There are a lot of people who make the best out of the career they thought they were going to enjoy. A lot of people hate their job but have to go everyday because they have no choice. Then there are the select few who are doing exactly what they want, happy as can be without complaint. They are what we call “imaginary.”
But we need to change our situation to get employment where we are happy. I’ve done that recently by getting myself hired at Ydraw. (Are the bosses reading? Okay, good.)
But changing your job around can be an incredible hassle. Let’s go through the list.
CHANGING YOUR INSURANCE. This was the big one between my wife and I. At my old job I had incredible insurance that was set up for me and I didn’t really need to think about it. With my new job change, I’ve got to find and change my insurance myself. Not a huge challenge, just a huge hassle.
Now I need to vet about 200 health care companies for the best coverage at the best rate. Or trust my health to the government and get covered by the Affordable Care Act.
Good news though, I think I saw my favorite celebrity with “#getcovered” on a white piece of paper, so I’m pretty sure I won’t die.
FALLOUT FROM YOUR FORMER EMPLOYER. My former employer was also my father-in-law. I don’t recommend doing that. There’s no separating your private life with your personal life.
For example, when I gave my two-week notice my wife got chewed out like she was 15 again, for an hour. I actually didn’t make the two weeks; I made it four days, from Tuesday to Friday.
I then was invited to start early if possible. It was possible and I jumped at the chance. I always wanted to write and Ydraw made that happen, why wouldn’t I go for it?
(“How do I computer?”)
PRESSURE TO KEEP THE NEW JOB. Now that the fallout is as deep as the craters on Edward James Olmos’ face, you have the added pressure to keep the job you just got because you cannot go back to that old job.
That bridge is a smoldered wreck of brittle matchsticks, so you need to perform. There’s nothing worse than trying to perform with that sort of pressure to impress your new bosses while catching up with your company’s procedures.
Sure there’s a learning curve, but how obtuse is that curve? It’ll make your palms sweat.
UNDERSTAND YOUR NEW COMPANY’S CULTURE. Every company has a different way of doing things. In my old job if the boss caught you taking a break when he walked up to the job site you would see his face melt as his eyes borrowed deep into your soul as his high piercing screeches destroyed your eardrums.
It’s not like that at Ydraw, it’s not like that at all. I haven’t been here long enough to know where everything stands just yet, but I’m sure there is some snags here and there I’ll learn, but for now, I’ll just lay low.
(pictured: how my life works now)
THE CAR SITUATION. I had a company car and even though I couldn’t do much with it besides my work, it did get me around when I needed it. Now I’m down to one car. One 2010 Toyota Corolla (that’s right, ladies) with a wrecked backseat from two kids reenacting ‘Lord of the Flies’ during road trips. So my morning routine is as follows.
6:30am: Get up, get myself and kids ready for the day.
7:45am: leave with kids and wife.
8:05am: drop off kids at school.
8:25am: get dropped off by wife at work as she goes to school. Stay at work all day, stranded.
4:30pm: get picked up by wife with kids.
4:50pm: get home and stay home to let wife take car to school at night.
(Repeat)
So until I get another mode of transportation I’m just basically a toddler who’s gets dropped off at daycare everyday.
(update: I got a motorcycle and it’s super rad.)
(pictured: me not looking super rad)
As much as it is a hassle, I’m glad I’ve made the change. Writing has always been my passion and I’m here fulfilling that dream. There’s nothing that feels as nice.
(Pictured: not me.)
I guess changing your job isn’t that bad after all.
Today businesses are struggling to raise brand awareness and achieve monthly sales. Without an online presence those goals are not easily reached, if they are reached at all. 90% of online shoppers said they found a video helped in making and buying decisions, 80% of internet users recall watching a video ad on a website in the past 30 days and 64% are more likely to make a purchase.
But why?
THE HUMAN BRAIN CAN PROCESS VISUAL CONCEPTS QUICKER. In a study last year, scientists found that the human brain can process an image that has been seen for just 13 milliseconds. Which means that the brain can process visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes for the brain to process text. This is why visuals can be used as a strong communication tool to gather potential consumers. Even the earliest versions of man communicated with each other through cave paintings. Those evolved to pictures with full meanings, to written text and have ended on video, the collaboration of visual and sound sensory. These two senses are the most basic form of understanding and are still the most effective means to present ideas to consumers.
IT WILL IMPACT LONG-TERM MEMORY RECALL. Reeling in your audience with stimulating images can lodge an idea inside the heads of consumers. That idea then calls the person to action. That action can manifest by a retrieval cue, based on an ad they saw before a YouTube video started, that stirs the consumers memory and redirects them to your website or your product on an online store. Video images are essentially being used as prompting that trigger the retrieval of long-term memory.
ONLINE VIEWING IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH. The number of video content posts from companies and individuals has risen by 94% in the United States and the average viewing session on YouTube is now 40 minutes and watch time on mobile devices have more than doubled since last year. 89 Million people in the United States alone with watch 1.2 billion online videos today and 52% of them say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchases. Any device that connects to the Internet now allows companies, large and small; to promote themselves in creative ways and let untapped revenue streams flow into their company.
VIDEOS ARE IDEAL FOR SOCIAL MEDIA. Videos are ready made to engage consumers and get them to click through to your website. In 2010 a marketing survey found that when marketers included an explainer video in an email, the click-through rate increased by 200% to 300%. Those numbers only multiply when applied to Facebook and Twitter. Videos are easy to share and easy to engage your key demographic.
There are many other statistics on video content and it’s effectiveness online and they further prove this point; an online presence is critical in today’s market, but that presence needs something to push and prod the consumer towards your company. Utilizing video to quickly explain to and easily share with consumers can dramatically increase the draw to your company and allow you to grow. Don’t be left behind as the online market changes the way consumers pay attention to companies and their products. Change with the market and get ahead of your competitors.
Ha! That’s hilarious. Advertising does work. In fact, it worksso well that every single person in the entire world – minus the aborigines, the lost tribes and the Gods Must Be Crazy kind of families – has been influenced by some kind of advertising.
If during a moment of weakness while you were cleaning out your inbox, and you happened to read one of the mass emails you so often receive from your dear old granny, you recognize this short story:
A man wakes up in the morning after sleeping on an advertised bed, in advertised pajamas. He will bathe in an advertised tub, wash with advertised soap, shave with an advertised shaver and have advertised juice, cereal and toasted bagel (toasted in an advertised toaster) for breakfast. He’ll then put on advertised clothing and glance at his advertised watch.
He will ride to work in advertised car, call in to let his office know he’s running late from his advertised cell phone, and sit down in an advertised desk chair when he gets to the office. He’ll work at his advertised computer, and write with an advertised pen.
Yet this man hesitates to advertise (or market his business), saying that marketing and advertising don’t work. Finally, when his unadvertised business goes under, he will advertise it for sale.
It’s a funny little story, but it packs a lot of truth – and without further adieu, here are three huge reasons your small business needs to advertise:
Inform Consumers
In a way, advertising saves you money by eliminating sales lost simply because the consumer didn’t have enough knowledge of your product or service. You can use advertising to educate potential buyers so they can comparison shop early. If they come to you having been educated – you know they are there to buy.
Existence by Awareness
If people don’t know about you, then your company is just as profitable as it was when it was only a glimmer of an idea in your eye. Consumers are aware of the companies with the most aggressive advertising campaign. Sure, these companies might get a reputation of being annoying, but at least people will think of them if they ever have a need for car insurance.
Brand Recognition
Aside from Harley Davidson and Starbucks, none of these logos tell you what they represent – yet you already know. Why?
Advertising can seem expensive, especially if you’re in a very competitive market and are scrounging for ways to keep your prices down – however, without advertising, your consumer base will be limited to a few locals, faithful friends, and super supportive relatives. But the truth is that your return on your investment will make having an advertising campaign more than worth it. If you’re not sure where to start, maybe Granny can send out a few mass emails about your company for you? Heaven knows her reach is endless.
Hashtags have become part of the American culture. With celebrities leading the charge, hashtags have found their way into the news, business campaigns, and everyday life. It’s become a source for breaking news and a creative way to gain attention to your product or service. As you continue to push your videos on social media it’s time to start looking at ways hashtags can boost your campaigns.
Before we jump into the best way to market your next video with hashtags, let’s go over some ground rules so you don’t alienate your social media fans before you get started.
Here are the 3 Laws of Hashtaging
1. Don’t Over Do It – there is a limit of two hashtags per tweet, maximum of three on Pinterest, and zero on Facebook. The moment you allow hashtags to overtake your posts your audience will start feel like they are being spammed.
2. Keep ‘Em Short and Sweet – #hashtagsarenotintendedforfullsentences. Contain your hashtags, they should add value to your post—not consume it.
3. Stay Relevant – It’s no secret when a company is only interested in views; they start using hashtags that are popular but not relevant to their posts. It’s easy to slip into this pattern when you are starting out and desperate for interaction but this not a tactic that converts. There may be more eyes viewing your status or post but this will likely turn off the reader as they were searching for something else.
Marketing with Hashtags
Hashtags originated on Twitter and can now be found on Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram. If you are posting on these social mediums without leveraging hashtags you are limiting visibility to your posts. Whether your goal is to create a hashtag campaign or use popular hashtags to reach a larger audience they can be very effective in marketing campaigns.
Stay Up-to-Date on Trending Hashtags
Begin by finding popular hashtags. http://whatthetrend.com/ is great place to stay up-to-date on what hashtags are trending on Twitter. When you get ready to launch your next video check to see if there are any applicable trending hashtags you can include in your posts.
I like to use http://top-hashtags.com/instagram/ to get live updates on trending Instagram hashtags. It’s the one social medium that allows for the use of many hashtags without backlash from fans. Instagram allows fifteen hashtags in every post. Use them wisely, the more applicable the hashtag the more likely you’ll see interaction from your fans and users on instagram.
Hashtag Campaigns on Twitter
Pushing a new product or service through a hashtag campaign on Twitter can be a very effective way to gain interaction. However, not every hashtag campaign is made equal. Some campaigns can be a huge boost for companies while others can actually hurt a company’s image.
Edge Shave Gel launched a hashtag campaign called #soirritating. Knowing that Twitter is popular place to complain, they offered a hashtag for tweeters to do just that. To encourage interaction, Edge’s social media team responded with solutions to the problems irritating their fans. This campaign resulted in 6,800 tweets and gained attention from many media outlets.
This campaign was successful because Edge played into the culture that is already present on Twitter—people like to complain. By leveraging this knowledge they created a platform for people to vent to them and receive interaction back. Any mid level tweeter finds excitement communicating with celebrities or well-known companies. Fans ability to directly communicate with their celebrity crush or interact with large scale companies is one reason Twitter is such a unique social medium. If you can provide this for your fans you will personify your business and create a relationship with them. Real fans will buy just about anything you put out.
Taco Bell is great example of a company who takes the time to interact with fans directly.
When two social media giants meet on Twitter you can always expect great things.
So what happens when a hashtag campaign goes wrong?
McDonald’s launched a Twitter campaign called #McDstories that did not go as planned. The campaign was intended for fans of the restaurant to share fun stories about eating at McDonald’s. As the hashtag was promoted it attracted an onslaught of negative stories about McDonald’s food. Some shared stories of finger nails being found in their food, others talked about receiving food poisoning, and others joked at the low quality meat. This was certainly something McDonald’s wasn’t intending. They were able to stop the campaign in just two hours but the responses were retweeted throughout the day. This will go down as one of the worst campaigns in Twitter history.
So why did things go sour for McDonald’s? One of the campaigns biggest pitfalls was a broad hashtag. It allowed for both negative and positive stories about McDonald’s. They failed to focus on a giveaway or new product. Successful campaigns have a clear purpose but are creative enough to draw the attention of fans.
As you begin to push out your next video look for ways to integrate hashtags into your campaign. Video is one of the best ways to receive interaction on social media and can be very useful when aligned with the right hashtag
Understanding Your Audience | 3 things to remember when getting to know your consumers.
Getting the most out of your video marketing campaign can be as simple as understanding your audience. Maybe it doesn’t actually sound so simple – and here’s the thing – it’s not. If you want to broaden your marketing horizons you must use social media. Social media has become so much more than just glorified chat rooms and photo boards. Sites like Facebook have become a community in and of itself where people interact, make new friends, create their own awareness campaigns, and much more. And even if you’re on board with social media for your business, creating a website, Facebook, and Twitter pages will not ensure that people will come to you. You need to act and interact, post often and respond to your follower’s questions and comments. Get your business out there! Developing a solid marketing strategy to use with social media will allow you to reap the maximum benefits from your efforts.
But to do that you have to know a few things: Who exactly are you trying to reach? Who is your target audience? What appeals to them? Trying to understand who your audience is can be daunting, but here are a few key ways to get to know the people who will be buying your product:
1. Research
This is perhaps the most important and direct way to get to know your audience. Input gathered from real live people can help to design your marketing campaigns to be the most effective. A few ways to gather information from your audience includes:
– Conduct surveys and/or take polls throughout your current following to find out what they like, don’t like, how they watch online video, what they feel they would add, and what is important to them. Asking questions is the easiest and sometimes most efficient way to interact with your visitors.
– Using web analytics is another popular way for businesses to see what kinds of people are visiting their site. Google Analytics is the preferred analytical tool – easy set up and completely free!
– There are sites such as Rapleaf that makes sure everyone using the internet has a great experience. To use these sites, a business sends a list of all user emails. The site then searches its database for those specific email addresses and provides you with information about the person using that email address, such as age, gender and location.
2. Know the Social Media Types
There are three distinct categories of consumers who spend their time online. First, there is the silent majority. These are the observers, they don’t usually post often, share often, or respond often. It may seem fruitless to chase after this group, but they are the largest group and are always watching. Second is the vocal minority. These are the people who share posts, videos, links, etc… They are always commenting on things others have shared and are anxiously interacting with others. These are the consumers who will spread the word about your business to their silent majority friends. Cater to them. The third and smallest group is the social authorities. These are the trailblazers – the ones with great online influence who have successful blogs or sites of their own. If you can get in good with these guys, you’re about set.
3. Ask Questions
Conducting surveys is an excellent way to gather information, but if you really want to go deep, you need to do a little digging yourself. There are three specific questions you should always ask when trying to get to know your audience:
– What are the customer’s preferences for content?
– How do they discover, consume and share content?
– What do they talk about on social media sites?
Once you have in mind who your target audience is, there are a few things you should do to keep them coming back. These include tailoring your future marketing campaigns to appeal to them. Make sure the aesthetics of your site, images and videos appeal to them. For example, if your business is trying to appeal to an older generation, use mostly muted colors, a clean design, conservative graphics and a classic font. If you’re marketing toward teens or young adults, use eye-catching graphics, creative design features and bold, popping colors.
Remember, social media and your audience’s behavior is always changing. Stay on top of any changes by pursuing an active role across all the social media platforms. Be a part of the action; listen to what your audience wants. Do what you can to make sure your business will never be left behind.
TRUE STORY: The other day I was at my mom’s house and she was watching TV. During the commercial break, there was an ad for the Les Olson Company that was made using whiteboard animation. My mom (who doesn’t know a whole lot about what I do) was watching with wonder when she exclaimed “I’ve seen those kind of videos, but none of them have ever been like that!” Of course, she was referring to how well done and professionally made the whiteboard video ad was, and after I told her that it was a Ydraw video, she remained amazed. Apparently she didn’t realize she had ties to such a fantastic company with such outstanding products – it was a lot to handle, as you can imagine. So there you have it, even a civilian can see the difference.
There’s a reason that Ydraw is at the top of whiteboard animation companies. With the great writing, fantastic art, and incredible editors that compile it all together, we truly make a video worth watching and yes, being amazed by. Don’t just take one mom’s insignificantly significant testimonial though, check out the Les Olson video for yourself. We bet your mom would love it too.
Don’t you think Ydraw ought to be doing your whiteboard ad? Contact us today to find out more information on whiteboard animation videos, video scribing videos, explainer videos, cutout videos, 2D and 3D videos, and the list goes on and on.
We have no shortage of options for you and your company or product, and we would love to help you market it better. We care about you, our customer, and want to make sure you have the best advertising available to use towards your advantage.
