Viewstream Virtual and Online Events: Premium Experiences that Engage and Inform Posted by John Holton on September 9, 2020 The future of work was already leading us toward a more remote working culture, a trend that has only been accelerated by the current crisis. While this steady shift to remote working has its benefits, it has also made it harder to stay connected with coworkers, partners, and customers. This is especially true when it comes to virtual events, which are often viewed as lacking the ability to engage and inform in the way that physical events can. Viewstream Virtual and Online Events provide the opportunity to harness the value of physical interaction within a safe, virtual space that does not require the need for hosts or participants to travel. These virtual events are not simple live streams, but rather custom-branded experiences tailored to your specific use case that have the ability to be engaging and informative in ways that traditional online events can’t match. Viewstream’s virtual event experience begins with a content blueprint developed based on research into your organization and interviews with employees. Using this blueprint, Viewstream is able to determine the major themes of the event and craft a script that communicates them in the most engaging way possible. Creative elements are then storyboarded and brought to life to convey the desired themes and exemplify the unique style and branding of your organization. Finally, the event is delivered in a live format before being automatically archived and made available for management through a convenient CMS platform. Viewstream events include a number of features designed to promote security, engagement, and insight. Events are secured through a single sign-on (SSO) system that can be easily integrated with virtually any corporate directory. Q&A/chat modules can be made available to participants and moderated to show only approved content. Live audience polling can also be implemented with the option to show real-time results. During and after the event, your organization will have access to statistics detailing viewership and viewer location, as well as individual viewer tracking functionality. Viewstream has over 20 years of experience in the virtual events space and is proud to have hosted events for companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk, among others. While nothing can ever truly replace the authenticity of physical interaction, Viewstream’s virtual events provide the next best alternative. Interested in how a custom-branded virtual experience can drive engagement? Schedule a demo or contact us today to learn more.
What Makes a Premium Explainer Video? Posted by John Holton on June 24, 2019 Explainer videos are an essential marketing and communications option for introducing your company or products to potential customers. However, not all explainer videos are created equal and many miss the mark. Continue reading for five examples of how you can create an engaging explainer video that gets your point across. Get the Length Right A great explainer video grabs your attention and keeps it until the very end. It’s likely that you have quite a lot you’d like to say but try to keep it concise by sticking to the key value propositions. The audience will remember the overall “why” of the video. Communicate what is possible with the solution – keep it short, but no shorter. Make Your Case Early You shouldn’t be waiting until the end of your explainer video to state your key message, even if it’s only a couple minutes long. The longer you wait to tell viewers what the video is about the more likely you are to lose their attention. It’s okay to have an intro where you set the stage or create tension but get to the key value propositions early. Develop a Narrative Despite how short they may be, explainer videos still need a strong story to be compelling, even if the viewer doesn’t realize there is one. Begin by presenting a problem. Then introduce your product as the solution and explain why it will help. Finally, close it out with a strong call to action that lets viewers know what they should do next. Choose the Right Music The choice of music will be critical for driving engagement as it sets the tone for the entire video. What do you want viewers to feel while watching? Excitement? Anxiety? Whatever it may be, choosing the right music is the surest way to get the reaction you’re looking for. Focus on Benefits Try to remember that this isn’t a product demo video. It will be tempting to list off every feature that your product offers, but it’s better to stick to the benefits instead. Benefits are what will resonate the most and compel interested viewers to learn more. A well-made explainer video can be one of the most useful tools for communicating critical information about a company and its products. For some specific examples of great explainer videos, check out Viewstream and our award-winning explainer videos page.
Make an Impact with Video Marketing Posted by John Holton on March 25, 2019 A well-crafted video marketing campaign can be extremely helpful when it comes to promoting your brand and products. Keep reading to learn the top four reasons why video marketing can have such a big impact. The ROI of Video Engaging explainer videos can help move customers through the funnel and convert leads. Embedding videos on your site can boost conversion rates by up to 80%, and emails that feature video content increase click-through rates by as much as 96% [1]. Videos Help Boost SEO Videos result in users spending more time on your site, an important factor for increasing search ranking. Google in particular boosts websites that link back to YouTube videos [2]. Video sharing will also have the effect of generating more inbound links, another critical metric for SEO. Mobile Users Prefer Video More than half of YouTube video content is watched on mobile devices, and for Twitter, that number is over 90%! It’s just easier to watch than reading when using a mobile device. Given that over 47% of internet traffic is mobile [3], these platforms demand more attention from marketers than ever before. Quality Video Generates a Response Compared to text or audio, video is able to get the point across quickly and makes it easier to promote immediate action from viewers. When someone sees that you’ve taken the time and effort required to create a quality video it adds an extra level of authenticity to your brand. Quality video content can be an important asset for increasing brand awareness and promoting immediate action. Check out Viewstream’s Explainer Video page to see just how impactful video marketing can be, and contact us today to get started on your own campaign! [1] https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/measuring-roi-on-video-marketing-campaigns-infographic/ [2] https://www.stonetemple.com/how-youtube-videos-rank-in-google [3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/
Top Tips for Social Media Marketing Posted by John Holton on February 20, 2019 The Latest Ad Formats Get Better Results While social media has opened up more avenues than ever before for reaching your customers, it has also raised customer expectations for engaging advertising. This means that even high-quality static ads no longer have the same impact that they once did. However, there is no shortage of alternatives to traditional static ads. Whether you incorporate video, use a carousel format, or create interactive ads (i.e. virtual or alternate reality), it’s time to elevate your social media marketing. Targeting the Right Audience is the Difference Between Success and Failure It doesn’t matter how good your social media marketing is if it’s not reaching the right audience. In a sense, content creation is only half the battle. It is just as important to make sure you’re taking advantage of all the targeting strategies each platform provides. That means targeting by geolocation down to zip codes, creating custom audiences based on email addresses you already own, creating lookalike audiences to expand your targeting pool, and utilizing any other strategies available to you. Don’t Be Afraid to Target the Audience of Your Competition You shouldn’t think of the audience of your competition as unreachable. In reality, they are one of the best groups to be targeted through social marketing. For one thing, you already know that these customers are interested in what you’re selling since they’re buying it from a competitor. Within any customer base, there will inevitably be individuals who are unsatisfied with the product or service that is currently being provided to them. If your offering better meets their needs, then making them aware may be all that’s required for them to convert. Tailor Copy and Creative to Each Platform Almost three-quarters of Americans use more than one social media site, and you can be sure they’re savvy enough to recognize when copy is pasted from one to another. When you use the same content on multiple different sites you just end up watering down your overall impact and run the risk of annoying users with repetitive advertising. By tailoring the copy and content to each specific social platform you have the opportunity to present users with multiple different perspectives on your central message. Leverage Organic and Paid Advertising The best social campaigns find a good balance between paid and organic advertising. By focusing too much on one you miss out on the opportunity to reach individuals and groups that would be better engaged by the other. Paid advertising allows you to target those who are currently unaware or uninterested in your company and would not seek you out on their own. However, companies that only use paid advertising can come across as cold and unapproachable. Making use of organic as well can solve this problem, while simultaneously driving traffic to your page and engaging people that you already know to have an interest in your brand. Get Your KPIs Straight This is another area where finding the middle ground between two extremes is critical. Focusing too much on one metric can result in missing out on data that would give important insights into the success or failure of a social campaign. At the same time, trying to evaluate too many simultaneously will result in mixed feedback about what is and isn’t working. It may take some trial and error, but it is critical to find the KPIs that are most linked to the goals of your social campaign while weeding out any that would drown out the more important insights.