Does video marketing have to cost you a lot of money?

One of the main reasons why your competitors probably don’t do video marketing is because of their fear of cost and probably not due to their inability to appreciate the power of video marketing.

The video marketing field brings a lot of value to the table but people have all sorts of misconceptions regarding the costs of video marketing. They can see the benefits with no problem. What they’re unclear on is whether the costs would justify the benefit.

Most video marketing attempts fail the first time.

What clouds this whole picture is the fact that when you try anything the first time around and you don’t have some sort of blueprint or plan your chances of failure are quite high.

Example: Maybe you’re trying to ride a bike. Maybe you’re trying to build a house or an addition. Maybe you’re trying to do a painting or you’re trying to sculpt. I am almost guaranteeing that your first few attempts are not going to be all that good. Why should video marketing be any different? When people just jump in with both feet because they get all excited about the benefits of video marketing, they might end up making mistakes. Why? They did not have proper guidance and that’s the good news here.

With the proper blueprint or coaching or video marketing consulting, you don’t have to commit those beginner mistakes. Your videos don’t have to look amateurish and basic. You can come up with something truly professional the first time around. It’s not uncommon for small businesses to get out of the gate with really high-quality videos that connect powerfully with their target audience members. This is not an issue of cost but more of information.

There are many ways to solve the video marketing problem.

One of the main reasons a lot of people have this idea that video marketing has to cost a lot of money is the misconception that they have to produce Hollywood or Madison Avenue-level videos. Wrong. In fact, in certain niches, audiences respond favorably to very amateurish or very basic videos. You just have to know your niche. More specifically, you just have to know how to segment and break up your niche into little sub-markets. Put simply, the better you know your audience the more powerful your video can be and has nothing to do with how polished or smooth it is. Instead it has everything to do with your video’s ability to communicate with your target audience members on a very human, personal, and emotional level.

There are many tools you can use.

Another piece of good news. You can drastically reduce your video production costs by understanding that there are many different levels of videos. At the top of this hierarchy, of course, are high-quality videos. These are very personal, these are professionally shot, and these are your meat and potatoes videos. These are the kind of videos that champion your brand, but the levels beneath this kind of video are not as quality intensive.

You can use the software to crank out a video for supplemental marketing. You can use software for video that is intended to supplement or support your text content. The relationship with these different video levels goes a long way in reducing your overall cost.

Keep the facts above in mind if you are still on the fence regarding video marketing. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to cost a lot.

You might find these articles helpful:

• 5 Tips for Highly Effective Video Marketing Scripts
• Video Marketing: How to Successfully Market to Social Media
• The Importance of Video Marketing Even if You’re Camera-Shy
• Catch the Video Marketing Wave

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Having a successful business online can be challenging. It can be hard to attract people who want to buy your products or services. The truth is that you have to go and find them. Marketing with social media can be a great way to do this.

Here are some effective social media tips that will make you a success.

• Update Your Company’s Facebook Profile Regulary – Set a time schedule aside every day to keep your company’s information up to date. This should be the time when you share exciting news, answer questions, or post giveaways. Never leave your customer base hanging by not posting at regular intervals on your page.

• Use Lots of Great Content When Setting Up Your Facebook Page – There is nothing worse for a consumer than going to a business page and finding almost no useful information. Take the time to answer any questions they may have ahead of time with the content you put on your page.

• Link Your Social Media Site Together – Have links from each site you maintain to all your other sites. That way if a person who follows you on Twitter also has a Facebook page, they find it and see you on bother platforms. This will increase the number of followers you have.

• Using Social Media to Advertise Your Business – If you are using your social media to advertise your business, make sure you include the link to your website. Getting people to click over to your site is a great way to inroduce them to all you have to offer.

• Keep Your Eye on the Prize – Don’t make your business page about yourself. Focus on your company, your product or your services. Keep your personal updates and information on your personal page and make sure to keep the two separate.

• Learn to Make Fun Headlines for Your Social Media Blogs – Headlines are like the front of your business. Think of interesting was to lure people to your blog. Experiment with the headlines on your page.

• Make Lists for Your Social Media Blog – To attract more people to your blog, use information that can be read quickly by your readers. The best way to do this is to compile lists. Put together things like “10 Best Places for Visit” or “10 Songs That Make You Move”.

• Maintain a Positive Perspective – Being positive is essential to making your followers feel good when they visit your page. When they feel good, they are more likely to share your page and revisit it to see what else you have to offer.

Use these tips to make your business stand out on the Internet. It will be much easier to get people to visit your website once you start putting these social media marketing tips in place. Once you see results, you’ll be even more motivated to stick with this great way of marketing.

You may also be interested in:

• Using Facebook Live is a Big Deal
• Facebook Live – What You Need to Know First
• Facebook Marketing for Your Local Business

Need help with your Social Media Marketing? Let talk!

The post 8 Ways to Reach More People With Social Media Marketing appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

When properly used, hashtags help users find related content quickly. Hashtags help raise visibility as well as boost one’s social shares. However, when inappropriately used, they can impact one’s credibility on social media negatively. This directly decreases your social activity.

When the hashtag is used in front of a post, it categorizes it and essentially creates a hyperlink to the word. The good and bad thing about this is that one can place the hashtag to any single word or a group of words consequently. It becomes a handy tool for joining conversations, collecting pictures at events and marketing. It has become clear that most people are using this feature regardless of age. The unfortunate thing is there are people who don’t know how many is enough. As a result, they are committing a social media faux pas over-using hashtags!

Over-using hashtags imply you are using too many of them in a single post. Usually, people are supposed to use 2 to 3 short hashtags or one long hashtag., Any number above this means you are overdoing it. The principal purpose of a hashtag is to tag the post so that it can be put together around a certain event or subject and be searched. Therefore just because you can use them doesn’t mean that you should. Too many hashtags increase the chances of getting hashtags hijacked. Someone might use your hashtag regardless of the fact that their content may not have anything to do with your post’s subject. It is important to use them if they are relevant to your post and remember to keep them minimal.

Why Over-Using Hashtags Is Bad
• It distracts from the key message or post
• They make a post look like spam
• Makes a post look sloppy
• They use up your character considering there is a character limit
• It makes one look like an amateur at it shows that you just don’t understand the hashtag concept

Using too many hashtags on your post makes your content senseless. Breaking up words at every step makes it hard for people to follow what you are posting. A lot of hashtags overpowers a post’s content. As soon as your followers see too many hashtags, they tend to lose interest. You do not want readers to get lost in the sea of number signs and words.

Be smart when it comes to using hashtags. If you are worried that you are almost reaching a point of overkill, consider using none at all.

You might also like to read, “How to Drive Your Instagram Traffic to Your Website“.

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5 Easy Steps to Grow Your YouTube Channel
YouTube has become one of the most visited websites online with more than 1.9 billion active users per month, and second only to parent company Google in terms of daily searches on the site. On the surface, you might see YouTube as a place to watch music videos, tune into a favorite vlogger, or stream video games online, but it is so much more than that. YouTube is an untapped goldmine for people to make money online quickly.

If you’re looking for ways to grow your YouTube channel for your business, here are five easy steps to reach your goal.

Have a Purpose
You need to have a clear objective and purpose for starting a YouTube channel. It takes more time to grow YouTube channels compared to other social media platforms, but knowing why you want to create video content can help you stay on track when things don’t seem to be moving forward. It is imperative that you know your purpose for starting a YouTube channel if you want to find success.

Optimize Your Video Descriptions and Titles
As the second largest search engine, the best way for your videos to be found on the platform is to make sure that your descriptions and titles are SEO optimized. Determine the best keywords to use that are relevant to your industry and make sure to include them in your descriptions and titles. You also want to look at what currently exists and what the top-ranking titles are in your industry.

Use VidIQ and TubeBuddy for Your Video Tags
Just like with your descriptions, you want to make sure that all of your videos use keywords as their tags. This will help to improve the discoverability of your videos. Two tools that can help you with this process are TubeBuddy and VidIQ. Both tools will provide you with recommendations for tags that you can insert into your videos as well as show you how your video ranks for set tags.

Use How-To Videos to Teach Your Audience
There are two reasons why people find themselves on YouTube, to be educated and entertained. Rather than producing the same boring videos demonstrating your products or sharing your insight, why not create How-To videos to help educate your audience. Think about what you can teach your audience and develop videos around your skills.

Outsource What You Can’t Do
If you don’t know how to edit video, or you don’t have the equipment you need to produce high-quality videos, outsource the work to someone who does. If you need content, consider hiring someone who can shoot and edit videos for you and bring them in once a week. It can be a lot cheaper than you think and will save you the time and frustration from doing it yourself.

YouTube has become a powerful tool for small businesses. Following these five easy steps can help you grow your YouTube channel and find success.

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The Video Marketing Wave

Video marketing is a fantastic vehicle for creating brand awareness, confidence, and trust in you and your products. Videos increase the amount of time a visitor or viewer spends on your website. Therefore, Google loves a well-placed and optimized video.

What Is Video Marketing All About?

• Videos are one of the best tools available that will reach a large number of users at once.
• Video marketing is used to publicize and market your services, brand, and products.
• According to the latest statistics, 72% of people prefer to learn about a product or service by watching a video instead of reading about it.
• More than 70% of surveyed consumers say that a video was more likely to persuade them to make a purchase or contact the company.

How to Advertise Your Videos for Free

• Promote your videos on social media
• Send your marketing videos to your email subscribers
• Comment on other niche channels on YouTube

The Most Important Metrics to Track

• Goals and results
• How many people view your video
• Social sharing and comments
• How many times viewers watched your entire video
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Bounce rate and how much time was spent on a page

Do’s and Don’ts of Video Marketing

DO

• Include a powerful intro
• Be fun
• Use a catchy title
• Use keywords to tag your video
• Make short videos
• Be the expert – instill confidence
• Use a good microphone
• Ask your followers questions
• Include a Call to Action
• Use tutorial videos
• Add “share” buttons” to your video
• Pin your promotional video to the top of your Pinterest and Facebook page

DON’T

• Don’t be boring
• Don’t be so preoccupied with perfection that your video never gets completed
• Don’t forget that production quality matters
• Don’t completely focus on sales
• Don’t forget to use analytics
• Don’t forget to add your video to all social platforms
• Don’t be disappointed if you don’t immediately get the results you want
• Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver
• Don’t make your videos too long

Give video creation and marketing a try. Use it to promote your business and products.

Check out our Video Marketing Checklist. Find out what to include in your video, how to keep them engaging, and the different kinds of videos to create.

Need help with your video creation and marketing? We can help!

Need help with your video creation and marketing? We can help! Complete this form and we’ll get right back to you.

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How to Create Your Personal Brand with Social Media Stories

Digital marketing involves creating a brand and selling products through that brand. Corporations do this all the time. Another option, though, is to use personal branding.

What is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is used when either you are the business or you do business under your own name. For example, anyone who reads Tom Ferry’s Blog will instantly recognize Tom Ferry. He is front and center of his online marketing. In his case, he’s also an influencer where his brand is his business.

What are Social Media Stories?

Social Media Stories are short posts used on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms. They are visible for a short period of time and then disappear.

This method is perfect for building your personal brand. It allows your fans to get to know you for the person behind the products and services. This builds trust, makes your followers feel they know you, and thus creates more sales.

What Are the Advantages?

• Personal branding puts you “out there” in front of a lot of potential buyers.
• You’ll give your brand a personality.
• You can interact with people on Twitter or Facebook, creating a feeling of personal contact instead of corporate messaging.
• Stories show you and/or your team hard at work or having some fun after a long at work.
• Stories are popular with users and have a lot of engagement.

What Sites Should You be Posting Social Media Stories On?

Snapchat

Snapchat was the first to start the “self-destructing” message. Stories take this concept and applies it to a public form of publishing. Although not as popular as it once was, Snapchat is still one of the biggest social platforms on the web.

Snapchat Stories have advanced filters as well as the advantage of allowing an embedded link.

Facebook

Facebook Stories allow you to appear at the top of the user’s feed and to interact in a very direct manner.

Facebook also has the advantage of being THE largest social media platform in the world and giving you access to a truly massive number of people. Facebook also lets you include a call-to-action link, which has the potential to be extremely useful.

Instagram

Instagram doesn’t allow you to include a link until you have at least 10,000 followers, or you are a verified account. Options such as polls, question boxes, etc. will help to make up for this to some extent.

Instagram also lets you share your stories directly to Facebook, expanding your reach even further.

YouTube Stories

YouTube Stories are stories encourage users to embrace short videos. YouTube Stories will only appear for 24 hours.

YouTube Stories are added via your mobile app only.

Staying ahead of the social media marketing game can be challenging. Take a look at each of these five social media story options. Choose one and get started.

Contact Us about our Social Media Marketing services.

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Thinking About Starting a Vlog?

YouTube videos garner around 4 billion page views a day. People turn to YouTube for all kinds of information. Creating a Vlog (video blog) on YouTube is a great way to showcase your talent, expertise, and products to the world.

Getting Started with Your Vlog

To make the right impact from the start, you’ll need to do some planning.

• What Will Your Vlog Be About? – Decide what special skills you have that will be helpful to your viewers. What are you passionate about? Think about how you’re going to monetize your videos.

• Using the Right Tools – Most smartphones today have an adequate camera to record videos. They offer the opportunity to be recorded on location. Investing in a good HD camera will provide the best quality videos. Although most cameras include a built-in microphone, a good quality external mic offers the sound.
  • Use a free editing program for your computer or use Window’s free Movie Maker or Mac’s iMovie program. Another alternative is CamStudio.
  • Purchase an editing program such as Camtasia. It will allow you to create tutorials and presentations via a screencast or Powerpoint on your computer

• What’s Your Brand? – Decide what you’re going to call your Vlog. If you have already branded yourself, use that name. Otherwise, be creative and decide on a memorable name. This will become your YouTube channel name.

• Set Up Your YouTube Channel – You’ll need a free Google account in order to set up your YouTube account. Create professional channel art that coincides with your brand. Canva and other programs offer free channel art templates.

There are many ways to create and grow a successful Vlog. Showcase your property listings, day in the life, relative news, fun contests, and whatever else your imagination can come up with. Have fun!

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