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Can we build it up?

With Halloween only a week away, there’s a race to close out Q4 strong. While the pressure to meet year-end goals can be intense, it’s also a time to reflect on the progress made throughout the year and rally the team for a final push. Keeping a positive and motivated mindset is essential to tackle the challenges that come with closing out the year.

Give this song by Rival Sons a listen and see what the experts are saying this week.

The Power of Video & Animation

Last week we talked about the power of the human voice in the buyer’s journey – what about video? Simply put, being able to tell and show at the same time helps your audience understand better and stick around to hear more of your message. Seems like the perfect balance between that human voice and digital touch, right?

Our friends at Flikli explain that we absorb 80% of the information we see in visuals (as opposed to only 20% from reading). When you couple this innate preference for visuals with the dynamic, colourful nature of animated videos, it’s no surprise that they attract and hold attention more effectively than textual content: human beings are predominantly visual creatures.

So what other characteristics does video have that increase engagement?

• Simplicity: processing ease and enjoyment
• Emotion: creating connection and driving action
• Narrative: storytelling for memory enhancement
• Novelty: tapping into curiosity

Next time you’re looking for a compelling and interesting tactic for your marketing, maybe it’s time to try video or animation. It’s unique, spans both the human and digital channels and hopefully works for your money and earns its keep!

The Power of (Cloned) Voice???

There’s a new bootleg war – and it involves human voices!

The Recording Industry Association of America recently released its annual Notorious Markets List, which it submits to the US Trade Representative in hopes that the American government will do something about it. It names countries that are either ignoring the theft of music or not doing enough to combat it.

This year, the list cites a new problem: voice clones.

The year 2023 saw an eruption of unauthorized AI vocal clone services that infringe not only the rights of the artists whose voices are being cloned but also the rights of those that own the sound recordings in each underlying musical track. This has led to an explosion of unauthorized derivative works of our members’ sound recordings which harm sound recording artists and copyright owners.

Only one site is mentioned by name: a cloning service designed by a 20-year-old computer science student in the UK. Voicify.ai features vocal models of artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Bruno Mars, Eminem, Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran and many others – and even goes beyond the music industry to include the likes of Obama, Trump, and Biden! Within seconds, anyone can have any one of these people say or sing anything you’d like.

Is this illegal? It’s unclear. The law has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to artificial intelligence.

What do you think? With pressure and time, some countries will likely introduce legislation around this… but maybe not everywhere. How might that affect the B2B landscape?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello. Or even better, have one of the above artists or celebrities say hello on your behalf!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Voice and Video – Better Together appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

For those of you who might already have it, here’s a guide from LinkedIn on how to access the feature.

What does this mean for B2B marketers?

In a previous post, we talked about how video will dominate the marketing landscape in 2017, and it seems to be holding true. Besides contributing to higher retention rates, higher engagement, better SEO, and increased conversions, video content currently makes up about 74% of all internet traffic and Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT and Networking, projects that video will make up about 80% of internet traffic by 2019. As we know, LinkedIn is the largest network of professionals in a single location. This makes it easy to connect with others and build relationships in order to provide valuable information and support.

The introduction of video will help make this a much easier and entertaining experience. Users will be able to snap video on their phone while on the go, at trade shows, in meetings, etc. and post in an instant.

These videos can last up to 10 minutes, though LinkedIn recommends a shorter length ranging between 30 seconds and five minutes. As with LinkedIn’s pre-existing in-feed videos, user-uploaded clips will play automatically with sound off. Like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn counts a video view after three seconds of play time. This will help to weed out those who aren’t as interested and give you a better idea of your demographic and whether you’re reaching the audience you are targeting. This will also help to understand if your videos are resonating with those who are watching. If the majority of your viewers stop watching within the first 3 seconds, you may have to reevaluate your strategy, whether it be the quality of your video or content, or if you are targeting the wrong audience.

Users will have access to the typical analytic information provided by social platforms plus the addition of some extra perks that B2B marketers could have only dreamed of before. For a selection of top viewers, you will be provided with where they work, their job title and the top markets where the video was viewed. Not bad, eh? No other social media platform currently provides this degree of information. This makes it easier to align your goals and gather information.

Having these unique analytics available will be a huge benefit to networking opportunities and generating sales leads. You could post a video highlighting a new product or a demo video and information will be collected without much effort on the viewers part. No popups, landing pages, or gated content interrupting them to fill out information. This data can then be used to build up a list of prospects.

When paired with video, LinkedIn will be a B2B marketers delight.

To see how you can prepare and get the most out of this great new feature by LinkedIn, check out:

Why you should invest in video and 5 tips on producing quality videos

6 steps to creating contagious content.

Conclusion

With video on the rise, LinkedIn’s better-late-than-never strategy is poised to be a hit within the B2B community. This new feature will provide businesses with the opportunity to take advantage of the rising demand for video content, on the ideal platform for B2B companies, to assist in telling their story and building credibility among followers.

The post LinkedIn Has Started Offering Video and You Should Be Very Excited! appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

Last year we saw the importance of visual content, such as video, emphasized by the changes that took place across almost every major social network such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Most notable were the launch of Facebook and Instagram’s live feature, Facebook’s pre-roll video ads, and Instagram stories. We have all experienced it by now. It’s obvious that videos have become powerful tools for brands looking to communicate efficiently with their target audience. With more than 60% of marketers and small business owners saying that they plan to increase investment in video marketing in 2017, you’re going to have to keep up. If you’re not including video marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy, you’re likely missing out on some serious leads.

Here are some key reasons to include video in your marketing strategies:

Higher Retention Rates

By creating quality videos you can increase overall viewer retention. According to Animoto, 1 in 4 consumers actually loses interest in a company if it doesn’t have video content. That means a quarter of all possible leads will be lost, simply because you don’t have a video. Furthermore,  BrainShark suggests that the information retained in one minute of online video is equal to about 1.8 million written words. That’s a lot of information relayed in a small amount of time considering the average human can only read about 300 words per minute, It’s important to take advantage of that opportunity.

Higher Engagement

Animoto says that four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. And according to Syndacast 74% of all internet traffic in 2017 will be video. We must give them what they want. We must give them video.

Google Loves Video

SEO is an important factor when trying to stand out among your competitors. Adding a video to your website can increase the chance of a front page Google result by 53 times. Of course, that’s when you do it right. Check out these tips from Moz CEO Rand Fishkin to learn more about how to properly optimize your videos for search. You’ll notice that he has a video at the top of the page.

Increased conversions

Video converts more customers than traditional methods. Four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it, and 85% of customers are more likely to make a purchase after watching a product video.

Hopefully, you have been convinced to use more video to increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Here are some tips on how to get the best possible quality with what you’ve got:

1. Use a good quality camera

With displays becoming higher and higher in resolution It’s important to shoot at the highest possible quality so your video looks crisp and clear on any screen. A video camera works best but high-quality smartphone cameras will do the trick it used properly.

2. Shoot in landscape

In order to get the best shot and help maintain your viewer’s attention, make sure you shoot your videos in landscape orientation. By shooting in portrait orientation (or upright) you are not only missing out on the background of the subject which can help provide context but you are losing out on valuable real estate which can be used to display supporting content such as text, pictures, and other information. Shooting in portrait orientation will also make video appear small on wide screens such as computers and TV’s, and leave the viewer looking at large, distracting black bars on the sides of the video and contribute to a very amateur feel.

3. Good lighting

There are a lot of cameras that do well in low light, and there’s some that don’t do so well. Try to locate a light source to light up your subject and make sure your subject isn’t backlit or lit so much that they are forced to squint. Wistia has an excellent guide on how to create a great, low-cost lighting kit.

4. Keep them short

According to Hyperfine Media, 5% of viewers will stop watching after 1 minute and 60% will stop watching after 2 minutes. Keep you videos short and to the point to ensure you are getting any important information across before your viewer loses interest.

5. Include text or subtitles

When 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound (Digiday), you’re going to want to ensure viewers are taking in information while watching your video. By including the option for subtitles or adding engaging text, you not only are lending a hand to those who are hard of hearing but you are getting your information to those who either, choose not to listen to your video, or are in the middle of class scrolling through their Facebook feed with the sound off. It’s not your responsibility to know if someone is on Facebook in class, however, it is your responsibility to make sure they are receiving that information.

Conclusion

You can’t escape the year of the video, so embrace it. There’s still plenty of time left in the year to get in on the video marketing game. But remember, poor production quality may have the reverse effect on a consumer and actually drive away prospective business. However, with these tips, you should be you on your way to creating great videos, whether it’s an interview, or a how-to video to share with your readers. You just have to get started.

The post Video Will Dominate The Marketing Landscape This Year appeared first on Virtual Causeway.