Viral Video Whitepaper

The Power of Using Video in Online News Releases

The Power of Using Video in Online News Releases 2

The Power of Using Video in Online News Releases

Many organizations are embracing the practice of using online news releases
in their marketing programs because it allows them to connect with
customers, uncover valuable sales leads and drive website traffic. With a
reported 80 million people now reading their news online each day, using
news as an entry point for connecting with customers via the internet has
become more popular than ever.

News has long been used as a way businesses attracted prospects and
customers. Advertisers buy print, radio, TV and -- now online ads -- in hopes
of reaching customers. However, businesses soon learned that advertising –
even online – can get expensive and is forcing businesses to seek out more
economical ways of reaching their target prospects and customers.

The online news release has proven to be an effective marketing tool
because of its ability to reach a larger number of people at a lower cost,
sometimes a fraction of what small businesses pay for print ads. Another
plus is the fact that the online release provides organizations the opportunity
to publish news whenever they want. They no longer have to wait for a
newspaper’s morning edition or a radio station’s coveted drive time to
connect with prospects and customers – they can do that 24x7 online.


Internet users gravitated to the web for their news primarily
because of its expediency. They also enjoy the ability to be
interactive – commenting on information they read,
connecting with colleagues and of course having the ability to
buy goods and services online. Therefore, adding an
additional interactive aspect to your news release provides
yet another opportunity to connect with your customers and
prospects.

PRWeb customers have long known the benefits of using an
interactive news release, filled with embedded links, graphics
and video. Yes, video. Today, top web gurus and experts are
seeing a marked increase in online video and are encouraging
businesses to take advantage of this practice because of its
potential impact with a growing online audience. According
to a new report from the DC-based Pew Internet & American
Life Project, the number of Americans watching online video
has nearly doubled since 2006, from 33% then to 62% today. 1

Just as businesses use their news to engage with their prospects and customers, they must also be ready to use online
video in their marketing strategy to remain relevant and build upon established online relationships. This whitepaper
will provide an overview of how you can connect with potential prospects using online video and how this practice not
only drives traffic to your site, but also increases your SEO rankings and potentially impacts your bottom line.

1 Pew Internet & American Life Project, “The Audience for Online Video-Sharing Sites Shoots Up,” July 29, 2009


The Power of Viral Video

Just as the online news release has revolutionized how
organizations promote their organizations, online video has
become a powerful tool in capturing the attention of its intended
audiences and taking online marketing to a new level.

Embedding video adds another interactive component to the news
releases and captures the attention just a little bit longer. Links,
though powerful, are clicked on, glazed over and the reader moves
on. A video, on the other hand, can keep its intended audience
engaged for more time.

If you’re not already using video in your online news releases,
here are 3 Top Reasons you should be:

1. Expand the reach of your messages. Some of the greatest writers have seen their works played out on the big
screen, often opening them up to a whole new audience they never had before. Sending news releases may get you
on top news sites. However, adding video to your messages makes it possible for prospects and customers to find you
in news searches and video searches! Plus, people who receive your online video have the opportunity to share it
with others -- especially in social media networks, which could take your video viral.

2. Add a new dimension to your news. It’s one thing to tell someone about your product, service or company.
However, to have the ability to actually illustrate what you’re talking about, can put you head and shoulders above
the competition.

3. Show your relevance in the marketplace. No one likes to be the last person to learn something. People often
remember the first person to accomplish a major achievement, but few remember the second or third person who
completes the same milestone. Be the leader by implementing online video in your news releases before your
competitors.


How To Effectively Use Online Video

So what kinds of online videos are people watching? There are a variety of ways you can use online video to reach prospects
and drive traffic to your website.

Breaking news. The Internet has long served as a
means for getting news out – and fast! People don’t
wait until their newspaper lands on their front porch to
find out about what is going on in the world anymore.
With the rise of bloggers and online journalists, news
can be delivered more quickly than ever before. Is your
company breaking ground on a new facility? Why not
provide video from the event in your news release?
Introducing a new product or division? Share video of
the new product or include a welcome message from
the new division head in your online release.

Tutorials. As customers scour the internet for useful
information on how to solve every problem imaginable,
your organization can easily put together a videotaped
tutorial on how your prospects can use your product as
a solution to a problem. Host the tutorial at your
website or send to key customers in a news release.

Crisis communications. Many companies have found that having a message from the CEO or COO to clear up public
misconception or misinformation has proved to be quite helpful in a time of crisis. The message can be available at your
website or send a link within your news release that will guide customers to your site.


Getting Started With Online Video

Several years ago putting together a video of any kind meant hiring an
expensive production company. Then you would have to wait several
months while the video was being edited in order to see the final product.
Today, technology makes it very easy to produce your own video and have
it online in a matter of minutes – rather than months.

Here are some important things to keep in mind when planning your
online video’s debut:

Do your homework. There are a lot of things to consider before you begin
using online video:

Equipment
Type of video – tutorial, webinar, product demonstration, interview
Video format

Talent. Who will be in the video? Your company CEO or President is quite often your spokesperson of choice – and he or she
should be. From time to time, a company may choose another spokesperson who can speak on-the-record in response to a
specific issue. Make sure that this person is well-versed on what they need to cover. It’s not unusual for a spokesperson to
have prepared statements as well.

RSS Feeds. Make sure that you’re using RSS feeds from major video sites so that you can get valuable feedback about your
brand’s reputation on these sites.

Distribution. How will you get your video into the marketplace? YouTube is a popular hosting site for video, allowing
companies and individuals to upload their video directly to the site. But there are other sites you can use as well such as
Blip.tv, Yahoo! Video, Metacafe, Revver, and TubeMogul.


Online Video and SEO

Simply putting your video online doesn’t mean anything
unless your customers can find it. There’s nothing more
frustrating than going through the expense and time of
putting a video together that doesn’t drive traffic to your
web site or gets any views. Therefore, it’s equally important
that your customers are able to find you and you’re able to
measure the success of your online video campaigns.

Web text has always been easy to find, but now that online
video has become popular, top sites like Google and Yahoo!
have changed their search features so that video can be
displayed as well in search engine results. This is why
earlier we discussed how important it is to give your video
distinctive titles when uploading them to sites like YouTube
and TubeMogul. Just as in normal SEO practices, you should
be using search terms for your video that your customers
would use to locate the video.


Here are some easy tips to remember to make sure your online video is properly optimized:

Be relevant – Refrain from creating videos that have little to do with your brand. You don’t want to confuse people who find
your video online. Remember; when you welcome comments they will certainly let you know how they feel. Opt for how-to
videos and other useful content.

Proper Tags – Tag your videos with key phrases that are reflective of the content. Use words that your customers will be
using to find you. It’s also a good idea to add the word ‘video’ in your tags. For instance, “How to Use Video in Your News
Release video.” This will separate your video from other text content that may be on the web bearing the same title.

Optimize URLs - In the same way that you do this for other web pages, you will want to optimize your URLs so that they
contain information about the video. Also, make sure you only have one video per URL.

Branding – Video is a great place to push your organizations brand. For instance, you can do this by having your talent wear
a company polo shirt with your logo prominently displayed or have your logo displayed in the background. Branding helps
to drive users back to your main site if the video is hosted elsewhere.

Syndicate your video – Submit your video to RSS or MRSS.

Upload your video to sharing sites – Uploading videos to portals like YouTube and providing links back to related content
and other videos on your site helps in your SEO rankings.

Share! Share! Share! – When you enable sharing and allow users to embed your video code into their own blogs and
websites, this can increase the video search optimization as well as help your video go viral.

Be Interactive. Encourage users to rate your video. Search engines are attracted to videos with higher ratings. In addition,
videos which get high ratings from users tend to be the same videos that users often mark as favorites and share with other
users.

Insert video into your online news release. When you consider all of the places your online news release will appear, you
should also consider those people can also see your online video as well.


Conclusion

If you’re currently using the internet to market to your customers, it’s important that you are using the proper tools to
reach out and engage with your brand’s audience. Clearly, online video is resonating with customers from just about
every industry. If you’re not using online video to connect with your target audience, you’re missing opportunities to
reach new prospects.

Though the world has become a “right now” world due to the advancements in technology. Taking the time to plan your
online video strategy needs to occur before implementing anything. It’s important that you decide on how you will
measure the effectiveness of your online video strategy – either through website traffic, revenue resulting from your
online video, social media sharing or simply basic views of your video.

Just as business owners have come to embrace the notion that using
optimized news releases has become crucial in connecting to
customers, the use of online video is fast becoming yet another way to
get your product into the market place. Bruce Clay, founder of Bruce
Clay, Inc., a technology provider in SEO, PPC, and SEO stated in a recent
interview during the Search Engine Strategies Conference that not
having online video could be extremely detrimental to your brand’s SEO
rankings.

Clearly, implementing online video into your marketing strategy should
be a serious consideration that you should begin exploring.


About PRWeb

PRWeb is recognized as a leading online news and press release distribution service worldwide. Since 1997, PRWeb has
been changing the way businesses, marketing departments and public relations firms think about press releases. PRWeb
was the first company to develop a distribution strategy around direct-to-consumer communication and to build and offer
a search engine optimized platform for press release distribution. PRWeb, located in Ferndale, WA, is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Vocus, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand public relations management software. For more information
please visit www.prweb.com.

Why PRWeb

During the past decade, PRWeb has been at the forefront of innovation, redefining the traditional press release and
changing forever how organizations of all sizes distribute their news. Among PRWeb’s innovations are:
Introducing search engine optimization (SEO) for news
releases to increase the visibility of news in search engines like
Google and Yahoo!

Adding social bookmarking tools like trackbacks and
bookmark links to take advantage of the explosion in social
networking

Recognizing the potential of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to
increase the distribution po-tential of news and built the
industry’s largest RSS network

Allowing customers to include podcasts along with their news
to increase the impact of their news release

Introducing “Feature Video” allowing customers to leverage
the video content from popular sites like YouTube to bring their
news to life


Today, PRWeb continues to lead the industry in providing customers with the ability to get their news in front of the people
that matter the most. PRWeb can bring attention to your company through online news releases in three ways:

1. Your News Gets Premier Distribution: PRWeb news gets picked up in leading online news sites like Yahoo! News,
Google News, Ask.com and Topix. Additionally, your news release is distributed through a host of other online
news sites including more than 250,000 RSS subscribers, 30,000 journalists and 30,000 websites as well as our
own PRWeb.com and eMediaWire.com, which deliver over 50 million page views each month.

1. Your News Gets Picked Up By Search Engines: PRWeb press releases are optimized for premium placement in
or-ganic search results. Our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Wizard allows customers to focus on high-
frequency keywords that will ensure their news will achieve peak visibility.

1. Your News Drives Increased Traffic: Inbound links are one of the most important factors in determining the
position of your website in search engines and driving traffic to your site. The embedded hyperlinks within your
PRWeb news release contribute to the overall visibility of your website and drive increased traffic to your site.

PRWeb customers enjoy many additional benefits that make us the best solution for your online marketing, public
relations and optimization needs:

Unparalleled social media integration (with sharit, blogit, etc.) has helped us to be the #1 news service in the
blogosphere

Huge online syndication network has the furthest reach on the Internet with more than 250,000 RSS subscribers
and 30,000 publishers

Integration of multimedia components that result in enhanced distribution in image search, video ranking and
podcast sites

Ability to optimize news releases for search engines with proven techniques, including anchor text, ALT tags, etc.


And now, a success story to illustrate how PRWeb can help your company:

Problem to be addressed:
Malibu Boats has a small marketing and PR department. The majority of their online communications involved posting
news releases to their Web site and distributing them directly to a house list of journalists and online news outlets. Offline
they focused on traditional print advertising. Their efforts resulted in moderate outcomes.

The PRWeb solution:
Having successfully launched a company blog as well as several channels in popular social networking sites, Malibu Boats
had grown more sophisticated in their online approach. With the impending launch of their new Corvette Limited Edition
product, the team was anxious to extend its reach beyond enthusiasts to a larger general audience while also hitting as
many media outlets as possible.

Initially drawn to PRWeb's reputation as the innovative and economical newswire with the furthest consumer reach,
Malibu Boats quickly found out that PRWeb's benefits were far greater. With PRWeb's multimedia releases, Malibu was
able to integrate its other online efforts including a YouTube video of the corvette boat, images detailing the different
components of the boat, and links to additional content about the boat on social media sites like Flickr and Del.icio.us.

The Results:
The results were dramatic. News of the new Corvette Boat went viral and within weeks was appearing in media outlets,
on blogs and reaching thousands of potential customers who were visiting the Malibu Boats Web site to learn more.
Within three days of the first PRWeb release, Web site traffic increased 30 percent with page views up 25 percent. In less
than six months, the company netted 30 articles with more in the works.

PRWeb has become a major component of Malibu Boats' PR and marketing efforts. They are planning to use it for future
product releases and also to publicize different events in the future. According to Mauzy, “Thanks to PRWeb, we are
leaving our mark on both mainstream and industry media … our Malibu Boats brand is getting the attention it deserves …
and we are quantifying all of it. The true value of PRWeb is in the sales it has helped us generate.”

Read more at http://www.prweb.com/prfiles/cs2009malibuboats/CaseStudyMalibuBoats.html

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