By Larry ThomasPresident

Latergy, LLCwww.latergy.com

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PRESS

Most companies, agencies and associations know that visual storytelling needs to be part of the online communications mix. Technology and audience reach are no longer an issue and the simple act of placing video on a page boosts overall search results. This creates divine opportunity for Marketing, PR, IR and Corporate Communications professionals, but a wing, a prayer and repurposed b-roll is not enough to shine a light on your message. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) can be a messenger’s best tool and this tip sheet will teach you how to use it.

The people have gathered. According to comScore Video Metrix, 178 million U.S. Internet users enjoyed 6.2 Billion viewing sessions in June, 2011 for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer. Globally, more than 3 billion videos are viewed a day on YouTube alone. Demand for online video is strong and it is expected to grow by 81 percent by 2015. That’s the good news.

The bad news? Finding a specific video can be akin to wandering through the desert in search of a particular grain of sand. More than 13 million hours of video were uploaded to YouTube during 2010 and 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 50,000 hours of content uploaded every day.

Have faith, Marketers, because you’ll need it to succeed IF your video is NOT search engine optimized. For inspiration, look to Zappos, king of online retail and VSEO. According to “The State Of Video In E-Commerce – Q1 2011″ by Sunday Sky, a study of keywords related to shoes resulted in 8.1% returning a Zappos video. Monthly, 77,316 website visits and more than $500,000 in revenue are specifically attributed to their video listings in search results.

Amen!

Whether your message is about stocks and bonds or heels and souls, VSEO is essential. To save your message from drowning in a sea of content, thou shalt follow these “10 Commandments of Video Search Engine Optimization”.

Use video prominently on your home page and throughout the entire website and make it search engine friendly with a video site map, which is an XML file that tells search engines where videos can be found on a website. It helps search engines identify the file as video and understand the nature of the content and the technical specifications of the file. Video site maps help you explicitly tell Google which content you wish to be indexed, giving you more control than with an organic search algorithm. Additionally, video site maps allow you to choose how your videos are listed and define what metadata is most relevant to your video, optimizing search results. Comply with Google’s recommended format by working with your webmaster to ensure each video listing includes these five items: “Title”, “Brief description”, “URL of video player”, “URL of thumbnail image” and “URL of raw files”.

Sample Video Site Map

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"> <url> <loc>http://www.example.com/videos/some_video_landing_page.html</loc> <video:video> <video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.example.com/thumbs/123.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc> <video:title>Grilling steaks for summer</video:title> <video:description>Alkis shows you how to get perfectly done steaks every time</video:description> <video:content_loc>http://www.example.com/video123.flv</video:content_loc> <video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="ap=1"> http://www.example.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123</video:player_loc>

Site maps are prepared by webmasters with input from PR and Marketing to help engines identify & understand video.

A video site map is XML code that makes your video more discoverable and indexable.

I. Create video site maps

Video search is still driven by text. Really! Fingerprinting, watermarking and graphic scans may soon be coming en masse to a screen near you but, for now, it's mainly about the keyword. Keep that in mind and be verbose. Fill out every field. Always include the transcript whether it's requested or not and add key industry terms, product names, competitors and relevant phrases your audience is likely to search for. Include common variations on spelling and related topics. When it comes to keywords … more is more.

II. Use keywords to drive video results

Most video platforms, YouTube included, support transcript uploads, one of many keyword fields that should be filled out completely.

YouTube Dashboard

Always post transcript as base for keyword selection.

Strengthen your video’s visibility by adding keywords and phrases based on current data about popular searches. To learn what people are searching for simply go to YouTube or Google and slowly enter the likely search term … then make note of the ‘auto-type suggestions’ and use the exact same phrases in your metadata (a.k.a. keywords). Likewise, strengthen news hooks by incorporating trending topics on Twitter, Yahoo! and other sites that offer 'most popular' listings. Only do this if the hot topics and terms have a reasonable connection to your brand and message.

How To Identify Popular Terms

III. Incorporate real time, universally popular terms

Incorporate keywords and phrases based on popular topics.

Incorporate keywords and phrases based on suggestions.

Tap into public demand by paying attention to the suggested search terms and trending topics.

Use keywords in the title of your video and the title in the URL of the page and player where it resides. Search engines will assign a higher priority based on the placement, relevance and density of those words. Choose each word carefully and name your videos accordingly, placing the most likely words at the beginning of the title. Hypothetically, if Ford wanted to post the Edge commercials with Derek Jeter, they could choose one of these titles (with comment about effectiveness in parentheses):

• TV Commercial: Ford Edge with Derek Jeter (Really Bad)• Ford Edge TV Commercial with Derek Jeter (Pretty Bad)• Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, Stars in Ford Edge TV Commercial (OK)• Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, Has an Edge: Video from Ford (Good)

IV. Name your video carefully

Incorporate keywords into the title of the video and the player URL.

Sample of Keywords in Video Title and Player

V. Post your video to YouTube and other user generated content For the highest visibility, your video should be on YouTube, Metacafe, Vimeo, DailyMotion and other general sites that support user generated content. Most provide audience reach and social media features at no charge and YouTube can be used as the primary home for your video in certain situations. YouTube dominates from a consumer view standpoint, but there are other sites you should use to cover as many bases as possible. Post video and/or links on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and targeted topical or industry specific networks and blogs. There are UGC sites focused on healthcare, philanthropy, sports and most every other topic. Placing video on these niche sites may not generate as many views as the broad consumer platforms, but the context and quality of the audience may be better for your brand.

While YouTube is the best way to reach a large online audience, there are hundreds of UGC sites that provide targeted reach based on topics, demographics and geography.

Sample Niche Targeted UGC Sites

SchoolTube reaches educators and parents.

GodTube reaches conservative Christians.

ExpoTV reaches consumers interested in product reviews.

ICYOU reaches consumers focused on healthcare.

VI. Add interactivity with YouTube annotations Take advantage of annotations to drive interactivity and lead your viewer to the desired outcome. Annotations appear in the form of bubbles, notes or spotlights that encourage the viewer to interact with the content and click the video or something else on the page. Use this feature to bring attention to specific points in your video, drive “likes” or comments and insert hyperlinks to informational and transactional pages on your site. You can even use them to deliver a “Call this number NOW” message and embed a web to phone link.

Sample Annotations on YouTube

Sample “Bubble” annotation.

Sample “Spotlight” annotation.

Hyperlink embedded in “Bubble” annotation.

Annotations bring attention and add interactivity to certain items in the video.

VII. Aggregate video in a microsite, multimedia player or an online newsroom

Concentrations of video will make those content-rich pages more attractive to the engines and to your audience. In addition to the positive impact from keyword density, this will enhance the likelihood of your audience watching more than one video. Display video in an interactive player that enables sharing via e-mail, embed code, grab html, post to social networks and links to key pages or sites. The main advantage of an online newsroom or a social video player over an embedded YouTube player is control. You control the branding, interactivity, environment, access and content.

Sample Online Newsroom and Branded Online

Click to learn about iPressroom.

Click to learn about Brightcove players.

Online newsrooms with multimedia libraries and branded video players help engines and people find video.

VIII. Leverage all relevant social media platforms and tools to drive interactivity

Video is inherently a social medium and search engines reward activity. Max out on engagement by encouraging – even ensuring it via media buys and earned media, coupons and contests – high volumes of linking, liking, commenting and sharing. View the social media sites – including, but not limited to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Digg, Yelp – as content and conversation “spokes” that lead back to the business “hub” – your website. Display a link to your website (or other “owned” media) at the beginning of the “description” field to generate traffic to your site. Do not use URL shorteners (ie: bit.ly, tinyurl.com) because people are less likely to click on an unknown link.

US Video Consumption by Unique Users

Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, June 2011Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: comScore Video Metrix

Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, June 2011Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: comScore Video Metrix

Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, June 2011Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: comScore Video Metrix

Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, June 2011Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: comScore Video MetrixProperty Total

Unique Viewers (000)

Viewing Sessions* (000)

Minutes per Viewer

Total Internet : Total Audience

178,447 6,255,493 1,008.3

Google Sites 149,281 2,311,116 324.1VEVO 63,003 399,503 112.0Yahoo! Sites 52,665 247,834 34.8Microsoft Sites 50,663 286,892 32.8Viacom Digital 49,493 274,933 76.8Facebook.com 47,687 167,137 20.7AOL, Inc. 43,915 251,987 49.3Turner Digital 30,063 121,301 46.2Hulu 26,701 156,939 184.8Amazon Sites 21,247 43,193 8.3

Social media is not the only online video driver.

Social Media & VideoFacebook is the primary driver but a blend of blogs, bookmarks, and social networks should all be used.

Social networks, blogs and bookmarks drive video views through recommendations from trusted sources.

IX. Initiate engagement with a carefully selected hi-res image for the video thumbnail.

Make it easy to spot and make sure your image is appealing. Use people shots over product shots. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is made up of thousands of pictures. I’ll say no more.

Thumbnail Images & Video Which Image Are You Most Likely to Click?

Once people find your video, the thumbnail is a factor in whether they click to watch.

X. Place calls to action and key messages at the beginning and end of your video

Now that we've used text and images to help your audience find your video and choose to watch it, one way to engage your audience is to end the video with a call to action inviting comments, clicks, likes, etc. in support of your business and communications goals. Even better is to feature the call to action at the beginning of your video, as well, because most people will not watch your entire video unless your name is Hulu or Netflix. This can sometimes be accomplished with “Annotations” (tip 6, above) but you should also have messages embedded in the actual video – delivered by the on-screen talent and via graphical and text overlays.

While online media sites have the highest completion rates, brand videos are not far behind.

Video Completion Rates by Source

Per the “Tube Mogul–Brightcove Online Video and the Media Industry Q4 2010” report, less than 50% of viewers watch entire

Follow these ten guidelines and your video will be much closer to commanding the audience it deserves and needs to generate target ROIs. If you simply post it they will not necessarily come. VSEO is a must, but you also need a steady stream of well told stories. After all, getting your audience to notice a video is only step one. Step two is to engage them with a good story and step three is to evoke a response or action. You need all three to be successful, and I will cover more topics in the next Views You Can Use.

Meanwhile, Latergy is here to help you position, create, distribute, optimize and measure video in a way that drives views and, more importantly, solid business results.

The path to success may test your faith but online video will lead you to the Promised Land.

Please contact Larry Thomas (646.290.0453, lthomas@latergy.com)with questions, requests or to tell him your story.

PRESSPublished by CommPRO.biz Press, the destination for integrated marketing communications knowledge.