A well-balanced content marketing strategy always includes two core parts:

• Content creation
• Content curation

Both of these content ensure a consistent content flow to your brand-owned marketing channels.

Which of the two is more valuable, and how should they be implemented into overall content management?

What makes this question unique is that it isn’t limited to any one platform. Original versus curated content is as relevant to blogs as it is to social networks, for example. It can be asked by marketers, webmasters, bloggers, and business owners alike. The answer is also not so cut and dry as selecting which holds the most benefit for any one person.

The truth is, both are highly valuable, and both have their place in the scheme of things. 

It is more about finding the right combination of the two.

Original Content

It should be obvious why original content is important. You are creating something new and unique, that can be identified under your brand, business or personal. When that content is curated by others, it furthers your scope and visibility. 

This, in turn, has benefits such as increasing traffic, solidifying your reputation as an expert in your field, and expanding your social presence.

Content should be created for all different sources of your brand. That means blogs, business sites, guest posts on other sites, your social networks, and so on. Likewise, different types of content should be made, from text posts to images, and even infographics or videos. Anything you can make that is unique will have a positive impact.

The downside to this is that the creation of content takes a great deal of time and energy. You need fresh ideas, platforms to release it on, and sometimes a piece might not get the attention you have hoped. 

Indeed, there is no method for reaching viral status that anyone can pinpoint. It is just a matter of quality versus timing, and very often a complete fluke.

The only way to achieve results from your content creation process is to have a clear strategy: Why is your brand investing in content creation? What is it you want to achieve and what’s your higher-level plan?

Knowing answers to these questions will help you get focused and only spend time and energy on content that fits your plan. Text Optimizer is a great tool to help you create a well-informed content creation strategy. The tool uses semantic analysis to cluster your main topic into concepts and subtopics your target audience is researching online:

Curated Content

On the other hand, there is curated content. This is work created by someone else and reposted or collected by you. With full rights to the person who made it, you are able to piggyback on the success of that content, while giving them the added benefits of visibility by sharing them out. So it is a mutual relationship that many choose to foster.

Most commonly, you see curation on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Sharing a link in a status update could be content curation. So could pinning something to your board. Or just retweeting an amusing or relevant comment that is relevant to your industry.

The benefits of content curation are less direct but more continuous than in creating your own work. You can quickly share items throughout the day, and that gives you regular results. But they are going to be fleeting, like a quick injection of activity. You also run the risk of sending them elsewhere, rather than getting them to stick around.

You need to have a balance of both unique and curated content to get the best possible results.

There are many ways to curate content including:

• Share a link on your social media profile
• Use Flipboard to collect all your links in one place and update your followers on a regular basis
• Use Paper.li to tweet your selected links automatically
• Create an email digest to send out on a regular basis and keep your subscribers updated on the recent trends and useful resources. Here are a few examples of business email newsletters that are done particularly well.
• Set up a branded hashtag to collect your customer reviews and publicize them across multiple channels
• Create video slideshows featuring your curated content
• Create social media graphics based on what someone said or researched. Creatopy is a great tool for that because you can create one graphic and then resize it easily to fit any of your social media channels!

[An example of visual creation through Creatopy]

Content curation can be the driving source behind creating your own interest-based micro-community which, according to Megaphone Marketing, is the future of social media:

The shift to private social networking isn’t just about DMs, it includes Facebook Groups – now numbering more than 620 million niche groups and showing no signs of slowing down – that can be set to public, private, or secret and allows strangers to build communities around shared interests.

How Much Of Each?

There is no magic number. No matter who you ask, they are always going to say that it is dependent on the case. 

One thing is for sure, you should be posting regular original content on all of your social platforms, from your blog to your pages and profiles. This could be several times a month, or several times a week. The latter is probably going to be more beneficial.

As for curated content, you should also do this regularly, but not so much as to overpower your original work. A couple of posts a day at each account should give you a good groove to work on.

When you are curating content, always cite your sources and tag them on social media accounts. Apart from being ethical, this tactic helps build strong connections with creators!

The most important way to find that balance is through collecting data. Watch the analytics for all accounts and sites, and adjust accordingly. 

Monitor the activity of users, such as how often they visit the page, read the content you post, and when that activity drops off or surges. That provides the information you need to create an informed and decisive plan of action.

It all comes down to how well you integrate your calls-to-action into your content creation and curation tactics. 

Whenever you are publishing anything on your on- and off-site channels, think about what you’d like your audience to do upon reading this (and clicking a link). Experiment with different kinds of engagement methods including web push notifications, conversational forms and AI-based chatbots.

Finteza is an on-site web analytics suite that will help you identify your best-working content creation and curation tactics to focus on what brings results:

Conclusion

Content curation and content creation are both powerful strategies that can drive your brand’s growth. Create your strategy and experiment with all kinds of formats and frequencies. Good luck!

A note from Denise… I’m curious, what type of content do you post most: original content or curated content? Let us know the comments below!

The post Original Content Vs Curated Content: Which Is More Valuable? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Real names. I've had this on my list of topics to address for some time and then I saw a post on the NAMS forum from David Perdew, the producer of the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, letting members know that if they don't use their real name, they'll be removed from the forum.

It's become a total nightmare in the blog comments. Recently I announced that I have moved to moderated comments because of the torrent of spam comments from names like SEOLondon or Web Marketing Expert. Those comments generally do not get through. NOTE: If you want your comment approved, use your real name.

The problem is that many real, legit people also do this. They think they're being clever. But in fact, they are doing themselves a disservice if they are building a legitimate online business. People don't do business with a brand, clever slogans or keyword phrases. They do business with people. Use your brand name and slogan in your profile and the site you link to in your comments and profile.

Before you get all crazy on me, I do know the power of branding in comments and forums. I used to put Denise aka The Blog Squad in the name field for blog comments. Sometimes I still do. I also used @BlogSquad for my twitter ID (I still have the BlogSquad account since a lot of people search for me by that brand name). And then about a year ago, I changed to using my real name and many people commented that they preferred that, since after all, I am a person and not a faceless company. The Blog Squad is my business and I am the person who represents the business.

Now I'll contradict myself and say I understand there are real reasons why people want to remain anonymous online. They have multiple businesses; they have a J.O.B. and don't want their boss to find out about their hobby biz; they are affiliate marketers and manage many niches. I'm sure there are hundreds more reasons.

This is where the visibility tip comes in. For the sake of argument, if you're trying to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, then use your real name. The people I primarily work with are professionals and small business owners and if that's you, then I respectfully ask that you use your real name when you comment and when you participate in forums. You don't introduce yourself as your brand name or slogan or keywords at networking events or conferences do you?

I want to know who you are. I want to be able to read your profile and find out more about you. I want to look you up on Google to see what else you're up to. So do a lot of other people who may be your ideal client. Make it easy and help them find you by using your real name. Please don't hide behind a cryptic username.

I may get some flack from this, so be it. I know there are exceptions. There are plenty of people who identify themselves only by their brand. I'm just saying, for the majority of the professionals out there, if you want to build your online visibility and get known and findable on the web as the go-to expert in your niche, use your real name. It's much easier to relate to you and take that leap to a business relationship.

What's your take? Use your real name or not? Why or why not? Chime in on the comments below.

The post Online Visibility Tip – Don’t Hide Behind a Brand, Use Your Real Name appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

I love to experiment with online tools and a few months ago I discovered AudioBoo. I think I saw a Boo posted by Mari Smith on Facebook and checked it out. It's an app you can install on your smart phone to record and post when you're out and about (or from your computer).

My colleague Ellen Britt jumped on the AudioBoo bandwagon recently and is using it in a really creative way. I decided to find out why and how Ellen is using AudioBoo in her online activity.

You can listen to my 17 minute interview with Ellen Britt, or read it below (and check out Ellen's Boo midway through the interview transcript!).

Interview with Ellen Britt

Denise: Hi. I'm Denise Wakeman, founder of The Blog Squad. You can find me at denisewakeman.com, on Twitter at @denisewakeman, and on FaceBook at faceBook.comblogsquad. Today I have a special laser interview with my colleague and friend, Ellen Britt, who is the founder of Marketing Qi. She is a colleague, we were in a MasterMind together and she's a partner in last year's Radiant Success Event in Raleigh. For all you Tweeters out there, you can follow Ellen at @ellenbritt at Twitter.

The purpose of the interview, Ellen, is that I wanted to talk to you today about your use of AudioBoo, which is an application for smart phones (iPhone, Blackberry, Android) that allows you to record audio, attach it to a photo, and automatically syndicate it to your social sites. Your Boos have been getting a lot of buzz.

Recently I saw you Tweet, or it was on FaceBook…I can't remember…you said that AudioBoo is changing the way you think about your business. That really intrigued me so I wanted to grab you for a couple of minutes to get your take on that, what are you talking about, what prompted that comment.
Ellen: Great. Well, I have you to thank first of all, for inviting me to talk about this and also for introducing me to AudioBoo. It was a Boo that I had seen that you did and you use it a lot to showcase some more personal aspects of yourself and observe your running, that kind of thing. I had seen a Boo that you had done and it had a photograph and I thought, "Wow, this is so neat. I have to ask Denise about this." You said, "Hey. It's just this free service you can use." And I thought, "Well, I'm going to check it out." So, I downloaded the application. I have an iPhone. So, I put the portable app on my iPhone.

I think, if I remember correctly, I was in Barnes and Noble one day and I decided to go over and take a look at the business Books. I thought, "Maybe I should do an AudioBoo about this," about how nice it is to be able to work from home and set my own schedule and I came up with this idea when work was play and play was work. I just stood there in the middle of Barnes and Noble in the business section and talked into my iPhone. With a phone, everybody just thinks you're talking to somebody.

Nobody thinks you're recording something. So I had the ambient voice of this Barnes and Noble Bookstore in the background. We could hear low level talking and that kind of thing. Then I took a photograph of the business Book section, tagged it, and uploaded it and I was hooked. I have done an AudioBoo almost every day since then, sometimes twice a day. I think-I didn't count them before I got on the phone with you, but maybe 45 of them now. Something like that. Like every day. I start my day with an AudioBoo.

Denise: What made you say that it's changing the way you look at your business?

Ellen: I don't know, I had a certain set expectations about myself, really. I'm a pretty good writer. So I plugged myself into that hole of writing. I do okay at conferences and stuff like that. Once I started to play with the AudioBoo, especially, it took me maybe 10 AudioBoos. After that first spontaneous one, I reverted into not so spontaneous. I think, "What can I AudioBoo about today?" I'm usually out taking my child to school in the morning. That's when I do it. I would stop and make notes on a napkin and try to jot down a couple points. I wouldn't script anything but I would write down some notes.

After about the tenth one I had this breakthrough where I didn't need the notes anymore and I just call, kind of informally, into the phone. I also found out that I could edit it within the phone application by hitting the pause button. Then you get to listen to it before you upload it. So, if it sounded really crummy I could delete it. I've only done that maybe twice. I really like the informality, the spontaneity of it and it opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about, "Have I been resistant to other things," such as video, which I have. So now I'm going to try that.

Denise: Oh, interesting. Okay.

Ellen: It exploded this idea and it's giving me a great new way of communicating with my existing customers and clients and potential clients and customers by actually having them hear my voice. The wonderful thing about it is it sends a link over to Twitter. That link takes you directly to the AudioBoo on the AudioBoo site. But, when it ports it over to FaceBook, it embeds a little player right there. They never even have to leave FaceBook to comment on it. I've been getting loads of comments, some more than others.

I found that for me, when I decided to do these little I Spy things where I would take my iPhone and say, "Okay, now I'm going to go into Panera Bread Company and let's see how we're treated as we go through the line in terms of our service. I do these little on the spot kind of cameo recordings and people love them. They say, "Oh, I feel like I'm coming along with you." The day that I decided to bag the headlines when I'm going hunting. Nancy Marmolejo picked it up and actually blogged about me using AudioBoo. So it took off and has a life of its own now.
 

Denise: Yeah, I saw that flurry of buzz when Nancy Marmolejo with Viva Visibility wrote a blog post about your Boos and I thought, "That is so cool." What that said to me is that your consistency with this and your creativity with this tactic is really boosting your visibility as well.
 

Ellen: Absolutely, there is no doubt about that Denise. The other thing is I want to say something about consistency. We all have things that people tell us, or that we read that we should do like blog every day. Jeff Herring would say "Write an article every day." Most of us would just sit back and say, "Oh, I'm too tired to do that." We just can't get a fire lit under us about that. I can hardly wait to do my AudioBoos every day. Can hardly wait. They are so much fun for me.

I was rereading actually, Gary Vaynerchuk's book Crush It again for about the seventh time. He really makes a big point about finding the medium that is right for you. Audio has hit it for me. I'm not telling everybody go out there and use AudioBoo by any means. What I'm saying is go out there and find the thing that really lights you up and is really fun for you to do. Then, you can be consistent with it.

Denise: That's absolutely true. I think that's really key and when you mention that people say "Find the thing to do every day." And of course, blogging is my thing. You also have to find the schedule that works for you too. That's what's really impressed me about what you're doing. Every morning-you're on the East Coast, I'm on the West Coast – every morning I know that when I log into my Twitter feed there is an AudioBoo from you. Every single morning.

Another thing you said that struck me, when we did a recent teleseminar about mindset and and we shared daily success habits – you talked about that you do something every day to put yourself in front of people. Was the AudioBoo part of that? Or were you doing that before?

Ellen: No. Well, I was Tweeting and out on FaceBook mostly every day. But, not with the consistency that I've had since I did the AudioBoo. I've only been doing it 4-5 weeks now. But they pile up fast. Now I've got 45-50 of these things out there. One thing, I fit it into my schedule because I take my iPhone with me. I have a 45 minute drive every day to take my child to school because that's the way circumstances are right now. And a 45 minute drive back. That's a large chunk out of my day.

I listen to Internet marketing stuff and stuff like that on the way home, but now I'm poking around seeing, "What business can I go in to? Where can I jump off here, there? What can I photograph to do my AudioBoo before I get home. I upload that thing on the road before I get home. When I get home, by the time I get home, log in, look at my FaceBook page, I've got comments usually on my AudioBoo and I haven't even started my day yet.

Denise: That's fantastic. You had mentioned initially your Boos were spontaneous and then you went to a more-

Ellen: Yeah, I got scared.

Denise: -planned out. You were making some bullet points, and now they're back to spontaneous. I'm wondering if somebody who hasn't heard of AudioBoo until this interview said, "Oh, that's really cool. I want to try that." What kind of advice would you give them for starting this up, starting some kind of tactic like this, or integrating this tactic into their marketing?

Ellen: Make sure it speaks to you first. If you're really scared of audio and you don't feel like your voice is very good, still try it. I encourage people to find the medium that's right for them. If they think the audio thing is for them, then go for it. The nice thing about AudioBoo-here's how I kind of got over the planned thing. I thought, "This is stupid." I'll tell you why I did it. I had more comments on the ones that were spontaneous.

Denise: Okay.

Ellen: I thought, "Oh, they like the ones that are spontaneous." They like the ones where I go, "Oh well I hope the background noise is not too distracting." The other day I said, "I'm driving through my favorite fast food restaurant." And then I said, "Well, I'm not really driving through the restaurant, I'm driving through the drive through restaurant window." I just left that in there and people seem to respond more to the ones that are spontaneous. So I thought, "I'm going to be even more spontaneous." What I do is I hit the record button and it gives you a little audible countdown thing, you know? Then you better start talking because it's running. So it's that, I don't know, something about that countdown, the sound.

Once I hit record I start talking. I know what I'm going to say for a few words, so I won't stumble on them. You know, "This is Ellen Britt from Marketing Qi and today," whatever it is. I always end it the same way, "This is Ellen Britt from Marketing Qi signing off." I usually just say "Bye y'all." Or something like that. The rest of it is just filler. It's some experience I'm having, some place that I'm in. Then I switch it over to a metaphor about how you can use that lesson from that in your online business. That's my formula. Now everybody else is going to have to look and see what it is for you. I had a fella write to me and say he's going to use them for quote of the day. He's going to do a quote and probably talk about it a little bit.

Denise: Fabulous.

Ellen: It can be any number of things that people do. You're only limited by your imagination. You've got to be original. You can't copy anybody. You've got your own style. Just see what sparks you up. Try a few things. Then see what you're getting comments on. People just love my I Spy stuff so I'm trying to do more of that.

Denise: Right. You've got to listen to the feedback.

Ellen: Oh, absolutely. Listen to your comments. A couple of them I got no comments. I thought, "Well, I won't do that again." But you have to watch the time. It's only a five minute thing. I rarely go over that. One day I decided to go through the car wash with it and I had this great audio because the lady in front of me couldn't get her car up onto the rack and the guy was apologizing and he ran back to me and he apologized. This great customer service and I had all of it and I accidentally ran over and it timed me out and I had to throw the whole thing out.

Denise: I've never gone over five minutes.

Ellen: I haven't either. I lost track of it and I thought, "Oh no." So next week my car is going to need washing so I'm going to try it again.

Denise: So, since this is clearly a tactical move you're making using these AudioBoos, is there an outcome you're looking for or some kind of result or action you're looking for from the people who are listening?

Ellen: My-one thing is to give me more online visibility, which certainly it has. I have people who are now regular commenters on my Boos. Regular people I know, they're going to be there and comment. I interact with them. I've gotten much more interactions on my FaceBook page, much more online visibility. Because AudioBoo is so easy to use, I think it's in its early stages. I think they're going to go places. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But it's so easy to use and it's free and it gives you the ability to tag things. I'm banking on some future stuff. They're already being indexed and Googled.

Denise: Fantastic.

Ellen: You can find them in Google. I have to maybe pay more attention, maybe putting keywords in my title. I really haven't worried about that too much. I just wanted people to open them and listen to them. So I try to put some kind of catchy thing there.

Denise: Right, right.

Ellen: Because it goes to Twitter I don't want to write something too long. I have mixed mind about that. I'm definitely getting benefit from it. Absolutely. It's positioning me kind of uniquely as nobody else is using it very much. People are looking forward to it. I'm getting great benefit. I didn't have any planned outcomes from this.

Denise: Okay, well I can see that the wheels are turning. There might be that need in the future for you.

Ellen: Oh yeah. And like I say-I think the best outcome for me is now I kind of had that "aha" moment and that's what prompted that comment that I wrote on Twitter about changing the nature of my business. It's like, "Okay, if I can do this with AudioBoo, what can I do with video?" Especially looking at Gary Vaynerchuk. If you haven't read it, pick up this book, Crush It.

Denise: Absolutely.

Ellen: I thought well-because all of my videos-I don't even have any videos online. I had done some for some sales stuff that we were planning to do and it was terrible because we scripted everything and it was just all this content. We eventually didn't use them at all. I've just gotten so used to this informality. The AudioBoo, I thought "What's the difference if somebody was pointing a camera at me?" It doesn't really matter. So now I'm like "No big deal."

I'm going to have my business partner design a Marketing Qi t-shirt and you know, you'll always hear these-especially women internet marketers and women marketers say, "Oh, I've got to have my hair done. I've got to put make up on." I think, "I can't do that every morning. I've got to drive my child to school." I'm just going to have a Marketing Qi t-shirt and put that on and do my video. It's really expanding the possibilities for me.

Denise: That's fantastic. Ellen, I really appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your very busy day to share your experience with AudioBoo. It's at AudioBoo.fm.

Ellen: Yeah, that's correct. It's AudioBoo.fm, which kind of threw me off a little bit because I kept typing in .com, but it's AudioBoo.fm.

Denise: Right, it is an app for iPhone. I believe it's also available for Blackberry and it is available for Android phones because that's what I have and I'm using it.

Ellen: I think that they also are letting you record directly from the web too through your computer. I think they've got big plans. I would watch for them. They've already updated the app. Now you can-you didn't used to be able to see your own Boos all lined up on your phone, you know, your most recent ten or fifteen. They just fixed that as a feature. They're really going. People want to see an example of my Boos, you can go to http://audioboo.fm/sebritt and get some ideas there. Feel free to come to my FaceBook page and comment on my AudioBoos and if you need help I'd be happy to give you a shout out.

Denise: And where can they find your FaceBook page?

Ellen: http://FaceBook.com/ellenbritt

Denise: Excellent. Well, thank you Ellen. I really appreciate you spending some time with me today. I look forward to more AudioBoos from you.

Ellen: Fantastic. More coming.

Denise: Boo on. I always say blog on. Boo on.

Ellen: There you go. Love it.

A note from Denise: Since the time of this interview, I've moved from Audioboo to a similar audio service called Cinchcast. You can check out my Cinches here.

Get your Free eCourse with 7 Tips to Boost Your Visibility on the Web – easy to implement right now!

The post Online Visibility Tip – How Ellen Britt Uses AudioBoo to Boost Her Visibility appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Interview with Lou Bortone

(20:29 min)

Denise: Hi. I’m Denise Wakeman, founder of The Blog Squad and today I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to my friend and colleague, Lou Bortone. Lou and I have known each other for a few years and have partnered on a couple of projects most notably, our self study course “Online Video Made Easy.”

Lou is an online branding specialist, a video pro, and a visibility expert. A man after my own heart. He’s also known for his wacky LouTube videos. I’m not sure if he’s making these any more, I’ll have to check on that. Also, he’s well known for the montage videos that he frequently creates to celebrate people he knows.

The purpose of talking with Lou today is to learn about his perspective on creating visibility with video and why it’s so important. Welcome Lou.

Lou: Thanks. It’s good to talk to you.

Denise: I’ve wanted to grab you for a few minutes for a while now to get into conversation versus a teleseminar about your take on creating visibility with video. Before we get into that, would you give us a nutshell version of your background to set the stage?

Lou: I grew up in the TV industry because my dad worked at a TV station. So I followed in his footsteps despite his warnings to stay away from TV. I ended up working in Los Angeles for several years at E Entertainment Television, another division of Fox. When they sold my division I came back to the Boston area to start working with online video and I’ve been doing that ever since.

Denise: Cool. The reason I invited you to have this conversation with me is because you are truly a master of using video for branding and also building visibility on the web. It’s very clear in everything I see that you’re doing online that you’re a passionate evangelist about online video. That’s why I want to hear from you why this is so important.

To start off, do you have a few stats at your fingertips about online video about who is watching and why people like you and I, service professionals, small business owners should pay attention?

Lou: Yeah, it’s really incredible just the way it’s like a tidal wave or tsunami of popularity with online video. The thing that’s interesting is that a lot of folks will still say, “Oh, you know that YouTube is skateboarding, cats and kittens on the piano.” The truth is, the stats for YouTube are really across the board. Everyone is watching YouTube, using YouTube, and in fact I know that we’ve used the stat before.

YouTube is the second most popular search engine. Now when folks are looking for answers to their problem, they’re not just going to Google, they’re looking for “How To” videos and looking for answers to their challenges on YouTube. That alone is a reason to start getting into it. It’s not just YouTube. Obviously the channel gets all the attention. It is really now completely across the board and it somewhat follows social media in that regard. It really isn’t just for young folks. It’s completely across the board. Every age group, every demographic, it’s become a total-it’s like pop culture now.

Denise: I don’t have numbers in front of me, but I know that as penetration of the Internet becomes pervasive, really across the world, there’s something like 1.8 billion people who are connected to the web world wide. When you think about YouTube being the second largest search engine, that means people are going onto YouTube to look at more than skating cats for sure. I don’t think I’ve ever watched skating cats. Like you said, I use it to find “How To” videos. If that’s not a case for a business being on YouTube, I don’t know what is.

Lou: It’s leveled the playing field. When I worked in TV years ago, at the time it was known for the four big networks and a few media conglomerates kind of controlled every message that you saw. Now, anyone in their basement literally with a webcam can start a business and become really popular really quickly on the Internet. It seemed sort of Internet TV kind of came out of nowhere. It doesn’t take a whole lot of technology and time to master that if you have a compelling message.

Denise: Right, and you don’t have to be slick. You don’t have to be videographer, or professional videographer. You don’t have to be a professional actor to be able to really have a powerful message.

Lou: Oh, not at all. I guess Gary V, is one of the best examples of that. He almost celebrates that it is low tech or that the lighting isn’t right. It doesn’t matter to him because it’s the message not the medium.

Denise: Right, Gary V(aynerchuk) is at www.winelibrary.tv and he’s got gazzilions of followers. I recently watched a webinar that you hosted and I had to laugh out loud when you I heard you talking about the phenomenon about hearing people say, “I see you everywhere.” I hear that a lot personally, and I also use that a lot in my presentations as well because it is so powerful. It’s about being acknowledged by people when they say that about you. Everyone wants to be seen. It’s one of those deep things that’s rooted within us.

How specifically does video work to boost visibility?

Lou: Yeah, it’s been great. That is, it’s funny, I forget about that. I see you everywhere – the four sweetest words that one can hear. When we go to-and we’ve both experienced this-when we go to a conference or event and we finally meet a person who we’ve been talking with via social media or video, you’ve already gotten that kind of getting to know you stuff out of the way. You’ve already established a connection.

The benefits of being visible like that with video is that you can attract new clients without ever having met them in person. You can drive people to your website more easily because they feel connected with you, they feel like they know you. It helps you stand out in a really crowded and competitive marketplace. The benefits of visibility go on and on. You know-we’ve both experienced this too-you get all kinds of amazing business offers and opportunities to speak just because the visibility almost builds on itself exponentially.

Denise: Yes, I often say visibility equals opportunity.

Lou: Absolutely. The model that I use, and I’m certainly not the first to do it, visibility builds credibility and credibility builds profitability.

Denise: Perfect.

Lou: …following for a long time and working with my clients, I tell them, “Look. You get visible and if you have a compelling message, you can really establish yourself as an expert in your field very quickly.”

Denise: There is no doubt about that. In my view, video and blogging-of course blogging is my thing, that’s what I’m known for – in my view, video and blogging work hand in glove. Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts on that? Do you agree? Disagree?

Lou: Absolutely. I think that they are definitely cousins, if not brother and sister. Again, if you’ve got a blog and you decide to turn that into a video, you just decide that maybe one of these posts that we read every month is going to be a video it just opens it up that much more. It allows you to really connect and communicate and it’s just a perfect, perfect platform. Even if you want to just do a series of tips and you say, “Okay, this month the theme for my blog is going to be on sharing tips via video about my area of expertise.” It’s an amazing platform and a powerful platform to be able to-you really get the best of both worlds. The best of blogging and the best of videos.

Denise: Now, going back to what you said just a second ago about visibility creates credibility creates profitability. How does video help create credibility?

Lou: A lot of ways. First of all, if you can manage to go on video and not make a fool of yourself, like I often do, you can really establish yourself as an expert in that area. The person that is the expert or seen as the expert is not necessarily the one who has the most degrees or has been studying the longest. It’s really the person who is out there promoting himself and appearing.

The perception is wow, I do see you everywhere and you’re always talking about video, or you’re always talking about blogging. You must be the expert. Other people start to refer to you as that. You don’t even really have to blow your own horn. It’s really powerful that way in terms of-if you’re out there and you’re giving a consistent message in your area of expertise, it’s going to constantly build upon itself.

Denise: I think the added benefit of video is being a visual medium inherently. People can connect with you and we talked a little bit about it not having to be perfect. Just having the ability to see your face, your gestures, your expressions, I think that that helps. Actually accelerate that process.

Lou: Absolutely. We’re a visual society anyway. People tune to television to see and hear and connect that way. Again, that’s like when you-if you see an actor or actress for years and then you see them on the street in LA or something you feel like, “Oh, I can go and talk to this person because I know them.” It’s the same with video. You build a-not necessarily celebrity status-but you build a connection, a familiarity so that when you do connect in person that connection is that much stronger. The other great thing is it really just accelerates the sales process. You know we always hear that people buy from folks that they know, like and trust. Video goes a long way in creating that know, like and trust factor.  

Denise: Okay. I agree with that. So what do you think it is that stops people from using video?

Lou: I think a lot of folks that I work with are not comfortable being on camera or they don’t know where to begin. It’s like the idea of it is overwhelming them and they don’t realize it. First of all, you don’t necessarily need to be on camera to do a video. Like the presentation you referred to earlier was just a PowerPoint presentation that was narrated. That was a video even though I didn’t appear in it. We don’t have to necessarily be on camera to be on video. If you do want to be on camera, it could be something as simple as doing it with a webcam and doing 10, 20, 30 second message. It’s not like you have to have a big script, a teleprompter, and lights. The whole deal. It’s very down to earth simple.

Denise: Right. I think even in the last year or so-we started teaching newbies how to use online video almost 2 years ago, wasn’t it? Even in the last 2 years the number of resources have grown and they’re so easy to use. Some of them are so cheap too.

Lou: You go on Facebook if you have a webcam, I don’t know if a lot of people know this. You can record a video live and on file just by hitting the record button in the video section of Facebook. If you have a webcam, you can literally have a video in 30 seconds on Facebook.

Denise: You can do it direct from your status update, I believe.

Lou: It’s amazing. You can do it on YouTube too. You know what, I’m just going to do a quick little message. You can record on the fly on YouTube without having to upload or do anything ahead of time.

Denise: It’s incredible what people create. It’s great. So, what kind of trends are you seeing with online video?

Lou: I’m seeing a lot of the-I guess they’re called gurus and big marketers-who are trading in their long drawn out sales pages for videos. I’ve seen a lot of those too where it’s literally just a video message and a sign up or a buy button. Sometimes these videos are 20 minutes or half hour long. Again, if they simply glorify PowerPoints and narrate PowerPoints it tells a story and explain the benefits of the product. Then say, hit below to buy. The sales page is being replaced by the video sales page.

Denise: Do you know stats or anything that is bearing out that they are getting better conversions on that kind of a sales page?

Lou: I know anecdotally by what I’ve heard from some folks and also the fact that some of the big successful marketers who test everything are doing this consistently and abandoning the traditional sales page. It’s got to be working pretty well. The other neat thing is it levels the playing field because it doesn’t matter-these big time marketers, they have a lot of resources but they’re still just narrating PowerPoint presentations and that’s something almost any of us can do. It does sort of level the playing field.

Denise: Great. I think I’m going to have to start doing that myself because I really hate copywriting. It’s not a strength of mine, creating a script that’s talking through some bullet points basically. I mean, it needs to be a little more sophisticated than that. It has this sense of being a little bit simpler.

Lou: Yeah. Definitely. A lot of folks are intimidated by the prospect of doing copy and doing a big sales page. Now knowing that you can literally just put a video within 10 minutes or half an hour of you explaining a concept on line, it’s a great way to do it. The other thing is you can also-I’m starting to do this a little bit-you can also teach and sell at the same time. You can share your information, you can definitely add some value. Then, at the end, “Hey, if you want to learn more press the link below and sign up.”

Denise: Right. That’s a good one to be paying attention to. What’s your number one tip or your favorite tip for using video to boost your visibility?

Lou: I’m a big fan of-you probably know this – of doing montages on Facebook-at first not being the sharpest knife in the drawer I kind of fell into this. As I was doing montages and I started with a follow Friday -a visual version of Follow Friday-and uploaded it to Facebook and it occurred to me I can tag these people. If I tag these people, the video shows up on their page. Sometimes they comment on it and it goes on and on and on. Almost by accident I discovered a way to create a lot of visibility on Facebook by highlighting other people.

Denise: Yes, and they do make a big splash because I know that when you tag me in one of those videos-I’m just amazed at how many people are going on and commenting. A big thing about that is that it’s what some people call ambient awareness because you’ve seen these people’s names and their faces, their names and their faces, every time you log in to your Facebook account. Somebody else has commented on it and you keep seeing that.

Lou: It keeps popping up. I’m not a proponent of random tagging of information, I tag their name to get their attention because that’s pretty close to spam in my book. If you’re legitimately highlighting these folks, like when I came back from a conference I had pictures from the conference and I put them-it would be a nice way to relive the conference and say hello to the people that were there and they get showcased and you get a lot of publicity in the process.

Denise: I’m going to be working on one of those for a conference that I hosted a couple months ago. I just got the pictures and I’m going to be creating a montage video on Animoto which is a tool that I like a lot.

Lou: Exactly. And those are relatively easy to make. You don’t need to be on camera yourself if that’s not your thing. You put the focus on other folks and everybody wins.

Denise: That’s right. So while the intent of this interview isn’t about promotion, I am curious about the new service that you’re offering around branding videos. Could you quickly tell me what is a branding video and why would I need one for example?

Lou: Good question. My definition of a branding video would be-really what it is is a video you don’t have to appear in. It’s a no-work video. I did one recently, a launch video for my friend, Molly and she wasn’t in the video. She said “I need to promote my mentorship program”, so we put together a branding video that just promoted that brand and obviously gave the website at the end. The neat little 20, 30 second videos that the person doesn’t have to appear in, almost like animated TV commercials. It’s a lot of fun to make them and it’s very hands off for the person making them. They don’t have to be on camera, they don’t have to deal with webcams, they don’t have to come up with a script. It’s really just a matter of putting a message into neat little high end 30 second promos.

Denise: Okay, okay. I’ve seen some of the ones that you’ve done and they’re beautiful. They’re just brilliant and they really push that message out very nicely in a tasteful way and fun too. High energy.

Lou: It’s fun because it’s almost like you can have a network TV commercial on the web without having to go to a big production company or agency.

Denise: Right. Very cool. Okay, well it is the most important question for you Lou. Where can people reach you and connect with you online and learn more about your branding videos and the other things that you’re doing?

Lou: My main website is www.loubortone.com and I am on Twitter at www.twitterlou.com.  For folks, they can do their own Twitter name and direct it back at Twitter. Or, www.facebooklou.com.
 
Denise: Okay, so Lou, I really want to thank you. I appreciate you taking the time and spending a few minutes with me here today sharing your expertise about using video as a marketing tool and boosting visibility on the web. I am always thrilled to have an opportunity to chat with you. I look forward to connecting with you on the web and blog on!

Lou: Thanks, Denise.

Recommended Resources:

The Video Godfather’s Top 10 Proven Video Marketing Tips – guest post by Lou Bortone

Using Short Form Video to Get Your Message Out

Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business

The post Online Video Key for Branding and Visibility – Interview with Lou Bortone appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.