Chances are you’ve heard of Periscope, Twitch, and Meerkat. These apps allow users to broadcast live video content on the web. With this trend surging in popularity, it came as no surprise when Twitter acquired Periscope last year in an attempt to keep users engaged on their platform. It shocked us even *less* when Mr. Zuckerberg decided to invest more of Facebook’s energy into improving the Facebook Live experience after Twitter’s success with Periscope. So, now that Facebook has its own sophisticated live streaming capabilities, you’re probably wondering if your business should try to get a piece of the action. Before taking the plunge, there are some key facts to consider. How are live streaming videos different than produced, not-so-live video content? Can this content be repurposed elsewhere? Questions, questions. Let’s walk through it. ### It’s more about conversation than conversion Like any social media channel, Facebook’s goal is to keep users active and engaged on the platform itself. Facebook Live is similar to YouTube in this sense, in that it helps brands extend their reach within that channel, but won’t necessarily drive tons of traffic to your website. Engagement clearly becomes one of the key components of a successful Facebook Live strategy. While it might be obvious, you can’t just “set it and forget it” – it is a live broadcast after all. With Facebook Live, users are able to interact with the broadcaster by commenting and liking a stream, much like with any other video posted to Facebook. This creates an immediate conversation, where suddenly super fans are able to chat with their favorite celebrities on the web in the most IRL way possible (aside from actual real life interactions… what are those again?). Facebook was wise to roll out this new offering with celebrities first – as the old adage goes, “If your social network attracts celebrities, it’s probably going to attract users.” Now that you know what it’s all about, you might be wondering if Facebook Live is right for your business. Chances are you probably don’t have a Justin Beiber-like following on social media, so should you even bother? ### To stream or not to stream It’s an Internet world, and we just live in it. There are algorithms, pixels, search terms, keywords and more all cramping your marketing style on a daily basis. Remember when you could make a Facebook post, and anyone who liked your page would see it in their timelines? Those were the good old days. Fortunately, Facebook’s algorithm actually favors live streaming videos. In fact, Facebook gives video content of *any* kind better real estate in the news feed. According to Marketing Land, when it comes to ranking in the news feed, “Facebook started parsing signals such as whether people activate audio or click to open a video in fullscreen.”
“Fortunately, Facebook’s algorithm actually favors live streaming videos.”
When it comes to live streaming videos on Facebook, it seems the odds are in your favor. So, what are you waiting for? ### Tactics and tips for Facebook Live If you’re convinced that Facebook Live is worth a shot, it’s time to start thinking about the types of videos you’ll be creating. Keep in mind that live streaming videos are much different than pre-recorded videos and should be treated as such. Here are some tips to get you started: #### Types of Live Videos - Company culture or slice-of-life-style content - Q and As, interviews with special guests or live webinars - Behind-the-scenes footage - Breaking news #### Best Practices - Mention your name and business throughout the stream (without overdoing it). Viewers will be tuning in at random times, so it’s important that you regularly introduce yourself! - According to Facebook, the longer you broadcast, the more likely people are able to discover and share your video. - Live stream your video for at least 10 minutes (the maximum stream is 90 minutes). - When the live stream is over, the video will remain on your Page just like any other video. Repurpose this content by writing a recap post for your blog! You can even edit the video, so that it’s a little more polished and ready for your site. ### Video for the win Facebook Live does a great job of democratizing the video-making process. Facebook users around the world are now shooting and watching live streaming videos. You can take a look at this world map to see just where the streams are happening at any given moment! So, are you ready harness the power of live video?! See you on the web.
LIBRARY » STRATEGY
Crafting a Social Video Strategy
Tactics, best practices, and creative ideas for social media videos
There has been an explosion of tech in the world of aerial photography. As a result, video producers can now get shots that historically only the Hollywood cinematographer elite could afford. Here at Wistia, we got a drone, and to be honest… we don’t use it all that often. It’s loud, it’s intimidating to fly, and we’re a business that operates largely indoors. So how in the world can a software company like Wistia use a drone with a camera to help tell their story?
Over the year and a half that we’ve had a flying friend at Wistia, we’ve added new perspectives to our videos and discovered some interesting uses for this nimble machine. If you’re searching for some drone inspiration, try out one of these four shots in your next company video. ### Group shot Getting a group shot with a drone can be a memorable party trick, but it’s also just a practical way to get a large crowd in a photo.
So at your next company outing or event, get everyone outside for a group shot! You can think of the drone as a tripod in the sky. Let it hover in the air just in front of the group, or if you’re feeling ambitious, take it to the sky, and capture the scene around the group. Either way, you won’t have to be as strategic with placing shorter and taller people. Not to mention, it’ll offer a pretty interesting bird’s-eye perspective of the group! We stumbled upon this technique while shooting an attendee photo for WistiaFest 2015. The footage ended up being super useful when we were cutting together a video recap of the event—we reused this shot for B-roll in multiple videos. While getting your drone group shot, we recommend capturing a combination of photos and video footage. You’ll never know when you might need a video clip or a high-resolution image of the crowd! ### Handheld stabilizer The biggest advancement in drone camera technology is the addition of the stabilizer. It’s what makes drone footage look silky smooth, even if you’re not so smooth on the control sticks. So let your drone do double duty, and use it as a handheld steadicam rig!
You can make the drone easier to manipulate by removing the propellers. Power it up, so the camera and gimbal are active, and then treat it like you would any other camera stabilizer. It may not be the most ergonomic thing to hold, but you’d be surprised what kind of shots you can get on the ground! This is great for quick shots around your office, where a handheld DSLR would be too shaky, and a DSLR stabilizer would take too long to balance and set up. ### The reveal The reveal is one of those awesome shots that you can take to the next level with a drone. The basic idea is to either start close up to a subject, and then ‘zoom out’ (fly the drone away) to expose the surroundings, or vice versa.
In this shot, we revealed what Cambridge looked like during a snowstorm. We started by hovering the drone on a medium shot. After a few seconds, we flew the drone up and away from us to reveal the larger snow scene. What a beaut. Best part: the reveal works in reverse, too! We used the reverse reveal for a WistiaFest speaker intro video. To start out, we focused on a wide shot of the Boston skyline. Next, we panned the camera down 90 degrees and directed the drone to land.
The shot ends with a close up of the Harvard Business Review magazine (where the speaker is the Senior Editor), placed on a table in a park. Bet you weren’t expecting to land there when you first saw that skyline! The reveal has to be the most popular shot in drone photography. For some reason though, it just never gets old. You could even combine the group shot with a reveal for a visual magnum opus.
This delightful surprise tactic is a powerful tool to have in your video production toolbox. So let your mind run wild with what kinds of scenes and scenarios you can reveal by flying the drone up, up, and away! ### Neighborhood view If you have the space to take flight around your office, you can shoot compelling footage of your office’s surroundings. By adding these types of shots into your videos, your viewers can gain a better understanding of your office’s location within a larger community or town.
We’ve filmed an aerial shot of Wistia HQ during the golden hour, pumped up WistiaFest attendees with a Boston skyline shot, and even documented a Wistian kickball game in the park outside our office. This type of footage is ideal for quick social media video snacks or culture-focused videos. But for our video team, capturing moments like these have offered us opportunities to practice our flying techniques.
Similar to what the DSLR, GoPro, and iPhone did to the video space, drones are revolutionizing the types of shots and videos that smaller video teams can produce. The shots in this post would have been nearly impossible for us to pull off four years ago! If you’ve used a drone to capture footage from a unique vantage point, please share it with us in the comments. As the public has adopted new drone technology, increased regulation has been introduced. So please be mindful of FAA regulations and local restrictions when flying your drone and capturing footage… and also of powerlines. ;-)
BLOG » COMPANY NEWS
Wistia’s New 360 Player and Heatmaps
Explore a new medium while benefitting from the customization options and in-depth stats that Wistia is known for.
This post was originally published on Infusionsoft’s Blog. Most small businesses are already using video and marketing automation in their marketing and sales strategies. But unfortunately, they’re done separately. Videos live on the marketing website to attract and educate new leads, and marketing automation campaigns follow up with those new leads to drive more marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to the sales team. Tracking leads on Wistia’s Audience page. While these two communication methods are effective on their own, they can work harder for your business when they’re used together. By combining video and marketing automation, you can achieve compounding benefits and grow faster. In this post, we’ll share our video marketing automation formula, with step-by-step instructions and example emails to help you get started. Before we dive into the details, let’s take a quick step back, so you can understand why we’re so excited about this concept. ### Why use video with marketing automation? Video is great for a lot of reasons. It’s entertaining, scalable, digestible, shareable, and helpful for lead generation. But most importantly, video reveals the human side of your business in an increasingly digital world. Marketing automation is perfect for following up with new leads and qualifying them for your sales team. It allows you to send the right content, to the right leads, at the right time. When done correctly, marketing automation should help nurture those new leads into new qualified sales opportunities. By combining the two communication tools, you can leverage the human power of video with the perfect timing and segmentation that marketing automation provides. Don’t take our word for it. Data suggests that companies that excel in marketing automation generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost! Video helps amplify how powerful your emails are. At Wistia, we’ve found that emails with video thumbnails produce 200% higher click rates! Clearly, combining these two strategies is a winning combination. At this point, you’re probably convinced that marketing automation and video are a dream team. If you’re not, please re-read the previous paragraph a few more times. But, getting started can seem overwhelming at first. There are so many campaigns you could make. That means lots of video, lots of planning, and (if you’re like me) analysis paralysis. Rather than focus on specific campaigns, and get bogged down in the details, let’s instead focus on a step-by-step process, which can be applied to your next campaign. ### The video and marketing automation process #### Step 1: Start with your lead generation campaign You can’t nurture leads if they don’t exist. How are you generating these leads? Are they from a trade show or event, a downloadable resource, or a free trial or demo? #### Step 2: Identify where in the funnel your leads are We view the funnel as having 3 distinct stages: awareness of a problem (researching), consideration of potential solutions (browsing), and a decision to buy (from a short list of vendors). You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you on the first date, would you? Then you shouldn’t try to pressure a lead to purchase when they’re in the awareness stage. Context is really important. By understanding where in the funnel your leads are, you can identify the right content to share with them. #### Step 3: Set a specific goal for your marketing automation campaign Every marketing automation campaign should have a clear goal to help you determine what content will be most useful to include. Your goal will most likely be to move your leads to the next stage of the funnel. If your leads are in the awareness stage, a great goal is to get them into the consideration stage. If they’re already in the consideration stage, try to get them into the decision stage. Already in the decision stage? Get them to buy! Setting goals will make it easier to identify the right content to send, and help you measure the success of your campaign. #### Step 4: Plan out your email content strategy Many marketers get stuck trying to brainstorm what content should be included in their marketing automation emails. We like to take a simple and effective approach. For our emails, we like to include the following: - Related content. - Acknowledgement of their stage in the buying process. - Info and opportunities to take the next step in the buyer’s journey. A few questions you’ll want to think about: - How many emails should I send? - How long should I wait in-between each email? The answers to those questions will be specific to each business. But if you’re new to this, we would recommend 3–4 emails going out over 2 weeks. At a high level, your email strategy should look like this: Email 1: Acknowledge how they became a lead and share relevant content. Email 2: Acknowledge where they are in the buyer’s journey. Email 3: Provide information for leads to take the next step in the buyer’s journey. Email 4 (optional): More information to take the next step.
#### Step 5: Add videos to your marketing automation campaign Now that you’ve planned out your email strategy, it’s time to add videos to make each email more impactful. If you already have existing videos that are included in relevant, helpful content, those are your best bet. If you don’t, take the content you were going to write for the email, and draft a short script for a video. Try to keep it short and simple with a focused message. Place it on a landing page, and link to it from the email.
If you want to learn more about using video and email together, you can check out this comprehensive guide (and download some video-friendly email templates). Here’s an example of an email from one of our automation campaigns: #### Step 6: Activate your campaign Now that you’ve set your goals, planned your campaign, identified the right content, and added video, it’s time to turn it on! ### Let’s walk through an example Let’s pretend you’re working for a small HR software company and just published an e-book: “How to Increase Employee Happiness.” The e-book was published on your website, and it generated 500 new leads. Now you want to create a marketing automation campaign to follow up and qualify these leads for the sales team, and you want to include video. #### Step 1: Start with your lead generation campaign Your campaign will be centered around the employee happiness e-book. #### Step 2: Identify where in the funnel your leads are These new leads are in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. They are likely researching how to increase their employee happiness and probably not thinking about HR software. #### Step 3: Set a specific goal The goal for your automation campaign is to move these leads from the awareness stage to the consideration stage. Since your company sells HR software that helps with employee happiness, you want to get these leads to view your product-related information or download your product brochure. #### Step 4: Plan out your email content strategy Your email strategy looks like this: Email 1: Acknowledge they just downloaded the e-book on employee happiness, and share some other relevant content, like a related article from your blog. Email 2: Acknowledge there are many ways to increase employee happiness and suggest that HR software might be a solution they haven’t considered. Offer a link to a product page, so they can learn more about your offering. Email 3: Promote your product brochure. #### Step 5: Add video to your campaign Each email above should have a video in it! Email 1 video: A short 30-second video from the creator of the e-book, thanking the user for downloading their copy, and congratulating them for focusing on such an important area of their business. Link them to a blog article that could help them improve employee happiness. Email 2 video: This can be a personalized video from a member of your sales team. Let them know you understand they’re not ready to buy today, but they’d be crazy if they’re not researching software solutions to help them increase employee happiness. Suggest they check out the product page on your website to further their research. Email 3 video: This is where your product overview video is perfect to promote alongside your downloadable brochure. At this point, you’ve learned how impactful marketing automation campaigns with video can be. Now go create your first campaign. Your leads (and sales team) will thank you!
STRATEGY
How to Use Video in Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
Download an interactive guide by HubSpot and Wistia!
**This post was co-authored by Jenny Mudarri and Meryl Ayres** Studies suggest that office dogs can reduce stress, improve retention rates, and contribute to a more casual environment. At Wistia, we’re thankful for our own office dog, Lenny, who adds a touch of humor to our work weeks.
In celebration of all the hard-working pups out there, we’re incredibly excited to be teaming up with Humane Society International to host a unique competition for other startups with beloved, canine teammates. Announcing StartPup. ### About the contest In order to enter the contest, all you have to do is shoot a short video about your very own office pooch and send it our way! If your pup wins the grand prize, you’ll get: - Free ‘500 Video Plan’ (usually $100 per month) from Wistia, for life! - $500 donation to a local Humane Society branch - GoPro camera - GoPro dog mount (for your dog to record his or her travels around the office) - Wistia dog bandana - Frisbee If your dog is RunnerPup, you’ll receive: - $300 donation to a local Humane Society Branch - Wistia bandana - Frisbee Heck, even if your furry friend wins a regional prize, you’ll still get a sweet collar. ### Who’s judging? #### Matthew Gilbert, The Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert is a lead TV Critic and a columnist for The Boston Globe. A Massachusetts native, Matthew has been reviewing TV for the Globe since 1998, and has met and interviewed a wealth of celebrities and authors. He is the author of Off the Leash: A Year at the Dog Park, an ode to the simple pleasures of having a canine companion, and a recounting of his transformation from reluctant first-time owner to joyful member of the dog park club, along with his yellow Labrador, Toby. #### Marta Sjörgen, Northzone Marta Sjögre is an investor with Northzone, the early investors in Spotify, Avito, Trustpilot, and over 100 other tech companies. Marta’s focus areas include gaming, deep social, edtech, and security, and her interest in VC stems from a passion for innovation and a desire to make an impact in the world. Prior to VC, she was a researcher and strategy consultant, working with governments to shape entrepreneurial policy. Her welsh corgi, Katherine (aka Käffi), is six months old, and is currently working on befriending her cat. #### Tamara Kartal, Humane Society International Tamara Kartal is the Campaigns Coordinator for Humane Society International, and is working in the field of street animal welfare. She has an 8-year-old female dog called Jazz, who is proudly the HSI office dog, and enjoys the daily treats and affection the office environment has to offer. #### Chris Lavigne, Wistia Chris Lavigne is Head of Video Production at Wistia and best friend of Lenny Lavigne, a brownish-reddish labradoodle who loves baby carrots. In a bid to gainfully employ his Dog, Chris found Lenny a job at Wistia, where he helps with recruitment, acts as on-screen video talent, and occasionally writes for the blog. Chris is known for coining the term “lighting on the fly,” and thrives on using creativity to work around constraints (think 'video for boring industries’). When he’s not camera-in-hand, you can find him behind the wheel of a backhoe, drinking whisky, or reciting lines from Jurassic Park (in any order). ### More on Lenny, our own StartPup Like every dog, Lenny has his own idiosyncrasies that separate him from the rest. For starters, Lenny opens sliding doors like a human—he frequently interrupts meetings and leaves without giving notice. Lenny barks at seltzer machines, drones, and our motorized projection screen. He hacks up hairballs at inopportune times and sports a devilishly handsome beard. But don’t just take our word for it. Take a look at what other Wistians have to say about this labradoodle.
For more context around who Lenny really is, you can read a candid op-ed piece he wrote, all about his daily motivations, biggest regrets, and dreams for a future full of crumbs.
STARTPUP PAGE
I want to enter the contest!
Head over to the StartPup page to get the hairy details.
“Content” is definitely trending right now, and many businesses feel obligated to churn out blog post after blog post just because they’re supposed to be doing it. But what gets lost in the process? All too often, it’s perspective on the audience that will be consuming the content and how it can help them. That’s why we’re huge fans of Ann Handley, whose formula for great web content is “Utility x Inspiration x Empathy.” A reminder we could all use every now and then. Ann’s book, Everybody Writes, is a helpful resource for anyone hoping to communicate better. Ann has also spent time educating marketers about the written word as Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, in her column for Entrepreneur magazine, and as a co-founder of ClickZ. Ann gave a delightful talk on storytelling at our business video conference, WistiaFest, last year, and we were excited to catch up with her in this interview on the role video plays in content marketing. ###### Wistia: **As a content expert, how would you suggest that brands integrate video into their marketing campaigns? What’s video’s place in the content landscape right now?** ###### Ann Handley: Any brand or company that isn’t using video in some way is missing out on a tremendous opportunity to bring its brand to life. Video adds a pulse to your content. It makes your story tangible and real. So why wouldn’t we all embrace it? Maybe some of you are looking at me askance and saying to yourself, “Well, sure… Ann *would* say that to Wistia. Because Wistia is in the business of video. And this is on their blog. So.” But to those doubting types I’d say that you really should have more faith in people. In this case, you should have more faith in me. Because even if a non-video content company bought me a puppy to say that video is a terrible waste of time… I wouldn’t do it. I can’t be swayed like that. And I really really really love puppies. ###### Wistia: **What is the relationship between video, text, and other visual elements in content?** ###### Ann Handley: I’m glad you brought this up. Because I almost mentioned it in my last question. Video works best when it’s integrated into a content marketing program. So text, graphics, audio, and video are all part of the same Content Circle of Life. In our annual content marketing research, we found that 79% of B2B content marketers are using video in their content marketing. And it’s the fifth most effective tactic they use. What’s more, the most effective B2B marketers use an average of 15 content tactics, so video isn’t being used in a silo. Thank Cheez-its. The biggest opportunity? Make your video program subscribable. Only a fraction of companies using video are thinking of a subscription program for their videos. That’s a stat with more than a whiff of opportunity.
Text, graphics, audio, and video are all part of the same Content Circle of Life.
###### Wistia: **Do you have any favorite content examples you can point to that use multiple mediums well? What’s great about them?** ###### Ann Handley: Marcus Sheridan (TheSalesLion.com) is a master at this, because he uses video to reach new audiences in different ways, yet also has a robust blog and podcast(s) that extend the same themes he discusses throughout his site. That’s the key to using video, or any great content, really. The best content tells a bigger story and extends a bigger theme. Marcus does that well, because his content isn’t about him, it’s about the audience. There’s probably no one who is more helpful to people who want to understand inbound marketing. GEReports.com is killing it with all of their content, including their seamless incorporation of video into so much of their content. Part of me hates to use an example like GE here, because their content program is funded by a jillion dollars. But I spoke to a science group last week, so I spent some time on the GEReports.com site, and I came away with a deep appreciation for the brilliance of it. I don’t think I could name a better branded content site. So there you go. There are many others I really like. The answer to this question could go on for days, because I *love* calling out great work. But I’ll stop here because I really need to get moving on these other questions… ###### Wistia: **You’ve written a lot about how writing isn’t actually that hard and ways that everyone can get started. What are some of your favorite suggestions for building a consistent creative practice, whether it’s writing, video, or something else?** ###### Ann Handley: * Make writing a routine practically daily. My friend Jeff Goins says that something practiced once a week isn’t a routine, it’s an obligation. Frequency matters. * Writing is about making your ideas understood. Focus on the audience—not yourself. (This isn’t a “suggestion,” per se. But it’s a necessary mindset for great work.) * Create for one single person. I love marketing personas for marketing, because they are useful. But sometimes they can get in the way of the creative process, because we are still focused on a “market segment.” I like to think of one single person who will benefit from my writing or content or video or whatever. Doing so can make it so much easier to create effective content. And you can have a little fun doing it, too. (Because if you aren’t having fun creating content, you’re doing it wrong. Or you’re in the wrong job.)
I like to think of one single person who will benefit from my writing or content or video or whatever.
###### Wistia: **What are some of the most effective content campaigns you’ve seen in the recent past that include video?** ###### Ann Handley: In the B2B space: DesignDisruptors.com (from InDesign) is genius, and I couldn’t love Barbie’s “Imagine the Possibilites” more:
###### Wistia: **How do you balance quality and quantity in your own content production, and what advice would you give to other businesses struggling with this question?** ###### Ann Handley: Quality and quantity are not enemies. Good content *can* scale. And it should. But you need to get the basics right. So: invest some time in the basics of creating what I call bigger, bolder, braver content. ###### Wistia: **Your formula for quality content is “Utility x Inspiration x Empathy.” How can brands build empathy without coming across as pandering or inauthentic?** ###### Ann Handley: Empathy is about adopting an audience-centric point of view. Here’s a filter than can be a handy test for that: Would your audience *thank* you for this? ###### Wistia: **What are your content or video predictions for 2016? What trends do you think we’ll see emerge?** ###### Ann Handley: I’m going to answer this with a scenario and a story. It goes like this: In the harsh morning light of 2016, Content Marketing realized that somewhere along the way… it got lost. It got distracted. Content Marketing admitted to itself that it had been impulsive and immature and short-sighted and (sometimes) lazy. Content spent its parents’ money on crazy experimental things that may or may not have been good choices. It prized quantity over quality. It boasted too much about itself, instead of considering what its audience needed. It couldn’t exactly explain what its Snapchat strategy was doing for its B2B brand. It didn’t say No. Content was letting people down. More importantly, it wasn’t fulfilling its true promise and real potential. And right then and there—full of regret for the advertising it tried to pass off as “storytelling,” for the content farms, for the lack of intent and strategy—Content Marketing grows up. Just like that, Content exits its exuberant college years. “Maturity comes when you stop making excuses and starting making changes,” Content Marketing thinks. So that’s pretty much what I think 2016 holds: Content Marketing will become a little more strategic and real. That means getting the necessary planning, processes, frameworks, creativity, and metrics in place to legitimize itself. It’s time for Content to be taken seriously. We’ve got this. Grown-up doesn’t mean boring and staid, though. Quite the opposite, because Content Marketing still has the heart of a storyteller, the soul of an artist, and the playful spark of spontaneity. Because isn’t that why we’re all here, anyway?
Uncovering Your Most Authentic Stories
In her WistiaFest 2015 presentation, Ann highlights the need for companies to start creating not just more content, but better content, providing details and specific examples for how you can nail each of these qualities by continually striving to know your customer better.
A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a webinar with our friends at Litmus. They’re experts in all things email, so we teamed up to discuss video and email. I was joined by Justine Jordan and Kevin Mandeville for a discussion on what works, what doesn’t, and what to measure. There’s one thing that both of our teams are pretty passionate about: the power of using email and video together. We’re firm believers that email is one of the most personal ways to reach people. After all, people are letting you into that most sacred of spaces: their inbox—often the first place that many of us look, upon waking up or before going to bed (despite the guidance of sleep experts!). Using video and email together makes communication in the inbox that much more personal and authentic: suddenly, there’s a face and a voice behind the message you receive. ### Video in email vs. video with email My favorite part of the webinar was the distinction Justine made between using video in email, versus using video with email. It may seem like a mere semantic difference, but in fact, the implications are huge: - Using video in email is dicey at best: many email clients don’t support it, so you’re giving some of your recipients a poor user experience. There are ways to mitigate this, such as specifying a fallback image, but this can force you to water down the CTAs that you use elsewhere in the email. And even when it is possible, using video in email can get you (unfairly) blocked as spam. - Using video with email works like a charm. The workflow is a little different: rather than embedding the video in the email itself, use a video thumbnail image that redirects to the page where the video lives. More on this below!
### Now for some questions (and our answers!) Attendees asked some great questions, some of which we didn’t get to answer, so we’re posting them (and our responses) below. We appreciate hearing your feedback and questions, so we can refine the way we teach people to use video. #### 1. I know you can do both, but do you feel it is better to use video with email to drive clients to a landing page or to your website? What is your preference?
#### 2. Does video work on iOS? Yes. In fact, Wistia videos work particularly well on iOS because we’ve implemented HLS (HTTP live stream) which makes it much quicker to load and play long videos. It’s worth noting that annotations don’t work on iOS—for Wistia videos, YouTube videos, or any videos you view natively on an iPhone or iPad. Our Turnstile email collector and CTAs do work on iOS, but the viewer is taken out of the player. In my humble opinion, video on iOS is a pretty nice user experience because people so often have their earbuds in already, so they’re in an optimal position to view video. #### 3. What is the best online source for creating a gif? Folks from both the Wistia and Litmus team love GIF Brewery. They make it super easy to create and use GIFs. If you’re interested in learning more about how to use GIFs, read Litmus’ guide all about using GIFs in email. #### 4. Do you have blog posts that talk about how video is helpful from an SEO perspective? Absolutely! We love this topic, so we’ve written about it a lot. The short answer is that video can be very helpful from an SEO perspective, provided that you’re embedding the video sensibly and making it easy for Google to recognize the video content on your site. If you’re using Wistia to embed videos on your site, video SEO is an easy (and automatic) part of the embedding process, so you don’t even have to think about it. Curious how Wistia stacks up against YouTube? Or how video and duplicate content can impact SEO? We’ve covered that too! #### 5. Is it becoming more common to use a video thumbnail image in email? Yes! This is the best way to implement video in email. It makes the user experience as intuitive and positive as possible and decreases the risk of getting blocked as spam. You can even use selective autoplay for those coming from the email, so that the viewer has to perform no additional clicks to see the video. In order to make your CTA crystal clear, we suggest using a thumbnail image that includes a play button. Using video in this way is likely to yield a much higher click-to-open ratio than any other CTA you can choose for your email. Not to mention that this strategy will give you data on who, what, and where people are watching, re-watching, and skipping: analytics that would be lost, were you to embed the video in the email directly. ### Watch the live recording If you happened to miss this webinar, you can watch the entire recording along with some special bonus footage that wasn’t available during the webinar itself. We recorded it live, so you’ll see us discussing video and email live from the Wistia studio. Plus, our video producer, Chris Lavigne, shot some 360 footage during the webinar, if you want to check out our recording space. We’re excited to push the boundaries of how we do webinars by leveraging this live footage, so please let us know what you think in the comments below if you watch it!
Download 3 free email templates for using video in your emails
Video has the ability to humanize business by providing a window into the qualities and people that make a company unique. With 360 video, businesses can do more than let viewers see through the window—they can invite them inside. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Wistia has built a home for your 360 video content.
Wistia’s 360 offering is the first of its kind, empowering anyone to share engaging experiences and measure their impact. With our 360 video player and revolutionary analytics, you can explore a new medium while benefitting from the customization options and in-depth stats that Wistia is known for. ### 360 video hosting Using Wistia’s 360 player, you can share your interactive content on your website and customize it to match your brand. As with our regular player, you can change the color, add or remove controls, and even choose a custom thumbnail. Video marketing tools like Wistia’s Turnstile email collector and calls to action are also available for 360 videos, allowing you to identify your viewers and encourage them to take next steps. We recently held a Boston VR Meetup event at our office, and we made sure to shoot plenty of 360 footage throughout the night. When it came time to write a recap for the blog, we included the following immersive video and customized the player to complement our blog’s aesthetic. In this case, we even added a CTA at the end.
Wistia-hosted 360 videos support viewing on desktop, mobile, and VR headsets. We prioritized speed to ensure the player and content continue to load quickly, even though 360 video files are larger. ### 360 heatmaps To track how viewers interact with 360 video, we needed to come up with an entirely new way to measure engagement. Our 360 heatmaps provide a visualization of not only how the video was watched over time, but also where in space the viewer was looking. Try our interactive demo! We use a flattened image of the 360 video (also known as an equirectangular projection) and overlay it with a heatmap to make the viewing data easier to understand. These heatmaps indicate the areas of the video that have attracted the most attention. They also show you the areas that weren’t seen at all. Wistia tracks individual viewing sessions, so you can retrace the path of each viewer and learn how they interacted with your video. Using our 360 heatmaps, you can edit your content and create future content based on what draws your audience’s attention. ### Mobile device support These days, more and more website traffic is coming from mobile devices, which means we needed to ensure that viewing 360 videos from a phone or tablet was a frictionless experience. Android devices are able to handle 360 video in the native browser, so all Wistia videos will play seamlessly there. To keep the same quality of experience across iOS devices, we’re also introducing a native app: Wistia 360! Wistia 360 ensures that viewers using iOS devices will have an optimal experience watching your 360 content. Our app has minimal branding and is designed to get out of the way, so your content can shine. Aside from our heatmaps, the biggest difference between Wistia 360 and other 360 apps is that you own the experience, not us. We believe your content should be front and center, not our player or the app! When a visitor comes across a 360 video on your site, they will be prompted to view it from their desktop or to install the Wistia 360 app for free. When viewers use the app to watch your videos, you’ll receive that mobile viewing data right alongside the rest. ### Desktop browser support Wistia-hosted 360 videos work well in Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Currently, our 360 player does not play well with Internet Explorer, and Safari doesn’t support *any 360 content*. For 360 content to retain optimal visual quality, it should be played at either 1080p or 4K.With the launch of 360 video support, we’re enabling businesses to have a completely different type of conversation. When Wistia first started, most companies were just beginning to understand the value of video. Today, 360 video is in a similar place: the measurable benefits are still being determined, but we see tons of potential in the medium. Together, we’ll uncover all of the ways 360 videos allow businesses to tell stories in new ways. We’re focused on providing the best 360 viewing experience on desktop, mobile, or VR headset, and we’re proud to give you a new type of analytics to help you evolve your videos over time.
WISTIA PRODUCT
Hungry for more info?
Head on over to our product pages, and try an interactive demo of our 360 heatmaps!
