Great Job By David Tonight!
Fantastic job by David Rose from MagneTVideo.com tonight at our Internet Marketing Meetup on video marketing.

Video Secrets Meeting Summary on ScentTrail

Summary of  tonight’s MEETUP at Atlantic BT is on ScentTrail. Will post a link to David’s presentation.

Martin’s Story
Imagine you are on a beach. Suddenly water moves swiftly away. Fish flop and dance naked in early morning sun. “Tsunami,” we think involuntarily. We live online, via CNN and in a global village so we know a big wave is coming. Internet marketers stand on just such a beach. We face a coming web video marketing Tsunami.

“This is better,” I thought before testing a 3 minute video on the home page of the $6M site I managed as a Director of Ecommerce (before joining Atlantic BT as Director Marketing). “Run it,” I said watching our metrics nervously. Never test in production without a B option you can easily roll back too. Good news this day was I’d learned the “rollback” lesson. In four hours site conversions tanked by a full point (about $3K). “Kill it,” was my next command before the site walked into a end of summer weekend with such a conversion train wreck.

“What happened,” my boss asked me. Ever wish you could jump in a time machine and go back a few years traveling with the knowledge you have now to just such a moment? Here is what I know now that would have helped then:

• Read vs. Video = VIDEO
• 3 Minutes is an eternity online (1 minute or less now).
• Video on the home page is TOUGH (lots of views but converting traffic can easily be lost never to be heard from or converted again)
• Too polished doesn’t work well online – rough edges establish immediacy, authenticity and authority (strangely enough)
• Videos create VERY HOT spots immediately below them, so include a Call To Action (CTA) in the video that mirrors a CTA immediately below the video (or, if video is on product page keep it far enough away from the MAGIC BUY button as to NOT create confusion)
• Videos are EMOTIONAL and that is a good thing
• Videos “SEO” well, pop nice on YouTube, can spring legs and walk around the web (via embed codes) and are easier to get top listing on than text (LOTS EASIER but getting harder as I write this)

This list could get longer, but you get the idea. A quick note about video and SEO. Spiders can’t “see” video so tagging, linking and surrounding text can be very important. I learned another video SEO secret today from David but won’t spoil his January 24th presentation. Want to know a very cool video SEO secret that is EASY and POWERFUL you will need to join us for pizza in a few weeks.

What I know without any doubt is VIDEO is a powerful Internet marketing tool. Powerful enough Atlantic BT is working with David Rose and MagneTVideo.com to learn how to provide video marketing services. The end of my story is we finally figured out a winning video formula (less than 2 minutes, on the product page, make the product the hero and pull in wisdom of crowds reviews). Pays to have a good team, a patient and trusting boss and a B option.

The net of our tests was conversions on product pages with videos quadrupled. New products already on a roll set new records. Older products starting to wane got a new lease on life. How many failures before finding the winning formula? My team created about ten different videos before we found the winner. Who has that kind of time confronted with social search, the real time web and Internet marketing as we know it today? A: No one, thus asking David and MagneTVideo to share “inside baseball” secrets so Atlantic BT can offer easy to buy, effective web video marketing.

There are many great video marketing providers including friends at Atlantic Creative, Big Fat Film and RHEDPixel (they did the work mentioned here). I also have a good friend who runs a cool company called mailVU in Charlotte. We are working with David and MagneTVideo to combine Atlantic BT’s web development and Internet marketing power, learn cool video marketing secrets to share with customers and potential customers and surf the monster video marketing wave coming in the web’s direction.

Hope you can join us for our monthly Internet Marketing Relativity Meetup on Tuesday, January 24 (Join Raleigh Internet Marketing Meetup Here).

Martin

PS. Lifted image at the top from an excellent article “Why Use Video Marketing” by Sneh on Buzzom.com.

Interviewing Now

How, we were wondering, could we give back?

How can someone learn how to become an Internet Marketer?

Internet Marketing moves so fast it can’t be taught in a college classroom, dorm rooms maybe. Atlantic Business Technologies in Raleigh located in the Atlantic BT Center, 4509 Creedmoor, wants to help students or people who want to transition into Internet Marketing learn by doing.

2 (unpaid) Internet Marketing Internships to be filled immediately:

Social Media Marketing Intern
The Atlantic BT Social Media Marketing Intern is about understanding the rapidly evolving world of social media marketing and its cousin SEO (search engine optimization). Responsible for developing content strategy for the Atlantic BT blog, Facebook, Twitter and Mobile platforms. The Social Marketing Intern will evaluate new social media tools such as Scoop.it, Share.it, Hunch.com and Quora making recommendations for partnerships and working new tools into Atlantic BT’s social media marketing mix. Assist in the creation of marketing personas and archetypes to guide campaign creation, offers, site heuristics and taxonomy. Social Media Marketing Intern will also work with metrics to create social ROI reports and understand reporting tools such as Argyle Social, Spring Metrics and Google Analytics.

Requirements:
Strong writing, analysis and creativity skills. Knowledge of Photoshop and Dreamweaver a plus. Some knowledge or experience with analytics a definite plus.

Internet Marketing Campaign Coordinator Intern
The Atlantic BT Campaign Coordinator Internship is about bridging the gap between the art and science of Internet marketing. Starting with brainstorming, planning and then working with creative to produce Internet marketing campaigns, the Internet Marketing Campaign Coordinator will be knee deep in understanding client needs, translating needs into marketing campaigns, testing assumptions and reporting results. The Internet Marketing Campaign Coordinator Intern helps organize, champion and test macro and micro Internet marketing concepts around topics such as gamification, social capital and email marketing.

Requirements:
Knowledge of Photoshop and Dreamweaver required. Ability to think creativity. Some knowledge or experience with analytics a definite plus. Strong keyword writing skills a definite plus.

How to apply:

Email:
Send Resume and short essay (300 words or less) on why you should be one of the two Atlantic BT Internet Marketing Interns to…

Martin.Smith(at)AtlanticBT(dot)com

Twitter @Atlanticbt :
Tweet links to your online resume and blog with short essay on why you should be one of Atlantic BT’s Internet Marketing Interns using #ABTintern .

Wednesday Night November 30 Interviews
If you can turn around an application by attending our Raleigh Internet Marketing Meetup on Wednesday November 30th at 6:30 we will be interviewing from 4:30 to 6:30. Tweet the time you would like to interview to @atlanticbt using #ABTintern.

Why Won’t You Help Me?

Great example of the Bystander Effect (source: carbonsmart)

A couple of teenagers start a fight in the hallway at school. We’ve all been in this situation, whether we were a part of the fight or we were witness to it. How many people do you think will intervene and break up the fight? Very few. More often than not, others willl group around and witness the fight unfold before their eyes. We’ve all been there at some point in our life.

The Bystander Effect refers to the phenomenon in which the likelihood of someone acting upon an emergency situation will decrease if the number of people around the situation is larger.

(Source: psychology.about.com)

Videos are posted all over the Internet about experiments and even real-life situations caught on camera where people simply ignore distress calls. At first, you probably would laugh at the situation but in reality it is pretty sad how we are hardwired to react a certain way based on our surroundings.

Why do we ignore? Put simply, it’s a matter of trying to fit in with the crowd. If everybody else is just watching and not doing anything, therefore, I should act like them to fit in with the social norm.

A study on the bystander effect, Markey (2000) tested how it played a role in getting help online through a chat service. Markey had three primary goals:

1. Would gender determine the response time in receiving help?
2. Does the amount of people needing help affect the response time?
3. By asking help from a specific individual, would it decrease the response time?

The results validated the bystander effect by proving all three questions. Gender did not have a distinctive effect on response time. The larger the number of people in the chat room increased the response time per person. By asking someone specific for help, the response time was rapidly reduced (as if nobody else were in the chat room).

Only 5 to 10 percent of the population engages in behavior contrary to the social norm. Because we want to fit into these groups and maintain our membership with them, we conform our actions to the norm.

The bystander effect is a great way to show the power of social validation. We tend to do what we think is best to fit in with the crowd, regardless of the situation.

Online Shopping

Shopping online is becoming more popular each and every day. It’s more convenient, cost less, and with websites becoming more focused on usability, it is much easier! The real challenge is the actual shopping itself.

Questions start to come into play, such as:

• What do I buy?
• What color?
• Which model?
• Will my friends like me if I wear this shirt?

Online shopping is a great example of how powerful social validation can be. Websites that allow user feedback or shopping statistics can provide a great experience for both the business as well as potential customers. It is used as a tool to reinforce their purchase.

People look to others to decide what they should do. This is especially true when they are uncertain about whether or what action to take.

(Source: Neuro Web Design (2009), Dr. Susan Weinschenk)

Make It All About The User

So what are some ways to enhance the user experience for online shoppers? Here are just a few that come to my mind and should be relatively easy to implement:

• Product ratings
  These are typically a 5-star scale, ranging from 1- Not Good to 5- Highly Recommend. They are straight to the point and are based on the collective average.
• Product reviews
  Whether they are from professionals or from actual customers, product reviews can provide a more qualitative analysis of a product. Users will listen more to those who appear to be in a similar lifestyle as them. Therefore, product reviews that relate more closely to the user’s use of the product will have a better effect.
• Similar products
  When looking at products on a site, it can be beneficial to see a list of similar products. In a store environment, you would expect similar products to be grouped and placed in the same location. Why not mimic that for the web? By doing so, you allow your users to seamlessly flow between similar products without having to backtrack or go through the search process all over again.

Hey Which Game Would You Buy?

Highly rated game and was highly well sold worldwide (source: RockStar)

Let’s take video games for example. I personally go out and buy the latest and greatest video games on the market. I have my sources online that I go to daily and read up about the upcoming games. This is my strategy for figuring out whether my investments will be worth it in the end. After all, spending $60 per game adds up rather quickly. So when these games get reviewed (most get a review within a few days of its release date), I’ll read it and decide whether the game is going to provide me with an amazing experience. I am putting my trust on my sources. If my sources unanimously say that a game is amazing (i.e. Grand Theft Auto 4), then I will go out and buy that game. About 9 times out of 10 my sources are correct. I like those odds. In today’s economy, every dollar counts and I want to ensure that I am making a great purchase – every time.

My strategy not only works for games, but it works for other big purchases, like a TV, surround sound, car, etc. People rely on others’ opinions in order to make an informed decision.

Your Opinion Matters

Amazon’s products have two very valuable pieces of information on their website: user ratings and similar products. As an online shopper, I find this very helpful when making a decision in buying a product. Most of the time, I’ll focus on why a product is necessarily bad rather than why it is good. It could be the functionality, the photo of the product was misleading, or the materials were below expectations. I like to do my research beforehand when buying stuff online. I’ll check professional reviews, read the product description on the manufacturer’s website, etc. I’ll know beforehand why it appears to be awesome. By reading what users rated and said about the product, I can filter out and find information that I want to know: reasons why I should not buy this product. Of course it is up to me to determine the validity of this information.

How many times have we gone to the iTunes Store with the intention of buying just one or two songs and ended up downloading entire albums? Sounds good to Apple, but not so helpful on the wallet. Happens to me all the time. Not only is iTunes addicting to media lovers, but Apple now uses meta information in which it uses to suggest similar media (music, apps, videos, etc.) that pertain to your collection. This information organizes their media by tags, such as most downloaded, highest rated, similar genres, etc. Having this information at your fingertips is helpful – or hurtful, depending on which way you look at it.

Related Articles

• 6 Things Video Games Can Teach Us About Web Usability
• Don’t Blink! You’ve Got 50ms to Impress Me
• Hierarchy of Consumer Needs for a Product

Time to Speak Out!

Social validation is hard at work in many ways. Ever feel pressured to buy something because everybody else has one? Did you grow up trying to be like one of the popular kids in school?

This topic doesn’t end here today. I open it up to you guys. Got any stories about how social validation has helped or hurt you in a given situation?

Along with this new policy, the NFL has a current policy in place that bans cell phones, PDA’s, and computers on the sidelines, in the locker rooms, and coach’s booths/press box.  This new policy applies to all players, coaches, officials, and football operations personnel.

“League policy allows for the use of social media or networking sites (including Twitter and Facebook) by players, coaches and football operations personnel up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game following media interviews.”  (Source: Associated Press)

For those that  follow Twitter and the NFL knows that Chad OchoCinco is no stranger to tweeting his mind.  A few weeks ago, Chad announced that he will be tweeting during the Bengals games.  Regardless of the new NFL social media policy, number 85 said that he will not stop tweeting.

Furthermore the league states:

“Longstanding policies prohibiting play-by-play descriptions of NFL games in progress apply fully to Twitter and other social media platforms. Internet sites may not post detailed information that approximates play-by-play during a game. While a game is in progress, any forms of accounts of the game must be sufficiently time-delayed and limited in amount (e.g., score updates with detail given only in quarterly game updates) so that the accredited organization’s game coverage cannot be used as a substitute for, or otherwise approximate, authorized play-by-play accounts.”  (Source: Associated Press)

With not only NFL players joining the Twitter scene, but MLB, NHL, and NBA players getting involved, it is only a matter of time until the other sports organizations start implementing their own social media policies.  Sites like Twitter and Facebook have also been helping by cracking down on users who pose as a professional athlete by creating a profile using their name, team, or jersey number.  These impostors have been gaining thousands of fans this way and have been leveraging players fame to promote products or companies.

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, actually spoke up, and spoke out about all these rumors that have been flooding the news blogs as of late, and it looks like the short answer is this:  Twitter is not for sale…yet.  Here’s what Stone had to say:

“We’re really optimistic about becoming a successful profitable independent company and we believe there’s high potential here. That’s something we really want to see through.”

See it through they will, but that doesn’t mean they’ll always be that “profitable independent company.” He mentioned that he would be very interested in some sort of partnership with Google as currently they do all search-engine operations in-house using a company they acquired last year, Summize.

On top of all this, is the importance in making Twitter better for businesses, and helping businesses become more profitable.  That has been the goal of Twitter for quite some time, and if and when that occurs, I think their “worth” will go up even further.  Nevetheless, Twitter remains not for sale…for now.

Would you believe us if the biggest “company” in the United States bought into the frenzy of social media and social networking?  Well guess what? It did. The country’s biggest and most powerful “business,” the United States Government, has officially succumbed to the social media frenzy.  The White House has an official blog on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.  Yes, you can get direct tweets from our White House.

When prompted why the Government, who previously has been a notorious stickler for being overly-private and detached from its citizens, has suddenly jumped on the social media bandwagon, here’s what they had to say:

“Technology has profoundly impacted how and where we all consume information and communicate with one another. WhiteHouse.gov is an important part of the administration’s effort to use the Internet to reach the public quickly and effectively, but it isn’t the only place.

There’s a lot to talk about right now. From an economic crisis to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President and his Administration have a full plate – not the least of which is making sure the public stays up-to-date and involved in our efforts.”

So if you were still not convinced as to why social media is right for you and your business, maybe we should take a cue from Obama and our Government who believe it is a useful and vital tool to helping them keep citizens well informed.  Don’t get left behind, stay in front with social media.

The bottom line is, the time is now to start incorporating social media into your business.  We just stumbled on an article that highlights not only how big social media is getting, but why you should be getting big with it.  Did you know, as of the end of 2008, there were over 300 social networking sites according to some reports? Did you know some average as many as 200 million unique users a month?

The fact that businesses of all kinds are jumping on board is not surprising.  According to reports:

“An overwhelming majority (93 percent) of online Americans say companies should have a social-media presence, and 85 percent believe these companies also should be interacting with consumers through social media, according to research from Cone, writes MarketingCharts.”

Ninety-three percent of online Americans all can’t be wrong.  The good news is, it’s not hard to at least incorporate some social networking or social media into your business plan.  Many are free, easy to use and require minimal upkeep to stay connected with those that visit the pages.  I think the question you should be asking yourself isn’t whether or not you should start doing it, rather, the question is, what are you waiting for?