Yesterday, we held our first ever webinar! We’ve been thinking about this for a while, because the questions we get from people aren’t just about Wistia — they’re about the big picture of video marketing as a whole and how to think about it, as well as specifics of what works and what doesn’t. For our first topic, we decided on the obvious, Introduction to Video Marketing.

We invested a lot in our first webinar. We talked a lot about what to cover, made slides, and decided to shoot it more like a radio show than your typical pre-recorded webinar, setting up several cameras and doing the entire thing live (we didn’t reshoot anything). This may have been more risky, but we also hope it will allow us to get more out of it — letting it serve as a more permanent piece of content. We may gate this kind of content in the future, but for this one, we wanted to make the learning available to everyone, so we hope you get something out of it even if you didn’t attend.

We’re really happy with how this webinar went — 60% of those who registered actually attended, and people asked lots of good questions. We’re hoping that the behind-the-scenes approach we used will make this webinar more engaging, and we’ll share our results with you as we figure out how well this worked and talk more about our webinar process here as we refine it.

Here are some links and resources that we mentioned in the webinar:

• SEOmoz post on using video to improve SEO rankings
• 50 Grove (directory of video producers)
• Screencasting tools
• Free video creation tools
• YouTube Keyword Tool
• Google Keyword Tool
• Optimizing content for YouTube, meet our friends at Pixability

Today we’re excited to announce the launch of a Wistia + Get Smart Content integration! Now, combining the power of our video marketing tools with their content personalization technology is so easy, even my mom could do it! Okay, it’s not quite that simple, it does still require using the Internet, but it’s pretty darn easy.

Individually, both Wistia and Get Smart Content help marketers convert more website traffic into leads and customers. Combined, these tools form a powerful marketing 1-2 punch that we’re excited to unleash on the world.

Want to try it out the functionality? Just head over here to get rolling!

*Note – you need both a Wistia and a GSC account to take advantage of the integration, but this link will give you access to free trials of one or both services if you are not yet a customer of either.

What is a video? We weren’t so sure. Then we figured out that it’s a series of frames arranged to form a moving picture. Then our questions became more metaphysical, more advanced: why video? We went on a lengthy, complicated vision quest in search of the answer. I’d type more, but as it turns out, video sort of eliminates the need to do that.

Narrowing your marketing imagination to the idea of making a video that will go viral is very limiting; there are a lot of other ways to use think about using video to market your business, and most of these are much more accessible to the average company — and much more likely to succeed (it’s really, really rare for a video to go viral, and many of the most viral videos were never intended to explode to such a massive degree. Take both of those factors into account and it’s obvious why it’s hard to produce a viral video of your own).

Once you’ve put virality on the backburner, how can you think about video marketing? You can use video to scale the communications you already have. Optimize your videos for engagement and scale your story efficiently; if it takes several iterations to figure it out, that’s okay: video marketing should be an iterative process (and that’s where good analytics come in, hint, hint). Video is distinct from other ways of conveying information in a number of important ways: it’s a story told over time, in a logical order, in a way that can walk a viewer through something without overwhelming them.

Take this video of our office, for example. What purpose is this video serving? It’s somewhat akin to bringing someone into their office and walking around with them, showing them our space and our cast of characters. Because this sort of personal feeling is important to us, it’s not something that we want to lose, but we also don’t have time to do this for everyone for real as our company grows (and also, our customers are located all around the world).

In the last 9 months, this video, which is only available on our Company page, has been seen 3,000 times — the equivalent of that many office tours and that many hours of our time spent (especially since on average, these people watched 78% of the video). Using video also means that we can create tours of features that people might otherwise ask about instead of explaining them over and over again. This doesn’t just mean that we save time — it also means that this information is available to the customer whenever they want it, as many times as they need to hear it, and without having to feel guilty about asking a question. And then we can spend more time answering the more difficult questions that matter.

Using videos and tracking them closely means that you can get a good sense of what information people are likely to engage with on different parts of your website and will allow you to figure out what stage prospects are at as they view different pages. It will also help you to figure out what parts of your videos people are watching the most closely so you can hone these sections more precisely or highlight that content. Video is a unique, effective way to scale communication for your business, even if it doesn’t “go viral.” If you’re a huge company that can afford the risk of producing a high-budget video that may or may not see the success you initially hoped for, then it’s probably okay to put a lot of your eggs in that one basket. But if you’re a regular company that wants to use video effectively without so much risk, there are still a lot of ways that the medium can work to your advantage — without needing to get 6,000,000 hits.

How to Engage

A 2008 Forrester research study found that online video watching is becoming a consumer habit, and active viewers are eager and interested in content that pertains to them. This means it’s up to you to create that content. Making a video that grabs your audience’s attention makes them more likely to watch, and it also helps build interest and trust in your brand by showing that you value your audience’s time.

If you believe in your product or service, your job is to help the audience believe in it, too. To start, you must identify your audience and nail down the message you’re trying to deliver — but that’s the easy part. The real challenge is delivering that message in an interesting and engaging way.

The best videos offer solutions to problems, share helpful information, and tell a story. And a key part of engaging your audience is creating content that shows — not tells — them how your business can help. You can use these engaging elements in all your videos, even for something as mundane as printer ink. For example, instead of pointing out the technical features or chemical compounds of the ink, you could show a couple printing high-quality wedding invitations with the cartridge. Make your product or service the solution to everyday problems your audience encounters. If something is relatable, a viewer is much more likely to engage with it.

How to Convert

Once you have piqued your audience’s interest, you can help convert them to customers by giving them a call to action at the end of the video. This step turns passive viewers into active viewers by sending them on the right path, encouraging them to further the relationship by taking action. Depending on what your goal is, you should give your viewers a “next step” that helps facilitate that. Some effective calls to action:

• Include a website URL at the end of your video, preferably with the verbiage “click here.” That link could direct to your website or a special landing page set up for video viewers specifically.
• Offer a discount or sample for video viewers only. Not only does this benefit the customer, you can track a definitive ROI on the success of your video. Present the offer as an embedded link at the end.
• Ask for feedback, encourage contact, or request users subscribe to your video channel (on YouTube) or to your newsletter so that you can continue to establish a relationship.
• Give more information, such as a downloadable PDF brochure or special landing page providing more related info, to continue your dialogue with the viewer.
• Encourage sharing by asking viewers to spread the word via their favorite social media sites (make sure any sharing widgets are visible and prominent).
• Incorporate in-video interaction to make your video a dynamic selling tool. Include mouse-over areas that highlight products in the video or embed links to immerse users in experience and facilitate an ongoing relationship.

It may only take a few more clicks to turn an engaged viewer into a converted customer, so make sure you’re considering including these essential elements in each video you create.

In lieu of a ‘congrats’ card, we shot a video celebrating of this enormous achievement. Way to go Freddie and team! Eep Eep!

View the infographic in the gorgeous wide view.

One of the questions that comes up often is “Why does video seo actually work?”

Ben, our Video SEO expert, breaks down why search engines rank videos differently and what you can do to benefit most from Video SEO.

Visit our Video SEO page to learn how Wistia can help you dramatically improve your rankings.

The example video’s analytics reflect the audience’s engagement. Almost 50% of viewers watch the entire video, which is a remarkably high audience retention rate for a 15-minute long, non-required video.

The ideas

The Mozzers have made a name for themselves by straightforwardly explaining complex topics. How do they do it? They just apply their expertise to the great topics that they choose. SEOmoz shared with us where they find their Whiteboard Friday ideas.

1. They answer questions from their blog comments and their PRO Q&A Forum
2. They talk about issues they’re working on. If they’re brainstorming solutions to interesting problems, they figure that other people might be interested in their thought processes.
3. They give their perspective on news and trends in their industry.
4. They find inspiration on Twitter and Quora.
5. They conduct live, in-person interviews. If someone drops by their office, SEOmoz willl often film a quick Q&A with the guest.

The production

Once they have their idea, they’re ready to go. SEOmoz broke down their production process into some easy steps for us.

1. Organize. Have a meeting to come up with an idea, get input on the content, and discuss the logistics of filming. SEOmoz gave us an example, “If we don’t have a video in the hopper, I’ll speak with our team about who might be the presenter of the next WBF video.”
2. Lights, camera, action! The Mozzers set up their equipment, and then it’s blastoff! They film their video in one or two takes, keeping it fun and conversational. SEOmoz’s laid back approach is a great alternative to an expensive, highly produced series.
3. Edit. SEOmoz says, “It usually doesn’t take a lot of time, maybe an hour, to cut out excess film and add bumpers.” They recommend Final Cut for editing, SpeechPad for transcription (which is great for long videos), and Quicktime, compressed with H.264, to export their film for video rendering.
4. Upload and post. SEOmoz uploads their final video to Wistia (thanks guys!).
5. Distribute. SEOmoz uses the Wistia Social Bar to get their video out there. They share the Embed Code and Video Analytics with their audience. Then they fill out the Video Sitemap and celebrate because they’ve finished the production process.

The Results

SEOmoz explains how Whiteboard Friday has helped increase their presence in their community, “It’s something the SEO community has come to know and expect…We get a lot of viewers, especially from returning community members.” They add, “It really feels like the SEO community owns Whiteboard Friday more than we do!”

If you want to see part 2 of the Link Metrics discussion and other Whiteboard Friday videos, check out The Daily SEO.