Before last week's SES New York Conference slips into my distant memory, I would like to share with you one more presentation that I found really interesting. It was by Liana Evans, Director of Internet Marketing for KeyRelevance and also part of the "Social Media Track" I was following.
Li, as she's known, started off by asking the question "Social Media Marketing...What is it Good For?" Us older folks can hear those next words sung in our heads, "Absolutely Nothing!". For the younger generation that may not know what I'm talking about, those at the lyrics from the 1970 number one hit, anti-Vietnam song "War" sung by Edwin Starr.
Now Li shared with us some really great examples of ways that social media marketing can be put to use and since online video is all the buzz right now I'm just going to cover her section about online video sharing. Her number one recommendation was to create simple "How to Videos" which are a great way to drive traffic to a web site and get others to link to it.
One example she used were "How to Tie a Tie" videos. When the keywords "How to tie a tie" are typed into Google Video search, several videos appear on the results page. The video that came up second on the page is on YouTube and had over 647,000 views at the time. The video that came up first on the page actually had only half as many views, but has thousands of links coming from LifeHacker.com. Now we see the real value of links. And Li asks "What if a men's online clothing retailer had done one of these videos? Sounds like a very good idea that's also an inexpensive way to drive some web traffic!
Another example Li reviewed with us was a video that was done by a direct selling company, BareEscentuals. The video is about how to apply make-up and featured many of their beauty products. However, instead of simply calling it a "How to..." video, they titled it with their brand positioning trademarked slogan, Swirl, Tap, Buff. Now I'm all for integrating the brand into the communications, but honestly, no one speaks like a brand manager and therefore they don't search online like one either.
So, the video they created had less than 23,000 views at the time that Li did her presentation and it had been up on YouTube for 9 months already (its now up to 28,000 views after 11 months)! So again Li asks, "What if BareEscentuals went with How to Apply Make Up instead of Swirl, Tap, Buff in the title?"
Li also shared with us that yes, YouTube is the largest video sharing site by far, but its not the only source. She showed us a video the HSN did that appeared not only on their own network, but also on YouTube, MySpaceTV and VMIX (who are in the process of relaunching their site).
Now to summarize, Li said here's what matters most with Online Video Sharing:
- Ratings and Votes
- Comments and Responses
- Title of Video, Social Media Profiles and Images
- Keywords Used in Profiles and Descriptions
- Who's Linking to the Video
Thanks Li for helping me understand the important relevance of video sharing as it relates to search. Now that I finally have a new camera I better start creating a few myself, or at least, recommending that others create a few to include in their marketing mix. Please visit SEM Club House, which is a blog supported by KeyRelevance where you can find more information as well as Li.
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