Last week I had the honor of presenting to handful of entrepreneurs at StartupMonthly here in San Francisco. There is a general notion that online video as it relates to marketing is only accessible to established companies with large marketing budgets. Although, historically this has been true, there have been huge strides made in technology, making video a very powerful tool for even the smallest technology startups. With Google and other search engines weighing video heavily in the organic search pack, a channels and endless possibilities have presented themselves.

Online video in 2012 will become more popular than TV. What is Online Video? I guess we can best describe it as video that is streamed across the Internet. Months from now the lines between Online Video and TV will become blurred to reveal simply, “video.”

The main difference between TV and Online video, in my opinion, is that online video is personal and TV is not. By personal, I mean that as online viewers we can watch video on our phones, tablets in a position that can’t been seen by others, making it a personal experience. This Infographic provides an overview of the current online video market.

Whether you are using YouTube or have fully taken control of your video content with a branded video platform, there are 5 basic best practices to follow in order to make the most of your marketing efforts.

1.  Make your videos easy to find

You would not believe how many companies we come across on a daily basis that have a decent amount of videos on YouTube, and not only no videos incorporated into their website, but not even a link to their YouTube channel.  If you have videos you want to be seen, make sure you can find them from your main website.

2.  Use clear branding

Many company names are similar to other company names or are already taken on video sites like Vimeo and YouTube.  Always use your full company name in your video site description or name.  Additionally, upload your company logo and use both in each video best you can.  Linking your video content to your main site solves most of this problem, but you want to make sure anyone coming across your video content clearly understands who you are.

3.  Call-to-Actions

What good is a video view without an actionable effect?  Make sure each video and site description has a link to your main website or desired landing page.  Call-to-Actions not only increase view-to-lead conversions, but provide the means to measuring your video campaign. Check out our innovative IN-VIDEO call-to-actions available on the BroadcastCloud.

4.  Broadcast your videos

Your video is only as valuable as the people who view it.  Create a promotion campaign across Twitter with enticing one line tweets.  Make sure you are reaching the right audience by growing your targeted Twitter followers.  Don’t be afraid to tweet the video repeatedly, just incorporate different and creative tweets to compliment your link.

Video is a powerful sales tool.  Who has time to read an email when you can watch a quick video?  Send your videos in sales emails, new letters, and even customer service tutorials.

5.  Track your campaign

Don’t rely on YouTube view counts.  With video embedding in blogs and other sites, YouTube counters never seem to be correct.  If you have a BroadcastCloud video platform, you can track your video views no matter where they are embedded.  If you are still relying on YouTube, we suggest using a Google Analytics unique url to track click throughs on video broadcasting.

Take your measurements one step further with call-to-action lead generation forms.  With in-video and out of video call-to-actions you can clearly qualify who is interested enough in your product to sign-up for a demo.  Gather market research with in-video polling and questionnaires.  The limits are endless!

Check out this infographic on how people are using Twitter to ask questions.

Every company’s bottom line is sales. Social media is changing the way companies create sales leads. Instead of trying to sell your product to someone who has never used it and maybe never heard of it before, companies are using social media to engage customers to sell the product for them. Marketing is about getting your name out there and bringing in qualified leads. With the bombardment of advertising, people have tuned out the ads around them and care more about what their friends, family, and colleagues are saying about the many products and services in the market. In order to tap into these conversations, companies have to tap into the social networks, creating a human face to their company.

Joseph Jaffe speaks about the importance of engaging customers in social media as a means of reaching new customers. A big trend in marketing via the social networks is customer to customer engagement. By giving great customer service and providing a platform for customers to share their experiences, new potential customers can easily tap into the conversation, allowing the customers to sell for you.

The effects of social media on ROI and business decisions is not a new story.  On most company websites you will see a link to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Youtube.  Customers are encouraged to interact with the company and its brand via these social networks.  With everyone now in the game, social media strategy is the hot topic.  What does a like on Facebook really mean?  Which networks and methods increase continuous engagement?

As the video says, more companies plan to expand their presence on YouTube more than any other social site.  The reality is, social media and video is a given in the new marketing age, it is how you take control of this engagement that many are competing to master.  While this video by MDG Advertising is right about the importance of YouTube, they are one step behind in the game.  The companies who have tons of videos on YouTube are asking the real question, what does a view mean to my bottom line?  A branded video platform is how you optimize view-to-lead conversions.  A branded video platform can easily be broadcasted across social networks as a contained marketing experience from your company, not YouTube, increasing SEO and call-to-action conversions from video viewing.  Stay tuned in our blog for tips on how to engage your social networks beyond like, follower, and view counting.

We are excited about the launch of the BroadcastSimplicity site.  Take some time to look around.  You can expect future blog articles on tips and insight on video and social media marketing.  The world of marketing is constantly changing — we learn something new everyday and we would like to share it with you.  Our bottom line at BroadcastSimplicity is to give you the tools to generate qualified leads, closing the marketing and sales gap.