Category Archives: Social Media Marketing

Animated Short Films are the Way to Go for Online Video Marketing

animated video, Social Media Marketing, Video marketing, Viral marketing, , , ,

Animated videos have become a mainstay in online video marketing but not many companies have gotten it right.  Chipotle is an exception! If you haven’t seen these videos by Chipotle then you’ve missed, not only a great marketing campaign, but emotionally charged videos with a great message behind them. This is exactly what people want to share online, something that’s short, gets a point across, emotional and thought provoking.  Chipotle is leading the way with online video marketing but they’re also taking a step in the right direction by taking a moral and eco-friendly stand by utilizing locally based and minimally processed foods.

Here is the first one they made in 2012 called “Back to the Start” which won the 2012 Cannes Grand Prix:

Here is the follow up animated short film called “Scarecrow” which I believe will win another award:

Both videos were made in conjunction with CAA Marketing.

By Peter Marino, the owner and CDO of reelWebDesign.com and SocialMediaMarketing.co, both of which are website development and social media marketing companies in NYC.

How to Increase Your Company’s Success through Online Videos

Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video marketing, Viral marketing, YouTube Marketing

Success through Online VideosBusinesses today have to make more and more adjustments to our ever-changing world. As nearly all business operations are becoming digitized, one modification that any business can and should make is using online venues to share videos with viewers. Television commercials and advertisements are still effective, but it is becoming common and almost expected that a business will have a social media presence. Facebook and Twitter aren’t enough on their own anymore.

Where to Begin

It can be overwhelming to decide the when, how, what, and where with your videos. There are four very popular video outlets right now: YouTube, Vine, Instagram Video, and Vimeo. Each of these applications has its own pros and cons. YouTube is the most accessible of the four. There isn’t a time limit set for YouTube videos. However, the advertisements can be a distraction to your own marketing strategy. Vine and Instagram Video are most effective if your company has an actively used Twitter account. These apps are fantastic to use for short teasers of new products or ideas that your company is up to. It’s best to keep these shorter and more engaging for your audience. Vimeo is mostly used by businesses to put a video on their website. Unlike the other sites, Vimeo is not free for business use. However, it is a fairly good deal and provides you with storage space, commercial free videos, mobile compatibility, and your own company watermark on the video. Vimeo is less likely to go “viral” but has a more professional feel to it.

Many companies have wisely utilized the use of videos for advertising their product or services without making it seem like just another commercial. Do not use your online videos like you would a television or radio advertisement. Your videos do not have to be a perfectly produced work to put on the Internet. It can be as simple as how to use a product, introducing the CEO, showing bring your dog to work day, etc.  Anything that will engage your audience is going to be successful in some way.  Above all else, remember to respect your audience. They won’t be interested in something that is too juvenile or too sophisticated for them. Make it worth their time to be watching your video.

Inject Humor

One extremely entertaining YouTube channel to spend time on is the Blendtec channel. They have been making videos for 6 years. A marketing technique they often employ is to place different objects (like glow sticks, baseballs, and cell phones) in their blenders to see if it will blend. Of course, they know their product so it always works. Their videos combine entertainment with showing off what their product is capable of doing. Taco Bell also has an impressive online presence. A lot of this comes from the fact that they are willing to be humorous and entertaining but also keep their actual appearance professional. Their twitter feed is full of funny interactions with customers and their YouTube account has plenty of videos about people just having fun at Taco Bell locations. But when you visit either of their accounts, you can see that they have professionally designed their pages so you know that it is really Taco Bell running the account.

Just Do It!

Online videos are a simple way to reach more consumers and make your product known. It can also be a great way to show a different side of your company or your services. Take advantage of social media and networking sites. They are telling you exactly where you can find potential customers, all you have to do is find a way to engage them. Remember to have fun with these videos and make a lasting impression on your viewers.

Our guest post was provided by, Jake Magleby who has written extensively about effective marketing, sales, and financing strategies to help Utah ecommerce website design services. He also has an interest in education and development.

Is Guest Posting On Its Way Out?

Blogging, Content creation, content marketing, guest blogging, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, The Importance Of Content Creators, , ,

Guest-PostingGuest posts have long been a fantastic way of boosting the SEO value of a website. The value of such a post is in the link left either in the content or in the author biography at the bottom. The link back to your website enhances your SEO value and takes you up the Google rankings.

Once it was used en masse since the more links you had the higher you would rank. We’ve now shifted to a stage where the PageRank (PR) of a website acts as the defining factor for how valuable a guest post is.

With the shift to social media as the most important part of SEO, some question whether guest posting is about to come to an end.

What Will End?

Guest posting itself will never end. Websites always need quality content to share via social media. And they need the talented writers to do it. What it will end is this focus on quantity over quality. Sites will no longer see it necessary to post hundreds of guest posts on low quality websites, and thus creating link neighbourhoods.

Blogs with high PRs will suddenly become more valuable and webmasters will have to become pickier over what they publish. The value of a guest post will actually go up.

The Social Media Link

Guest posting has a direct link to social media. To entice people to interact with you on Facebook and Twitter you need to trigger the interaction. A guest post can create debate and an emotional reaction. This is what sparks popularity on these platforms. They go hand-in-hand.

There are only so many times you can repeat the same things on your website. And the same goes for everybody else.

To freshen things up a website might bring in a guest blogger to add their opinions and style of writing. It’s an attraction in itself. It’s like a newspaper asking a celebrity to write a column in favour of using one of their regular writers.

What about Guest Posting Websites?

Guest posting websites which host nothing but guest posts will suffer. Google expects you to have a certain proportion of unique content. If you have nothing but a selection of guest posts this makes your website a directory. It doesn’t actually offer anything on its own. Google partially rates a website based on what it would look like if you stripped everything away and left just your original content.

You should aim to have at least 75 per cent of original content on your website. This doesn’t apply to getting other writers to produce content. It applies to posts where a link points to another website for SEO purposes.

Bigger than Ever

In fact, guest posting is likely to become bigger than ever before. Since everyone demands higher quality content the writers who can’t produce such content will gradually fade away. The focus will be on skilled writers who can capture an audience. It makes it even more important to make connections with professionals who know the rules of proper guest posting.

Our guest post was contributed by Kenneth Adams. He is an avid blogger who shares his knowledge about blogging and SEO through his articles. He says that he finds Adelaide SEO a great source of information on SEO and blogging techniques.

Crafting the Subject Line that Will Get Your Emails Opened

content marketing, email marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing,

With email as the primary method of communication in most businesses, the average working professional gets 100 or more messages per day. So, how can you get your message to stand out head and shoulders above the sea of others in your subscribers inbox? That’s where the subject line comes in.  You’ll have to craft a great one to get your subscribers attention and get your emails opened!

An Infographic to Help You Get your Emails Opened

The following infographic lays out how and why to implement a subject line that can help you get your emails opened:

subject-line-to-get-your-emails-opened

This post was made by Peter Marino, the owner and CDO of reelWebDesign.com, a mobile website design and digital marketing company in White Plains, NY that offers social media and SEO training.