BRAND CHANNELS FOR AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT AND LEAD GENERATION

It’s amazing to think that YouTube will be seven years old as we venture into 2012. It is even more amazing to consider how the platform has changed in this time. In its infancy YouTube was seen as a risky venture, plagued by copyright issues and populated by videos of skateboarding dogs.

However there’s been a remarkable turnaround in attitudes. Not so long ago brands were reluctant to post anything on YouTube, let alone invest in a branded channel. Now they are falling over themselves to master the medium to serve both B2C and B2B markets. Some are succeeding although more are not.

A PERSONALISED CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

Brand channels are best thought of as a self designed home for content – a personalised space in which to tell a story. A brand channel is a customised, bespoke place for a brand to show its wares, engage with a target audience and generate demand.

Just about every aspect of the channel is customisable and all content can be framed in an innovative and relevant way. Brands can create their own background and modules that they want to show. They also support custom iframes which allow users to create unique interfaces to display their content.

A WINDOW TO FULL CONSUMER INSIGHT

Brand channels are proving to be a highly effective way for brands to create and measure audience engagement. Inspiring and holding audience attention can be achieved by putting relevant content on an innovative platform that the user need not leave. Every time a brand posts a new video subscribers are automatically updated. Gadgets further drive engagement by allowing people to subscribe to a brand channel even if they have seen the relevant video in another place.

But perhaps most appealing of all are the behavioural and measurement tools afforded to monitor effectiveness. Custom metrics can measure engagement, so while the audience can keep an eye on the brand, the brand can observe the behaviour of the audience.

A VERY FINE EXAMPLE

A good illustration of the power of a brand channel is provided by the Land Rover UK channel. Land Rover have customised the content drive lead generation for the Range Rover Evoque. A video plays automatically on the landing page. This image then merges into the background and links appear for videos which provide more information. There is access to a website where you can find out more and purchase.

A HIGH VALUE PROPOSITION

The budget required for a brand channel is a fraction of its less agile, less mobile and less measureable traditional marketing campaign counterparts.  Factoring in a global audience reach of billions, the support of an engagement platform boasting 3 billion daily YouTube videos views and full engagement analytics, there’s almost no comparison in terms of bang for buck. While the channels themselves are free, they’re only gifted conditionally as part of a wider Google media spend package of $200,000 for a basic channel and $500,000 for a top-end premium channel. When compared to traditional campaign spend, this method of brand engagement and interaction is highly cost effective. It’s therefore no surprise therefore that brands are investing budgets into the popular online utility to spread word about their products and services.  And why not? YouTube is no longer just a video-sharing website. But a constant online platform providing marketing, advertising and market research solutions for all businesses in one complete package.

By Joel Loader and Charlie Seath of I-MOTUS.

FACEBOOK – THE MOST VALUABLE MARKET RESEARCH TOOL THAT’S EVER EXISTED?

Facebook now boasts over 800 million active users, half of whom log in on any given day and are exposed to a plethora of apps, pages, groups and events designed to entertain, build communities or spread word.

At present, Coca-Cola is currently the 16^th most popular Facebook page in the world with over 35 million fans, making it (unofficially) more popular than global icons such as Beyonce,  Megan Fox and Leo Messi. Other consumer brands featuring in the top 50 include Starbucks, Red Bull and Oreo.

Through the interactivity that Facebook allows (wall posting, commenting, liking, etc.), brands now possess a highly valuable market research tool which is completely free. The distribution of marketing messages through wall posts, polls and the highly effective video facility, brands can immediately gauge reaction and success of their campaigns from those users who opt to ‘like’, comment upon or share said content.

And of course, these messages can be accessible for as long as the page owner determines and fans can interact with the brand page as and when they wish. In short, Facebook offers brands a constant customer service and market research utility.

90% of buyers say that when they are ready to buy, they will find you.

Brands like Heineken are already heavily reliant on Facebook for their marketing strategies, having recently announced a digital campaign collaboration with the site. Their enthusiasm to follow this route suggests that Facebook is very much an arena in which the company thrives. Alexis Nasard, Chief Commercial Officer at Heineken, states, “As our adult consumers are increasingly spending more time on digital space and social media, it is important that our brands are active in this environment. We continue to look for innovative ways for our brands to ignite the digital conversation and connect with our consumers.” At present the page boasts almost 5 million fans.

However, while many would expect Facebook to primarily a B2C utility, it has been suggested that B2B brands are in fact leading B2C in social media adoption and are equally as successful. The Cisco Facebook page currently has over 230,000 fans and the response to posts is frequent and extensive. Indeed, when a film entitled When Mobile and Cloud Collide was posted to the wall, it received 153 ‘likes’, 6 comments and was shared on 62 occasions.  When compared to the Coca-Cola Siege film on the aforementioned Coca-Cola page, the ‘shared’ figure for the Cisco film is, pound for pound, considerably better (Cisco: 62 shares from 230,000+ fans vs. Coca-Cola: 98 shares from 35,000,000+ fans).

93% of B2B buyers believe all companies should have a social media presence.

Inevitably, Facebook has its risks. Littlewoods fell foul to bad publicity when their Facebook page was besieged with complaints about their Christmas 2011 advertisement. The retailers then worsened the situation by censoring said comments before another Facebook page, set up by protestors, petitioned for the ad to be banned.

As with any marketing campaign, careful planning and best practice is clearly essential, especially when consumers are able to broadcast negative experiences so easily and to so many. But when they could distribute their positive encounters with your brand just as readily, the benefits Facebook has to offer your business must surely outweigh such rare occurrences as this.

85% of B2B buyers want brands to use social media to interact and engage with them and 37% of them use social networking prior to making a purchasing decision.

So ask yourself this – how could a B2B Facebook page enhance the profile of my brand?

By Joel Loader and Andy Hall

HOW UPPING BRAND EMOTION INCREASES SALES

BRAND EMOTION is the shorthand for how people feel about your brand – and it’s exactly what it says, it’s emotional rather than rational. When we buy, our emotions are the shortcut to what we choose. So brand emotion (how the customer or employee feels) is the vital starting point for brand engagement (what the customer or employee does).

We define the three stages of brand engagement as:  IMPACT – your brand has to be noticed before anything else can happen. INTEREST – what is noticed about the brand has to be relevant (of interest) to the consumer. And INTERACTION – the response between your consumer and the brand that builds loyalty.

Most marketers are aware of these factors (even if they name them slightly differently), yet billions of pounds are spent every year on communications that fail to be noticed. And of the few that are noticed, many again fail to interest the consumer in the product or service being offered. And the hardest bit, because this is the newest and therefore the least understood aspect of brand involvement, is how to build the brand interaction that increases loyalty and repeat sales.

EVEN THE TINIEST BRAND CAN NOW BECOME A FILM STAR

For decades, marketeers have known that the most powerful medium to win attention, interest consumers and involve them, is film.  But traditionally TV adverts have been enormously expensive. Now the internet has entirely changed that. A video made on a phone can reach millions if it goes viral successfully. (Fenton!)

But it needs to compete.

120 decades of footage are uploaded to YouTube every year and by 2013 90% of web traffic will contain video content.

The appeal of film is obvious.

Film content increases the number of visits to an advertiser’s website by 55%, increases incidents of purchase by 24% and increases physical store visits by 30%.

Studies suggest that people remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they see, 30% of what they hear and up to 50% of what they see and hear. By Incorporating INTERACTIVITY, message retention is believed to increase to 90%.

Today, consumers expect not just to share in, but also to contribute within an evolving dialogue with their brands. In a word, they expect INTERACTION.

Brands that deploy appropriate social media and channel engagement platforms measurably increase the value of both external and internal communication campaigns.

In short, FILM IS A WAY TO GAIN FANTASTIC BRAND ENGAGEMENT.

Film can change perception (IMPACT), embed memorable messages (INTEREST) and dramatically enhance brand recall (INTERACTION).

But to get this right, the hardest part is no longer making the film, but the brand planning beforehand, to make sure it will win attention, interest the consumer, and afford interaction.

Effective brand engagement is not a one-time campaign, but an ongoing company-wide effort. That effort begins with Brand Emotion, not as something vague and purely inspirational, but as a core communications strategy that must be brought creatively and spectacularly to life.

Film, used intelligently and provocatively, provides all three key ingredients for brand engagement in spades.

No wonder more and more people are recognising that ‘Video content is the new frontier for building brands’.

Quotations from Brandon Berger, Chief Digital Office at Ogilvy & Mather.

By Joel Loader and Peter Wallach of I-MOTUS.

BRAND EMOTION ACROSS THE BUYING CYCLE

BRAND EMOTION

Brand engagement is not a one-time campaign but an ongoing company-wide effort. That effort begins with Brand Emotion, not as something vague and purely inspirational, but as a core communications strategy that must be brought creatively and spectacularly to life.

THE BUYING CYCLE

Throughout the buying cycle brands can interact with a consumer in ways that spark their interest in a product or service and take the consumer on a journey from initial interest through to purchase and brand loyalty.

Brand Emotion influences behaviour across the three fundamental stages of a brand engagement campaign: IMPACT, INTEREST and INTERACTION

1. IMPACT. Technology is changing the way we communicate.  Brands must make an IMPACT to stand out. Making an IMPACT can influence decisions, build relationships and change behaviour.

2. INTEREST. Building INTEREST develops brand engagement for long term relationships. It is communication through demonstration. Put simply, building INTEREST builds brand value.

3. INTERACTION. Customers and employees expect to share and contribute in an evolving dialogue with their brands. They expect INTERACTION. Brands that deploy appropriate social media and channel engagement platforms engage their audiences and measurably increase the value of both external and internal marketing and communication campaigns.

POWER OF FILM

Film is the ideal format to connect with consumers in the crucial stages of the buying cycle. It has the power to engage customers as it is an intrinsically powerful way to tell a story and this makes it an appealing communication device. Film can change perception, embed memorable messages and dramatically enhance brand recall.

We live in an attention economy. 120 decades of footage are uploaded to YouTube every year and by 2013 90% of web traffic will contain video content. Thus it is vital to have appealing content in order to create IMPACT in a saturated market.

Film has tangible benefits. Film content increases the number of visits to an advertiser website by 55%, increases incidents of purchase by 24% and increases physical store visits by 30%. Film can satisfy the INTEREST people have in a product or service by providing reassuring information.

Moreover, studies suggest that people remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they see, 30% of what they hear and up to 50% of what they see and hear. By incorporating INTERACTIVITY, message retention is believed to increase to 90%.

With statistics like these, it is becoming ever more difficult to dispute the theory that ‘Video content is the new frontier for building brands’ – Brandon Berger, Ogilvy & Mathers

By Joel Loader and Charlie Seath

IMPACT FILM COMMUNICATION AND THE BUYING CYCLE

Brands Moving Into The Buying Cycle…

Effective marketing campaigns look at how consumers like to buy, rather than a brand’s need to sell. This is a move away from the idea of the selling cycle and towards the idea of the buying cycle. A consumer is aware of a brand long before they can be identified as a lead. The buying cycle therefore starts at the point when a consumer realises a need exists. It’s at this stage where a brand needs to quickly engage attention and create impact. If this fleeting moment for engagement isn’t exploited, customers will go elsewhere.

Making the most of the ‘The Moment’…

Making the most of this moment requires impact film communication. According to Marketing Sherpa, 76% of people state film and video content is influential to their purchasing decision. Film communication at the start of the buying cycle sparks an interest in a brand and propels a prospective customer into the buying cycle.

High levels of engagement are realised by sharing viral videos linked to other advertisements and social media actions. Short, innovative videos demonstrate thought leadership and position a brand as a trusted provider of stimulating content and insightful interpreter of the latest trends.

The Importance of Appropriate Use of Video Content…

According to a study by the Online Publishers Association, 52% of people who watched an online video ad took action after viewing the ad, such as visiting the advertiser’s website (31%) or searching online for more information on the product (22%). A full 12% went on to make a purchase – giving video ads one of the highest conversion rates in the industry.

However, to be effective, it’s vital to determine the consumer’s needs and the relevancy of the communication. Strong, emotionally impactful visual content is vital in engaging prospective consumers at the early stages of the buying cycle. However it’s equally important to understand when and how this content should be shared with prospective consumers. If too much information is provided too early, then brand recognition and engagement will not be adequately sparked. Moreover, the prospective consumer will become overloaded and bored. However, once impact has been made and attention won, content can become more informative as the consumer becomes interested and wants to find out more.

In short, the appropriateness, length and creative of the content is directed by the location of a consumer within the buying cycle – short and impactful in the early stages, building in duration and relevancy and as interest deepens.

Top Tips…

Videos need to entertain and educate rather than aggravate and annoy. Brands therefore must always ensure film communications correlate appropriately to the relevant moment in the buying cycle. They must always leverage the visual impact and storytelling power of video to create impact in the early stages of the buying cycle, before adopting longer communications as interest builds. However, it’s important to remember that it’s the customer who decides how they want to interact with a brand. This makes branded content ever more vital. The key to creating
successful brand engagement is rewarding consumers with entertaining information in exchange for their time. Brands must therefore capitalise on the moment of impact for the opportunity to draw prospects into the buying cycle and form lasting relationships with their customers.

By Joel Loader & Charlie Seath

In October 2006, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. At the time, people questioned if YouTube was a just passing fad that would never be profitable and would be surpassed by its competitors. Google accurately predicted the video-sharing platform would present an increasingly profitable marketing business as more viewers and advertisers moved from television to the Internet. Put simply, they were right.

WHY..?

YouTube alone accounts for 98% of all videos viewed at Google sites and Google dominates online search with a 65% market share. With an easy-to-use interface and user-friendly features, YouTube has enabled video sharing to become part of our everyday life. With television viewers and advertising budgets increasingly moving online, internet content and brand engagement strategy has also shifted accordingly to rich media features with video leading the way. YouTube can therefore provide brands with an opportunity to develop bespoke branded communications channels with global reach and support from the world’s most powerful search engine platform. To quote the IVCA‘s CEO Marco Forgione, “this is not a fad. It’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate”.

HOW..?

Technological developments have enabled brands to acquire ever more information about their consumers and tailor their film content accordingly. YouTube’s sophisticated Brand Channels create a more customised and visually dynamic experience for the consumer, heightening brand engagement and leading to longer lasting consumer relationships.

However, it’s the link with Google that is seen by many as the biggest factor in favour of a YouTube Channel as a brand engagement platform. A strong presence on YouTube equates to a much greater presence on Google. A YouTube brand channel will therefore considerably improve Search Engine Optimisation for any given subject matter. Content from YouTube is fifty times more likely to appear on the first page of Google than any given text page. As observed by Forrester Research, “those are some attractive odds”. Brands with a heightened profile on search engines and dedicated social media strategy therefore enjoy significantly greater consumer engagement and sales leads. Put simply, the potential for marketing and sales generation and is enormous, and most importantly, measureable. With both YouTube and Google providing key metrics such as dwell times and click through rates, the channel is also being used by many brands as a powerful and cost effective alternative to a campaign micro site.

SO CAN YOUTUBE MAKE A DIFFERENCE..?

Despite the potential of YouTube as a brand engagement platform, few brands manage to extract its full potential. While 120 decades of footage is uploaded to the site every year, the average YouTube offering only gets a hundred views. To harness the power of YouTube as a brand engagement platform therefore requires more than mere presence – it requires strategy and a clear understanding of its potential. In short, the brands that lead the way and really reap the benefits are those powered by the new generation film communication agencies, who are joining up high quality content, with social media strategy and the powerful links to Google to enjoy big, measureable results.

By Joel Loader & Charlie Seath