The reason for that is that I am no longer with SmartMarket Media. My business partner Heather Riley and I decided to amicably part ways working together under the SmartMarket Media name. Heather is going to focus the brand more on film and long-form video production and I am going to continue working on short form online marketing video and animation production through Adelie Studios – my other company I’ve had in operation since 1999. The Adelie Studios blog focuses on all of the issues I tackled here concerning online video marketing. So if you liked what I had to say here, consider subscribing to my new blog so we can continue the conversation.

Thanks to everyone who commented, discussed and added value to this blog through your conversation. I look forward to hopefully having more conversations with you and wish you all the best for health, wealth and happiness, not necessarily in that order, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Eric’s blog also has email subscriptions as well as RSS so you will never miss a Buzzworthy Wednesday pick.

Here are some amazing statistics from a client of ours that recently did both a direct mail post card and an online marketing video sent out via email to the exact same client base. They did both methods because they wanted to make sure all of their customers were touched and also because they didn’t have all of their customers email addresses. Due to client confidentiality limitations, we cannot disclose our client’s name.

Business Needs

The business is a service oriented operation with predominantly a business-to-consumer base. They also have a reputation as an environmentally responsible company and try to do what they can to diminish the amount of waste they create. This business was beta testing a new service which would streamline how their customer base would interact with their services. To clarify these changes, answer any questions their customers may have, etc. they needed to reach out to their entire regional customer base of about 16,000 customers. Their objective wasn’t a direct call to action for their customers – but simply to notify and educate them of the new service and to make sure their customers knew who to contact if they had any questions about the service.

Solution

Their internal marketing department had already planned to send out a postcard with a follow up brochure to their entire base of 16,000 customers. They did have over 6400 email addresses for a portion of their client base, so we suggested incorporating an email marketing e-newsletter linking to a short interactive video explaining the changes to the service and including helpful links for more information, download a PDF of the brochure or to contact someone at the company. The postcard was sent out first and the email newsletter with links to the video was sent out two weeks later.

Results

Direct replies & requests for further information: 12 or 0.075%
(responses were entirely phone calls about the program)

Costs: includes design & printing of postcard, ink jet printing of addresses and postage = $5,470*

*if you include the design & printing, ink jet printing of addresses and postage for the brochure as part of this campaign  – the overall cost was $12010.

Statistics:

• Open Rate (OR) – 43.8% or 2804
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) – 44.7% or 1254

Direct replies & requests for further information: 146 or 2.28%
(responses were entirely email responses about the program).

The email responses varied – many were requesting further information, others were thanking the company for how clearly the email, PDF and video explained the upcoming changes to their services and a handful expressed gratitude for the company keeping their message environmentally friendly by using email with the video.

One respondent when asked about the post card remarked that they “didn’t remember ever seeing it” and assumed that they had “thrown it with the rest of the junk mail in the recycling bin”.

Costs: includes email service provider subscription*, web hosting provider & domain for landing page*, design for email newsletter & landing page to host video, PDF and FAQs about program and the online video production = $4176

* Email Service Provider (ESP), domain registration and web hosting were all yearly billing costs included in the overall budget for this one campaign.

Final thoughts

From the perspective of action the clear winner was email marketing with video which garnered a response rate that was 11x higher than direct mail. While their varied customer demographic will never allow for a completely emailed list, the results from direct responses and the ability to track the emails effectiveness through the email service providers statistical tracking data are obvious.

From a cost perspective on the single campaign its also clear that email marketing with video was obviously not only more effective but far less expensive. This is especially noticeable when you factor in that the email service provider, domain registration and web hosting costs (in the amount of $901) were all for one full year, not just this single campaign.

This brings up another important issue, which is that this service was only launched to a fraction of their customer base as part of a beta test of the program. So if they choose to open the program to a wider selection of their customer base – with direct mail all of their production costs will repeat (with the exception of their initial post card design costs if there are no edits to the content) while with email and video they will absorb a fraction of those email service provider and web hosting yearly fees and they may need to tweak the email content but other than that the second blast of this information using email marketing and video is completely paid for and they have endless distribution.

The company’s program director expressed his thoughts on how the campaign worked out by sharing, “E-mail made it so much easier for our customers to respond because they could simply click to reply to get more information. They also loved the fact that the video so clearly illustrated how the new service would work.”

What social media site refers the best video viewer engagement?

How Much of a Typical Online Video Is Actually Watched?

Social networking and bookmarking sites are a critical part of any online marketing effort utilizing video because you need to get your video seen where your key demographic is spending time online.

TubeMogul recently completed a research case study to find exactly what the title of this post asks: what social media site refers the least fickle viewers? They sampled 6,763,690 video streams over three months referred by links from Digg, Facebook and Twitter to come up with the findings. I’m going to highlight a few of the real key points to talk about but here’s the link to read the full results from their research report.

Results from TubeMogul

The results (below) are surprising: on average, viewers referred by Twitter tend to watch a video the longest (one minute, 58 seconds), compared to Facebook (one minute, 14 seconds) and Digg (58 seconds).

On average, audiences clicking on video links from Twitter watch a video 36.91% longer than viewers referred by Facebook and 49.98% longer than viewers referred by Digg.

My Analysis

This is an interesting study and the numbers are intriguing but there are a few things that the study doesn’t take into account.

Separation of social media sites & social bookmarking sites

I would have liked to have seen Twitter and Facebook (possibly even MySpace and LinkedIn too) go head to head and Digg go up against other bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, etc. My reason for this is that typically you are more connected with people on social media sites than on social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking sites are cluttered with millions of links people are sharing with others they may not even know. So it’s a less direct form of sharing than say Twitter or Facebook where you (usually) have a more established relationship with the possible viewer clicking your link. Most bookmarking sites have a lot of users who are lightly “browsing” content and clicking on something that may sound interesting but then quickly clicking away if their interest isn’t peaked. On Facebook for instance if I share a video, only people who have some sort of relationship with me are going to see it and are therefore more likely to watch more of the video. So it would have been nice to see a comparison of apples to apples.

Yes its video…but what is the content?

This may seem like a stupid question but if 75% of the videos profiled were of a cat playing the piano…what does that actually tell you? It would have been great to cull out the user generated content and just focus on videos that have some sort of at least a vague marketing purpose, whether its a direct sell on down to the nebulous but humorous branding video. I realize this is nearly impossible to achieve, however including all that user generated content as part of the research definitely skews the numbers. Let’s face it…if you upload a video of your dog barking at the TV – you don’t really care how many people watch it to completion but if you put a branding video online with a call to action – that’s information you want to know.

Time of day comparisons

Just like email marketing where you have better days of the week or times of day to send your email to get ideal open rates or click through rates, social media works much the same way. It would have been interesting to see over a three month period what days of the week and hours of the day had higher engagement rates.

What the numbers tell me

Ultimately the numbers don’t matter. Well…they matter but its a giant brush stroke of the entire social media space, not necessarily YOUR demographic and how THEY are engaging in social media. So you have to keep this in mind when you delve into these numbers. If the key demographic you market to is predominantly on MySpace but you are just sharing your video link on Twitter because this research report told you to – you could be missing your mark.

Personally over the past 3 months, SmartMarket Media has had better engagement rates from LinkedIn (2 minutes 35 seconds) followed by Twitter (2 minutes 32 seconds),  Facebook (1 minute, 40 seconds), (StumbleUpon (0 minutes, 45 seconds) and Digg (0 minutes, 37 seconds). Obviously we have a much smaller sampling (hundreds of visitors rather than millions) but it just goes to show you need to know your customer base and engage where they are engaging.

What do you think? What do these numbers tell you?

So this is a bit of a departure from the traditional 5 Question Blog Interviews I have done in the past…but for good reason. Matthew Mamet is Director of Product Marketing at PermissionTV and because of the cutting edge work they are doing with online video (and our nearby locations) we decided to do a video version of the 5 Question Blog Interview and to utilize the interactivity of the PermissionTV Platform Player. So without further ado…please enjoy.

Question#1: For those who are unfamiliar with Permission TV, can you briefly describe what you do?

Question#2: What specific features does the Permission TV platform offer to help enhance the viewers experience and the businesses opportunity to measure viewer engagement?

Question#3: The race to monetize online video is rapidly increasing among different advertising networks and video sharing sites, some are doing it well others are doing it poorly but everyone is struggling to find a model that works. In your opinion, what do you see as the future for monetization of video online?

Question#4: You recently launched the parody web site “I Want My Viral Video.com” poking fun at how some people view viral videos or their “online video strategy”. What was the impetus behind building this site and what kind of response have you received so far?

Question#5: What is the one hint or tip you could share that most companies getting started with online video fail to realize or include or factor into their overall online video marketing?

Bonus Question (surprise!): What can you share in regards to PermissionTVs new product offerings and what you are working on now?

So this is an interesting one. It was put out by LaPoste a traditional French mailing company and its had over 480,000 views since it’s upload three weeks ago.

Here’s a case of a poorly crafted viral campaign. The video is definitely geared to a youthful audience showing a Macbook transforming into a jet. Timely considering the release of the most recent Transformers movie.

However, when you go to the landing page they created (bear with me…my French is a little spotty), it’s for their new online service where you can fill out a form and send a registered letter and then have a record kept of the contents of the letter electronically on their site for three years. When you get to the landing page there isn’t even a line of text or link to the video to function as a visual reminder for why you went to the site. No engagement.

This isn’t a service geared to the 20 or 30 something, this is a service geared to the less computer literate crowd most likely from an older demographic who may not know that there are other digital mailing services available. This video has no target for that age group in any way, it’s being viewed by mostly teenage boys and Mac geeks. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at the comments.

So many missed opportunities.

While the video is very entertaining and would be fantastic as a Macbook or Transformers viral video, I feel like LaPoste missed the mark with their audience and their objective for creating the video. Still worth watching though.

Mike Langford, CEO of Tweetworks, was kind enough to invite me to participate as part of a panel discussion about social media for the Metro-West Chamber of Commerce. I was joined on the panel by Mike and two others; Cappy Popp of Thought Labs and Jeff Cutler of JeffCutler.com

The title for the panel discussion was “Linked in – How to Increase Sales” however given all of our diverse backgrounds with using social media in all different ways, it quickly evolved into a broader discussion about how we use and recommend using social media for business.

Jeff had some great recommendations for finding the “pulse” of online conversations going on around your company online and using Google Alerts to find those conversations. Mike had a great analogy of how social media is really no different than going to a Chamber networking mixer. Cappy’s reminder that in social media you need to “give” if you want to “receive” to build a brand following falls right in line with Mike’s analogy too. Networking online using social media is virtually the same (other than the technology) as networking in person. It’s all about building relationships.

I’ve shared Mike Langford’s video recording of the panel discussion. Although the still on the video looks like I am about to break into song…I assure you that doesn’t happen. I wouldn’t torture my blog readers with my horrible singing voice. Enjoy!

I’m usually not a big fan of flash mob dance or singing videos, especially as part of a business branding strategy. I get it – the flash mob is a metaphor for community, blah, blah, blah. Chances are unless I know someone in the video, I’m not watching it to completion but if I just watch a few seconds and then click away on most video sharing sites…it is still counted as a view. So if I get a million “views” how many are actually watching to completion or are engaged in my brand?

Nonetheless, this week’s video is a flash mob and probably one of the few I will ever profile because it is very relevant to the subject. This week’s Buzzworthy Wednesday Video is for the “Hammer Pants Dance” promoting MC Hammer’s reality show “Hammertime” airing on the A&E Network following the life of rapper and dancer MC Hammer and his family. The show takes an unprecedented look behind his larger-than-life personality and his life as a business entrepreneur. Hammer, has over 800,000 followers on Twitter and he leveraged his huge social media presence (along with the shiny gold parachute pants wearing dancers in the video) to get over 1.2 million views in 12 days. It was truly a great strategy from A&E and MC Hammer to take advantage of his social media cache and to create a video like this for his connections to share and tell others about the show.

HubSpot’s free marketing tool, Website Grader, recently graded its 1 millionth website…and its still counting. The number is staggering and reminds me of how HubSpot is becoming the online marketing equivalent of McDonalds with millions and millions served…I mean that in the most flattering sense.

Forget the “Super Size Me” fast food obesity issues…I mean the real roots of how Ray Kroc founded McDonalds. He gave people a simple eating place with popular food, low prices, friendly service and no waiting. His concept completely revolutionized the food service industry.

Website Grader was the Cambridge Massachusetts HubSpot’s first free diagnostic tool, launched in February of 2007.  It measures the inbound marketing effectiveness of a website measuring website traffic, social media, blog, SEO and other marketing tidbits and provides a score (on a scale of zero to 100) based on these factors.  It also provides great advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective and helps people understand how their site is faring against their competition.

The tool was initially created as a way to build buzz and traffic to market their inbound marketing software so when people evaluated their website using Website Grader, they might decide they needed some help. It was a simple and passive way for potential customers to enter their sales cycle.

To build buzz around Website Grader, Dharmesh Shah and his team at HubSpot promoted the free tool on the company blog and utilized social media and the blogosphere to drive traffic to the site. They posted messages in discussion forums, submitted the site to social media Web sites like Delicious, Digg and StumbleUpon, and commented on other applicable blogs with a link suggesting Website Grader as a tool people might like to try.

Today, Website Grader continues to be a valuable tool for HubSpot, potential customers, small to midsized businesses and marketers alike. They have also added other tools to grade people’s Twitter and Facebook engagement as well as tons of free webinars and a free weekly marketing podcast called HubSpot TV that talks about the weekly news regarding online marketing in a fun and informative way.

All of these tools, webinars, podcasts, etc. are all free and all of their efforts are engaging potential leads to check out their product lines. HubSpot has seen the way people are interacting online and is completely revolutionizing the way marketing is done online because of it. Website Grader was the first step on that path. I love to use Website Grader as an example of successful viral marketing when I give seminars and presentations.

So kudos to HubSpot and Website Grader for topping a million websites graded, I hope they are able to grade millions and millions more. Their revolutionary approach to inbound marketing is changing the way businesses are marketing online the same way McDonalds completely changed the entire fast food industry. Is it coincidence that Mike Volpe, the Vice President of Inbound Marketing at HubSpot is obsessed with the McRib? I think not.

Recent Posts:

Online Video Driving Automotive Industry Recovery

Increasing Donations Using Video & E-Mail Marketing

How Stanford University increased alumni donations.

Seeing how I’ve already talked about how integrating video in your email marketing can increase your click throughs by 175% I thought I’d profile another success story I read about online. Much of the information on this is exerpted from a great blog post by Tyler Willis for MediaPost called “When Juggernauts Collide: Email Marketing Meets Video Marketing” Here are the highlights of what I found most interesting from his post.

“Recent grads are far more likely to give a valid email address than a number (93% of the captive population vs. 38%), meaning that email marketing gives Stanford a better and more widespread ability to connect.”

Snail mail and “dialing-for-dollars” are incredibly inefficient ways to connect with new grads. Namely because direct mail is assumed to be junk mail by most recipients and you only get a response of about 2% (if you are lucky). Phone calling on the other hand is incredibly interruptive, who knows what the end user was doing or what you interrupted them from doing. Email is passive and can be opened or read when the end user is ready to read or respond to it.

Scott Jahnke, the Director of Student and Young Alumni Development, explains why he chose to combine email AND video as part of Stanford’s new alumni drive “Technology gives us the ability to do so much more than just text. How then, can we most effectively tell our story to thousands of people and inspire them to give? I believe that a combination of using email AND video to answer our three questions (why are we asking you for a gift, what is going to change if you give, and how will our organization make that change happen) is the so-called ’secret sauce.”

“At Stanford, the Young Alumni office produced several inspiring videos of students who had directly benefited from alumni contributions and attached a clear call-to-action to the end of each video, delivered via a Flash overlay that asked viewers to donate.”

This was key, by providing this call to action they were able to easily and effectively drive their alumni to take the steps they wanted them to take. Without a call-to-action, online video doesn’t effectively do it’s job.

“Calling out these videos, and providing a direct link to them in four out of five emails sent during Stanford’s fall campaign, helped increase gifts by 23% over the previous year’s fall campaign.”

This is a great first result and if they continue to refine their approach will probably become even more efficient. Couple this with the fact that they probably dramatically reduced their printing and postage costs from their direct mail campaign and/or their costs if they hired current students to do the telemarketing as part of a work study program. How does that affect their operational costs? Does it make their alumni gifts go longer.

If one of the most respected universities in the United States was able to buck the old trend of typical alumni gift campaigns and get these kind of outstanding results, what could combining the online marketing super powers of email marketing and online video do for your business or non-profit?