Friday, April 28, 2017

5 Costly Myths New Bloggers Too Often Believe

The Internet can serve as a double-edged sword of sorts. It provides valuable information and makes knowledge easily accessible with only a few swift strokes of the keyboard. But whenever massive knowledge becomes readily available with few if any restrictions or fact-checking mechanisms, it’s easy for false and inaccurate information to circulate.

Perhaps this is especially true when blogging enters the picture. A simple Google search for a basic blog-related topic will often yield millions of results. And although there’s likely plenty of useful truths in most blog posts, there are also lots of poor suggestions.

For example, you’ll readily encounter the following myths … and they can lead a new bloggers astray.

1. Keyword Stuffing is a Good SEO Practice

The tricky part about a lot of misinformation with regard to blogging is that it used to be true. But the people who share the information today don’t necessarily realize how obsolete it’s become. Keyword stuffing is a prime example.

As an article on the Green Residential blog states, “there’s no need to stuff your articles full of keywords. This is an outdated SEO tactic that can actually hurt your search engine rankings rather than help them. Simply using the keywords a couple of times in the article where they fit appropriately will help bring you search traffic.”

2. The More You Write, The Better

It used to be that short, 200- to 400-word blog posts were enough to get noticed by search engines. Then algorithms changed and long, 1500-word-plus articles became the norm.

Long posts are still valuable on blogs, but today length isn’t the defining metric for value. Writing more won’t automatically produce better results.

Quality is much preferable to quantity. You’d do better to write three high-quality, 1000-word entries a week than to churn out five low-quality, 1500-word posts every seven days. Focus on becoming a better writer, not on output.

3. Blogs Are Easy to Monetize

Once people realized you could make money from blogging, thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs flocked to this niche. The problem was that monetizing a blog is nowhere near as easy as industry gurus will try to assure you.

It’s certainly possible, but it requires lots of time and hard work. You won’t achieve success by being passive.

Be honest with yourself and acknowledge the challenges involved in developing a monetizing blog. The obstacles are many, and you’ll want to weigh each one before you get started.

4. If You Build it, They Will Come

Another story blogging gurus will tell you is that success is as simple as securing a domain name, using a website builder, and publishing regular content. This is another comforting myth.

It’s not as effortless as writing an online diary and waiting for people to crowd in. You’re going to have to develop a traffic acquisition strategy and work hard to funnel people to your pages, even if they’re good.

If you don’t, you’ll never get the results you want.

5. Traffic is the Most Important Metric

Because traffic acquisition is one of the largest challenges a blogger faces, it can be easy to start obsessing over traffic stats. But traffic, in and of itself, won’t make you successful.

In addition to getting and maintaining high traffic numbers, you need low bounce rates, high average time on site, and high conversion rates. Otherwise you could be doing nothing more than artificially inflating your stats and garnering quick yet worthless exposure.

Pay attention to website traffic, yes, but don’t focus on it at the expense of other vital metrics.

Due Diligence is Critical

If you’re a new blogger, you have to be very careful about whom you trust. Get your coaching only from experts who have firsthand knowledge and experience with blogging. This will ensure you set a strong foundation upon which to build and expand your blog.

Original post: 5 Costly Myths New Bloggers Too Often Believe



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3 Things Customers Expect from Your Videos for Customer Support

When’s the last time you actually read a “read-me” document or browsed a manual before using a product? For most of us, it’s rare.

Most customers share these sentiments and with the ubiquity of instant customer service options from live-chat to SMS, email, voice, and social, customers have been trained to expect things to just work and if they don’t, they want immediate, seamless support.

This is a tall order for customer support teams who are increasingly driven to craft self-help tools to offload the support volume. Many who try are finding that the best weapon to achieve this is self-help video.

Videos are powerful and necessary – according to research by Amazon, customers expect them. And Kayako, a video marketing agency, finds that they even prefer it: 68% of customers would rather watch a video than call support.

For those brands who plan to use them, here’s what your customers will expect:

 

The 3 things all customers expect from your videos for customer support:

 

1. Help fixing their immediate problem

First and foremost, your library of videos for customer support should intercept support issues before they reach an agent. Customers want quick, bite-sized video snippets organized by semantic keywords, which are how they would describe the problem in plain speak, such as:

  • How do I reset my login?
  • How do I replace the batteries?
  • Why is my device set on the wrong language settings?

This requires a similar approach to creating an FAQ, and asking questions like: what problems do customers often run into? What’s the best way to demonstrate a solution? Where will they search for them?

And before you break out the camera equipment, take the time to truly evaluate the customer support journey. Conduct surveys, interviews, and ask support agents and salespeople – make sure that you’re answering useful questions before you invest your time.

Done well, these videos will deliver genuine value and teach customers that the answers to their questions lie in your self-help portal.

2. Help becoming more educated

Most of your videos should be focused on moving customers up the maturity curve, not just putting out fires, however. You want every customer to grow into an expert because they’ll be far happier when they’re more successful.

Begin with a solid sequence of customer on-boarding videos. On-boarding is the key to retaining successful, long-term customers and videos are the best way to do it: According to Forrester, a one-minute video is worth as many as 1.8 million words.

Customers will want these video courses to be short, sweet, and easily digestible because as first-time users, they’re going to be eager to skip them and dive right into the product. And make sure that your introductions for each are short, which makes them easy to watch back to back.

Cengage, an education services platform and Vidyard customer, has done an excellent job of building out a very solid library of on-boarding videos. They’re organized by user-role and are each just a few minutes long:

Cengage Customer Support Videos

Image Credit: Cengage

Once customers are stabilized and proficient, educate them into fully mastery. Create a knowledge base of videos and merge them with your regular written knowledge base. Having both the video and text together is important because customers won’t always have the luxury of listening to audio and they may want to easily scan or skip to certain portions.

3. To see something worth sharing

Delighted customers want to share their new-found knowledge, especially if it’s particularly useful. Fuel this basic human desire with embedded sharing buttons on customer support videos about tricks or “hacks” that make their lives easier, such as shortcuts, pro-tips, or insider knowledge.

TurboTax has done a great job of this. They’ve created a prolific number of tax-related self-help videos that show up in searches and are accompanied by prominent share buttons.

TurboTax Customer Support Videos

Image credit: TurboTax

Happy customers sharing content like this evangelizes your brand and spreads education to the wider community which helps it support itself.

Great videos for customer support can diffuse support calls, educate customers, and build community, if you make them simple, short, and engaging that is. Follow these simple tips and your customers will be watching their way to success in no time.

Have more ideas for videos for customer support? Share in the comments below!

The post 3 Things Customers Expect from Your Videos for Customer Support appeared first on Vidyard.



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Thursday, April 27, 2017

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Showcases Canadian Innovation in Technology at Vidyard

Vidyard was honoured to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who visited to our headquarters to showcase Canadian innovation technology.

KITCHENER, Ontario Canada (April 25, 2017) – Vidyard, the leading video platform for business, welcomed Justin Trudeau to their offices for a tour of our space, a demo of our technology, and a fireside chat with our team.

Led by our CEO Michael Litt, the discussion started off light, asking whether Trudeau prefers Tim Horton’s or Starbucks (turns out he doesn’t even drink coffee!), but quickly got down to business covering topics like diversity in Canadian technology, and what’s needed to keep strong technical talent in Canada. The live stream brought in over 1,300 viewers from all over the globe, and you can watch the recording and check out our highlights below!

Prime Minister Trudeau discussed everything from hockey socks to softwood lumber, and here are a few of our favorite quotes from the day:

  • “Great companies like Vidyard are what I get to point to when I’m travelling abroad and say Canada is exciting and doing great things!” (Tweet This)
  • “Being able to interact and see a visual presence as well as hear a person’s voice in a video – I know it’s much more effective.” (Tweet This)
  • “Canada has always been innovative – to make it through our winters, and long nights, we have to be!” (Tweet This)
  • “We have a generation of entrepreneurs that realize innovation can be a driver to improve lives. That’s the story.” (Tweet This)
  • “Ontario produces more STEM graduates than California – but we need to do more to encourage talent to stay in Canada.” (Tweet This)
  • “I don’t want to force people to stay in Canada to build a business. I want people to choose to stay, and get the support they need to be successful.” (Tweet This)
  • “Standing up for Canada’s interests is my job. Whether it’s softwood or software!” (Tweet This)
  • “There is always going to be far more things that keep Canada and the United States working together than there are imposing barriers.” (Tweet This)
  • “Let’s work together and create pathways to help people learn, contribute and succeed throughout their working life. Not just from K-12, but as the working world changes as well.” (Tweet This)

Showcasing Canadian Innovation in Technology

In addition to giving the Prime Minister a tour of our space, Devon Galloway showed Trudeau our video creation tool ViewedIt. After a quick demo, Trudeau even took the time to record his own – watch it here:

Documenting the Big Day

As well as inspiring some next-level excitement from the Vidyard team, the event drew in a huge crowd of media and local dignitaries. Visitors included the Mayor of Kitchener, Berry Vrbanovic, the Mayor of Waterloo, Dave Jaworsky, and representatives from Communitech and the local press.

Here’s a peek at how everyone captured the day!

The post Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Showcases Canadian Innovation in Technology at Vidyard appeared first on Vidyard.



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Meet the Team, Vidyard Style: Shikha Bindra

Meet the Team is our monthly chance to introduce you to the fabulous, quirky, talented people that work at Vidyard, using our favorite medium — video! For this episode, we heard from Shikha Bindra, Account Executive here at Vidyard. Learn who the biggest influence is on her professional life and why a bowl of pho is like a warm hug on a cold day in this new video:

What Didn’t Make the Cut

Shikha had way more to say than just why Iceland is the land of fire and ice, so let’s dive into some of her answers that we couldn’t fit into the video!

What brought you to Vidyard?

It’s a bit weird, because I was actually going into law school. I had a law school offer in one hand and I had Vidyard’s offer in my other hand at the same time, and it was very difficult to make a decision at first. Growing up, I had always wanted to be a lawyer, and now this awesome opportunity at a local startup had come up. But then I realized, who did I actually want to learn from, what did I want to learn, and who did I want to be?

It would be cool to go back to school again, learn the legal system, and become a lawyer, but at the same time, it’s great to learn from someone like Michael and Devon. Two people who started Vidyard in their garage, and built it into a 200 person company. Vidyard was more of an appealing offer, and I’ve learned so much more than I would have in law school so I don’t regret it!

What is your favorite video on the internet right now?

There’s this video that I go back to when I scroll through Facebook, and I have to stop and watch it to the end. It’s that drinking and driving commercial with this younger guy that bought a puppy – a golden retriever – and grew up with it. Once it’s older, the guy starts going out more with his friends:

He’s out drinking more often, and you see this dog looking out the window waiting for his owner to come back. And one of the lines is “Sometimes the owners never come back,” and it really hits home. Luckily this owner does come back, and I love seeing the dog excited and happy again.

It gets to me how significant and emotional of a deal it is to drink and drive. And putting a puppy in the room versus a family member was totally different, so it grabs my attention every time I watch the video.

What do you do in your free time?

I am a Netflix junkie! I watch a lot of Netflix – I even have an app on my phone that gives me a trigger any time a new episode of a show I am following is about to start. So that’s where I am after work. Whenever I’m driving anywhere, I’m a huge Serial or general true crime podcast listener as well. I’ll be driving back from Toronto at midnight and listening to the creepiest podcast and I’m terrified but it’s amazing to hear how gruesome and crazy people are all over the world.

I also do a lot of yoga and weightlifting so I’m either lifting heavy objects or trying to improve my flexibility and internal strength. When I’m not doing all those things, I love visiting new cafes, and trying new hot beverages. Chai Lattes are my jam.

What was your favorite volunteer experience?

I’m a huge advocate for people with special needs and disabilities. In high school I volunteered with the special education program, and so I would regularly spend time with the students in that department, helping them in their day-to-day. I worked with them on things like helping them walk up stairs, and improving how fast they can walk up stairs, and learning how to clean up after themselves.

There was one individual that I worked with that was completely paralyzed, non-verbal, and blind. Her favorite thing to do was have a blow dryer blown in her face. It was a sense of feeling that she didn’t get anywhere else, so being a part of that, and hearing her laugh, was amazing.

That’s influenced me to work with special needs people throughout work and university, and go through a degree in psychology to learn more about their lives. They are significant people, they’re very special people, and they teach you to love in a way that nobody else can.

The post Meet the Team, Vidyard Style: Shikha Bindra appeared first on Vidyard.



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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

What I’ve Learned From Recording 300 Podcast Episodes

When I started this podcast on January 18th, 2011, I had no idea what 100 episodes would look like.

And now I’m 300 episodes in. It has been an interesting journey.

Listen to This Episode

Inside this episode, I share ten lessons I learned through the process of recording 300 episodes.

Side note: I’m intentionally leaving out a lot of the details from this written post because I think you should listen to the episode to get the most value from this one.

Lesson 1: It’s important to get started.

Just get started with it!

Just get started with it!

When I started this podcast, I didn’t even have a name. I had not figured everything out. But I got started.

My show wasn’t perfect, but it was my show. And just the act of getting started put me in a position to learn so much.

And by doing so, I got better. If you’ve been thinking about starting something, just do it!

Lesson 2: There’s value in helping others.

This one seems very obvious, but it’s so basic that I think a lot of people miss it. When you create content that helps others, you’re doing something valuable.

You can build a business around that.

Lesson 3: You get better over time.

You get better over time.

You get better over time.

We’ve all heard the saying that “Practice makes perfect”.

Well, it’s true. In the episode, I share clips of my first interview for you to hear how BAD it was.

But I kept doing it, and I got better.

Lesson 4: Consistency is key!

Consistency is key.

Consistency is key.

If you’re creating content, it’s important to be consistent. You want people to be able to put you into their schedules.

Whenever I stop posting episodes for a little while, my listens go down.

Lesson 5: Don’t be afraid to reach out to “big” names.

On the day I recorded this episode, I got an email from someone asking this question: “How did you manage to interview famous People?”

My answer was simple – ASK.

You’d be surprised at who would say yes. I remember reaching out to Guy Kawasaki and getting a Yes within an hour.

My mind was blown. So don’t be afraid. Reach out. The worse that can happen is that you hear no, and then you’re exactly where you were before.

Lesson 6: Connect with people in a real way.

Connect with people the real way.

Connect with people the real way.

It always amazes me when I attend an event and someone comes up to me because they recognized my voice from my podcast.

After connecting in person, it becomes audience that there was a connection that happened before that in-person meeting.

That comes with simply being “real” in your podcast. Don’t try to be someone else. Be yourself.

Lesson 7: It’s ok to make mistakes.

Making mistakes is okay.

Making mistakes is okay.

I don’t edit my podcast episodes. Why? Because I don’t feel the need to. Do I make mistakes? Absolutely.

But doesn’t everyone else?

Making mistakes make you appear normal (real). People identify with real people.

Lesson 8: Ignore the haters.

Ignore the haters.

Ignore the haters.

Ok, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that you’re going to have haters.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter.

Ignore them and focus on serving the people who actually care about your stuff.

Lesson 9: If you have a vision for helping people and do it consistently, you WILL have an impact.

You will have an impact if you help people consistently.

You will have an impact if you help people consistently.

Why do you do what you do? What’s your underlying reason?

As bloggers, it’s important for us to acknowledge that “why” and then use it as a driving force to help us move forward.

If we focus on that and continue pushing ahead, you will have an impact.

Lesson 10: Don’t get too caught up in the numbers.

Don't get caught up in the numbers.

Don't get caught up in the numbers.

My download numbers don’t compare to MANY of my friends. And that’s ok.

Because when I actually meet the people who listen to my podcast, they aren’t just numbers. They are people.

People whose lives are impacted because of the content I create.

If you have 50 or 100 people that listen to you, that’s 50 to 100 PEOPLE.

Summary

Starting this podcast was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m 300 in, and looking forward to the first 1,000.

THANK YOU!

Thanks for listening. Thanks for joining me on this journey. Thanks for taking me on the journey with you.

I would not be here without you, so THANK YOU!

Infographic

10 Lessons I’ve Learned

10 Lessons I’ve Learned From Recording 300 Podcast Episodes

Ignore the haters.

Ignore the haters.

The post What I’ve Learned From Recording 300 Podcast Episodes appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.



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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Justin Trudeau Talks Innovation in Canadian Technology at Vidyard

Today, Vidyard was honoured to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to our office for a tour of our space, a demo of our technology, and a fireside chat with our team. Led by our CEO Michael Litt, the discussion started off light, asking whether Trudeau prefers Tim Horton’s or Starbucks (turns out he doesn’t even drink coffee!), but quickly got down to business covering topics like diversity in Canadian technology, and what’s needed to keep strong technical talent in Canada. The live stream brought in over 1,300 viewers from all over the globe, and you can watch the recording and check out our highlights below!

Prime Minister Trudeau discussed everything from hockey socks to softwood lumber, and here are a few of our favorite quotes from the day:

  • “Great companies like Vidyard are what I get to point to when I’m travelling abroad and say Canada is exciting and doing great things!” (Tweet This)
  • “Being able to interact and see a visual presence as well as hear a person’s voice in a video – I know it’s much more effective.” (Tweet This)
  • “Canada has always been innovative – to make it through our winters, and long nights, we have to be!” (Tweet This)
  • “We have a generation of entrepreneurs that realize innovation can be a driver to improve lives. That’s the story.” (Tweet This)
  • “Ontario produces more STEM graduates than California – but we need to do more to encourage talent to stay in Canada.” (Tweet This)
  • “I don’t want to force people to stay in Canada to build a business. I want people to choose to stay, and get the support they need to be successful.” (Tweet This)
  • “Standing up for Canada’s interests is my job. Whether it’s softwood or software!” (Tweet This)
  • “There is always going to be far more things that keep Canada and the United States working together than there are imposing barriers.” (Tweet This)
  • “Let’s work together and create pathways to help people learn, contribute and succeed throughout their working life. Not just from K-12, but as the working world changes as well.” (Tweet This)

Showcasing Canadian Innovation in Technology

In addition to giving the Prime Minister a tour of our space, Devon Galloway showed Trudeau our video creation tool ViewedIt. After a quick demo, Trudeau even took the time to record his own – watch it here:

Documenting the Big Day

As well as inspiring some next-level excitement from the Vidyard team, the event drew in a huge crowd of media and local dignitaries. Visitors included the Mayor of Kitchener, Berry Vrbanovic, the Mayor of Waterloo, Dave Jaworsky, and representatives from Communitech and the local press.

Here’s a peek at how everyone captured the day!

The post Justin Trudeau Talks Innovation in Canadian Technology at Vidyard appeared first on Vidyard.



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Is a Lightbox or Inline Embedded Player the Best Way to Present Your Video?

Monday, April 24, 2017

Hey Drift! You Forgot About Video!

Here at Vidyard we’re big fans of Drift – we use it ourselves, and you have probably seen a hello message from one of our many Vidyard Concierges offering to give you a hand. We also love their blog, and recently came across this post, 3 Things Every Sales Team Needs to Be Thinking About in 2017. Staying on top of new sales trends is something we’re all about!

The post is great – it breaks down the biggest trends sales teams are missing out on into 3 categories:

  • Why sales needs to integrate messaging into their core workflow
  • Why BDR processes need to be adjusted
  • And why ABM practices aren’t keeping up with current tech

But there’s one key piece of sales technology that Drift is missing in this post. I’ll give you a hint – they used one to get their point across:

Video & Messaging – A BDR’s Dream Team

Drift really focuses on how BDR’s can take advantage of messaging, from adding it to high-value pages and starting small, straight through to integrating messaging into systems you may already be using like Slack. And messaging works great for prospects that are already on your website – but what about folks that haven’t landed there yet?

That’s where video kicks in – what messaging does for personalized, one-to-one outreach on your website, video can do for your outbound emails. Successful BDRs are using personalized video instead of voicemails, and driving higher engagement and click-throughs on their emails because of it. What messaging can do for your website, video can do for your outreach. And the combo of the two is unstoppable.

Account Based Video

It’s not a secret that most companies aren’t doing account-based marketing as well as they could. There are some outliers – like Marketo – but overall businesses are either dipping their toes into ABM and starting small, or going all-out and still trying to prove that it works.

Drift makes a really solid case for replacing most of the ABM process with AI and bots, using the in-person shopping analogy: “If your best lead walked into your store, would you give them a pen and a clipboard with a form to fill out before you started talking to them? Or would you treat them like a human and start talking to them right away?” It’s a great point, but even this new methodology has one step missing. Before a prospect lands on your website, they still need to know that you exist. And that’s where video excels.

New advances in personalized video technology make it easy to customize a single video for multiple industries, companies, or even individual people. Adding a company logo to a video changes that content from a one-size-fits-all video to something truly special, and for prospects that may not have heard of your company, it’s a game changer. If you’re targeting a list of individual users, you can take it a step further, adding contact details directly to the video. Receiving a nurture email with your name on the splash screen is a much more compelling offer than just seeing your name in the subject line.

Once users are on your website, then Drift nails it. Messaging allows you to replace the cumbersome nurture email and lead qualification process typically associated with account-based marketing with a simplified messaging cadence that connects your prospects with the right person to solve their problem.

Whether it’s a one-to-one outreach from a BDR, or a targeted batch email, personalized video is an unbeatable tool for getting leads back to your website. And messaging is a great way to get them where they need to be to move from prospect to customer.

Adding Video to your Sales Process

Much like adding a messaging program to your website, adding video to your sales process can seem like a daunting task. Staff need to be educated on video best practices, systems need to be in place to handle the video, and leadership needs to set goals around video usage. No easy feat, right?

Times have changed, and video is easier to use than ever. Free tools like ViewedIt mean your sales team can create, send and track videos directly from Google Chrome, and video analytics tools integrate directly with CRM systems like Salesforce so you can track the success of every video back to closed revenue.

To help companies get the most out of video for their sales team, we created the Video Selling Institute. These five lessons take you from understanding why video is a powerful tool for prospecting all the way through to tracking results, and setting your sales team up for success. And the best part? It’s free!

The post Hey Drift! You Forgot About Video! appeared first on Vidyard.



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Thursday, April 20, 2017

6 Ways to Make Each of Your Blog Posts More Engaging

What’s the most fundamental sign of blogging success? Engagement. When your blog is engaging, your readers will share your content, tell their friends, subscribe, and even make purchases. It’s one of the best things you can do for your blog or business.

According to research compiled by Impact Branding & Design, your blog content is the key to success. Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to see a positive ROI result. When your blog posts are highly engaging, you’ll get more shares, likes, comments, and overall brand exposure.

Talking about writing engaging blog posts and actually writing them are two completely different things. If you’re in the market for more engaging content, here are some suggestions.

1. Target a Very Specific Audience

Blog posts can’t be engaging if they aren’t aimed at the right people. If you’re talking about retirement options or opening your own business to a group of teenagers, you won’t have a very captivate audience. Define your audience and direct your content towards them. If you have a specific idea for what you want your content to do, that’s even better.

Consider Nike’s goal to generate more loyal female customers. For several weeks, the majority of their new content distribution was aimed at women. They wrote articles, published news pieces, created videos, and shared memes about how adult women can be powerful and sexy. It was incredibly effective and reached a very narrow niche. Your blog content should do the same.

2. Presents Actionable Tips

The content should also give consumers an action plan. The topic should be unique and action-worthy so that readers know exactly what to do with it when they’re done. It should also provide some kind of value that they can bring into their everyday lives.

As an example of this, consider a blog post from the plumbing and home servicing company Legendary Home Services. It’s called “6 Toilet Hacks – Unclog a Toilet Without a Plunger or a Plumber.” It uses multimedia and text to demonstrate six useful tips that the everyday consumer can complete themselves. When someone has a plumbing emergency, they’re much more likely to call a plumber who has proven their expertise in the past.

3. Embed Videos

According to research, videos attract about three times more links than text alone. Consider ways that you can incorporate videos into your blog posts. It’s not necessary that you create your own videos—you can often find useful video content from a non-competing source that will complement your blog posts.

However, if you create a few quality videos, it can help brand you as an expert. Consider the example blog post from Legendary Home Services. They use several videos of their own making to demonstrate different toilet fixes. This makes the post engaging and authoritative.

4. Offer a Comment Section and Engage Often

Many businesses disable the comment section on their blog because they don’t want controversy. However, that may be doing more harm than good. It’s important to let consumers express their opinions so that you know when your content is doing well and when it needs improvement.

It’s also a good opportunity for you to connect on a personal level with customers. When they make a comment, respond. It encourages future audience participation and makes individual customers feel valued.

5. Use Truly Great Photos

It might seem like skipping visuals is a great way to save time and money, but it can actually sabotage your content. Study after study shows that blogs need quality photos to drive engagement. About 40 percent of people say they respond better to visual content than plain text. What’s more, people retain 65 percent more information when there’s an image present.

If you can avoid it, don’t go with stock images. Take your own photos or purchase them from a quality photographer. Even if a photo isn’t perfectly edited, it will still get more engagement than a boring, free stock photo.

Buzzfeed’s blog is the perfect example of this. It’s one of the top-ranking blogs in the nation, and it relies on imagery. The images used are not always professionally done, but they aren’t stock photos, and their engagement shows the benefit of this tactic.

6. Practice Your Headlines and Hooks

The headline and first sentence should have the power to reel in the reader with ease. Your words should also be optimized for search to attract more organic attention. However, too many blogs ignore the importance of this step.

Research from Moz shows that 80 percent of readers don’t make it past the headline. What’s more, traffic has a 500 percent variance based on the headline. In other words, if you don’t have a catchy headline, you don’t have the potential to go viral.

Most people read the first paragraph before deciding whether or not they’ll continue. If the first paragraph is engaging, they may read the entire post instead of scanning it.

Scan the headlines of blogs like Buzzfeed, Hubspot, and Kissmetrics for examples of great openers. You can also get ideas from top-trending headlines on Google search. You’ll see the titles that have received the most attention in the past while also ranking for search term relevance. Overall, it’s a great way to improve your writing.

Learning to be a better writer is no easy task, but it’s vital for a strong content marketing strategy. With some time and an updated content strategy, you’ll see increased ROI and a stronger blog platform.

Original post: 6 Ways to Make Each of Your Blog Posts More Engaging



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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Why Video is the Key to Happier Customers

Which of your customers are the happiest? The answer is simple: it’s the successful ones.

No matter their size, they’re all on a journey to sell more, save more, optimize more, or just plain improve their image, and the more you can help them along that path, the more you both benefit. And, while your support team can’t always afford to throw more human-hours at the challenge of educating them, you can deploy self-help resources that hand them the keys to their own success.

To this end, customer support videos can do more to improve the cost-per-quality of your support, educate them with less effort, and retain them better than any other support tool.

Here’s why.

 

How video leads to better, faster, cheaper support:

 

1. Video improves the cost and quality of your support

According to Forrester, 77% of US adults online say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service. This probably comes as no surprise to most support organizations, but if speed really is your goal, there’s nothing faster than instant: a library of well-curated self-help videos is available to all customers at once, 24/7, without the wait time.

Compare this with other channels like voice, email, and web chat, all of which take much longer and cost more. According to customer support platform Conversocial, this is the approximate cost per-contact for each:

  • Phone call: $6
  • Web chat or call-back: $5
  • Email: $2.50 to $5

But self-service videos? They’re a fraction of the cost, at $0.10, and customers enjoy them more. According to eMarketer, customers rated the phone as the most frustrating form of customer service, followed by digging around the website, live chat, and email.

customer service most frustrating

The support advantage for video is clear and that’s why companies like AT&T use personalized videos to explain complex topics like their bills to their customers.

Faster resolution means happier customers and a higher quality of support. Build out your library of customer service videos to answer common questions!

2. Video creates more self-sufficient customers

Video itself is also a perfect medium for education. Our brains are highly visual and we process images 60,000 times faster than text according to Psychology Today. Because videos are a multi-media mashup of text, images, and audio, they transmit more data directly into our brains.

This means that if you’re trying to onboard clients, answer questions, or educate your customers to higher levels of proficiency, video does it better.

Additionally, according to freelancing platform Fiverr, “This matters today more than ever, as customers have shorter attention spans … you only have about eight seconds to hold their interest.”

Video captures customer attention, teaches them how to solve their own problem, and leaves them feeling happier. To take advantage of it, build out your knowledge-base to include videos that help customers master your product.

3. Video increases retention

Finally, video creates the type of human connection between customers and your brand that can’t be bought. According to Dr. Liraz Margalit, Ph.D., writing in Entrepreneur, “It’s much easier for us to become emotionally attached to something we watch in a video than something we read in an article.”

Why is this? Because the neurons in our brain mirror what we see on screen. That is, our brains are tricked into thinking that we’re doing whatever we’re seeing, and psychologically, “there is no difference between the cinema and real life.”

The implications here are vast: customers learn faster and feel more connected to things and people they watch.

Our friends at DoubleDutch, a Vidyard customer, knew this when they decided to create a “meet the team” video series. They sought to cultivate long-term relationships with their customers and that the more their users saw of them on video, the deeper of a bond they forged, and the stickier both they and their services become.

Videos give customers the immediate help they crave, educate them to be more successful, and build a bond that binds you together. Invest in video and your happy, successful customers will thank you for it.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! What is your video support story?

 

The post Why Video is the Key to Happier Customers appeared first on Vidyard.



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How to Repurpose Your Content to Drive Traffic

Are you struggling to drive traffic to your blog?

When you create a blog post, do you move on to the next one?

If so, you are missing out on a lot of traffic.

Listen to This Episode

By the end of this post, you'll have a step-by-step plan for repurposing your content.

The result – more traffic to your blog. Ready? Let's go.

What is Content Repurposing

Content repurposing is taking one piece of content and recycling it.

Once recycled, you can use it for a different purpose.

Why Repurpose your Content

Content marketing is one of the most effective strategies for driving traffic.

People visit websites and blogs for the content. They may have a specific problem they are trying to solve. They may be looking for entertainment.

Repurposing Content to Increase Traffic

Repurposing Content to Increase Traffic

One of the great things about being a blogger today is that there are so many social platforms to choose from.

Your audience has options for where they want to consume content.

But here's the thing – your entire audience won't be on one social platform.

No, they have varying preferences. And if your content is not in the location where they spend their time, they are less likely to see it.

Here's the thing – when you create a unique piece of content, you've done the most difficult part.

You took an idea and turned it into something tangible.

Repurposing the content is much easier because you don't have to come up with an original idea.

By having a clear repurposing strategy, you can post your content in many places.

The result – more people find your content and come back to your blog.

That's why repurposing content is so powerful.

A Strategic Plan for Repurposing Content

Most people don't repurpose their content because it seems like a lot of work.

And yes – it can be a whole lot of work.

I wanted to make it easier for you. So I decided to come up with a plan that simplifies the process.

Here we go…

Step 1: Create a content roadmap

To maximize your success with repurposing content, let's start with a big plan.

Instead of looking at each blog post as a single unit, let's look at them as parts of a whole.

Create a content roadmap

Create a content roadmap

Your ultimate goal is to create an entire product, like an ebook, course, webinar, etc.

What topics do you need to cover and in what sequence? Those individual topics will be your blog posts.

When you get through that sequence of blog posts, you will have the makings of a new product.

And yes, you can then repurpose it as a free giveaway, or even a product for sale.

It's a beautiful thing.

Step 2: Start each individual post with an outline

Start each individual post with an outline

Have you ever read an entire blog post only to figure out that it didn't make sense?

I have, and it sucks.

Don't be that content creator. Start with an outline.

Doing so will help you solidify your thoughts and make sure it has a logical flow.

Every piece of content I create starts with an outline, and that makes me way more efficient.

Step 3: Create a video

Create a video

Create a video

I know, you didn't expect that. I recommend starting with a video because it's easy to get many forms of content from a video.

Here's the key – if you start with a video, you can have other people do the rest of the work.

Now, everyone won't be comfortable doing video. And if that's you, it's ok. You can skip to step seven. There's still a lot you can repurpose with written content.

Or if you're approaching this from the perspective of a podcaster, skip to step 4.

Step 4: Create a podcast episode

Create a podcast episode

Create a podcast episode

If you started with a video, export the audio and create an MP3 file. You can use this as a podcast episode that gets submitted to iTunes and other directories.

Or you can add it to your blog post without creating an official podcast feed.

If you aren't doing video but are a podcaster, you will use this content to move on to the next step.

Step 5: Get that video/audio transcribed

Some people still like to read. Whether you're a video creator or podcaster, having a text alternative is a good idea.

Here are two great services that offer transcription at a great price:

  • Trint: This service offers computer-generated transcripts. They are better than any other technology I've used for transcripts in the past. And you can go in and edit the errors. It starts at $12/hour of audio/video.
  • Rev: This service uses real people to transcribe your content at a cost of $1/minute of audio/video.
Transcribe you video/audio

Transcribe your video/audio and have the transcript formatted.

These services both end up being VERY cost-effective if you're doing short videos.

Step 6: Format the transcript

Now that you have a completed transcript, format it to make it look good. You can add this to your post for download or as a lead magnet.

Step 7: Write an article

Once your video/audio is ready, you can write (or have someone else write) an article based on the content.

If you opted not to go with video or audio, use your outline to write and article.

Here's the thing – Google does a better job at indexing text than any other form of content.

Make Google happy, as well as your audience who likes to read.

Step 8: Pull out content snippets

Now that you have a well-written article, it's easy to rip it apart into content snippets.

Here's how I recommend you do this:

  • Set a timer for 10 minutes
  • Pull out 5 – 10 quotes and excerpts
  • Come up with 5 – 10 tweets
  • Write 2 or 3 status updates

Since the content is fresh on your mind, it'll be easy to pull those content snippets out.

And feel free to pull out more than I suggested.

Step 9: Create image quotes

Create image quotes

Create image quotes

You already have quotes from the previous steps. Now use a service like Adobe Spark or Canva to create image quotes.

It's a good idea to have a few image quote templates pre-designed to make this process easier.

You can then use these image quotes on social media to promote your content.

Step 10: Create a slide deck

I learned about a neat trick from Ana Hoffman from Traffic Generation Cafe.

Did you know that you could import an outline into PowerPoint and it will create slides for you automatically?

I didn't, but it's easy. Here's how you do it.

Save your outline as a .txt file. You can do this with almost any Word Processor.

In PowerPoint, go to “Import > Slides from > Outline”.

Voila. You now have slides.

And now you can go through and format those slides and make them look pretty.

Now you have a slide deck that you can upload to Slideshare. And by having links in your slide, you can direct people to your post (or giveaway page).

Step 11: Create video from slides

Create video from slides

Create video from slides

If you didn't start with a video, you can still redeem yourself here. Connect a mic to your computer and use Screenflow or Camtasia to record your screen as you talk through your PowerPoint.

Now you have a video that you can upload to YouTube and/or Facebook.

Of course, you'll also be linking back to your blog.

Step 12: Create images from your slides

Guess what? You already did the work of creating an awesome slide deck. You can use that to create a bunch of images.

Go to “File > Export” and then select the JPG file format.

Now you have images that you can use throughout your post and on social media.

Step 13: Create an infographic

Create an infographic

Create an infographic

Take that outline (once again) and use that content to create an infographic.

You can use a service like Canva to do that.

Step 14: Create your final product

Do you remember how we started? With a roadmap for creating a product.

Well, once you've gotten through the posts in your roadmap, put them together into a product.

You can use it to create a webinar, ebook, course, or any other resource.

You can then use that product as a lead magnet or put it up for sale.

Let's make this very practical

It's possible that you went through all that and thought – WOW, that's a whole lot of work.

Well . . . yes, it is.

But here's the thing – you don't have to do it all.

If you look through this post you will notice that I do include a few elements but not all.

Choose ONE format to add to your current workflow

Choose ONE format to add to your current workflow

I have:

  • The written article
  • Podcast episode
  • Slide deck
  • Infographic
  • Tweets and status updates (in a Google doc behind-the-scenes)
  • We also create image quotes when I do interviews

It's NOT about making sure you create all. Here's what I recommend.

Choose ONE format to add to your current workflow. Start working on that format for your future blog posts.

Refine the process by deciding who will do it, when and how. Outline the steps involved.

Once you've perfected that format so that it fits into your workflow, consider adding a new one.

Wash, rinse, repeat!

Question: Which format will you try next?

Resources Mentioned

  • Transcription services:
    • Trint: This service offers computer-generated transcripts. Price starts at $12/hour of audio/video.
    • Rev: This service uses real people to transcribe your content at a cost of $1/minute of audio/video.
  • Video recording software:
  • Graphic Design services:

Infographic

Repurpose Content

The post How to Repurpose Your Content to Drive Traffic appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.



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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

10 Creative Ways to Improve Prospecting and Sales Emails with Video

Optimizing prospecting and sales emails is something you could probably dedicate the rest of your life to. You might even argue that that’s a good part of what you’ve been doing to this point. Because, if your sales team can’t stand out in the inbox, grab attention, and ignite a response from their prospects or accounts, how are they going to close a deal?

They’re probably not. Or, they’ll at least struggle a lot.

Which is why it’s exciting when a new tactic is uncovered that will improve things like open, click-through, or response rates … significantly.

We’ve seen that happen with video.

Reps that use video in prospecting, relationship-building, and sales emails see 5x higher open rates and 8x higher open-to-reply rates. And they’re just getting started.

video in prospecting selling email

As sales leaders learn that video is the next generation of sales communication, they’re starting to ask not “why should I be using video?”, but “how should I be using video?”. What should reps actually do with video? There are probably hundreds of ways to use video in email prospecting, relationship-building, and selling. But let’s start with 10 for now.

 

10 Ways to Improve Prospecting, Relationship-Building, and Selling Emails with Video

Different types of videos can be used for different email communications depending on whether you’re prospecting a new lead, keeping in touch with warm leads, or closing the sale. Take a look at the 10 different opportunities in the diagram below.

10 Ways to Use Video in Sales 2

Using Video in Prospecting Emails

When you’re freshly reaching out to a new lead, it’s so important that you stand out and get noticed. Prospecting emails have to stick out in crowded inboxes. For BDR and SDR teams, the best opportunities to spice up those prospecting emails with video are:

 

  1. Cold Prospecting
  2. Follow-Up
  3. Account-Based Sales Approach

 

The biggest things to keep in mind here are similar in nature to any other form of prospecting: you’re trying to capture attention with an audience that doesn’t really know you yet. You’ll want to focus your videos on:

  • Capture attention – use “video” in email subject lines and include the thumbnail in the email body
  • Establish credibility – reps should give their prospects a reason to engage with them other than to pull out their checkbook right away
  • Make it personal – top reps spend time learning about an individual and their business and then use this info to connect with leads individually

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Opportunities for Video in ProspectingLesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #1: Opportunities for Video in Prospecting.

 

 

Using Video in Relationship-Building Emails

Sometimes, you already know your leads. You don’t need to introduce yourself and establish your position in the market: your leads already know this. But you do need to keep front and center in their minds in an effort to keep building relationships and be there when it comes time for them to make a decision. The videos that are used to do this are:

 

  1. Share Marketing Content
  2. Use Content from the Web
  3. Simply Say Hello

 

In this case, the biggest things to keep in mind are:

  • Make sure the content is hyper-relevant – encourage your reps to keep their own, detailed notes on various leads and consume content in areas they’re familiar with!
  • Be approachable and encourage dialogue – reps need to give leads reason to respond so you can have a conversation and not a one-way broadcast
  • Think about how your reps can help them – to guide their communications in a helpful, educational manner and build an ally-style relationship

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Opportunities for Video in Building RelationshipsLesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #2: Opportunities for Video in Building Relationships.

 

 

Using Video in Selling Emails

When leads are getting closer to the bottom of that funnel and they’ve been passed off to an AE, your team still needs video. The best way to use video in the final stages of selling are:

 

  1. Micro-Demos
  2. Follow-Up
  3. Low-Cost Customer Touches
  4. Revive Cold Accounts

 

In selling emails that are getting closer to the close, it’s most important to:

  • Tie your company’s value prop to them and their needs – just like any sales pitch, they need your reps to do the heavy lifting for them: why do they need your product and how can you help them
  • Be confident, but not pushy – leads want to know that your team knows their stuff, but no one wants to be strong-handed into a deal
  • Make it personal and connect one-to-one – people do deals with people. If your AEs can build camaraderie with their accounts (which is much easier to do face-to-face with video), they’ll have the upperhand

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Opportunities for Video in SellingLesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #3: Opportunities for Video in Selling.

 

 

Now Add Those Videos to Email with These Templates

If your team is going to the effort of creating new videos (simple getting started tips here!), you’ll want to make sure they get watched. Creating a great video is only about ¾ of the battle. The rest of the battle is nailing the copy that supports the video in your email.

Check out these 3 top email templates for different video-based emails for prospecting, relationship-building, and selling!

 

The post 10 Creative Ways to Improve Prospecting and Sales Emails with Video appeared first on Vidyard.



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Monday, April 17, 2017

The Non-Artist’s Guide To Storyboarding Marketing Videos

We’ve all been there before.

You’ve got a great idea.  This lead gen video is going to be the next Dropbox success story.

You talk to your video team.  You write the script.  Everyone is excited.  You shoot the video.  World-domination, an IPO and/or a promotion are mere frames away.  You launch the video.  That upload click has never felt so good.

Then the crickets start.  And when you watch the video you realize… this is nothing like what I had in mind!!”

What gives?

Shoulda made a storyboard.

Some people think a storyboard has got to be a Pixar-level work of art in and of itself.  Or that you’ve got to be able to draw or be creative to make a good storyboard.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s a simple process we use to make storyboards so there’s less of a chance of botching production.

It’s Got To Start As An Outline

Storyboards (unfortunately) aren’t magic.  If you don’t know what you’re going to say, there’s no saving it.

There are a few common outlines you can use to get started.  Here are two every video marketer should have in their tool belt:

1. Hero’s Journey

Here’s a link to a free Google Doc template that spells this out.

Stories from Star Wars to Dropbox’s legendary explainer have harnessed this framework to make high-growth videos.

It goes like this:

  1. Meet the Hero, Bob.
  2. Bob has got a problem.
  3. He tried this, that, and the other thing and they didn’t work.
  4. Then he found the solution which works like this __________.
  5. Bob got this sweet, positively emotional pay-off + call to action.

2. Problem, Agitate, Solve

Check out this link for the Google Doc template

Cheesy infomercials have made BILLIONS with this framework.

The idea is when there’s a pressing problem you don’t want to let up on the pain, but keep pressing forward so it’s clear how much they need your solution.

Here’s a breakdown:

  1. Do you have this problem?
  2. Here are the things making your problem worse.
  3. This solution focuses explicitly on your big problem.
  4. Customer testimonials or proof.
  5. Benefit recap and call to action.

Choose Your Software

My software of choice is Google Presentation.  One because it’s free, but two because it’s familiar and has almost zero roadblocks to getting started.

If you’ve got some paper, a cell phone camera/scanner and a Google account you’re ready to go.

Storyboarding

Here’s a helpful, free slide template you can use. Or if you like to do the pencil-to-paper method, here are a few printable word docs.

If you’re looking to get a bit more fancy you can take a look at StoryboardThat.

Highlight Your Critical Frames

Inside a two minute video you may not have a ton of scenes, but there will always be a few critical frames.

Every marketing storyboard should have frames for:

  1. Opener
  2. Problem Statement
  3. How the Solution works ← Often the most critical to storyboard.
  4. Call to action ← This is a close second in terms of storyboard need.

Frame 1 – The Opener

The main goal in the first frame is to create a sense of mystery.  If you’re working on a lead gen video, this is doubly important since a visitor is normally trading their contact info to scratch the itch of their curiosity.

Frame 2 – Problem Statement

This is the frame that should get your viewer’s head nodding (or qualify out the ones who shouldn’t be watching anyway).  If you have any dark or depressing frames, this is where they’ll go.

Frame 3 – How Your Solution Works

My favorite frame of all.  This is where your marketing chops come into play.  You can shave major time off an explanation with a well-thought-out solution frame.  Binge watch the explanation section of some late night infomercials to see this one done exceptionally well.

Frame 4 – Call To Action

Without this you might as well go home.  This is a nitty gritty frame, with the most important factor being clarity.  Is your URL easy to read?  Did viewers see where to click?  Does your info stay on screen long enough?

One important note: some frames are important to script well but don’t really need their own storyboard.  For example, benefit statements are critical to a script, but as long as your wording is right, your imagery may not be as essential.

Doodle Your Frames

Nearly every video I make starts as a doodle.  Ironically, I can’t draw but it doesn’t take complicated images to get the idea across.  My go-to images?  Stick figures for people, and labeled rectangles for objects.

Some of the keys you’re going for are:

  • Positioning.  Show the artist or videographer how the scene needs to be setup.
  • Timing.  Get across how the audio is going to be timed against the visual.
  • Transitions.  How much info is too much in your scenes?  When should you cut?  Pay attention to how your scenes are flowing into each other or if it feels like they’re not changing for a long period of time.

Do A Dry Run

The main value of storyboards is being able to run through your script and feel how your video is going to go BEFORE you’ve spent the time and money on production.

So fire up your script, pull out your key frames and do a dry run.  This is the step where the heaviest tweaking and revisions will come in and by doing it at the storyboard stage you’ll be saving yourself time and money.

John Lasseter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer puts it well.

“I will never let something go into production unless it is working fantastic in that version with the still drawings. Because no matter all the great animation you can do will never save a bad story. We will work and rework and rework and rework these reels — sometimes thirty times before we let it go into production.”

Go Forth And Storyboard!

While it seems like a little more work upfront, dropping in a storyboard step can save major time in production.  

If you have any tips of your own, please share them below!

Updated in 2017: A Visual Storyboarding Template

Lance talks quite a bit about using visual aids in your storyboarding, and we couldn’t agree more. So we decided to make our own internal storyboarding template available for everyone.

The first page is a quick instructional guide on how to lay out your shots, and what to use all these fancy little boxes for:

Vidyard Storyboarding Guide Page 1

Page two is the important one though, as you can print as many copies of this blank storyboarding template as you need to lay out all of your shots!

Vidyard Storyboarding Guide Page 2

Storyboard Template - CoverThis simple but powerful tool is incredibly important, whether you are filming your own videos in-house, or working with an agency on your creatives. Storyboarding each scene in your video allows you to ‘see’ the shots before you start setting up, and saves time and confusion when you’re ready to film. Even a simple, stick-figure storyboard goes a long way to making better video. Download the template and get started!

The post The Non-Artist’s Guide To Storyboarding Marketing Videos appeared first on Vidyard.



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