Encouraging Interactivity

This week's MarketingSherpa "Chart of the Week" focused on interactivity and online video. Specifically - 73% of marketers polled said they wanted the ability to add interactive features to an online video ad. Why? To increase viewer engagement.

Within the traditional broadcast world, making a spot "interactive" consisted of incorporating a telephone number or an address or tinkering with the volume so the ad would be blaring and grab someone's attention. In the Web world, you can certainly find web video marketing content that contains visual calls-to-action. There are even some technologies that enable a viewer to click on an element of an online video that can link to a web page.

However, from a purely interactive standpoint, could more be done? Absolutely. The most powerful reason to work with audiovisual content is that the combination of visuals and sound can emotionally engage a viewer. As with many marketing initiatives, creating the message is sometimes the easiest part of a campaign. Figuring out how to reach a target audience or determine if the creative worked can be tough.

So many conversations about eVideo focus solely on the video content aspect of a campaign. Looking at online video in a larger marketing capacity, the viewer experience needs to be considered. Research from Lotame found that online video ads should be a maximum of 40 seconds and be presented to Web surfers twice. Adding everything you need to explain to a spot that can only be 40 seconds can be tough. But it is doable. It is one thing to promote a specific message or offer, but what happens after someone views your video? Can you trust the viewer to innately know to click on a video for more information or to contact your company on their own?

Many of our clients think of flimps as "audiovisual brochures," which is a concept I whole heartedly embrace. I can think of a number of client campaigns that incorporated written messaging into their video, yet reinforced the desired calls to action with messaging on the flimp and links to relevant web pages. This recent flimp created by Ocean Canyon Properties is a good example:

As a call to action, OCP offered viewers a chance to phone their reservation center. This phone number was displayed both within the video and on the flimp itself. Additionally, the flimp provided a number of ways for a viewer to directly reach OCP through the Web.

In the context of web video marketing, the inclusion of interactivity does not need to happen solely within the video.

How Can a Marketing Campaign Be a Success if it Can't Be Tracked?

A plethora of articles have been written over the past several weeks about metrics and analytics for interactive campaigns. With over a decade of experience in interactive marketing, I'm sometimes surprised that there often appears to be an inconsistency in how web campaigns are evaluated. Someone's view could be someone else's hit. But, what shocks me even more, is the notion that many marketers are not even analyzing the data. Period.

Why someone would go through the effort of setting up an interactive campaign without reviewing the results is beyond me. Maybe they're just focused on just creating the messaging and visual components or they're too busy to check out the data. Or perhaps they don't understand what the data is telling them and they don't have an analysts to decipher the results. It could also be that they have implemented an interactive campaign that has no way to gather or review results

Too often, many analytics tools are difficult to understand. There are a myriad of terms - visitor versus unique visitor, page view, impressions, clicks, etc. Also, many of the tools aren't very user friendly. You can determine what the data relates on a comprehensive level, but it can be challenging to decipher on a granular level, such as on a particular page or in regards to a particular link.

As a best practice, I would question why anyone would ignore their campaign's performance data. This is especially true in today's difficult economic climate. Marketers are charged with increasing leads or driving sales that ultimately contribute to a company's bottom line. It is ironic that, when budget cuts occur, marketing is usually first in line or faces the deepest cuts. As a marketer, I want to be able to prove that my programs contributed to the bottom line.

While it may be easier to analyze traditional interactive campaigns, such as email or search, it the burgeoning web video marketing category presents some challenges. This was actually noted in a recent survey conducted by Forbes.com and reported by Adweek. Online video analytics is an evolving category. However, DM News noted that Forrester Research Senior Analyst John Lovett said that "the need for Web analytics and measurement technologies are becoming even greater for companies."

Are there solutions to analyzing the performance of a eVideo communications? Absolutely. In fact, Flimp's robust analytics make it easy to understand how your web video marketing campaign is performing.


First, unlike many analytical tools, flimp reports process in real-time. As soon as you distribute a flimp, whether it is sent out via email or integrated into a website, the flimp starts to aggregate data. The report instantly populates with data points. Second, a standard flimp report gives you data on everything ranging from the total number of minutes your video was viewed through the actual number of viewer watch to completion. Topline metrics are displayed in the "Key Performance Indicators" (KPI) chart. Below is an example of KPI from a recent flimp campaign:



If a flimp contains either our "Send to a Friend" form, the flimp "Response" form or a flimp "Form Builder," the KPI will even provide metrics on the number of viral sends or if either response form was completed. But beyond the raw numbers for the total number of viral sends, the report will also display who sent a flimp, who they sent it to, the message and the send date. This is an example of a viral report:



Additionally, if a flimp was sent out through one of the integrated email ESPs, the report can show you engagement at the individual email address level. Data from the KPI can be exported into one of six different reports to enable you to further analyze the data or so you can upload information into a CRM or other relational tool. Most importantly, the metrics presented within the KPI are easy to understand, making it easier to describe a flimp campaign's effectiveness to your key shareholders and decision makers.

Furthermore, the flimp report can break down by link the total number of times each time a viewer clicked on a unique link. This information is presented in a visual "Response Link Clicks" report, illustrated below:


Beyond just straight performance analytics, the FLIMP Platform can even provide distribution-specific reports. This means that if a flimp is sent out through one of our integrated ESPs, a top-line report is available. This is a great resource to have to track your direct marketing initiatives.

Robust analytics in an easy to understand format that track in real-time without the need to add in an additional plug in. And you're not flimping because. . . .?

Email Web Video Marketing 101

One of the things I like the best about our Web-based business culture is the fact that I can participate in learning seminars directly from my desk. I think webinars are one of the most effective business tools, as they afford you an opportunity to gain knowledge without forcing you to commit the time to actually getting to and from a physical location.

Today I had the opportunity to watch a webinar co-hosted by Cramer Productions, Constant Contact and Permission TV about "Best Practices in Email Marketing: Boost Email Response Rates with Video." I'm always interested in learning about techniques that can help Flimp clients improve their email web video marketing campaign results.

As a seasoned web video marketer, I found the webinar presented information that I am intimately familiar with. The webinar's target audience was certainly the nascent email web video marketer. That said, I still was able to gain a lot of take-aways that reinforce best practices that we follow at Flimp Media.

With email web video marketing campaigns there are really two distinct elements: the actual email and the video's landing page.

Focusing on the email first, it is critical that email web video marketer's follow basic email best practices. The most successful email marketing campaigns are permission based. This means that the recipient has asked to receive information from the sender. Second, it is important that the email communication be perceived as relevant and not as piece of spam or junk mail.

Obviously, having a list of people who have opted-in to receive email is a starting point. But there are other basics that are just as important to follow. Make sure the recipient knows who you are as a sender. Especially in B2B marketing, it may be more relevant to have your email sent from your company instead of an individual at your company.

The subject line is another critical component. The most effective subject lines contain five to eight words and serve as a short statement. Also, it is important to make sure the message in your email body is pertinent and informative. The purpose of an email is to engage your recipient.

Next, the panel discussed ways you can incorporate video into your email message. Embedding a video to play directly into your email is not only a technical challenge, but it presents a host of user issues. Get Flimped has published a number of different posts on this topic in the past. But, if I were an inexperienced email web video marketer, listening to the panel discuss how to leverage video in email would have really scared me away from the process. The panel outlined some of the steps that a marketer could take:

• Create a thumbnail of the video.
  
• Generate links to the video.
• Post the links and the thumbnail to your email message.

Even savvy marketers who feel comfortable working with different technologies could be overwhelmed when thinking about this process. The good news is, not only does the FLIMP Platform auto-create this for users, but it is actually following a format suggested by experienced email marketers.

Once the components of the email were defined, the panel focused on producing video content. I found this particular segment to be very educational.

The length of an online video is very critical. While long-form video can be effective for offline marketing, shorter-length video tends to perform the best. As a creator, your ultimate goal is to make sure the content is palatable. Along with the length of the video, make sure the content is engage. If you're filming an employee, it could be more effective to use someone who is dynamic on camera versus someone who has a big title. Creating video that is passionate, informative and, ultimately, believable is the end goal.

Once your video is created, you do need to host it somewhere. The panel recommended making sure that your video is hosted on a private network. While using a video sharing site (such as YouTube) may be an easy way to host video, you may not want to send out links to YouTube pages within your email. On free video sharing sites, you always run the risk of your content appearing with a competitors or with inappropriate content. Hosting the content on a dedicated platform, such as FLIMP, enables you to control the process.

While audiovisual content is a powerful way to communicate, the panel did not recommend having your video sit by itself on a web page. The most effective web video marketing efforts include the following elements:

• Video Content
• Messaging on the video's web page, which reinforces the video
• Direct calls to action (Purchase Tickets, Send to a Friend, Learn More), ideally linking to relevant content
• Branding
• If a video is integrated solely into a web page, making sure that the page is optimized for SEO/SEM activities.

So once you've created and launch your web video marketing campaign, is your work completed? Well, if you don't care about how your campaign performs, then it is. However, analyzing your web video marketing efforts is an extremely import facet. The panel discussed some general metrics guidelines, including how much time someone spent viewing your video and what actions the person engaged in. Again, the FLIMP Platform provides a robust reporting tool that gives you data ranging from total flimp views, total time on flimp, through which weblinks were clicked and if there was any viral engagement.

I actually could not have written a better script. The above points are what we reinforce to clients to help them make the most effective flimp. Not to mention, the FLIMP Platform makes it easy for you to tackle these points. Plus, The FLIMP Platform is integrated with a number of ESPs, including Constant Contact.

Flimp Platform Enhancement: Video Only Snapshot

A new feature added to the FLIMP Platform enables users to select a video image snapshot with a play arrow as an alternative to the standard flimp image snapshot for emails, ads or website integration.

The following flimp tutorial explains how Flimp Account holders can select the video image snapshot.

Flimponomics Makes Smart Lead Gen Economics

Now, more than ever, marketing is focused on generating a return on investment (ROI). Marketing initiatives are purposeless if they don't drive results. Sure, the team involved with creating a campaign could have some nice pieces for their portfolio, but no professional would ever dare tell the story of a program that didn't achieve its goals and objectives.

Oftentimes, one of the things that Flimp customers want to know is how a flimp will factor into their ROI. This is a valid question. If someone is allocating budget towards a Flimp Account, then it makes sense to try to calculate the cost of each individual engagement.

To help answer this question, we've come up with a calculator we like to call "Flimponomics." Now, we're not trying to fix the economy, we're just trying to help marketers understand how a viewer's response rate translates to a cost per lead or acquisition.

Here is our simple chart:


I think most CFOs would agree that the cost of a FLIMP Platform account directly supports the bottom line. There are very few outlets available to marketers that contribute to lead generation for such an inexpensive cost per lead.

Beyond the economic investment, ultimately what a flimp enables you do is to leverage video to generate results. A recent report published by Forrester noted that people are 2 to 3 times more likely to click-through an email if there is online video. This directly corresponds to industry data that shows that viewers are 4-7 times more likely to engage with rich media and video than just static web content.

So why should you consider Flimp? I think our CEO Wayne Wall gives the best answer.

The Hidden Costs of Free eVideo Distributions

Many people think the toughest part of developing a web video marketing campaign is content creation. While creating audiovisual content may seem to be more difficult than writing copy or designing a brochure, it need not be. Between technology options and a plethora of talented video producers, I believe content creation is one of the easier parts of eVideo marketing.

Distributing your online video, however, can be tricky. Regardless of the medium, the whole point of creating marketing collateral in the first place is to reach an audience. For some reason, when people start to develop the strategies for their web video marketing campaign, they often consider using video sharing sites. I agree - video sharing sites may be a good way to release your content to the web to help attract prospects and to increase SEO to your own home website.

But if you make video sharing sites the sole focus of your distribution strategy, you may run into some issues. First and foremost, video sharing sites may not be the most reliable way to distribute content. I've discussed this in an early post here on Get Flimped. Second, and more critical, video sharing sites could ultimately either pull your video content or try to charge you for posting promotional content.

Due in part to a need to increase their monetization, the YouTube video sharing site has begun to enforce its Terms of Service to users. While the Term enforcement mainly focuses on content producers, known as YouTube partners, it ultimately does interfere with overarching marketing efforts. In an attempt to reach viewers, many companies enter into paid product placements with popular video content creators. These placements are similar to product integration in film and television shows. The content creator either mentions or uses the product. Some excellent insight into why YouTube is starting to enforce its Terms can be found in these articles from Mediaweek and MarketingVox, while paidContent.org ran an informative piece on examples of product placement.

If your entire video distribution strategy relies on leveraging sharing sites, just beware of potential situations that could cause your video to be pulled. There is nothing worse than having video integrated into your website (but served by a videosharing site) suddenly disappear. . . without notification.

eVideo for B2B Marketers

There has been a flurry of media coverage over the past few weeks regarding B2B marketers and web video marketing. In its essence, marketing practices are initially the same for both B2C and B2B marketers – the end goal is effectively engaging an audience into a course of action.

While B2C marketers adapted more quickly to incorporating online video into their marketing efforts, B2B marketers have been slower to adopt. As a business vertical, online video is being underused within the B2B space. Many B2B marketers may not know how to create a web video marketing campaign or they might not feel that online video cannot be effectively leveraged for lead-gen. This is unfortunate, especially since the visual nature of video can be ideal format to communicate complex products or esoteric services. Forrester Research VP Laura Ramos was quoted in a recent BtoB Online article noting

“Video is underused in b-to-b. This is important since a lot of b-to-b companies have high-consideration products that they are always going to need help explaining.”

In my opinion, an eVideo campaign can practical way to reach B2B prospects. First, creating a campaign using a tool such as the FLIMP Platform is a lot easier than developing a traditional direct marketing or even a direct-email campaign. Second, video is a great way to present content in different styles. Testimonials, tutorials and product demonstrations are far more interesting when they’re presented in an audiovisual context. Video communications are a wonderful way to educate your audience, which leads into my third point: audience engagement. Video communications, on a whole, generate a far stronger ROI than traditional marketing efforts.

In today’s data-driven environment, perhaps the strongest argument for using eVideo is the wealth of audience engagement analytics available. Again, this need not be a complex process, if you decide to launch a flimp campaign. Every flimp generates actionable data reports in real-time. The metrics are so easy to understand that you will not have to consult with an interactive analyst to tell you what the results mean. You can learn more about how to use flimps for B2B campaigns on our main website.

B2B marketers should not shy away from working with online video. Web video marketing is a great tactic for lead-gen, customer education and general promotions.