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| Jessica Turner of The Modern Connection |
On Nov. 20 Turner, spoke to my "YouTube and You: The Societal Impact of Online Video Sharing" class. It was an illuminating visit from this seasoned digital marketing and public relations professional who hails from Kansas and has worked in the Los Angeles mega-market.
The Modern Connection, located near the College of Charleston campus on Calhoun Street near East Bay, is a cutting-edge digital marketing agency. Turner and company founder Ashley T. Caldwell can be heard on local radio station 105.5 FM The Bridge every Wednesday morning talking about social media issues.
Here are some key points Turner made to the students about her company, digital marketing, YouTube and effective video production and presentation:
¡What is The Modern Connection?
§A
B2B (business-to-business) digital marketing firm (founded in 2009)
§Helps
small businesses that don’t know how to use social media or
that want to step up
their efforts and success in this area
¡TMC’s services include:
§Building
websites
§Writing
blogs
§Handling
text messaging campaigns
§Day-to-day
social media management for clients
§Google
advertising (AdSense, etc.)
¡Turner maintains that while social
media networks come and go, there will never not
be social networking
¡Social networking has “completely
switched the power from business to consumers” and has “shrunk the world like
never before”
¡Turner cautioned against
“creating video for the sake of creating video”
¡Have a purpose to it and a desired
outcome
¡Have a “call to action”
¡Ways to use video: §Showcase
new products§Demonstrate
products
§Show personalities of owners and managers and to introduce new teammates§Hold contests§Testimonials from satisfied customers
§Show personalities of owners and managers and to introduce new teammates§Hold contests§Testimonials from satisfied customers
Turner offered other things to consider regarding business videos:
¡Hire a spokesperson
¡Be funny- try to anyway-don’t be
afraid to show humor
¡Don’t be afraid to show personal,
human side and personality
¡Link and share videos via websites,
email, social networks
¡“Optimization” is the key on
YouTube- effectively use titles, descriptions, tag words, and link URL to
related, appropriate sites
Other video tactics and approaches shared by Turner included:
¡Use of Vine and Instagram for
marketing is growing as public use grows
¡“Crowdsourcing” can engage
the public and customers by seeking video and photography input in contests and
projects
§airbnb
video example
(article
and submission rules)
§See completed video
§Did this project expand awareness of airbnb?
§See completed video
§Did this project expand awareness of airbnb?
Video "Do's and Don'ts" according to Turner:
Do:
Do:
§Make
sure your message is clear
§Have
a “call to action”- something you want viewers to do and/or take away from the
video
§Include
where people can find you
§Stress
name of the brand
§Have
way for people to connect, to “opt in”
Don't:
¡Let video be overly long- keep it
tight and focused¡Let background noise or music
overwhelm voice-over or narrative
¡Have poor lighting
¡Have excessive zooming, panning
¡Over produce- don’t let
special effects supersede shooting quality
Additional Turner thoughts and tips...
¡“Never quit traditional marketing,”
Turner advised. “Never put everything online.”
¡The key to YouTube success is
“optimization”
¡TMC clients pay for the staff’s
expertise, experience and time
¡Yes, the tools of social media are
free, but the time put into it is not free- especially to bring in pros who
really know how to market digitally
¡Viral videos cannot be made- you
can make a great video, the people will decide if it goes viral
¡Trying to make a viral video will
only look like you tried to make a viral video
Thanks so much Jessica Turner!!!
