A Video Marketing Plan… Become a Socialist

Now don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not talking politics here. The topic is not related to health care or taxes or any such thing. Our discussion centers around something you are quite capable of doing… being friendly. Be social. Get to know people. Then take these friendships to new levels by using a social marketing plan. As part of your SEO techniques you have undoubtedly gotten involved in the social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. You probably already have established a rather large network of friends there. Then there is YouTube and and other video sharing sites. Together you can implement a video marketing strategy using these social sites that could increase traffic to your website. Some internet videos capture the imagination of web surfers and wind up going viral… they spread across the web like a virus. The secret is for you to originate one of these viral videos with credits back to you and/or links to your website. But… how do you do it?

A Video Marketing Plan… Social Sites are Critical

Original internet usage a few years ago was more or less static. You would just sit at your computer and search for things that interested you. Then you would sit there and read the results. Slowly, internet messenger programs began to pop up and you found yourself in real time conversations with friends. This messaging evolved to a higher level with the advent of MySpace, Facebook, and others sites.  You now created pages that were both static and interactive. Basically you created your own website where you could post anything you desired. You could share photos, chat in real time, add friends, etc… thus social networking was born. Eventually, your photos turned into slide shows, and then along came YouTube. Now the videos you see there have links allowing you to post them on your MySpace page. Increased bandwidth made what seemed unlikely a few years ago to be the norm today. So, it’s time for you to create video marketing strategies to use this latest technology to its fullest.

A Video Marketing Plan… Let’s Just Do It

These social sites afford you unlimited potential and opportunity to expand your presence across the internet. Ultimately, used correctly, they will increase web traffic to your site. As part of your social marketing strategies you’ll want to create a video that fills a need in the eyes of its viewers… so much so that they will want to share it with others. Here’s a few options for making that video of yours a smashing success:

o Make it educational – depict something that people want to know. Not in the sense of a classroom, but rather with interest and excitement. Whether you’re discussing sunspots and their effect on our communications on earth or suntans and their effect on your skin… make it compelling.

o Make it knowledgeable – perhaps your specific skill sets make you just the person to show how to install ceramic tile or how to plant rose bushes. Whatever your field of expertise, tell it in an over the top exciting way.

o Make it comical – by far, these types of videos attract the most views and are most likely to go viral. Why? Because they are entertainment. They take the routineness out of someone’s day… whether they are sitting in a cubical at an office or out relaxing on a houseboat. They make them laugh. As a result the viewer is apt to link it to his/her MySpace page and share the comedy with friends. Pretty soon… it’s viral.

So, it’s time for you to act. Begin to prepare video marketing strategies that will reward you with increased exposure, increased traffic to your website, and a general feeling that you accomplished something that made you, and others, feel good. A social marketing plan just might be the best investment of your time and energy since ________ (you fill in the blank!).

image credits to Milivoj Sherrington