Andy Stack giving his presentation at the 2011 Video Commerce Summit
At the beginning of the month, Liveclicker had the pleasure of hosting YouTube Product Manager, Andy Stack, as the keynote for our Third Annual Video Commerce Summit. During an interview with Video Commerce Summit Conversations Host, Larry Kless, President and Founder of Onlinevideopublishing.com, Andy shared an outline of his presentation, Video Convergence is Here: Get Ready!
Conversations Interview:
In his interview, Andy outlined 5 things he has learned about successful online video campaigns in his experience at YouTube:
1. Rethink What Content Means
Create content, not commercials. Retailers will be more successful if they take the time to develop a content strategy for their videos, not an advertising strategy. To start, retailers should look into their audiences’ communities and invest in content that creates a story for their brand. Holding onto the old ideas of old media can be detrimental in moving your brand forward (for more on how media is changing, check out this post on the Transmedia Revolution.) Andy emphasized,
“We are all storytellers, a good content strategy helps to allow people to sell brands, not just brands to sell brands.”
2. Every video is a conversation
Engage the viewers in a conversation, a message or campaign should not start and end with the video. Always have a next step or call to action within your video. Whether it is to learn more about the products in the the video, read reviews, comment on the video, inspire User Generate Content (UGC), buy a product, or watch more video, there should always be a call to action. The most successful online video campaigns are ones that encompass their video program in their overall social media presence, and have strong and consistent interaction with their viewers. One company in particular that Andy cites as good example of this is Electronic Arts with their response to a user generated video on the Tiger Woods ’08 game.
3. Every video is interactive
Videos that encourage action and interaction from viewers are undoubtedly more successful. Many Liveclicker clients are already engaging with their viewers inside the player with “buy now” buttons, embedded product reviews, and hot spots. Andy cites HELL Pizza’s interactive zombie movie adventure as a particularly clever way of encouraging interaction.
4. Every video finds an audience
Online video is reaching new audiences every day. With the demassing of media, now is a great time to be a video content creator since there are so many nitch audiences that can be found online.
5. You don’t always have to make video content, you can inspire others to curate it for you
If you create a compelling story, you can inspire others to create content that will sell your brand for you. How does a new shoe maker with 3 employees get to $1M in sales in just over a year? They asked their audience to design their shoes for them. And the result is the mythical shoe by Tweak, with wings and a pocket for a guitar pick.
Stay tuned for more Conversations Interviews from The 2011 Video Commerce Summit.
