Three Ways to Use Videos on Your Website

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Posted on 25th July 2010 by Todd in Videos

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The ability to embed videos into your website has created a totally different dynamic. Websites can become much more entertaining and hold the attention of readers longer than with articles. Youtube, the video sharing website, changed everything. All a user has to do is upload their video, and they can instantly share the video on their website, Facebook, Myspace or any other social networking website.

Small businesses can take advantage of videos. As a result, as a business owner, you can produce a video which can get the kind of viewership that rivals what you would get by putting a commercial on TV at a fraction of the cost.

The following is three ways that a small business owner can use videos on their website and more.

Promotion

Have you ever gone to a website that had a video telling more about their product? This is an example of putting a promo video on your website. Unfortunately, those websites could do so much more! I am always at a loss for why a company who has a well done video on their website would not upload the video to sharing websites such as Youtube.

Do you have a commercial? With the power of the web, you can upload your video to Youtube and instantaneously share the video in as a commercial. Google has a platform through their advertising program or you can contact an individual website you would like to advertise on and offer to pay for space.

Training

Web based training is become very popular among publishers. How to videos can be very beneficial, and anytime you put the videos on Youtube you can get more traffic as people decide to check out your website for more information. If you are a chiropractor, you can produce a video on stretching and upload it to Youtube and your website. Tell you audience to go to your website for more information and clearly put your website address.

Other people have started video podcasts. Shama Kabani has a video podcast where she offers tips to her audience in a short two minute or less clip. The videos are entertaining complete with a cute tune and animation. Others, such as Kathleen Sullivan, offers video tutorials for her clients on how to use the tools she empowers them with.

Virtual Tours

Are you a real estate agent of do you need to show your facilities. This can be accomplished fairly easy also. Take a video and upload the video as a virtual tour. It is the best way to show around a facility to your potential customers. Customers can get an up-close view of the facility before they ever show up.

Other businesses can do a sample demonstration of select products. Imagine you are trying to increase sales of a menu item at your restaurant. Customers can’t smell your item, but they can see and imagine tasting the item! Make a video demonstrating the product, post it on your website, and share, share, share!

Videos are a great way to continue to market your product online. I am amazed how many people don’t think about videos.

Best–It is absolutely best to hire somebody to do your professional videos. A video is so much better when it is shot professionally. If you need somebody to shoot videos for your website, etc., give us a call. We have added video production to our line of products and services.

Good–For the quicker, more candid shot videos, buy a flip camera from a major retailer. You still may need video editing software, but go ahead and get videos made! If you need someone to edit the videos, let us know as we can take care of that too. Some animation or graphics may be exactly what a video needs to look a hundred times better.

Admit it, you watch both videos didn’t you?

We offer video production for the web.  Give us a call so we can produce a professional quality video for your company today!

Let the power of videos transform your online marketing today!


Five Strategies for Your Use of Facebook

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Posted on 12th July 2010 by Todd in Facebook

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Driving to my church homegroup last night, I saw a business sign which read, “Follow us on Facebook.”  The first question that came to my mind was, “Why?”

“Why should I follow you on Facebook?”

Facebook

Scott Beale / Laughing Squid http://laughingsquid.com/

I am a little bit of a sucker for following Facebook fan pages, probably because I have set up a few and know how hard it can be to get fans.  I do try to be a little discerning, but the fan page is for a friend, etc., I usually follow.  However, many people are harder to convince.  People’s time is a commodity we should never take for granted, even on Facebook.

Therefore, what kind of strategy do you have in place for your Facebook fan page? Is your goal to get a certain amount of followers?  Once you get your followers, then what will you do?

Many companies set up the Facebook account without any idea what they will use it for.  After all, there are over 400 million people on Facebook.

1.  Give something away

If you sell products, you might have a contest for fans to win something.  You got great products, right?  Everyone who “likes” your page can be entered in to a drawing for a free “fill in the blank.”  It worked well for a client of mine who increased her fans to well over 800 fans just by giving something away.

2.  Post links to your blog posts

You do blog don’t you?  Post the links to each individual blog post to your Facebook fan page.  A blog that offers advice or gives an “insider’s” view to your business has great value for customers.  Make sure your fans know about your blog!

3.  Post links to your website

This is self explanatory.  If your website is built around a blog, then #2 should work just fine.  Offer some kind of special at your website and promote it on your Facebook page.  The goal is, after all, to get people to your website to buy your product or become a member of your community.

4.  Post contact info

Do not neglect this!  Post a way for folks to contact you.  It is a customer service issue.  It can be sending them to your contact page at your website or posting an email address or phone number.  This is especially true if you do not have a website.  People need to know hours and other info too.

5.  Interact

When someone posts on your wall, respond!  This is the unique strategy of social media, interaction with fans/customers.  You can offer fans a chance to win something by posting on the wall, etc., but whatever you do, get your fans to interact.  And, then, join the discussion!  Facebook is a communication medium, and communication is a two-way street!

I hope this helps those of you trying to establish a Facebook page.  Having a Facebook fan page is an active process.  I hope you’re ready!


How to Deal with Negative People: Food for thought

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Posted on 4th June 2010 by Todd in Video Friday

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I haven’t had a Video Friday in a while, but I thought this video was good food for thought.  Rochelle Veturis from Orange County, CA has some good ideas about dealing with negative folks.

Check out Rochelle’s website when you get a chance.


Geopmapping for success

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Posted on 23rd April 2010 by Todd in Video Friday

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Mobile applications such as foursquare and Gowalla are becoming the new phenomenon.  Can it be used for your business?  Decide for yourself.  Here is a video with Kevin Rose of Digg (@kevinrose).


Follow Friday 4/23/2010

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Posted on 23rd April 2010 by Todd in Follow Friday

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Thanks for stopping by to see who I am choosing for this week’s #Follow #Friday.  I have four persons selected, and hopefully, they will be someone you haven’t heard of before.  If you have, then it will only confirm what you already new!

Katie Felten (LinkedIn All Star)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/milwaukeejobcamp/

@KatieFelten — Katie is widely considered a Linkedin expert and she is the president of MKELive, a company that provides Linkedin training services for a wide variety of organizations.  Katie can also show you how to practice Bikram Yoga.

@Stephaniec2c — Stephanie is a key member of the Dallas based Marketing Zen online marketing company.  She really engages her followers keeping everyone up with the latest social media news.  When you get to know the lady behind the tweets, you find she is a down-to-earth, loving and caring mother and wife.

@PaulKirchoff — Paul may be the coolest CEO I’ve never met!  He runs a full service social media and online marketing company based out of Austin, TX.  Hey, we know that some of the coolest tech people come from Austin!

@scottica — I appreciate Scott who is the CEO at SWIX, a social media analytics company based out of Ottawa.  I tweeted about trying their service and he responded to me asking if I had ideas for improvement.  I have enjoyed trying the tools which are in beta, and I think they are a good solution for social media marketers to look at.  Give it a try.

There you go.  These are my Follow Friday tweeters.


Follow Friday

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Posted on 15th April 2010 by Todd in Follow Friday |Twitter

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Chris Brogan challenged many of us to handle Follow Friday different on twitter, and so I have decided to do just that.  With his suggestion, I have created a post mentioning my Follow Friday folks telling a little bit why someone should follow them.

Arkansite.com Logo

Arkansite.com

You will have to bear with me here as I have a variety of interests that range from professional wrestling, to sports, to social media, to web design and many others.

@kaseyjohns–Casey is a talented website designer from San Marcos, TX and he handles promotions and the website for the Austin Turfcats, an arena football team.  I actually got to meet him when he came to North Little Rock with his team to play the Arkansas Diamonds where I was working.  Check out the Tufcats’ website.

@slims_conway–Did I forget to tell you?  I like food!  Slims has pretty good chicken in Conway, AR where I live.  They actually have several locations, so you can find one near you at their website.  I also like that they use social media.

@Strombolis1–Quite possibly the best stromboli on the planet!  Well, at least in Conway, AR.  I visited there on Wednesday and immediately realized that I had sinned (it has to be a sin to eat their food because it so good!).  I had some of their garlic knots, and oh they were so good!  If you are in Conway, check them out.  Oh yeah, and they are on Facebook too.

@Arkansite–Meet Shelli Russell.  She has started MySaline.com and Arkansite.com.  She has created these community-based, hyper-local sites in Central Arkansas utilizing Ning.com.  She does a great job of keeping up with the events and happenings going on in her neighborhood.  She is also a good neighbor lending her support to charitable causes.

So, there you have it.  These are my picks for Follow Friday on twitter.  Check these guys and gals out and follow them, because they are worth the follow!

Happy tweeting.


Top 8 Ways to Use Social Media

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Posted on 15th April 2010 by Todd in Video Friday

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Lewis Howes is the author of this video.  The video is a little over a year old, but the content is still very relevant.  Lewis uses social media to leverage business in the sports world.  He is on twitter @lewishowes. His websites are www.LewisHowes.com and www.SportsNetworker.com.

What do you think?  Agree or disagree?


Connecting Story to Your Mission

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Posted on 11th April 2010 by Todd in Story

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Chris Brogan has challenged his readers.  Therefore, I accept the challenge.  We are supposed to write a post about story.  Here is my post about story and from my perspective.

We all have a story.  My story, much like yours, contains comedy, romance and tragedy.  I have experienced them all in the past couple of years.

Church Building

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/

In fact, folks resonate with us when we share our story.  However, I want to take it to a different level.  What if we connected our story to our mission–not just as a business person or writer–but our mission in life? What if we share our story for a different purpose? What if we share our stories in a way that transcends what we do to make a living?

For me, the most powerful story is Jesus.  Now, that story is engaged in my story.  God engaging in history–my history.  I haven’t always liked my history, but I have always respected one who would throw off the cloak or royalty and become a simple peasant to  give his life for a ragamuffin like me.

Because of God’s great love, I have decided to do this.  I believe that all churches should have an online presence.  There may be a rare example of one that doesn’t need one, but most do.  I am willing to help churches have an online presence by offering my services for 50% off what I would normally charge.  Further, if a church simply can’t pay that, we can make a different arrangement.  This will undoubtedly benefit small and start-up churches, and those are who I am looking at when I offer this.  Because of my time, I can only participate in a limited number projects at a time.  It makes no difference what denomination you are as long as you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

I do not want a church to use being small or money as a reason to not have an online presence.  I will help you get a site up and running and train a volunteer and staff member to use the website.  If you desire, I will also set up a social media presence for you as well to integrate with your website.  I will then offer tech support for you and your website for six months.  All my services for a church or faith-based non profit will be 50% off plus the cost of hosting and domain registration.

Now, Chris, that is connecting my story, and God’s story, to my mission.  What do you think?


How to update multiple social media profiles at once

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Posted on 6th April 2010 by Todd in Social Media

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One of my clients quizzed me about this yesterday.  She found out, and I hadn’t told her.  She wasn’t mad at me, thankfully, but she was curious about the ability to update multiple social media profiles at once.

Using Tweetdeck

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwana/

There are some great tools available to update multiple social media profiles at once.  This can be looked at in two ways.  One is if you have multiple social media profiles as in a facebook, twitter, delcious, friendfind, or digg.  The other is if you currently manage multiple profiles for multiple clients.  Hopefully, you are not pulling your hair out trying to find time to log in to each and every profile to update!

There are several tools for doing this, and they can save you a lot of time and allow you to be a little creative too.

Ping.fm

This is the first tool I learned about.  Simply put, you can update several profiles at once.  You can even set lists so that the update goes to only the profiles you want.  The ping.fm team makes it easy to connect as the site automatically connects with social media site you use if you are already logged in.  This is a great place to start if you are learning how to do multiple updates.

Socialize

As I write this, I am checking out Socialize your Cause.  I found this in the comments section of an article Openforum.com.  This looks to be one of the most comprehensive services I have seen with the ability to even post updates to a self hosted WordPress blog and monitor your brand using SocialMention.com.  This is really a hub for your social media.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite seems to be really popular right now.  Hootsuite is used by many people to manage their twitter accounts.  The good thing about Hootsuite is it will allow you to schedule your updates.  It also allows you to update several social media profiles at once, and it even keeps stats for your posts.

Seesmic

Seesmic has both a desktop and, now, a web-based twitter application.  Seesmic is fast becoming a favorite among many including my friend Cotton Rohrscheib.  I am impressed with its features.  It is definitely one of the top twitter tools.

TweetDeck

Tweetdeck was one of the first and most-often used twitter applications.  The cool thing about tweetdeck is that they have applications for your iphone as well as your desktop.  In fact, they now have an app for your ipad.  How cool is that?

As with anything, you want to take a little time to decide which tool is best for you and what your purpose is for using one.  These tools are great, but don’t let them substitute for engaging your followers or clients in the social media world.  Otherwise, you just become an obtrusive salesman blasting info that may or may not be wanted by those within hearing range.

Question

What is your favorite social media tool?  Feel free to leave comments below.


Kudos to the Conway Police Department

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Posted on 25th March 2010 by Todd in Facebook |Social Media

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I was searching on facebook tonight, for nothing in particular, and I found this unique tidbit from the Conway Police Department (AR).  I am a fan of theirs at facebook, and they had this public service announcement.

You can view it here.
Public Service Announcement

Talk about taking advantage of social media channels!  The forum was awesome too since it referred to keeping children safe online.

Kudos to the Conway Police Department and the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Department.  They made a very simple, yet effective video, and they shared it online.  The police department has 755 fans so you know the video will be viewed by hundreds of people.  This is an organization that is taking seriously the power and impact of social media.

The department is doing a great job with their facebook page.  The only feedback I would offer is to respond to fan comments in some way.  Engaging a fans is a vital element of using social media successfully.  Otherwise, they are doing an awesome job.  Their competency in social media makes me feel more comfortable with their work in public safety.