A few weeks ago comScore came out with some new online video stats that said:

• U.S. Internet users viewed 11.5 billion online videos during March, 2008, representing a 13% gain from February, 2008 and a 64% gain from March, 2007.
• 139 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 83 videos per viewer in March, 2008.
• 73.7% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• 84.8 million viewers watched 4.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer).
• The average online video duration was 2.8 minutes.
• The average online video viewer watched 235 minutes of video.

Now, I watch my fair share of videos every week. I’ve noticed my online video viewing used to only be the short YouTube variety but it’s considerably more now that Hulu has come along and supplemented what used to be “TV time” in the evenings.

What struck me recently is that I’m increasingly forgetting that I’m watching a TV when in fact I am. I’ve become so used to the online video experience that I have to remind myself that I’m not at a computer when I’m just watching a television. I don’t know how or when this transition occurred but it was like it just struck me one day when I realized these five things while watching TV…and I’m a little embarrassed by a few of them but here they are…

1. I was was expecting the screen saver to come on after 15 minutes.
2. I was expecting an instant message to pop up.
3. I wanted to have different channels open on multiple tabs.
4. I wanted to minimize the screen to do something else.
5. I double clicked a button on the remote control.

So what’s my self diagnosis on this? Well, for starters I am forced to admit that I’m a computer geek. There’s no denying it any longer. When I’m thinking about opening tabs on TV I know I’m stepping into geekdom. It appears I’ve transitioned into the multi-tasking, half attentive, mix-work-and-play kind of guy I never thought I’d be. I don’t know when this happened, but it happened. I also realize that I’m just now in a place that a generation behind me has been for a while already. They already spread their attention thinly between simultaneous mediums. I’m not assuming this is all good…but I think it is reality.

I don’t exactly know where this leaves us, but for me it’s been a realization of my own shift in video consumption and application. As online video continues to expand both in adoption and penetration, I expect others in my age range and older will come to some similar realizations if they haven’t already. The online video experience will simply be our video experience in the days to come. I think the need to even refer to “online video” will be antiquated within the next few years and perhaps at that time most of the things I wanted to do above will be commonly available in some fashion from the standard TV experience…except for screen saver and double clicking the remote control.

This week’s social media batting practice involves a local, upscale music venue trying to figure out how social media marketing can work for it. This “pitch” was submitted by Steve, a MicroExplosion reader and our batter was Lynn Terry of ClickNewz.com. Lynn’s full list of recommendations and ideas follows the entire scenario below.

Scenario: How would a local entertainment venue (mainly musical arts) use social media to grow its fan base and increase single performance sales and season memberships? Assume the venue has a reputation of being a “black tie only” establishment, but in reality caters to music lovers from all walks of life. It recruits some of the most famous acts in classical, jazz, pops, cabaret and rock music and is known throughout the region. They sell out several shows a year for the more famous names, but want to be full for every weekend and weeknight show as well. What should they do?

Lynn’s ideas: They obviously want a social media campaign that will cover two objectives: gain local interest and also create a specific impression. In order to attract people from “all walks of life”, those people need to see others just like themselves.

I would recommend a photo/video campaign as the base for the online marketing strategy. They can be used to display the wide variety of entertainment available, as well as crowds & individuals (various types) that frequent the venue.

Use Flickr to host the photos and YouTube to host the videos. This serves two purposes: it saves on hosting space & bandwidth usage, and it also helps to create a broader reach. The goal is to “go wide” so that you are easily found online in a variety of places online. Not only will you be found at various social sites, but it will create more opportunity to be found in search engine results as well.

The primary web presence should be a blog, or a website + blog. Using a blog format will allow people to engage in discussions about specific shows they attended, subscribe to the calendar of upcoming events, and interact both with the business and other customers.

Elements to feature on the site/blog might include:

• About Page -written to give the impression desired
• Location/Directions -including photos and Google Map
• Entertainment Calendar -with RSS & Email subscription options
• Show Reviews -photos, videos & written reviews of recent shows
• Photo Gallery -invites visitors to submit photos as well
• Mailing List -notification for upcoming shows
• Testimonials -encourage visitors to send feedback & publish it

A great way to encourage visitors to sign up for the email list is to host a monthly giveaway. It might be a dinner, appetizer or door pass from a random drawing of subscribers. You can also use the drawing strategy to get customers to submit testimonials.

Tip: A prize of higher value could be offered for video testimonials, shot on scene.

Using the blog to feature reviews of recent shows will serve two purposes: it helps create the impression desired by featuring the variety of musical arts available, and it also allows you to optimize pages for keyword phrases such as: acts, names, music types, etc. Ranking well in the major search engines for the name of a well-known band can help you reach their fan base online.

Setting up a well-optimized blog and website, and optimizing your photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube, will allow locals and fans to find you. The next step in the marketing campaign is to find them.

Set up an account on MySpace, as their primary share in the social media market is with music. Use the name of the business for the account so that the URL is myspace.com/business. This makes it easy to find online, both by memory and by search. Use the calendar feature to display upcoming events. Search for bands and independent musicians that have played in your venue and add them to your friends list. Next, search your town and local area and send friend requests liberally.

When a band is scheduling a show, ask them if they have a MySpace account. Offer to feature them on your Top Friends space prior to the show and encourage them to send out an invite to their own friends list by posting a bulletin.

Set up an account at Twitter.com also, which is a micro-blogging service. Again, use your business name for the account. Publish updates daily that feature upcoming shows and artists, and link to the full write-up on your website. Use the search box in your Twitter account to find bands and locals just like you did with MySpace.

You now have presence on five different online properties - your own domain, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter. Done right, you can “own” 50% of the search results for phrases your ideal visitors are searching for online. Meaning if someone searches for XYZ Band on Google, you can easily show up in 5 out of the top 10 results.

Getting them to your site is the key. Interacting with them and engaging them in your content is what will turn them into loyal, repeat customers at your local venue.

—–

Lynn, thanks so much for your ideas and giving us a lot to think about. Anytime a business can own 50% of the search results for the keywords or phrases they want is a big win. That’s the beauty of what social media marketing can do. Interestingly enough, almost everything you suggested here costs nothing to get started but it takes time (sometimes significant time) to set up and maintain well. It just shows that in the economy of social media marketing time is the new money!

Also, thanks for the pitch Steve. All right…who’s got another pitch and who’s our next batter?

I came across this video earlier in the week and really like it for a few different reasons. First, the point of the video (the confusion that can occur because Starbucks calls a small coffee a “tall”) is something most any of us who have been to Starbucks have thought about at some point. The other thing is that this video shows what some talent and creativity both in front of the camera and with video editing can do to create really compelling content.

I advise people all the time to create content for whatever they’re doing. Inevitably, when I mention video content they think it’s going to be way too expensive or complicated. This video shows it doesn’t have to be expensive (or complicated) to be done well and get a lot of people to watch. It’s up to almost 300,000 views after only one month online.

Link for the feed readers: Small is Tall