Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!

Looking forward to an exciting debut of our amazing new online video service in 2011!

Sign up for an exclusive preview here.

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Online Video Marketing Tips

Producing, distributing and sharing video content isn't as quick or simple as we'd like it to be...until now. The "Hollywood" pros at VMakers has made producing quality custom videos easy!

Online video tips:
- Determine your objectives, prepare your creative brief, budget, time-line and plan all the details.

- Keep your videos short. Under 1 minute is perfect. The shorter the better, especially with everyones short attention span on the web. If you have a long video, make sure to break it up into individual chapters.

- Include your branding on all communications. A call to action is recommended also.

- Include your web address in your video description. When uploading content to YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites include your url before your description copy.  This will help generate leads and increase your visibility on Google's search ranking.

- Include a text summary when posting your video to blogs and/or websites. It can be as simple as a list of key points or a short descriptive paragraph. Again, this will help with search engine visibility.

- Enable sharing with links and embed code for others to distribute for viral opportunities.

- Make sure your video represents your business and brand properly.

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

Get started today!
888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics



Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

For help with your videos contact us today!
888.712.8211 or email info@VMakers.com

comScore Announces Video Rankings for November - StreamingMedia.com

comScore Announces Video Rankings for November - StreamingMedia.com

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.
For help with your videos contact us today!
888.712.8211 or email info@VMakers.com

10 Reasons Facebook Video Marketing Is Valuable For Business

Here’s 10 reasons you should definitely consider Facebook as part of your online marketing mix
  1. Audience – Facebook is the 2nd largest trafficked website, with over 500 million active users.
  2. Referrals – Facebook is the 2nd largest referral source for video.
  3. Mobile – 150 million active users take Facebook with them everywhere they go.
  4. Time – Many people spend a lot more time on Facebook than on Google
  5. Versatility – Many video formats are supported for uploading
  6. Length – Facebook allows up to 20 minutes, 5 minutes more than YouTube
  7. Connectivity – A wide range of sharing features and engagement opportunities. While Facebook doesn’t let you share it’s content onto other social networks (like YouTube and Twitter), because of its large member base, you will certainly have many more connections from the onset that may lead to better sharing potential.
  8. Search Engine Visibility – Facebook videos are visible within Google Search.
  9. SMO (Social Media Optimization) – Excellent keyword encoding (aka, “tagging”) capabilities.
  10. Conversions – Hot triggers around the video for taking an intended action.

Facebook Value Vs. YouTube?

facebook vs youtube 10 Reasons Facebook Video Marketing Is Valuable For Business
If you’re only going by video alone, we could probably mention 50 reasons why YouTube is a more robust and valuable platform for video than Facebook. However, as an overall marketing platform, Facebook is arguably more valuable than YouTube for many businesses. So while we would not treat Facebook video as an equivalent business value to YouTube – we completely agree that it should be a place for businesses to upload videos. At ReelSEO, we try to upload all of ours because they do show in search engine listings.

Video Marketing In Facebook – Better Business Opportunity?

Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com explains the power of Facebook.

One of the things that most people don’t realize is how much time people spend on Facebook. According to the traffic ranking information service Alexa, Facebook is the second largest website in the world, with over 500 million active users; also, Facebook is the 2nd largest referral source for online video – just behind Google.

If you think about it, people today spend a lot more time on Facebook than they do on Google. Some of the Nielsen studies I’ve seen show that people are spending an average of seven hours a month on Facebook; that’s a lot of time spent.

Also, According to recent findings by market researcher Morpace, U.S. Facebook users are on the site for 1 of every 3 minutes of time spent online. Users 18 to 34 years old spend the most time on the site per week (8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online). Users 55 and older spend an average of 4.6 hours per week on Facebook.

So if you think about the fact that people are on there that much, it opens up an incredible opportunity for a business to try to get in front of these 500 million active users; and what’s even more exciting is that about 150 million of them take Facebook with them everywhere they go – on a mobile device like an iPhone, iPad, or an Android device.

Facebook is one of the top sources for consumed video (and photography as well). We also know that many people on Facebook are constantly checking out what’s going on with their favorite friends, and also their favorite brands. This represents a huge opportunity to capture eye-share with videos in particular on Facebook. One of the hottest ways to just get your business noticed today is to use Facebook, and of course to leverage video marketing in there as well.

Recording Video Directly In Facebook – Good Or Bad?

The first thing is how video is integrated directly into the interface of Facebook. When you put in an update on Facebook, there’s an option to click to record a video. The downside of it is most people don’t use it, and those who have used it have had kind of a mixed response. Facebook can capture the video directly from your computer’s webcam, but doing that results in very poor technical quality; somehow they’re running the video through algorithms that makes it look just hideous. But the upside is it does allow people to record spontaneous video responses to comments on Facebook, and that’s kind of an exciting thing.

Linking YouTube Videos In Facebook Vs. Uploading

Mike: The other confusing thing about video with Facebook is whether or not to use YouTube links or whether or not to actually upload video directly into Facebook. Facebook has done something kind of interesting: If you go ahead and embed a link to YouTube, it will embed the player directly into the Facebook feed. Somebody can actually watch that video through Facebook, force-fed from YouTube just like if you were putting it up on a blog.

But the more powerful aspect is actually uploading the video directly to Facebook. Facebook has the ability to support a lot more formats and has a lot longer formats where YouTube is I think it’s now up to about 15 minutes, Facebook can go significantly longer. (20 minutes.)

The other cool thing about Facebook video is that people can easily share Facebook videos, where they cannot easily share YouTube videos. And in Facebook, others can not only comment on a video, they can also “like” a video (which will then show up in their own Wall page, aka Facebook home page), and can tag a video with their own keywords; and there’s a lot of other cool stuff.

Embedding Video In Your Facebook Page – “Secret Sauce”

Another powerful Facebook business strategy with video. Let’s say you have a business with a Facebook “fan” page, with a video uploaded to that page. Now, someone on Facebook – who is not yet one of your fans – can still watch that video’ and if they hover their mouse over the video there’s a button that says “like”, and they can become a fan of your Facebook page, just by clicking that button inline while they’re watching the video. It’s kind of the secret sauce to gaining fans. Intel corporation does this quite a bit on it’s own Facebook site. It’s really a very easy way to gain fans because if they really like a video, they can click on it; and they think they’re just liking the video, but they actually now become fans of your fan page, and that future engagement opportunity is there.

Tagging Videos In Facebook – SMO “Social Media Optimization”

The good news about Facebook video is you do have a lot of encoding keyword encoding capabilities, just like you do with YouTube. When you have a video with other people in it, if you’re friends with them you can tag them just like you can do with a photograph. Most people don’t realize that in the videos on Facebook, you can tag people in the videos as keywords, and add your own keywords.

What’s really cool about that is when you do tag someone in your video, then that video actually shows up on their wall for their friends. And it’s not just for videos of people. I believe you can also tag videos of businesses as well, which is another powerful thing.

Powerful Facebook Video Marketing Tip: Video Landing Pages

If you have a Facebook page you can set up what’s called a landing page on Facebook. What I’ve seen a lot of businesses do is record a welcome video, where it’s usually a talking head of the company welcoming them to the actual fan page, and sometimes pointing up and saying, “if you like our page please click the like button.” So the Facebook landing page is actually encouraging the viewer to act through the spoken talking heads in the video telling them what to do.

We found the engagement and conversion to be very, very high because you’re actually telling people what to do in video. That’s a little but powerful tip with video on Facebook, that most people don’t realize you can do.
-Grant Cowell, ReelSEO and Social Media Examiner

Want more Video Marketing Tips?
Call 888.712.8211, info@VMakers.com

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tutorial: How-to Add/Embed Video On A LinkedIn Profile Page

Tutorial: How-to Add/Embed Video On A LinkedIn Profile Page

For more information and help producing your custom online videos
call 888.712.8211, info@VMakers.com

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

How Businesses Can Overcome Fear of Video Syndrome - Video Psychology 101

How Businesses Can Overcome Fear of Video Syndrome - Video Psychology 101

Custom Online Video Made Easy!
Call 888.712.8211 or info@vmakers.com

The Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

How Technology & Social Media Helps Drive The Rise Of Online Video

How Technology & Social Media Helps Drive The Rise Of Online Video

Custom online videos as easy as 1-2-3!
Call 888.712.8211 or info@vmakers.com

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

Need Help Creating Professional Videos?



Contact VMakers888.712.8211 or  
info@VMakers.com


Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

Monday, December 20, 2010

VMakers Official Debut 2011

Sign up for an exclusive preview of our amazing new online video service.

For more information and help producing your custom online videos
call 888.712.8211, info@VMakers.com

Custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

"SuperHero" Video Produced by VMakers Now Online!



Contact VMakers For Your Video Productions
888-712-8211
info@VMakers.com


Fast effective custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

"I'm Back in the Game" Video Produced by VMakers Now Online



Contact VMakers For Your Video Productions
888-712-8211
info@VMakers.com


Fast effective custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

5 Tips for Successful Online Videos

Online professional videos are great for educational, informational and promotional purposes. The videos you publish must represent your business properly and enhance your brand and message. Don't risk your company's reputation. Make sure to keep these 5 essential tips in mind:

1. Prepare
- Project Description
- Background
- Communication Objective(s), Primary and Secondary
- Target Audience
- Audience Current Behavior
- Audience Desired Behavior
- Positioning
- Tonality
- Features and Benefis
- Timing
- Executional Guidelines
  What equipment, locations and talent are needed?
- Support, i.e. other marketing initiatives, follow-up, etc.

2. Plan
- Concept Development
- Formats
- Script Writing
- Directing
- On-Screen Talent
- Voice Over
- Graphics, Animation/Motion
- Music
- Editing

3. Publish
- Host the video on your website and/or blog for optimum SEO visibility.
- Upload to the online video sharing sites including YouTube, Blip.tv, Vimeo, eHow and others. TubeMogul is a great resource for submissions to multiple video sharing sites.
- Be consistent and publish new videos regularly to build and maintain your audience.

4. Promote
- Make your videos "share" friendly with the right video player.
- Email the video to others.
- Offer code so others can embed or link to your video from their website or blog.
- Optimize the content, i.e. description, tags, keywords, etc.
- Encourage audience participation. Mention your videos on social sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr. Encourage people to comment on your videos.
- Comment on other blogs and social networking sites on topics or discussions that relate to your own video. Include a URL to the video on your website.
- Submit news releases. Online services such as PRWeb.com will embed your video in the release, which gets picked up in the search engines.

5. Performance Tracking
- Measure what's working.
- Check your website analytics.
- Check YouTube's Insights.
- Check Facebook's Insights.
- Measure audience engagement levels and feedback.
There are many companies that offer performance metrics, both fee and free. Contact us for a list.

VMakers
888-712-8211
info@VMakers.com

www.VMakers.com
Fast effective custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Social Video Advertising Soars In 2010, Study Shows

2010 was the year social video advertising officially arrived, according to new research from Web video analytics firm Visible Measures.

Indeed, categories that produced millions of views in 2009 generated hundreds of millions in 2010, while the number of active brands in social video advertising more than doubled.

In particular, campaigns like Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Nike's Write the Future, and Pepsi's Oh Africa captured the attention of audiences across the world.

Overall, the number of brands participating in social video advertising exploded. In 2009, fewer than 450 brands launched social video ad campaigns, while that number more than doubled this year to reach nearly 1,000 brands.

In 2009, the industry saw less than 700 social video campaigns, including Evian's Roller Babies, T-Mobile's Dance, Cadbury's Eyebrow Dance, and Volkswagen's Fun Theory.

In 2010, however, social video advertising was home to 1,800+ campaigns -- a 180% increase year-over-year.

What's more, social video campaigns generated 820+ million views and 1.5 million comments in 2009, while in 2010, these numbers increased to 2.7 billion views -- a jump of over 3.3X -- and 4.4 million comments.

In 2010, other participating brands included McDonald's, Burger King, Coke, Nike, Adidas, Walmart, Target, Verizon, AT&T, Ford and Volkswagen, to name a few.

The most-watched category of the year was health and beauty, which collected over 390 million views -- 14% of all social video advertising in 2010.

This is in large part thanks to Old Spice, which inspired over 180 million views for the year. Nearly 70 million of these views come from their revolutionary Responses campaign. By comparison, the entire health and beauty category attracted just 44 million views in 2009.

Yet, as more brands incorporate social video advertising into their marketing mix, the competition only continues to escalate, making it more difficult for brands to separate themselves from the pack and stand out to their target audiences, according to Visible Measures.

These trends are likely to continue into 2011, according to the firm. As more audiences come online and watch social video, we'll see more brands, more campaigns, and more competition, all in efforts to influence consumer choice. -
Gavin O'Malley, MediaPost

Fast, effective and affordable custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.
Call VMakers - 888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

How to Promote Your VMakers Videos on Twitter

-Add a Hashtag
Hashtags are Twitter’s way of organizing or tagging tweets. Simply add a “#” before your tag. To tag your tweet as “hair stylist” type “#hairstylist.” Remove all spaces. After your VMakers video is on your website, tweet a link to it with a hashtag.
-Add Your Name/Business to WeFollow
WeFollow is a directory of Twitter users organized by interests. Add your Twitter account to WeFollow and get discovered.
-Upload Your Video to TwitVid
TwitVid lets you to upload your videos and tweet them.
- Shorten Links
Twitter allows 140 characters. Use tiny.url or Bit.ly to shorten links.
-Follow Us @VMakersLA
Get tips, industry trends and ask questions. Include “@VMakersLA” in your tweets to keep us posted.

VMakers.com
888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

How to Hire a Video Production Company and Increase Profits

VMakers.com - Custom.Web.Videos
It may seem overwhelming with so many video companies claiming to offer all sorts of features, pricing packages and the "best" productions. Not only do you need a video production company with skilled technicians, state-of-the-art equipment, technology and experience, but it's important to have a team who knows how to craft a compelling and engaging message to motivate prospective customers. Don't be lured by price alone. You get what you pay. The videos you distribute must represent your business properly and enhance your brand and message. Don't risk your company's reputation.

Where to start:
- Get referrals from business associates, advertising agencies, and friends.
- Research referrals and video production companies online:
  review samples/reels, experience, testimonials and contact their clients.
- Contact a select few candidates. Meet in person or contact them via email or phone.
- Discuss your ideas with these candidates. Tell them your objectives and what you have in mind.
- Get rate and payment information, time-lines and deliverables.
- Inquire about ancillary services, i.e. distribution, web site integration, social media, advertising, etc.

Make sure your video production company:
- Has marketing and advertising experience.
- Provides sound strategic solutions.
- Is creative.
- Employs a variety of visual techniques.
- Provides excellent audio and visual effects, graphics and voice-over and/or on-screen talent.
- Knows how to prepare and distribute your video to multiple channels-online and offline.
- Has a reel/portfolio.
- Fits with all your requirements.
- Adds value to your business.

Ready to increase your profits?

To learn more contact VMakers.com
info@VMakers.com
888-712-8211

New Video Posted! The Virtual Revolution.



Fast, effective and affordable custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.
Call VMakers - 888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Mobile Video Users Grows

Users of mobile video continue to grow -- as does the time spent watching video -- but it's still a small piece of the overall mobile phone user population. In the second quarter, Nielsen says there was a 43% increase in people who have watched video on mobile device -- some 22 million. This represents about 10% of all mobile phone users, which stood at 229.4 million in the second quarter of this year -- a number that has climbed 4% over a year ago.
Monthly time spent among mobile subscribers watching video was three hours thirty-seven minutes, a 11.3% gain over the year before. That amounts to 22 more minutes in the second quarter 2010 versus the same period the year before.
The biggest users of mobile subscribers were teens 13-17, taking in some seven hours and 13 minutes a month of video; 18-24 users were next, with 4:20; followed by 25-34 users, at 3:37; 35-49 users at 2:53; adults 50-64 at 2:10; those 65 and older, 1:48; and persons 13 years and older (the entire mobile population) at 3:37.
Looking at overall share among each group, 25-54 users comprised 30% of all video usage; 35-49 was next, at 25%; then 13-17 users, 18%; 18-24 users, 15%; 50- to-64-year-olds, 11%; and 65-plus, 2%.
Overall, men use mobile video more than women -- 55% to 45%.
-Wayne Friedman, MediaDailyNews
Fast, effective and affordable custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.
Call VMakers - 888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

2011 - Top 7 Online Video Trends

1.     Branded entertainment will see even more explosive growth. It's no secret - it's becoming increasingly difficult to reach the consumer via a 30-second advertisement. Even YouTube is now giving the consumer the option to skip a commercial in certain cases. As consumers are given these options, advertisers are going to have to become more nimble in their approach to advertising their products. That's why in 2011, branded entertainment will see even more explosive growth. Advertisers will realize that seamlessly integrating their message into online video in a way that adds value to the content will become the ideal way to generate brand awareness amongst consumers.
2.     Low-end Web advertising will die. Somewhere along the way, advertisers forgot that integrating quality content into every online ad will likely drive significantly higher return metrics and deepen engagement.  In 2011, look for more Web publishers to follow the lead of cutting-edge publishers like Gawker to provide advertisers with larger avenues to deliver relevant ads.
3.     More celebrities will find their way to the Web. Celebrities looking for more freedom than afforded by the traditional broadcast television model will turn to online video to make their dream projects happen. Keep an eye out for some major A-list celebrities to make the move in 2011, perhaps finally bringing about the "I Love Lucy" moment we discussed last month.
4.     "Smart reach" will make its way into every forward-thinking agency's RFPs. Agencies will finally realize in 2011 that it's not all about demographics anymore -- it's about "smart reach." Getting to consumers with engaging, relevant content at the right time and in the right places will be a priority for agencies looking to get the most out of their ad spend.
5.     "Snackable" video content will find even more competition from quality long-form content. Snackable, use- generated videos are not dead by any means, but they're going to find significant competition from well-made, long-form original online Web content.  We learned this year that when excellent content is broadcast over the Web, viewers will watch.  For example, DBG-produced ControlTV enjoyed record engagement numbers, with viewers sticking around for over 25 minutes at a time. Expect these numbers to rise in 2011 as more entertaining and engaging long-form content finds its way to the Web.
6.    The average TV viewer will increasingly become screen-agnostic. TV viewers won't care where they get their video fix in 2011. The introduction of Hulu PLUS and the increasing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix will give rise to a TV viewer more concerned about what they're watching as opposed to what they're watching it on.
7.     Expect mobile video to grow. As mobile networks continue to improve their networks and video networks expand to include mobile, the amount of high quality video content that can be transmitted to mobile phones will increase exponentially. As this happens, look for marketers to target mobile users specifically with exclusive content.
-Chris Young, MediaPost

Fast, effective and affordable custom online videos from the Hollywood pros!
The experts behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.
Call VMakers - 888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Monday, December 6, 2010

Google - The Early Years

An interview with Marissa Mayer.
Check out our new video!



Fast, effective and affordable custom online videos for your website and social media sites.
Call VMakers - The "Hollywood" Experts.
The pros behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.


VMakers
888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Why Use Video on Your Website?

People look for moving images when they come to your website, and video is a mark of professionalism as well as customer integration. Differentiating your business in the marketplace is crucial.

Get fast, effective and affordable custom videos for your website.
Call The "Hollywood" Experts - VMakers.
The pros behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more.


VMakers
888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com

Video or Print? What Sells?

How effective are you at generating leads and converting them into sales?
Have you been relying on white-papers, webinars and collateral for lead acquisition? These are all fine, but there’s a way to get more for your marketing dollars.

Did you know video posted to your company site and your YouTube channel can convert prospects and bring in new leads more effectively than the seminar you’re thinking of doing?
Your web site reaches more customers than any other medium, but it can be hard making your business come to life with only words and still images. Online video is the best way to captivate your audience because it conveys emotion, story and visual beauty.

Why video:
- Video sells. 21% of video viewers make a purchase. (BIA/Kelsey User View Study, February 2010).
- Your website is 50x more likely to appear on the first page of Google with video on your web page (Forrester Research, January 2010).
- Video features the qualities that differentiate your business – capturing the attention of current and potential customers.
It’s time to reassess what marketing channels you are using, how effective they are and what market leaders are doing. Go beyond collateral and use the power of video to engage and sell.
First make sure you address the following:
- Listen to your customers, competitors and industry leaders.
- Monitoring your brand.
- Address your customers’ pain points and challenges.
- Engage in a two way dialogue with your customers.
- Put your content in the right channels.
-Make sure your message reaches the right audience.
Test and measure to determine the most effective content and marketing channels. Then devote your time, money and effort to reap the rewards.

For fast, easy and affordable custom video production for any size business call VMakers.
888.712.8211
info@VMakers.com