Web Video

Over the past five years, Cantaloupe has worked with hundreds of client on thousands of online video stories. Some have been brief projects to meet specific needs, while others have been ongoing engagements. 

I received an email the other day that - to paraphrase - said: Do you still shoot and produce videos? Why, yes. Yes we do. But that's not all we do. 

Cantaloupe has evolved ('ripened' as founder Jon DiGregory would say) from our early days of shooting video for the web. We still tell compelling stories for our business and non-profit clients, but that's only one slice of what we do.

Cantaloupe has been peeling back the rhine of what makes for well produced, delivered and measurable online marketing video campaign. We've broken it down into bite sized chunks that provide an organic recipe for success.

Take a look at our 5-ingredient process that begins with strategy, moves on to production, publishing, distribution, measurement and back into strategy. Yes, Cantaloupe continues to help our clients tell compelling, authentic stories online and off, now ensuring that it closely aligns with your business goals and unique flavor.

 The once bold dividing line between television and web content is rapidly becoming blurred.

More and more people are replacing there television watching habits with the convenience of online options.

A large number of companies have new offerings of hardware gadgets that enable you to watch online video on your television.

Sezmi, Boxee, Roku, and Kylo are all companies introducing innovative products that enable users to take advantage of the convenience and affordability of web video, right on their flat screen.

For those interested in reaching a broad audience, video marketing on the internet seems to be a bright-future option.

To learn about the five hurdles of online video and how Cantaloupe.tv can help, click here to register for our webinar.

 
Getting started with online video isn't as daunting of a task as some people make it out to be. There are really three things that you need.

 First of all you need a camera, you have to get yourself onscreen somehow. How much you want to spend on that camera is kind of up to you. Video quality isn't really as important as the content, which is one of the other things you are going to need.

Content is king. If you don't have anything relevant to say, it doesn't matter how good the video quality actually is. You can get away with shooting with something like the Flip HD or even using the iPhone 4, which shoots pretty good looking HD video. I'm actually using the iPhone 4 for a different series. The third thing you need, the first two being a camera and content, is probably some form of computer. You don't want to do a whole lot of editing in a Vlog. You  want it to be very conversational and honest, but doing a lot of editing takes that away.

You are still going to need to get it up on the web somehow and other than the iPhone 4, which has some editing and posting capabilities, you are going to need something to get the video from the camera to the computer, polish it a little bit and get it up to YouTube, your website, blog or wherever you are going to put it. I really suggest using a Mac. They are very easy to use and come installed with iMovie, which is a very easy to use video editing system. You can add some lower thirds and graphics without learning something like Final Cut Pro, which is what I use.

If you have any questions or topics you'd like addressed, email me at justin@cantaloupe.tv or find me on twitter: @justingutwein. I hope this is helpful to you, I will be diving deeper into cameras and content in some later episodes. Thanks a lot!

My goal with this series is to help the average person start producing video content for their web presence.  

“No more long, cumbersome marketing documents – no more boring presentations. Video is how companies and business should communicate." 

That's a pretty powerful quote, especially coming from IBM. They're not talking about online commercials, rather web-based video content that helps feed information to their key audiences. They're replacing old-school business practices of creating binders of typed prose with online marketing, communication and training videos.  

 Last week Christian and JD found themselves with a few free hours between shoots at the Indiana State Fair. Earlier that day they heard of deep fried butter being sold this year.

So they fired up the camera and were off to learn about this culinary wonder. They spoke with the owner of the butter stand, a number of customers and even consulted a dietitian. They ended up with a web video that provides a glimpse of what this battered, buttered, ball is all about.

Our time with our friend and intern, Lily Cameron, has come to an end. We all got together and went to Arni's to bid her farewell.

This short web video was shot on the iPhone 4 and is the first in an ongoing series, chronicling Cantaloupe lunches around Indianapolis.

The Cantaloupe folks are a unique variety. They challenge one another and keep raising the bar. They do this with their work, on the parking lot basketball court and now on they have decided pushups is the next mountain to scale. This has spread from our production team down the hall to our founder's office and around the corner to our fearless leader, Stacy*. 

Someone found an iPhone app that promises to help you do 100 pushups in a sitting within 6 weeks (the disclaimer graciously reminds users that it might take a few 6-week training cycles for some of us). Day 1: you do as many pushups as you can and enter it in the app.From there it guides you through a steady pushup regimen that moves you closer to the app's target of 100 pushups.

Anyway, as I was laying on the floor after a measly 16 pushups, I mentioned needing to blog today. Stacy's response: "pushups!" Pushups on a web video blog? Makes perfect sense to me. Let's see what we can do with this.

Each Cantalouper is starting at a different place on the road to the same goal - 100 pushups. Your prospects are starting at different points of awareness about you, but are also moving toward a single goal - signing a contract or buying your product. 

There are those who are in pretty good shape. They know all the great things you can do for them and are nearly ready to knock out all 100 pushups (make the purchase). There are others who know of you - they can do some pushups - but need more work (attention, conversations, information) before they're able to hit your goal for them.

Then there are those who (like me) can just do a few. These are the prospects that are unaware of you or underaware of what you can really do for them. They need lots of work - perhaps a couple 6-week training cycles - in order to get where you want them to be.

Where does video come into play, you ask? Video is their training tool. It keeps them engaged with the program and keeps them progressing toward your goal, toward the purchase or contract, toward the day when they can do 100 pushups without collapsing on the office floor.

What type of training regimen (message or video story) does the individual need? That depends on how "in shape" they are when you engage with them.  Make your online video conversation personal to who you're talking with and where they are. Move them along at a steady pace so they don't pull a muscle, get overwhelmed and take a seat on the sidelines.

*Jon was a little slow with the camera phone, so there's no evidence of us on the carpet, but I will tell ya, Stacy has some guns on her!

Have a challenge you'd like to see the Cantaloupe team take on? Post in the comments. We'll grab a camera and post it on the blog for all to see.

Kevin and JD traveled to Florida with with three camera packs.  They were given full access to the campus to make sure that any angle they wanted to shoot was shot.  This is a great example of using an interesting story to promote a product.

Every week, Cantaloupe chooses a place to go to lunch and puts together a short web video documenting it. Tell us where you'd like to see us go to lunch at facebook.com/cantaloupe.tv or on twitter: @cantaloupe_tv

Cupcakes. Zeppelin. Cantaloupe. Now that is a combination for the ages! On Friday, August 6, Cantaloupe decided to run up to the Hamilton Town Center to get some cupcakes from the Cupcake Camper. When we arrived, we found that it had been replaced by the Mobile Cupcakery.

This short web video was shot on the iPhone 4 and is the first in an ongoing series, chronicling Cantaloupe lunches around Indianapolis.

We've set an expectation that Cantaloupe's team will provide new (hopefully useful) information about online video marketing, video SEO and creative online communications everyday through this blog; day in and day out. We've trained you what to expect from our content and when you can expect it online.

We didn't post on the Cantaloupe blog Thursday and - let's be honest - I bet you went all day without thinking about us. You might not have even spared a thought about web video as you read through your RSS feed. It's ok. My hurt feelings will heal - after all, it's my own fault.


Out of sight, out of mind, right? Right. It's the same with our blog followers, as with our clients and yours. When we don't blog, you don't think of us or how we can help your business reach it's goals. The same holds true for each of our clients' businesses.

Determining your video distribution schedule and plan is important. Sticking to it is more so. Your audience might miss you the first month you don't release a new video in your epic-sode series or when your video newsletter doesn't arrive on Monday morning as it always has, but they'll soon get over it and move on to something else that caught their attention.

Give them a reason to revisit your site by releasing new episodes of your stories regularly. Give them a reason to come back to your blog to see FlipCam stories of your current projects and a behind-the-scenes of your company that you always post on Fridays. Give them a reason to look forward to opening your email because they know it contains a video about how you are making their lives easier. Set the expectations and don't allow your audience to forget you (like you forgot about us yesterday).

Need help figuring out the right stories, distribution channels and pacing? Let's talk!

Cantaloupe's Backlight video management platform was designed to help marketers publish, distribute and measure the success of their videos across the web. It's continuing to evolve and will soon become an even more powerful solution for our clients. Enough with the fluffy salesy talk, though.

As your Video Success Manager, it's my responsibility to ensure you are getting the most out of your videos and the tools at your disposal. I wanted to touch on one often underutilized feature of Backlight: the ads.

Video ads are more than just a place for your advertisement to display. They are truly calls-to-action that you can place in your video player as you wish. Use ads to underscore a point, drive viewers to take a specific action ("Register for our webinar!") or lead them to additional information ("Learn more about our solution!").

This empowers you - the marketer and online video content manager - to create, update and place these calls-to-action when and where you want without having to make edits to the video itself - the message, placement, duration and destination webpage are completely within your control.

Below is a sample video. At the 5-second mark, you'll notice an ad pop up and hang out for 10 seconds, then fade away. Clicking on the ad pauses the video and directs the viewer to Cantaloupe.tv's 'Request a Demo' form. (Feel free to request a Backlight demo while you're there.)

As an added bonus, Backlight's analytics tracking allows you to report on how many viewers engaged with each ad. 

You have powerful tools and information at your fingertips - are you taking advantage? If you need help using any of the Backlight features or would simply like a demo to see what all the chatter is about, drop me a note or give me a call at 317.594.9999!

 We produce lots of web videos, and we are very proud of them.  Each week we will showcase one.  Sometimes they will be funny, feature compelling characters, showcase best practices for online video marketing, and hopefully even be entertaining.

We want to share this story because it exudes the raw power of authentic storytelling. There is not one frame of video that is not authentic (even the dramatic head turn!)

 By focusing on story and not the product, IMMI has allowed the viewers to share this powerful story with all their friends without feeling guilty about spamming their friends with a marketing video. That means the "sharability" factor increases and is more likely to hit a wider audience. From that audience, people that choose to learn more about RollTek can watch a more straightforward "About Rolltek" video.

Another fun fact about this web video: It was my first complete video using HDSLR's. The whole thing was shot by a two man team, in 2 locations, in about a 5 hour window with a Canon 7D, Canon T2i and Zoom H4N Recorder.

We talk a lot about how telling a good, compelling, engaging story is the essence of online video success. To tell a good story, you need the 5 W's and an H - who, what, when, where, why and how. Skip one of those and... well... your story falls flat, right?

The same applies for your online video marketing strategy. When planning your project, make sure you satisfy all of these as well.

Who: In your overall strategy, think of who you are talking with. On the story level, think of who your characters are that will build credibility and authority with that audience.
What: What is your goal for the series? For the individual video? What are you trying to educate the audience about? What action would you like them to take? What will you measure success by?
When: When will you use these videos to impact your audience? When is this content relevant to the target audience?  Perhaps this is date-specific, perhaps tied to milestones in the sales cycle. Use this information to determine your distribution schedule.
Where: Where will you distribute your videos? YouTube, LinkedIn, your blog, your partners' blogs, through direct email campaigns? Where does your target audience "hang out"?
Why: Why does your product/service/message/call-to-action matter to this particular audience? Why video over another medium or in conjunction with your other online/offline efforts?
How: How will you get your video onto the web and into your emails? How will you get in front of the people who need to see your video and hear your message? How will you ensure they hear you over all the noise out there?

As with a good story, none of these can be left out of your strategy. Understanding the who, what, when, where, why and how of your efforts makes your plan of action easy to define and execute.

Ahhh... the perks of having a school teacher as a mom. (thanks, Mom!)

For some time now I've been stating that it will get to a point where every business will need at a minimum an "about us" video on the home page of their website to compete (now I actually think it's more like a video on every page that has a major topic or offering). I ran across this article by Mark Robertson from ReelSEO that featured an online video that speaks to the fact that Google is now being aggressive about indexing the videos on your website making more than ever a need for marketers to jump over the "we don't need video" line.

For you non-internet "geeky talk" folks, this means that the king of SEO is trying to help people find your videos easier and will reward those that do it right by pushing your relevant videos "up" on the search page. But, it's only for those companies that actually have videos on their web site along with some know how on how to publish them with the correct sitemap.

Just watch the video and you'll get what I mean:

 Sometimes, you can catch lightning in a bottle, and more often than not, it happens organically.

If you happen to drive past the corner of Emerson and Thompson Rd on Indianapolis' southside, you will probably see Lionel Hills; a 48 year old health claims processor who rides his bike backwards while juggling or twirling sticks.

Lionel is a sensation.  He has quickly become a local celebrity, been approached by local businesses for sponsorship opportunities, and has been featured on the local news.

But here's the most impressive thing.  Lionel has a fan page on Facebook that, at the time this blog was written, has a whopping 6,259 fans.



Let's compare that to a few other popular Indianapolis establishments who are on Facebook:

ENTITY                                            # OF FANS

Peyton Manning                               9,346
Guy on Thompson (Lionel)             6,259
Rupert (from Survivor)                     4,835
Indiana Fever (WNBA)                      3,464
Indianapolis Star                              3,461

The most incredible part of this? . . . Lionel didn't try to make this happen.  

"I ride just because I love doing it and it's good exercise," said Lionel.

Ashlynn Bruner, a high school student, decided to create a fan page for him, and his history is still being written.

Here's the point:  organic, non-manufactured content is the most infectious; in video marketing and otherwise.  In today's online marketing, controlled messaging can have an adverse effect on your organization's goals.  Embrace authenticity, and let natural stories rule your content approach.

To find out how Cantaloupe TV can uses organic authenticity to enhance your web content, email me at bevans@cantaloupe.tv.  We do WAY more than website video firms. 

 We produce lots of web videos, and we are very proud of them.  Each week we will showcase one.  Sometimes they will be funny, feature compelling characters, showcase best practices for online video marketing, and hopefully even be entertaining.




The point of this web video is pure entertainment.  Sure, there are still some behind the scenes hopes. We hope you like and share it. We hope it gets in front of people that have never heard of us, and we hope some of those people decide to go to our website to learn more about us and maybe want to buy our services.  However, our viewers aren't going to share a video of us talking about ourselves with their friends, so we better do something people might actually want to see!

 This short series touches on tips for optimizing your online videos for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Some of these are second nature, but it's always worth the reminder.

Go Beyond YouTube
You've heard us say it before - YouTube is a good distribution channel, but it is still just a distribution channel. Regardless where your marketing, branding and culture videos are published (hosted), they should be embedded on your website.

Your visitors, once they find the video through a search, will be driven to a website to view it. Why send them to YouTube or another outlet when your site's SEO could be benefitting from it's views. Traffic to your site and length of time spent on your site are factors search engines take seriously when serving up search results.

Think of YouTube as the search engine that it is. Help your viewers find you in and when they are looking there. Otherwise, help them to find your website - with all of your calls to action and valuable information - when they are using Google, Yahoo or any of the other website search engines.

This short series touches on tips for optimizing your online videos for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Some of these are second nature, but it's always worth the reminder.

Always Provide an HTML Link
Some video management platforms, including Cantaloupe's Backlight software, allow you to place calls to action within your online video as you wish. This is a great opportunity to drive your viewer to take a specific action, such as 'register for the webinar' or 'get more information on our new product enhancements'.

Using such features in the video management system also allows you to change your calls to action on the fly, rather than re-engaging with your editor.

By adding an HTML link behind these calls to action, you will drive more traffic to and within your site. This is especially important to do if you are distributing your videos outside of your website. Search engines view these inbound links as a popularity contest. The more (quality) inbound links you have to your site, the more popular and credible the search engines believe your site to be.

Plus, you want to make sure your viewers find their way to you, right?