Prediction: Recession Is Good For New Media Marketing

There's lots of news today about a possible recession. The Federal Reserve made the biggest rate cut in 24 years today to head a recession off at the pass but the stock market isn't really responding well so far. While a recession (or even the hint of one) will increase fears in many traditional sectors of media and marketing, I think new media marketers will benefit from this and here's why....

• Blogs don't cost anything to start.
• Online video is free. So is creating your own video channel on YouTube.
  
• Creating a Facebook group doesn't cost anything.
• Recording a podcast costs next to nothing.
• A basic Flickr account to engage your customers is free.
• Twitter doesn't charge to message the people most interested in what you are doing.
• AdWords only cost you something when someone clicks your ad (and you determine the cost per click.)
  

There will still be marketing in a recessed economy. There will still be marketers spending money in a recessed economy, even if there's not as much of it. What marketers will be paying for, however, is not the use of the technology, the air time to broadcast it's message, or the placement for ads. What they'll pay for is help to use the new media well. When in the face of decreased marketing budgets new media will emerge as the cheaper option because companies will pay consultants (i.e. digital coaches) a few thousand dollars to teach them how to fish the new way. This may be the tipping point for new media marketing as marketers and advertisers give it a shot out of financial necessity rather than being convinced that it's the right thing to do. Whatever the case, a recession is going to be good news for new media marketing. It's bad news for traditional advertising and marketing, but Google was already telling us that.

Web 2.0 beats traditional advertising methods...and Google Trends proves it!

I spent some time on Google Trends today as I was thinking about web 2.0 tools for marketing compared to traditional marketing methods. You may recall I consider traditional promotion strategies the big fish of marketing (and I advocate going after the far more numerous small and medium size fish.) In my first test I compared direct mail, tv ads, billboards, and radio advertising.

One note about Google Trends before we proceed...this is just showing the relative quantity of Google searches on the given search terms. It may be easy to dismiss this but as Steve Rubel said in this post, "search engines show us what's on everyone's mind," and it's therefore interesting to note the trends of the collective thinking.

Here's what the trends show over the last four years in these traditional marketing areas:

What you see here is that all but billboards are down from four years ago. Direct mail seemed to fall slowly and then hold fairly even in 2007. TV ads appear to have the most dramatic swings. Incidentally, notice the spike in TV ads early each year. Those are Super Bowl commercial searches for sure. Radio was down a little but steady for the last four years, though clearly below the other three areas.

After I looked at these four areas I included the term "web 2.0" to see if that mere term competed with these traditional mediums. Here's what I found:

Web 2.0 really didn't take off until late 2005. By early 2006 you see that it eclipses the four traditional terms and then clears them significantly through 2006 and 2007.

Just for fun I tried one more trend comparison by throwing "blogs" into the mix. I dropped radio ads from the comparison since it was at the bottom of the pile and here's what I found:

With "blogs" included it makes everything else just look silly. I was actually surprised it was such a huge difference. More surprising to me was that it was higher even back in 2004. We know that there were less than six million blogs at most in 2004 so it's a bit curious to me, but quite interesting.

So what can we derive from all of this? At the very least we know there are far more searches for "web 2.0" and "blogs" than than any of the traditional marketing methods. Even if all those searches weren't marketing related (and we know that's the case), the phrase web 2.0 is a business, marketing, and technology term. We can discern that the collective marketing and business interests are greatly interested in web 2.0 from these trends and if that's where they are, it's reasonable to look more seriously at them if you still have doubts.

One final one for kicks if you're interested. Who do you think wins in a match up of MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Google, and blogs? See it here.

Doing online video? Keep it under three minutes.

A recent report by the New York Times says the average online video duration is 2.7 minutes. The report also said that 75% of Internet users watch an average of three hours of online video a month and that YouTube had 2.4 billion video views in the month of July. Yes, billion. That's a lot of video viewing. So what are the takeaways from this?

1. It's a great time to do online video for your organization. People are already there looking for the good stuff. It's not new anymore so you should have an easier time convincing someone that it's a good idea.
   
2. Keep the videos brief because an unspoken expectation has now been established, namely that online video viewing is not a major time commitment. People are more likely to give you three minutes rather than five minutes.
3. The online video world will become increasingly competitive. It's not enough to just do online video. It needs to be remarkable in some way to stand out from the other billion videos.
   

There's No YouTube Without You

I recently wrote this article for OutreachMagazine.com. You can read the whole article at Outreach but here are five things for churches to consider as they delve into the world of online video:

1. When in doubt, entertain. The most interesting online videos seem to be either highly entertaining or very funny. No matter what your video content, you've got to remember you're sending it off to a culture that's accustomed to entertainment. If you have a specific message for your video, do it in such a way that you creatively inform a viewer in an entertaining way. Think of it as the spoonful of sugar that will make the medicine go down.

2. Send them somewhere: At least once on the video, you should put up the address to your Web site or a Web site you want the viewer to visit. This is your golden opportunity to request that they spend a few more minutes with you, so don't let it pass without at least asking for them to visit your site for more information.

3. Post on multiple sites: Almost all online video sites work the same way these days. Although YouTube seems to get most of the press, you should put your video on a number of different online video sites. After YouTube, head straight over to GodTube.com. It's a great YouTube alternative for Christians and has some other online video tools your church will find helpful. Beyond these two, put your video on Google Video as well.

4. Make it passalongable. Yes, passalongable isn't a real word but it should be part of your online video vernacular. Is your video one that you would tell 10 people about? Is it good enough (both in content and delivery) that nine of those 10 friends would tell at least one other person about it? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you should tweak it or perhaps rework it entirely. Online video works best when people tell their friends about it. If your video lacks the needed passalongability, you have likely misapplied the time, energy and financial resources that went into making the video.

5. Don't limit online video to preaching. Preaching is often the first online video use that comes to mind with many churches, but consider other opportunities with online video like classroom-style teaching, global missions, idea sharing, promotion, and video blogging. Maybe you're starting a building campaign at the church. If so, you could post regular updates about the progress of the project and even interview some of the building crew, just to give the church a differrent perspective on the project (and also keep it top-of-mind so those campaign pledges aren't forgotten).

Mark Driscoll responds to Bill Hybels criticism

What happens when public criticism around a theological hot-button issue involving two well known Christian leaders meets blogs and YouTube? This.

There are many interesting things to observe here like the number of blogs that will speak to this in the coming days or whether Bill Hybels will issue any kind of response to Mark Driscoll. There will be blogs vehemently for and against each of these guys with another share of people taking the middle ground stating they respect both of these guys and don't want to take sides. Few if any people will change their views on the topic and some people will become emboldened and others will be dismayed. But here's what I'll be watching: the views.

I'm going to be watching the view count on the YouTube video over the next few weeks. There are currently 3,820 views as of 12am CST on Monday, April 30. Could this break the 100,000 view mark over the next few weeks? Are there enough people who care about this issue? Will they watch just to see what got Bill Hybels upset? I don't know exactly what we'll find, but the pace of growth may tell us more about the perceived importance around this discussion in Christianity than any of the bloggers will.

Tech Review: Joost - online video's next step?

Many months ago there were rumors that the guys behind Skype were working on an online video project. We later came to find out that the name of the project was called Joost and that their intent is to reshape the television experience the same way Skype did with voice communications.

About a month ago I downloaded Joost and was interested to see what all the talk was about. I already knew that Joost wasn't going the user generated content route like YouTube, but was instead pursuing mainstream programming like you find on television today and repositioning it for the online world.

What I found in Joost was pretty much what I expected. There were several channels like one from Warner music featuring various music videos and one from Comedy Central playing old programs. Over the last couple weeks I've seen several channels get added but the amount of content is still fairly slim. There didn't appear to be any x-rated content in Joost (hopefully there never will) but there were some risque programs that had a "must be 16 or older to view" tag, so be aware of that and check out the safer stuff.

The Joost experience was everything you'd expect in the melding of television and the Internet: you can fast forward and rewind in every program and chat with other users watching the same program. There are several widgets that display on the screen while you watch your program like a news feed reader, clock, and notice board for updates.

All in all, Joost was interesting to see but the content will be what makes it. I understand from a reliable source that Christian content is coming to Joost in the near future. Whether it's of the TBN variety or not, I'm not totally sure but Joost will provide more niche programming than digital cable ever could.

When Joost can be viewed on my television as easy as my computer we'll have really gotten somewhere. The future is going that direction and Apple TV is one of the leaders in that push. All the pieces are there for this to come together so you know it's just around the corner. How long it takes the population to adopt it, however, may be quite another story.

YouTube growth, stats and penetration

Cory at Church Communications Pro posted some great YouTube stats on his blog today that are pretty incredible. Here they are:

• It's the fastest growing website in Internet history
• It has an average 100 million videos streamed per day
• 65,000 new video clips uploaded to it every day
• It gets more than 13 million unique visitors per month
• An average user spends 30 minutes on YouTube and most uploaders are repeat visitors themselves
• 58% of Internet videos are watched on YouTube
• 20% to 30% of traffic volume is from the US
• It has a wide range of user demographics, but the largest segment of users is the 18 to 35 year-olds.
• 30% to 40% of the content is copyrighted. There is a clear correlation between eyeballs and copyrighted content.

Diversion: My Slice of Pi

I've been working on something with a friend for the last couple months called MySliceofPi.com. MySlice is going to be an interesting experiment in online property. Think of it as a little online billboard an owner maintains with a message and link of their choosing. We expect some people will see a monetary and/or promotional value in this to promote a product, blog, website, service, organization, etc. Others may use it as a messaging system to make a simple public statement...maybe something that makes sense to everyone or perhaps something that is really only for their friends to understand. We've come up with a bunch of ideas ("Pideas" actually) for ways people may use this.

We've already had some questions about why a digit is purchased rather than given away. The answer is twofold. First, we'd like to make some money off this. I'm personally planning to give 100% of my share to my church for at least the first 2000 digits that sell. The second reason is that if this thing takes off then the people who got in early will have something of a higher value than the people who got in later and the money is a barrier to people erroneously claiming a bunch of digits and turning this into a massive spam page. We have, however, made some digits free for the taking. All the zeros are free so check the site regularly to see when the next zero is available.

We know people have lots of ways to communicate online. We've got MySpace profiles, blogs, instant messages, YouTube, Facebook, email, photo sharing, etc. Sure, you don't need another way, but we think there will be some people who'll gravitate to the unique nature of this and get on board. If you're one of those we encourage you to grab your slice of Pi.

YouTube clearly trumps web 2.0 technologies

One of the blogs I read daily is Micro Persuasion by Steve Rubel. He had an interesting post today about a little data mining he did with some web 2.0 terms like widgets, Second Life, podcasts, blogs, and RSS feeds. It was interesting to see that blogs are the clear front runner in popularity among these areas but the surge in Second Life interest was exciting as well.

What was noticeably absent from the list was any reference to online video. I did the same search as Steve did but dropped the RSS feeds and added YouTube. What I found was staggering. YouTube makes the other technologies look like nothing. I expected YouTube to be a contender with blogs but not trounce it the way it did. I was just telling someone today that there's been a rise in online video interest over the last year. This data suggests that it's not a mere rise, but rather a massive surge. So what's the moral of the story? If you're not thinking about online video right now you're getting behind very quickly.

Is Online Video Beginning To Pay?

Looks like the answer to that question is yes. I've seen several stories from the last two days about online video companies beginning to find ways to pay the people using their services.
Google Video's doing it.
So is Metacafe.
Brightcove has joined the fray.
Revver's been doing it for a while.
So here's the big question. Where's YouTube in all of this?

One strategy seems to be paying the top talents on a site (Google's approach). The other is an ad revenue sharing system of some form or fashion (Metacafe and Revver). One thing is clear to me with all of this...2006 will be seen as the year online video really got cranked up. What's your organization doing with it?

Why the Google/You Tube Story Matters To You

By now you've seen and heard numerous stories about the Google acquisition of You Tube this week. You know technology news is big when it's the leading story on all the major news outlets. It's so big, in fact, that I'm hearing people talk about You Tube who I suspect didn't know what You Tube was this time last week. The fact of the matter is if someone hadn't heard of You Tube before this week, they know who they are now...even if they don't understand what it is.

Does this matter to your organization?
Yes, and here's why: This acquisition is a major step toward the adoption and mainstream knowledge of online video. This story is bigger than Google or You Tube. What it really signifies is that online video is moving out from the fringes and into the mainstream.

All the hype around this acquisition has just put online video on the radar screens of an entirely new segment of the population that knew little or nothing about it just a few days ago. It's raised awareness to a new level. After awareness comes adoption and in time those who don't adopt will find themselves on the outside looking in.

So now what?
Any organization that was already using online video now has the opportunity to establish itself as a leader and trendsetter. Any organization that was considering using online video may very well pursue it more actively with this new level of attention, and for the people who had never thought of using online video for their organization...well, they will be jumping on board soon enough.

I believe conversations will move from "do you use online video?" to "how do you use online video?" The difference between these questions is dramatic. The first one is solely about using the technology and whether you're "in" on it or not (awareness). The second question assumes you're already doing it and takes the conversation to a deeper level of use, quality, messages, technology, influences, strategies, etc. (adoption).

Where's Your Investment?
So what are you doing about online video? Where's your investment in online video? Don't have a billion dollars handy...ok, try investing in some time learning more about how online video can work for you. Maybe you know enough to get started and just need to make an investment in some equipment. Maybe your organization needs to invest in some personnel (even on a contractual basis) to get online video up and running for your site. Google saw enough long term potential to invest a load of money in this technology (and they even had their own competing service too!) so where are you investing in online video? Google just took care of the big investment...now take care of yours.

Get Your 15 Megs of Fame

We know there are a ton of video sites now. You can find a sizable list of them at Catagoriz (scroll down and look for the "video" section). With all this free video hosting available what is to be made of the infamous "15 minutes of fame?" Does a reference on a video blog count? What if you just upload some video to YouTube or Vimeo? Does that count?

The original 15 minutes of fame came about when the opportunities to be seen far and wide via video were controlled by the television stations. But somewhere between Candid Camera and America's Funniest Home Videos this started to deteriorate. Now it's all but dead. Today we don't need TV for this...just ask the dance guy or the urban ninja.

If, in fact, the 15 minutes of fame are now dead does that mean we've entered the era of 15 megs of fame? For 15 megs you can get a video on any number of video hosting websites. If it's compelling enough, funny enough, weird enough, or some kind of "enough" we don't even know about yet...it will make the rounds of emails and conversations and could in time reach well into the millions of views.

For any organization that can harness the power of the 15 megs of fame, they'll have something truly valuable. The problem with the 15 minutes of fame was that it only lasted about that long. With the 15 megs of fame, however, it can continue to grow and gain online momentum over time. Whereas time was the enemy with the 15 minutes, time is your friend with the 15 megs. If it's true that everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame you can have mine. I'll take the 15 megs.

By the way, the winner from yesterday's free Starbucks offer was.....Chris from Voxacious. Congrats Chris! Just let me know when and where.

Vimeo Makes Video Integration on Blogs a Snap

A friend asked me today to recommend a video hosting website to him to use for a family blog he keeps. The first one I suggested was Vimeo.com because I've heard some good things about it. He reported that it was easy to load the video onto Vimeo but wasn't sure how to get the video onto his Blogger blog. Vimeo provided him with a video embed link and he sent it to me to get onto his blog. At first I wasn't sure how difficult this was going to be because I had a terrible time getting a You Tube video to work for me a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the link Vimeo provided just had to be plugged into Blogger's new post field and it published to the blog without a hitch or glitch. I spent at least 30 minutes the day I tried to get You Tube video on this blog so the 30 seconds it took to get the Vimeo video on my friend's site today was a breeze. I know where I'll go when I have a choice for video from now on. Also, if I ever start a video blog, Vimeo will be my first option to host the video...it was just that easy!

Friends Don't Let Friends Place Banner Ads

I had a tough conversation recently. It was tough because I had to let a client make the wrong decision. In fact, I told them it was the wrong decision, and I was tactful, but they got the message. After my gentle protest and suggestion for taking another approach I was met with a resounding gong of silence (insert cricket sounds here) and it was then that I knew they were going to do it anyway. What is it? IT was banner ads.

The goal this client came to us with was to drive more traffic to their website but they already had decided they wanted to try to accomplish this with banner ads on a particular website they selected. After a few minutes of listening to them I just had to tell them that it isn't generally a good idea and that there are better (and much cheaper) ways to go about it. As I mentioned above they wanted to do it anyway...and so they are...but here's where we're really going to test this...

In addition to the banner ads we're going to put some video for this company's same product on YouTube. We'll be able to track the number of views and links from both areas and see what happens. I don't quite know what they're going to pay for a month of banner ads...but I know what they're going to pay for the YouTube video...$0.00. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'll admit, I've got an issue with banner ads. I rank them right up there with the people who sell email lists that are usually just spam. Banner ads are the very reason I was interested in switching from Hotmail to Gmail a year or so ago (Gmail only has text ads). Banner ads just don't work most of the time. They're not a wise expense. An effective banner ad would have to be highly targeted on a very specific kind of site to even have a chance. For instance if Apple had a banner ad for an iPod accessory they're going to have a good chance of getting some attention for the ad, but even then most people still ignore them. By and large banner ads are ignored and with all the effective (and free) web 2.0 options today like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, video blogs, Wikipedia, etc. there are much better ways to go. Needless to say I'm excited to see how this little experiment turns out! In the end I expect the score to be: Banner ads - 0, Web - 2.0.

Music Videos 2.0

I saw on Voxacious today that the band, The Shins, just did a novel thing over the weekend for the creation of an upcoming music video. Basically the idea is that people who were at the show could film it and then upload the video according to some instructions posted on MySpace and the band was going to use the fan-generated film to create music videos for their upcoming album.

This is a great example of user-generated content in an offline kind of way. Kudos to the band or whoever thought this up. Not only will they get the raw footage for their own videos but this same film will soon find its way on YouTube, MySpace, and numerous other social media and social networking sites to spread it even further.