Viral Videos

Online videos offer businesses one of the best platforms for engaging an audience and building a solid fan base. This innovative new marketing medium allows companies to communicate with their prospective clients on several different levels using music, visual imagery and visual text. Online video allows companies to reach out to the global audience with a minimal investment. The videos can be shot, produced and distributed monthly. These videos can be sales pitches, informational videos or entertainment pieces. People are no longer going to search for videos on companies’ websites; these videos must be distributed where the people are. Companies must spread their message at a wide distribution and in a community of like users. There is no limit to the scope of viral videos and once they are posted into sites, the word will only spread quicker. iMeasure Marketing will handle all aspects of the viral videos including storyboarding, scriptwriting, the video shoot, editing and viral distribution.   

Blogs and Podcasts

One in five people go to a blog for information online, particularly people with high levels of education and high household incomes, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. It is more important than ever to have your business be a part of the blogosphere. Companies must remember that while they play an important part in their strategy, they are not the sole drivers. External individuals who get social media will harness lots of eyeballs on behalf of the company. This is going to happen - it is already happening. Companies must embrace this and ally with these efforts, so that they truly represent their brand. Businesses should absolutely have their own blog on their website, detailing industry news and updates. Even more importantly, the business value needs to spread across other blogs and open dialogue about the brand. The RSS Feeds are going to allow potential clients and customers to subscribe to the blog and truly become a part of the company’s message.

Podcasts are also a great way to maintain a loyal following. Podcasts can be thought of as an audio blog. By recording ideas and messages, companies can develop a personal relationship with clients. By uploading these podcasts to iTunes, the brand will become a part of people’s iPod and everyday life.

Social Networking and Bookmarking

Social networking creates structured internet communities and puts like minded people in touch with each other. Social networking, which is viral in nature, keeps the community growing and extends your reach indefinitely. Social networking sites not only help people interact with each other but also share likes and dislikes, music and photos, and video and TV clips. This provides companies with a perfect platform to indirectly market and develop a presence on the web.

Social Bookmarking has changed the way people experience the Web by allowing users to store, classify, rate, comment and search links to any website or blog. Once an article is linked back to one of these sites, other users can then read it as well as post comments and related links. Instead of a search engine, you can find interesting links through a site's community of users, thereby transforming navigation of the Internet into a "social" experience.

More and more companies have thriving Facebook and MySpace accounts. These are places customers can go to learn about the company’s brand and connect with others in the community. Customers can post messages and the business can instantly update any news or events. These social networking sites are where the younger buyers are. They will not always search out your website, so you must join their community. Although most relate the social networking sites only to the young, the desire for interaction with companies is universal. The hunger for growing brands and ideas is palpable no matter how old you are. Web 2.0 will resonate with all age groups. Eons is a growing social networking site for those over 50 that is seeing a huge growth with businesses.  As the baby boomers begin to retire, their interest in the web for social networking purposes is increasing.

There are hundreds of sites like these out there and it is more important than ever to join these communities and establish a presence in the Web 2.0 sphere.