Different videos will be serving different purposes for your company and there does need to be some discretion as to how long your video is.  For example if I were doing a video tutorial on how to set up Google Analytics then the video is going to be the length of time needed for me to succinctly (and this is an important part) tell the user how to do this.

Alternatively, if you are setting up a YouTube advertising campaign which will run before people watch their chosen video then you are going to be aiming at 10 – 20 seconds of attention grabbing footage.

But back to that piece of string…

There is no worse feeling for a visitor than watching a video online, glancing down at the progress bar of how far they are through the video and seeing that they are around 20% through a company monologue.

Make sure that you get across what you need to as succinctly as possible.

You can give a lot of information in 90 seconds and a whole lot more in three minutes.  As a rule of thumb your video should be within these two parameters and probably closer to the lower figure.

Once you have uploaded your video continue to monitor how many of your visitors are making it through to the end of your video.  If they aren’t making it to the end then how far are they watching?

These figures will tell you if your video is too long, not relevant or just not engaging with your visitors.

For more information on how we can work with you on video please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Creating great video content – how long should your video be? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

The sheer number of us that will have seen the Cravendale adverts depicting the evolution of the cat into an animal with opposable thumbs and eyes for our milk is testament to the success of the campaign ran by agency Wieden + Kennedy.

It is a great example of how viral advertising and concept can add value to the bottom line when done well.

The results are there for all to see:

1. The ad above has had more than 7.1 million views on YouTube and 33k of likes
2. 5,608 likes on Facebook with a page for a fictional cat with opposable thumbs creaming in 1,500 likes on its own!
3. The campaign reports an increase in excess of 2,000% in social buzz on Twitter as a result of the campaign

And just to confirm it wasn’t a load of social hype – a reported increase in sales of around 8%.

Want to work on some creative projects? Get in touch and we can discuss and brainstorm with you! Please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk 

The post Success with viral: Jog on kitties! Cats with opposable thumbs appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Different people will be looking to interact with different forms of content.  Sometimes they may be in the research phase of the decision making process and they’ll be looking for a detailed explanation of a product or a service.  Others may be looking for visual interpretation, whether it be in the form of photos, an infographic or videos for example.

So have a think – what content is on your website? Is it what your visitors are looking for and have you got the right balance?

Video Content

Do your visitors always want to read reams of words? The answer is probably a resounding no and on these occasions video can spice up your content mix.  Make sure you ideally keep them beneath three minutes in length as there is nothing worse than looking at the progress bar and seeing you are less than half way through! Make sure that the content gets to the point early and also has a call to action to maximise your chances of converting the viewer into a customer.

It is worth noting that video doesn’t have to cost the earth these days either! Please do get in touch if you are interesting in creating and using video.

Infographics

A story told through data and statistics.  This is a visual bonanza that is great for getting across those more obscure and interesting facts that your customers may otherwise not be aware of.  They are great for social sharing and can often, if distributed and handled well, create a buzz around the topic and your brand.  Remember that if you are placing it on other websites you are getting two bites of the cherry – potentially a link back to your website along with a visually engaging graphic.

Also remember to think outside of the box when selecting potential topics for an infographic.  Make sure that they are covering a topic that people are going to be interested in – it shouldn’t all be about your brand.

Blogs

The bread and butter for many a website, keep the content flowing through your blog section and make sure that you are planning time to produce your content.  Photography here can also be a great sell for all sectors – a magical sunset at a tourist destination, a perfect dessert at a restaurant or an awe inspiring visual of some paintings.  A picture as they say, portrays a thousand words!

Social Sharing

Whatever content you are producing make sure you are sharing it through the right social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and Pinterest.  They offer you great possibilities to not only increase reach but also build dialogue and brand contact points.

Content is as important as ever.  If you would like to find out more about how we can help you plan, create and distribute content to build your web presence then please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Getting the right balance of content appeared first on MiHiDigital.

There are a few things to consider.

Google doesn’t yet have a way of working out what your video is about by watching it so having long videos jam full of key words will only be to the detriment of your visitors experience and won’t enhance the indexibility of the video itself.

This means that Google is reliant on meta data to analyse your video’s content.  Make sure that your video has a meta title, description and tagged key words to give an indication of its content.  In terms of YouTube it is also worth noting that the file name of the video that you are uploading can also have an impact.

Your website should already have an xml sitemap and it is worth having a separate sitemap for your videos too.  Although Google will know about all public videos on YouTube it will help the videos hosted on your own site become indexed.

Here is a useful link from Google on how to produce your video sitemap:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80472?hl=en

Remember that Google won’t always show blended results with your videos included in search.  Videos will only appear if Google believes them to be highly relevant to the search term.

For more information on how we can help your search engine performance or to work with us on video please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Are your videos optimised for Google and does your site have a video site map? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Anyone watching the advert that has ever been in an Apple store (lets face it that will account for a large proportion of the population) particularly on a launch day will feel quite at home watching Somersby’s own take on their product launch – available in the 16 or the 32 pip.

More than one million YouTube views and 9,000 likes in April 2013 alone will tell you that this has been a great success in generating social buzz for the brand.

It’s a great example of creativity conquering social media so we wanted to share it with you all.

Cheers and well done to Somersby and everyone involved!

And below is how they put it all together from the Somersby YouTube channel.

The post Somersby Cider gives a new perspective on an Apple launch appeared first on MiHiDigital.

A central element to its potential success is often that it is memorable, outrageous or hilarious.  This doesn’t happen by accident; brands need to carefully plan, implement and then distribute their content just like any other form of marketing.

Quality remains the key.  If it isn’t there and it doesn’t resonate with those watching then it won’t spread.

Apple has a very distinct and well-crafted brand.  All of their advertising, whether it be print, online or television and new media epitomises this branding; you know when you are looking at or watching an Apple advert.

This makes it a great potential target for spoofing and viral video.  Some have done this better than others; Sommersby Cider in particular has created a highly successful ad campaign based around the archetypical Apple in-store product launch.

It would seem that in mid-September Microsoft, perhaps rightly so, were somewhat underwhelmed at the new innovations on display during the Apple launch of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c.  Their answer was to turn to video and within a short period of time the video at the top of the post appeared on their own YouTube channel.

In an even shorter period of time it was taken down, only to be left on others YouTube channels through sharing.

This video failed – have a look for yourself and let us know what you think.

The post Microsoft pull spoof Apple advert from YouTube hours after launch appeared first on MiHiDigital.