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June 26, 2009

Video Gone Wild

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Web Design — Neal Lappe @ 6:51 pm

I read recently that people are uploading 20 hours of video to YouTube every minute.  That’s right – 20 hours every minute.  Considering it is free, one must wonder how long YouTube’s business model will survive…but that’s not the point.  What’s really happening here is that video is the new method of delivering content on the internet.  Those of us interested in driving revenue, serving the customer and creating effective internet marketing plans better pay attention to this trend.  We’re really not surprised when you think about it.  Once TV sets began to populate our homes, the TV set became the preferred source for news and entertainment.  And then this thing we call the internet came along a few years ago and it has consumed our time and attention.  No surprise the two have come together.

Incorporating video into website design is becoming a competitive advantage.  Firms that use video to deliver their message are viewed as being more up-to-date.  Using video to explain how to use something or the reasons why one product or service is better than another can be extremely effective.  Think about it – would you rather watch a 2 minute video about a product or service vs. 5 minutes reading 1,000 words of text?  Most of us would choose the video.  After all, more of us than ever are experiencing too little time in the day to get everything done.  To view an example – go here.

Fortunately, video production has become much easier.  We recently invested in a camera, lights, green-screen and other items to provide video creation services to our customers.  We’re not creating award winning videos or commercials that will be seen during the Super Bowl, but that’s not what the customer needs.  A good, short video (no more than 2 minutes) can be a very effective way to communicate important information and will give you a competitive edge.

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June 10, 2009

Bacon Explosion Part II

Filed under: Internet Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 6:53 pm

I don’t care who you are, but it’s a tough act to follow the Bacon Explosion.  Here goes nothin’…..

More people than ever are using the internet.  Why do you think that is?  Faster connection speeds and wider availability of those fast connections are certainly good explanations.  I submit that it’s really a change in behavior more than anything else.  I read an article recently that said people now spend more time online than they do watching TV.  That’s HUGE!!!!!  Television has been the dominant advertising medium since the 60s and the internet as we know it has only been around since the mid 90s.  Face it, the internet is how we search for information.  Now that I’ve told you something you already know let’s carry it a step further.

Customers search for information about bacon, barbecue sauce and cholesterol drugs on line.  Restaurants, grocery stores and drug makers know this, so they make an investment in internet marketing.  According to eMarketer, online advertising spending will increase 176% from 2007 to 2013. Good business people don’t trifle with fads—they invest in the future so their companies can reap the rewards.  Internet usage, and in particular internet usage for business is increasing because we now have access to information from our homes, offices, and on the go from the myriad of mobile devices we carry with us every day.  It is vital for a business to have a visible presence on line.  “Visible” is the operative word in the last sentence.

The Bacon Explosion guys no doubt spent a lot of time, and probably a fair amount of cash to get their BBQ sauce and dry rub to market.  As my esteemed colleague mentions, they did something a little offbeat to attract attention. Their efforts were rewarded with lots of new website traffic, and hopefully lots of new business as well.  Whether these guys invested time, effort or money the bottom line is they invested in driving traffic to their website.  Without an investment in internet marketing, these guys are just another bunch backyard barbecue kings with no way to tell the world about their gut-bustin’, monster meat log.

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June 5, 2009

Bacon Explosion – A Social Media Phenomenon

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Social Media — Tags: , — Chris Leone @ 6:58 pm

I recently stumbled across what had to be the most deliciously evil culinary concoction I’ve ever laid eyes on. Behold, the BACON EXPLOSIONimage

So what is this thing? It’s a sausage roll with bacon inside rolled up yet again with a latice of more bacon. Smoked for 2.5 hours, doused and smothered in BBQ rub and sauce and served to your coronary delight.

Ok, so now you’re asking, “Chris, I know you’re smart and good looking, but what does this have to do with social media?”

Everything!

Here’s the backstory: The bacon explosion was created in Jason Day’s kitchen with the help of Aaron Chronister, who anchor a barbecue team called Burnt Finger BBQ. Jason and Aaron were looking for ways to get more traffic exposed to their site BBQAddicts.com. More traffic would mean more advertising revenue, which they needed to help fund their expensive BBQ’ing hobby. They decided to do something over the top – something people would get interested in and want to share. Thus was born the Bacon Explosion.

Let’s pause here for a second and look at two very important words:  share and expose. Jason and Aaron knew if they could come up with a wild enough idea (related to their site), other people would want to share the idea in turn exposing more and more people to their site. Social media and networks accomplish this better than any platform ever has.

So what happened next? Once Jason and Aaron posted the recipe on their website, they shared it with their network (Facebook and Twitter), who then shared it with THEIR friends who shared it with their friends. All the while, their site was getting submitted and hitting the front pages of Digg and StumbleUpon – some of the internets most popular social bookmarking sites.

Now it was out of control. The story was picked up by Men’s Journal, the New York Times, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, etc. At last count their site had 13,000 inbound links, just under 3x the calorie count of the bacon explosion itself!

Are you still wondering how they monetized this beyond simple ad revenue? Take a look at the picture above again. Behind the Bacon Explosion is, you guessed it, their signature BBQ sauce and BBQ rub – both of which are listed on the original recipe, were seen by hundreds of thousands of people in just a few months, and are available to buy through their site.

This is just another of the thousands of examples of how new media have changed, and greatly accelerated, the path to popularity and business success. You have to be remarkable, but the opportunity is there and it is huge.

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