Archive for January, 2007

18
Jan

Video Sweet Video

   Posted by: Jeff   in Cool Technology, Online Marketing, Web Development

I’ve been reading about the phenomenon of Internet video the last few days and I suppose I should comment on the issue (links to the articles can be found below). There are a couple different topics I’d like to touch on in this post…The real secret ingredient to successful online video advertising is similar to Metcalf’s Law in that as you increase the amount of locations that host your content you are thus increasing the power of your message. Think about it, if you have a really clever advertisement that is playing on half a dozen different websites that all receive a decent amount of daily traffic, you have a pretty strong network working for you. Users begin to take ownership of some of these great videos that are available because they found them on their favorite site, or because they can download the content to their local machine for later playback.

Sharing on-demand content with your friends is much easier than trying to find when it will be replayed on television; by creating quality, on-demand media that can spread throughout the internet you are increasing the total number of “views” you get for little to no marginal cost.One of the keys, in my opinion, to a successful marketing campaign is being able to select a target market (or two) and successfully drive your advertising and other marketing efforts towards those people. By creating video content (or any content, really) that is posted online, you can more easily advertise to those who you are looking to target. MySpace and YouTube have become extremely large online communities where mass amounts of younger generation users spend a lot of their time. By creating quality content with the target audience in mind, you can now specifically place your ads on YouTube, MySpace, or on another online community that specifically caters to your desired market and thus increase the effectiveness of reaching your target audience.

The creation of online content is also fairly cheap. By comparison to a television or print media ad, your costs to post some of these videos around the internet are extremely cheap or, in a lot of cases, free! It is no longer true that you need to spend millions of dollars on an ad campaign because television advertising means high costs if you want a quality time slot; in the current market you can develop an ad spot or short film for as little as a couple thousand dollars, and then have the ability to post it online for free at several video hosting sites. Even to post videos on a corporate or personal website if fairly cheap considering the plummeting costs of bandwidth. Though television and print media ads have their place, anyone can diversify their marketing efforts to the web and thus save money while increasing brand awareness and attitude.

The most curious thing, which wasn’t directly talked about in the articles I read, but was implied. If an organization wants to create a great following and truly have successful marketing on the web, they need to create a community that users will want to be a member of. This goes back to the whole Web 2.0concept that has been all the buzz over the last year or so, and the validity behind all of it is becoming more and more obvious. Think of some of the more successful web organizations out there and you’ll quickly come up with a list that includes MySpace, YouTube, and Amazon. One of the things that each of these sites have in common is their feeling of community and the fact that any registered user can create and contribute content to the site. MySpace gives you a page online where you can communicate with friends and create a customized page for yourself. YouTube gives each user the ability to upload and rate content. Amazon creates a community by allowing everyone to review products and make recommendations to others who may have similar tastes and preferences. As people become more attached to their online community, they spend more time on the site and become viral marketers to the world about the things they love online. I don’t necessarily endorse any of these services , but you have to concede that these companies have done something right that the rest of the world is trying to emulate or take advantage of (evidenced by the insane amount of money YouTube and MySpace sold for over the last year).

BTW, the sources I read can be found at the following locations:

Well, my buddy Brian Corrales tagged me… I guess some folks have been playing the Blog Tag Game, or whatever they’re calling it, and I’m next in line.

  1. I’ve been in two movies. Ok, so I don’t know the name of the second movie, but it has that Kirby kid from all the Mormony movies… It’s some family Christmas gone wrong picture, and my buddy Ben Meek and I are extras, floating around a Christmas party. The movie I’m slightly famous for (and only in my mind, I’m sure) is Charly. I wish I could capture a screen shot or something of the part (who am I kidding, there were at least 5) when the camera zoomed in and focused on my gorgeous melon… When I was on my mission, I returned to my greenie area after about a year where all of the members had seen me in the movie and had apparently been so excited that they showed the clip in both Relief Society and Elder’s Quorum (only in a Latin ward). Anyway, it’s usually something I only bring up after the third date, unless Travis (who is also in the scene with me) ruins it and brings it up right away.
  2. I sing. So, some people know this, but generally only because I was given the calling of death to be the ward choir director this year… Generally only those that went to high school with me, or that witnessed the brief period in time when I had an a cappella group at BYU (ahh, good ol’ Resonance), know about this. I performed in several of the musicals back in the day, and was a leader in our school’s madrigals group. During my senior year I was ranked as a top 5 bass in the state of Illinois at the high school level. I don’t really know if that is something I should consider super impressive, but it felt good at the time. I don’t think I sing nearly as well as I did back in the day, but I still have a little skill left; actually, this is one of the things I think I’m looking to re-establish in my life… It gives me some character, right? :)
  3. I still read Comic Books. OK, this is the ULTIMATE blow to my aura of cool. About a year ago I picked up a hardcover copy of The Ultimates, which is a modern retelling of the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, etc…), and I absolutely LOVED it! I was pretty surprised at how much I enjoyed the book, and then I went out and started buying some other hardcover copies of different titles. I must admit, I’ve always been a sucker for super hero stories, and some of the comics in this generation are definitely geared to a much older audience than they were when I was a kid (or maybe they were always geared towards an older crowd?). Anyway, I pretty much only keep up on the Marvel books, though I never hit up the Dragon’s Keep (the only comic shop in the Provo area). Anyway, this is probably the biggest and nerdiest confession I have ever made in a forum as public as this.
  4. I absolutely despise Hollywood. I wrote a little bit about this in a post on my old blog a couple years ago, but my full emotions were probably not expressed in their entirety… Honestly, in that post I mentioned the idea of writing a book, and it’s probably a pretty decent idea. How Hollywood Blindsided America or something like that. Well, alright, I stink at the creativity stuff, but I think I could seriously go on a rant for 200+ pages about how I think Hollywood is corrupting American values and trying to push its agenda onto the easily influenced American viewing audience. Seriously, the average American has a much stricter moral composition than Hollywood portrays, and anytime someone stands up for their morals it seems like Hollywood comes blazing in accusing everyone of bigotry and lack of compassion. This type of thing is mostly seen during big elections (does anyone else remember Whoopi “Freak-Face-Hairy-Scary” Goldberg and Ben “I suck at acting, so I’m gunna convince America that they should subscribe to my values” Affleck trying to convince us that we should agree with them simply because they are famous? I know those weren’t the words coming out of their mouths, but what else could they be using as a foundation for their arguments? Higher intelligence? I understand that people who believe in things will use whatever platform they have to get their point across, but I don’t have to like it when Rosie “when did I become the most unlikeable woman on television” O’Donnell gets on her soup box and attacks everyone and everything in sight… I guess it may not be a problem with Hollywood using their means of communication to get out the message they want to spread, but rather it is a problem that the American people have given those in Hollywood an exalted status. Does it make anyone else sick to see a bunch of girls (and guys for that matter) in their 20’s and beyond reading some of the trashy “star chasing” magazines? Do we not have lives of our own to where we now have to live our lives through people who would place themselves (heck, many of us agree) as our superiors? Can you tell I have an opinion on this? :)
  5. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Those who know me well already know this, but I really am a bit of a hopeless romantic type of guy… Sick, I know! It really is pretty much the downfall of my life, I’ve had my heart broken a few times (once really badly) because I put myself out there and I’m always looking to fall in love. I guess it’s something I believe in when there isn’t a whole lot to believe in during our generation. The love of God and the love we have for each other (especially between a man, his wife, and his children) is all that will save us in this world. I didn’t know what else to put as my number 5, so here ya go!

Anyway, I guess I’m done playing tag but I’m supposed to pass it on. Jason Malwitz and Aaron Hardy get the official invitations, so keep the game going!