I interviewed Justin Nassiri, founder and CEO of the user-generated video platform, VideoGenie, on the power of using consumers’ video testimonials to build better customer relationships.

Why should retail and e-commerce brands use consumer-generated video testimonials? Justin and I came up with 5 good reasons that can help make the case for you and the decision makers at your company:

5 reasons why consumer video testimonials are great for e-commerce

1.) Gets consumers’ attention quickly through an emotional connection

Research studies from web usability specialists have revealed that the average new website visitor spends 5-10 seconds…

If you’re a B2C marketer, have you ever thought about running a video contest?

The prospect of including consumers in the brand communication process seems daunting at first. But let’s face it: your customers are already talking about you on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. So why not help shape the conversation?

guidelines for a winning video contest

Putting together a successful video contest is no simple matter, especially as video contests gain in popularity. While your contest may not capture the attention of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl Contest, these tips can give you a…

I interviewed ExpoTV.com’s Founder and President, Bill Hildebolt, about their research findings on the opportunities brand retailers, e-commerce sites, and other marketers have to target Millennials with user-generated online video. I also shared my own tips for effective strategies that retail brands and e-commerce sites can use to persuade Millennial consumers to buy from them.

In our continued coverage of how-to videos, we’ve decided to stuff your virtual stocking with some good examples from an assortment of retailers that can inspire you with creating your own how-to videos.  Also, feel free to check out my previous post on how-to video tips for e-commerce for some background on how to create good how-to videos if you’d like to supplement ideas from this post.

I interviewed Pete Blackshaw, Global Head of Digital & Social Media at Nestle, who shares his tips on how retail and e-commerce businesses should take advantage of consumer generated media with their own video marketing strategy.

Today I  began my day no different than most others; I browsed through numerous news articles, blogs and trends related to online video.  I’m continuously excited to see how quickly online video is moving in so many different directions and benefiting people and businesses around the globe.  From YouTube’s new scheduling feature, greater mobile optimization and the speed of social video (most recently surrounding Osama’s death) to effectively leveraging advertising dollars in each of these areas, there is always something going on that’s pushing the online video envelope.  That excitement aside, a reality dawned on me that there are…

As a tie in with April’s “Earth Month”, the CEOs of two organic produce companies, Stonyfield Farm and Honest Tea teamed up for a “cooperative video contest” with two objectives: Promote the companies’ partnership for Earth Month, and generate more awareness of the benefits of organic food and beverages. Below I have outlined how we can learn from their example of doing video in a “cause-related marketing” campaign, and have listed some tips for how your own business can do cause-related video marketing and practice corporate social responsibility.

The bar is being raised on the quality of user generated video.  Before I begin, I want to clarify what I mean when I use the word “quality” because it falls into a few different areas.  When I talk about quality video I’m specifically referring to production, content and distribution quality.  In short, production takes into account single or multi-camera set up, type of camera, lighting, sound, framing, angles and editing.  Content addresses what you’re actually saying on camera, along with enunciation, body language, eye contact and word emphasis, etc.  Distribution is how you leverage your final video asset to…

We’ve talked plenty on this site about the importance of creating a smart online video strategy, one that complements and advances your specific brand message and provides a roadmap toward the right style of video for your company.

But what about the video that you can’t affect? In particular, the hundreds of thousands of customer-generated videos now freely posted on YouTube and other sites that dole out brand opinions and product reviews to millions of passionately interested viewers.

How do you go about making that part of your video strategy?

That’s the marketing challenge many retail…

I interviewed Chris Wood, Video Production/Project Manager for Kiddicare, the UK’s largest and favorite online (and offline) retailer of baby supplies. Chris is the visionary behind the company’s innovative video programs.  We discussed how his company may be a model for what the future of video in online retail could look like.