Every PR/Marketing person dreams of being the genius mind behind a successful viral video. In 2011 content creation is king and producing an entertaining and informative video to raise brand awareness is a high priority for any PR/Marketing team.
Enter this superb infographic posted by Mashable. Seriously, superb. There are several valuable statistics illustrated here covering everything from the length of the video to the best sites to promote it on. Check it out:
- Videos that clock in at 15 seconds get circulated 37% more than longer clips
- People share video on Facebook 218% more than via email and Twitter combined
- Women account for 57% of social video views
Infographics are quickly becoming a media and public relations industry buzz word / topic. Why you ask? Two major reasons. As corporations continue to shift into their role as media companies and content curators, they’re realizing the opportunity to package interesting data to the media and consumers in new ways. More importantly, media organizations and editors are now focusing on finding new ways to engage their readership. Infographics happen to solve both of these problems by packaging data in a way that makes it both engaging and easy to read.
A few weeks ago I sat down with Sam Whitmore of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey for Racepoint Group’s video newsletter to discuss how brands and agencies can leverage infographics and why they’re becoming the “new slide shows” for media outlets desperate for engaging content. While Sam cautioned that infographics aren’t B-roll (most media outlets like to play a role in building them), he did pass along some interesting insight into how PR practitioners and marketers can leverage the media’s interest in this new category of content.
For more insight on infographics, along with the latest news and trends in marketing, PR and communications in the technology space subscribe to Racepoint’s “The Point: Tech Edition.
Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about social media and its return on investment (ROI). As social media continues to become a larger focal point in public relations and marketing campaigns, it’s critical to understand how to articulate it’s value to clients.
Last night’s event centered around a panel discussion with three social media experts: Larry Weber, Chairman of Racepoint Group, Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and Mike Volpe, VP of Inbound Marketing for HubSpot.
After Larry Weber’s opening remarks, Qualman shared how he first dipped his toe into the digital space by sending a company-wide email instead of the standard hard copy memo. View his story here:
Volpe was up next and shared with the group the origins of his marketing career and the way tracking and reporting on ROI is evolving. Watch him provide tips here:
The evening was full of tremendous ideas and recommendations. The five big takeaways from the panel were:
1) Social media is not about technology. It’s about human interaction. It’s about sharing information and making connections. People who are intimidated by the technology aspect of engaging in social media should not view the applications as a hurdle. It’s simply the current mechanism to maintain relationships and reach out to new people.
2) When it comes to tracking social media, its important to focus not only on the quantitative (number of followers, number of re-postings) but also the qualitative. We need to take into account engagement and tone. Qualman said, “If social media is so trackable, we should just have robots running things. The human element is necessary here.”
3) Everyone and anyone can be a content creator, a publisher, a media property. As we shift away from traditional print and broadcast media, both we and our clients have the opportunity to get innovative and create and distribute our own content. Additionally, content creation should not be isolated to the PR and marketing staff. Volpe shared that, “50% of HubSpot employees have written posts for the HubSpot blog.”
4) Although much of PR and marketing is based in the written word, we need to start thinking more visually. We need to tell stories through pictures and videos. We need to make our content more authentic and dynamic.
5) On a personal level, Volpe stated, “The new resume is what comes up in Google when I type in your name.” As digital and social media continue to play an increasingly vital role in our PR and marketing efforts, we too have a digital and social persona, and that is now what employers are most interested in.
Thank you to Erik Qualman and Mike Volpe for joining us at Racepoint Group last night and providing such pragmatic, realistic, useful and inspiring guidance on the social media ROI frontier. Be sure to follow @equalman and @mvolpe on Twitter for real time updates on their social media adventures. You can also view all the live commentary during the event with the #smroi hashtag here.
Today Racepoint Group is launching a new offering – Racepoint Labs – to help companies, communities, causes and countries leverage the power of social media. To mark this launch we sat down with W2 founder Larry Weber, to get his thoughts on what this means for the overall digital marketing landscape.
If you are a frequent visitor to CNN.com you surely noticed that something looked a bit different on the website this week.
Perhaps it was the blazing, fire engine red banner across the top? Or maybe it was the multiple, color photos accompanying the lead stories? Or was it the supersized video player featured in the center of the home page?
No matter what caught your attention, you’re correct. CNN.com got a facelift. In a recent article on the site redesign, Mike Shields of ADWEEK quotes K.C. Estenson, the SVP and General Manager of CNN.com, as saying “This is a revolution for us. To date, CNN has been a “largely text-driven site” that in the eyes of consumers is “a machine that spits out breaking news. We challenged ourselves to change.”
Why change now? Well, in an interview with Mediaweek, Estenson explained, “I think the portals are coming after us. I want people to not have to go someplace else to get more.” Who are these portals Estenson feels nipping at his heels? Oh you know, just two little companies called AOL and Yahoo.
Motivated by the idea of providing their visitors with all the types of news and content they are seeking, CNN.com has formed several partnerships that launched with the new website on Monday. New members of the CNN.com family include: Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, Anderson Cooper, Larry King, Pete Cashmore and even Oprah Winfrey!
In addition to the fresh, vibrant look and the all star line up, CNN.com has also added personalization capabilities to the site. Visitors can tailor their homepage by adding local news, sports, and weather to their CNN.com experience.
It is clear from the components of the website redesign that CNN.com is paying attention to market trends and user preferences, and adjusting their offering accordingly. This new approach will likely delight existing fans and entice new ones.
One of its latest digital moves is a weekly online video series, which it is dubbing “Tea with The Economist.” Like every step the Economist has made in moving carefully into digital waters, the series is very true to the The Economist brand.
“The 10-15 minute videos are conducted by The Economist reporters and editors around the globe who pour tea and query their subjects.”
However, the The Economist isn’t attempting to turn this into an online version of Charlie Rose’s two-way conversations. In fact, true to the anonymity that the The Economist maintains for their bylines, the reporters are never shown on camera or identified.
