell us about who you are, and your competent, what you’ve done (location audio background) and what you do.

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Hey, thanks for inviting me to share with your audience! Although I don’t feel old enough to be a seasoned pro yet, I have been involved in location sound mixing and recording for something like 15 years, now under Acme Location Sound Inc. Film and video work has held the majority of my interest though I have also enjoyed working with live music and theatre as well as music recording and production.

Fair enough – you’re definitely a professional though, through and through! Some professional video producers will confess that good sound is MORE important than poor lighting. Audiences Williston be more forgiving of poor visuals, but if you can’t hear what’s going on what’s the point! Why is this so? What is about poor sounds that makes viewers so unapologetic?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Saying sound is more important is quite a statement! Many storytellers would argue that moving picture started silent and that audiences were entertained. That said, I believe I do understand the need for sound that supports the image but sound must only carry the story naturally. Some great blockbuster films have replaced most of the original audio performances, and not try over shadow the visuals.

Some performers I have worked with prefer to complete their performance in the post production studio using audio ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement) where they can experiment and perfect. This is where the actor redoes their lines in a sound-studio.

Often there simply isn’t the time, money and or technical ability to go through this replacement process. While sound can always be manipulated, corrected, and augmented after the fact, the original actors/actresses performance might never be recreated precisely to match what was recorded during performance. It has been my goal to capture as much live performance on the day of production as possible, a personal and professional goal that I share with many fellow sound crews. At the end of the day though, my role is to do my best to capture the performances to support the story.

An example video from YouTube regarding audio production.

I’ve noticed that sound is too often an under-appreciated job by those not in the know. Of course, everyone certainly notices if any undesirable sound issues crop up! Continuing on, when a low-end or DIY (Do It Yourself) production, perhaps a solo operation with shooting using the built-in camera microphone rather than a pro external setup and they experience poor sound, typically what are they doing wrong?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Today, its super easy to pickup a video camera and make a movie. Thanks to inexpensive and accessible technology this is really available to all of us and I would recommend anyone try it. Grab some friends, use your iPhone throw it into iMovie, pop some corn and enjoy! I’ve done it and I’m no Scorsese. What we all quickly realize is you can tell a story easily enough, quality in many areas of production can be lacking… Sound is one of those areas. Wind noise, wide sounding audio, hard to hear words, clicks, pops, stumbles, planes trains and autos, the sky is the limit!

Back in school they taught me to “Start with the Source”, storytelling is as much technical as it is creative. There are some practical ways to make the best of the worst situations though.

First, grab the best headphones you can afford, put them on and listen to them. Music, movies, whatever. Train your ears to hear all the instruments in a band, the wind in the trees, the refrigerator in Requiem for a Dream.

Next, train your performers to speak up loudly and clearly. All too often your subject will mumble and mutter their way through the performance. Sometimes this happens because they are new or nervous or because they think it makes them sound cool!

Last, move your mic(s) closer to the source. This might mean moving your camera with built in mic closer, this may mean plugging in an external mic on a pole and hanging it over someone’s head. With your headphones on you will be hearing what the mic ‘hears’ and that will give you the chance to make it sound better.

Fantastic practical suggestions Eric – I recommend everyone give these suggestions a try and see for yourself how each element plays a role. What other steps that one should do to ensure they’re covering their bases in terms of good sound?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Easy! Source. Talent. Gear. (In this order!)

What do you mean exactly, and how do these points count?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE:Source. Ok, from concept to script to performer to microphone/lense to recorder; movies always reflect the source. This is the most simple description but I feel it reminds the storyteller where the gold comes from. Trust your ears and what you heard during rehearsal and what your headphones are telling you sound-wise. Try to imagine the final product and what you want to hear at the end of it all. While writing, rehearsing, directing and or filming, your eyes and your ears are the only senses you can trust to ensure your story is being told. The sound of the first take gives you all the clues you need to ensure that your vision is getting recorded. Don’t rush through it because in the first moments is when you have the most influence on the final product.

Talent. Work with the best you can, always. No one builds a their own house solo without experience first. Find those around you who are sympathetic to your project, to your script and ideas. Always try to work with the most experienced people you can in front and behind the camera… and learn from them. Ask questions. Do your homework to make the filming efficient with advise from those helping you.

Gear.Have you ever replaced the brakes on your vehicle with a screwdriver, adjustable wrench, hammer but no manual? If you want to do it all yourself with your handy-cam, do so, but allow yourself to make mistakes and make the learning part of your process. If you are looking for quality results be realistic. Borrow or rent the best and most simple set of gear you can with hopefully the operator to come along with it. Moviemakers often set this goal of being one person orchestras and collectors of obscure expensive electronics. I don’t believe that a $17,000 sound recorder compensates for a poor performance, neither does it ensure a perfect recording in the hands of a newbie. However, trust the advice of an experienced pro even if it’s merely a ten minute phone call. A good plan with appropriate gear to service your project will be a lifesaver.

What about a professional – what does a professional audio specialist or film crew being to the table, and is it worth it?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Do you go to the doctor? Have you found the best ever mechanic that you trust? Or do you get your insurance from uncle Hairy in a dark alley because he is cheap and gives sexy calendars? We can’t all be masters of everything, I’ve tried without success. What I am good at isn’t always what you are good at.

In the feature film world, you can tell what department a crew member is belongs to by what he or she carries on their belt. Sash and pony clips for grips, C47s and gloves for the sparkies, comteks and a stop watch for the script supervisor, a walkie-talkie for an assistant director, headphones for the boom operator, nothing on the Director, and a cell phone for the producer. Why? It’s because traditionally experienced pro crew members does what they do well, and fast. I’ve worked on projects where we spend a half million dollars a day, there isn’t time for learning… just doing.

In the land of TV and video for the web the rules are often non existent. It’s up to each project to customize it’s working crew to suit the budget and project to provide for success. It’s possible to do it all yourself, it’s probable two heads are better than one, intermingle experience into your project and it’s a petri dish with huge potential. Add someone with a sound package that you trust who has listened to their headphones for three years on ten Indie films and pay them for their dedication to your project and you can relax and focus on the 999,999 items on your list.

Great advice, Eric! Any advice out there for an organization looking to make use of audio in their first production?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Give me or another sound pro you trust a call and discuss your project! Big things start small…. but have big vision.

So true. In a nutshell, what are the steps after getting good audio on location?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Post production audio can be really tricky. Most picture editing software performs poorly when it comes to audio. Sure you can “hear what is being said”, but is it worthy of being posted online or broadcasted? Audiences have very high standards of taste thanks to half a century of broadcast television. Will there be distractions left in your project or is your plan to use subtitles and lay in some thick music soundtrack? Again, check with someone who has gone through this process. Mixing is an art but there is also broadcast standards, waveform editing, equalization, compression, synchronization, blending of music, foley, sound effects, etc.

Eric, glad we’ve been able to highlight your style and business! Anything else you would like to share?

ERIC LAMONTAGNE: Separate your project into three parts: Preproduction, Production and Post-Production. Your amazing ideas need planning, talent and follow through to keep them amazing. Success in audio depends greatly on many steps along the way. Ask any questions you have below, in the comments!

Eric, how is someone interested in contacting you best able to reach you/find your website, etc?

Visit me at: www.acmesound.net

Our first Social Media expert – glad to have a chance to pick your brain, Terri! For those who might not have heard of your company Sociability yet, what are you an your company is all about?

TERRI DAVIES: We work with entrepreneurs and non-profits who are enthusiastic about marketing their organizations online. They may not know exactly where to begin, but they understand that online marketing is a critical part of business success in today’s digital world. This can involve blogging, social media set up and training, mobile websites, email marketing, and creating online marketing plans.

Your tagline is “It’s all about relationships” – tell us about the significance of this statement for Sociability’s clients.

TERRI DAVIES: Relationships are the foundation of business, and always have been, but today those relationships can begin both online and offline! For example – right now there are probably prospective customers who would prefer to start a conversation with you via Twitter or Facebook. In fact, they may never contact you unless you have those channels open to them. That person is every bit as real and important as someone you meet face-to-face, but many of my clients have a hard time seeing that at first. They tell us that they want someone else to run their social media accounts for them, until they learn that it would be the equivalent of asking a complete stranger to answer their phones!

When you put it that way, it helps people to understand the power of online marketing. They see that it is important to either integrate online marketing into the job description of one or more of their current staff members, or hire a “community manager” who will take the time to learn about their organization first before being sent out to network online.

Great explanation about tr importance of meaningful connection, Terri! Now, in regards to online video, what makes it such a powerful and desirable communication medium?

TERRI DAVIES: Oh where do I begin!? I am a huge fan of online video. Here is a list of some of the reasons why:

1) Video is a great way to make a first impression with your customers and prospects through the digital divide. People don’t have time to read pages of text to get a sense of your business, but they will press play and watch a short video. After watching a well-crafted video, people often have a positive emotional response to you and your business. They will feel like they know you, and possibly even trust you – which is important when you consider that people do business with people they know, like, and trust.

2) Video is believable. I recently read a statistic about how few people believe written testimonials because it’s too easy to fake them. However, video testimonials are highly believable because we automatically assume that someone is telling the truth when they earnestly communicate something verbally without any apparent remuneration.

3) Video is consistent. How many times in a week do you deliver the same message over and over again, but find that you say it better sometimes. Video is a way to capture the message just the way you want it, and each person will have the same great impression of your business or organization when they watch it. It’s also a great way to answer frequently asked questions. Or to educate your website visitors on your products/services at the same time as showing your company culture.

4) Video is the ultimate website greeter. I love it when I visit a website and there is a high quality, well thought-out video on the home page that saves me from having to spend time clicking around to find all the answers to my questions.

5) Video adds SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google owns YouTube, and it’s now the second largest search engine in the world. That’s amazingly powerful if you’re looking to get found by your prospective customers. Here’s an example: I helped to create a video for one of my clients who is an eco fashion clothing store in Victoria. Less than 12 hours after I published the video in YouTube, it was coming up on the first page of Google when you searched “eco fashion victoria, bc”.

All great, notable points Terri. Top Google Search result for a phrase in 24 hours – we’ve seen other similar results with video SEO too! Continuing onward, where do we see cutting-edge social interaction with video today?

TERRI DAVIES: Once a video is created, I teach my clients to upload them into YouTube because you can have a channel there where others can subscribe to your activity. The SEO benefits of YouTube are great, and then you can embed the video in your website and/or blog and post it on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+. This allows others to interact with you and tell you what they thought of your video, or reply to something you said in the video, and most importantly – share it with others!

Of course, there are other types of video which allow users to actually interact with it and click on parts of the video and in that way it becomes more like a website. Plus, there is live streaming which is really neat because you are actually connected to an event live and can interact with others in the chat stream who may be thousands of miles away.

We’re enjoying the maturation with video too, specifically applications with ‘social’ in mind. What developments do you think we should watch out for soon?

TERRI DAVIES: The strange thing about our era is that we have this sector of society that is dialed in to the the digital savvy online world and is embracing everything from Twitter to video production on their iPhones and iPod Touches, and another sector that is just starting to understand the value of having a website. By the end of this year, Google predicts 50% of North Americans will have a smartphone, but somehow there is still this silly paper book that gets distributed called “The YellowPages” – what a strange concept! LOL!

This means that businesses have to cater to a wide variety of customers and it makes things a little challenging. I am huge proponent of online technological advancement, but I am also completely cognizant that many of the things I am playing around with right now are going to be a thing of the distant future for much of the population.

In your experience how should online video be used in business? Is there anyway to measure video ROI (return on investment)?

TERRI DAVIES: There are many ways to measure the ROI of online video. One way is to measure the action people take as a result of watching a video. Whether that is filling out a form for more information or buying a product. Sometimes it’s not that simple to measure when it’s not about sales. For example, the time it saves you and the impression that it makes on a customer or prospect when you refer them to a page of your website that has a great video explaining the answer to their question, instead of sending a textual email response.

We’ve interviewed Chris Walts and Debi Blizard from big agencies from Tribal DDB Vancouver and W+K Shanghai respectively in earlier interviews with video marketing strategy. It also is possible for the small-time DIY creator to engage online too, even without the big Ad Agency creative team or big budget, do you agree?

TERRI DAVIES: I find that basic video production is accessible to anyone with a recording device, which in my case is an iPhone 4. I’ve even taught clients how to do this. When it’s done with a tripod (I have a cool gadget called a ‘Glif’ that allows me to connect my iPhone to a standard tripod) and with good light and clear sound, the video is of a decent enough quality to represent the business well. Of course, there is a lot to creating an effective video – most importantly the content – so I don’t want to make it sound overly easy. As we all know, there are millions of poorly thought-out videos on YouTube that are devoid of concise, interesting content. The kind that make you wish you could unwatch them and get those 60 seconds of your life back. But there is something about watching a fairly uncut video from the perspective of a business owner or staff member that is accessible. It can be very intimate experience – which can be a good or bad thing.

I have a lot of respect for company’s like Aclara that produce high quality video without the ad agency budget. I think it’s a great middle ground for business owners who are wanting to make that one promotional video for their home page that will ‘wow’ people. I think that the video they did recently of the Crest Hotel in Prince Rupert (http://vimeo.com/29796274)

What tips do you suggest when producing a video with ‘being social’ is in mind?

TERRI DAVIES: I think the most important thing is to think about the people you are making the video for, and to speak to them. The content of the video really is king. If your video is remarkable – catchy and relevant – it will spread itself to your target audience and you won’t need to put nearly as much effort into spreading it. As I mentioned before and you’ve covered in other interviews here, sound and lighting are important, and short videos are best. Even if you need to take your footage and make five 1 minute videos out of it, that’s better than one 5 minute video.

Trends, predictions, especially in regards to the social media video?

TERRI DAVIES: I’m just as curious as everyone else about where things are going. I won’t make any predictions other than this: we are only seeing the tip of iceberg with regards to social video and what’s coming is going to blow your mind. I’m watching the field of interactive technology very closely! Thank you for the interview, I hope my take will be useful!

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NIGEL ABBOTT: The last decade I have had various marketing roles, I actually posted my first online video back in 1998 using the Sony Mavica for an extreme sports label – that was big deal back then.

What really opened my eyes to the power of video was utilizing it on a daily basis for a ski resort that I was the marketing director for in Niseko Japan. An Australian company purchased it and I was involved, we saw this outstanding opportunity due to the massive, and I mean massive, amount of snow the resort was blessed with. I felt the best way to let the world know about this special place was through video, so I called in my brother who had been producing online video segments and we did some mockups that we could take to sponsors to get funding for the following season.

Low and behold the sponsors bought it and we had $100,000 to get our digital department going! Those were exciting years as we were the first resort in the world to offer daily video snow reports and a bunch of other video content.

We kept pushing the boundaries and offered video on the mobile network in Japan, we delivered snow reports in English, Japanese and Mandarin. We went crazy- we were producing loads of video content; restaurant reviews, Onsen reviews, events, promotions, local attractions and services. Notably, over a five season period we produced 600 segments!

It was towards the end of my tenure there that I felt I had to set up a business that offered these services.

I believe, in terms of online-specific video and interviews, you’ve set a new record! So, what is the special sauce that makes video marketing so powerful? How does online video marketing relate to business?

NIGEL ABBOTT: It’s actually quite straight forward – video is the crown jewel of content marketing simply because it is the closest communication medium to real life! People can both see and hear you deliver your message using ‘real’ creative story telling and can be moved to action in ways rarely possible with other forms of marketing.

With the rise, and rise… of social media and its acceptance into the marketing mix, why wouldn’t you adorn your channels of promotion with the richest form of content…. video.

With online videos, you can create intelligent content with high production values at extremely cost effective prices.

Well said – thinking back not too long ago, there was a time when businesses were debating if they should get online and hire a web designer… Now it’s obviously a no brainer – yes, create a website, and professionally! Can you give us an analogous example of what ignoring professional video marketing would be like for a business now?

NIGEL ABBOTT: Consumers are savvy and are expecting more from brands. Part of their expectation now are intelligent and rich content that has purpose, distinction and is authentic. With brands having to manage many online channels, great content is now expected, and if you are not delivering then you will struggle with building legitimate advocacy.

Video is, if it’s not already, becoming mainstream, and it takes time to build experience. You need to have an action plan today to best leverage it going forward and be ahead of your competitors.

Which begs the question – DIY vs. hire a professional – what are the beat scenarios for each?

NIGEL ABBOTT: A simple way to look at it is – would you let yourself design your visual communication assets for your own business?

Assuming you’re not a video production house, an you did do your own work, it would surely look homemade, and unprofessional. Is your businesses’ aim to look unprofessional? Of course not.

So why would you DIY video for your business?

Video content is a professional brand asset – an extension of your brand – therefore, why would you dilute it with second-rate production?

Of course there are times where you could, especially if you are producing regular content, but you need training, guidelines and structure.

I would say, 90% of the time professional is the way to go, which is the majority of scenarios – the majority of your readers will benefit far more greatly from investing in a professional.

And now… video and social media! How does video play a role in social media today? What are some important points you feel everyone should be made aware of?

NIGEL ABBOTT: As I explained, social media is now part of our every day life and as a key for brands interacting with their consumers, video is the medium and social is the distribution.

Social media provides a whole new spectrum for delivering content that can have a multitude of purpose, the key lies in the content – trying asking yourself the following:

• What is the purpose of my content, and how will it help deliver on my marketing or business objectives?
• What response do I want from the audience?
• What sort of reach do I want and through which channels?

I believe it is important to design your content to work with the social channels you utilize.

Agreed! We state repeatedly through articles on Reel Marketer that a video strategy is needed first – not just a video. Where do we see cutting-edge social interaction with video today?

NIGEL ABBOTT: As far as content goes, Old Spice, high production developed specifically for online sharing and the results speak for themselves. [Editor: We've interviewed Debi Blizard formerly of Ad Agency W+K in an earlier interview and she touched on Old Spice as well!] I’m sure prior to that campaign there weren’t many Gen Y that new about that product, but do now.

With regard to online platforms, I believe that Facebook is a treasure chest of opportunity and we will hopefully see more innovative ways of delivering video from them.

With devices, smart phones are providing mobile access to our social channels and video uptake is about to explode.

Exciting, isn’t it! When looking to hire a production company, what should a business person look for, and ask about to ensure a good fit?

NIGEL ABBOTT: Businesses or organizations looking to invest in professional video should be looking for an online video specialist specifically, or a production company that has made a successful transition to creating viable online video. I have seen too much content that is just irrelevant and lacks purpose – video for the sake of video.

Story telling is everything and you need a company that knows how to translate your objectives and messages into engaging content.

The second and extremely important skill is a business that knows how to optimize your content:

• Descriptions and tagging
• Syndicating your content – there is a world of opportunity when it comes to where you can post your content
• Creating back links to generate awareness and drive viewership

I have seen too many good videos with very few views, such a waste.

Lastly, they need to provide good metric reporting on the results of your video content.

I see our business as a marketing business that provides video content strategy, production and optimization/ syndication.

I think the last points you made about optimizing is often called Video Search Engine Optimization (SEO) too! Very important indeed. You’re constantly keeping up to date with technological and societal developments – what are your predictions for the future of video?

NIGEL ABBOTT: I predict every business will be leveraging video in some way in the not-to-distant future. But, the key will be, how to make it really work for you across the multitude of channels and devices.

I have been thinking hard about this aspect of late and I can see the future will bring better metric reporting and insight, improved syndication and optimization, greater interaction with the content and platforms that will reward consumers for their video loyalty and advocacy.

Of course, mobile and tablet technology has given us a great opportunity to deliver content across our social channels on another device, this is where will we see the massive uptake of video and development going forward.

I also see a great opportunity with video mobile messaging, not enough businesses are taking advantage of this, especially in Australia, where we are based.

Thank you Nigel! Anything else you would like to share?

Make a start if you haven’t already, but plan your video strategy so you have a benchmark to measure it against.

What’s the best way for readers and viewers see more of your informative videos and get in touch with you?

NIGEL ABBOTT: Please check out our website, Facebook page or YouTube Channel!

http://www.ripplingmedia.com