October 03, 2012

Case Study

Social Media Marketing: Video campaign increased demo leads 63%, website traffic grew by 450,000 visitors

SUMMARY: Content marketing comes in many formats, including video. With its element of visual demonstration, video marketing is particularly suited for providing how-to instruction and product information.

This case study looks at how Wasp Barcode used video marketing to drive demo lead generation. Find out how the company combines video advertising, search optimization, outreach to third-party websites and blogs, and video annotations to increase its demo leads 63% and Web traffic by 450,000 visitors.

by David Kirkpatrick, Senior Reporter

CHALLENGE

Video can be a powerful component of content marketing. It gives marketers the opportunity to reach an audience through social media channels such as YouTube, it’s an additional format to utilize with a strategy of reusing content in multiple ways, and video is an excellent way to get a marketing message out on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Jeremy Vest, Senior SEM and Online Manager, Wasp Barcode, decided to explore video as a lead generation tool.

"The marketing challenge was to find new customers online without knowing them or buying lists," Vest stated.

He said the reasoning was the marketing team believed that potential Wasp Barcode customers were searching for "how-to" videos and that creating video content would reach people searching for this information online.

Read on to learn about the specific tactics Wasp Barcode employed to increase demo lead generation 63%, add more than 4,000 YouTube channel subscribers, and boost website traffic by 450,000 visitors.

CAMPAIGN

Wasp Barcode is involved in a range of marketing activities, including email automation, social media, infographics and more. Vest explained that he had a background in, and passion for, video, and that background helped lead to this effort.

"The first thing we did is we went out and we made our very first customer testimonial video. We figured instead of telling people about our products, showing results was going to be our best bet," Vest said.

He continued, "We didn’t have a lot of success until we learned and understood how to do distribution and advertising and case studies. The first step was learning by shooting a video. And then, the real work started."

Step #1. Take advantage of advertising for video

"One of the biggest problems most businesses face is they make a cool video, and then no one ever sees it," Vest said.

He explained that one of the most successful tactics used at Wasp Barcode has been Google AdWords for Video.

At one point in time, this ad venue was handled through YouTube, but it became a part of the Google AdWords platform this year.

These a ads appear in yellow on the right-hand side of YouTube search and video pages.

Step #2. Reach out to bloggers to promote videos and receive back links

Along with the video ads, Vest said a goal for the campaign was to get "good back links" and to get conversations started about Wasp Barcode videos.

He added that getting a videos embedded in popular blogs also signaled to YouTube that the video was valuable, which improved SEO.

To get Wasp Barcode videos in popular blogs, Vest said the team used human capital in the form of existing relationships that he, and other Wasp Barcode employees, had with influential bloggers.

Another aspect was creating videos with an angle and a particular audience in mind, while still providing valuable information.

"I think what we have done really well is finding an angle for an audience versus just emailing the blogs up and saying, ‘Hey, can you please talk about my video?’"

To provide an example, Vest said Wasp Barcode has two videos on an influential marketing site because the team provided actionable information on its own success with video marketing, and the site offered Wasp Barcode the opportunity for a guest post.

Vest added that along with a strategy of getting Wasp Barcode videos on popular blogs, the marketing team also issued press releases when the company launched new products.

Step #3. Optimize search on YouTube

According to Vest, obtaining good search results on YouTube begins with creating videos with value.

This means consider the keywords people might use to find your video, and then create a video that delivers actual information on those keywords, or questions, that end users enter into the search box.

He added:

Make sure the keyword phrases are in the title of the video

Link back to your website in the first sentence of the description

Link to the video as often as possible -- in your blogs and Web assets, and through third-party blogs (see Step #2)

"The more people linking to this YouTube video, the better chance you will actually start showing up in YouTube search," Vest explained.

In Wasp Barcode’s case, YouTube search optimization has been successful. For example, its video shows up as the number one organic search result on YouTube when searching the keyphrase "asset tracking."

Step #4. Leverage engagement through annotations

Annotations are a way to add interactivity in YouTube videos.

Here are three uses for annotations from YouTube:

Add background information about the video

Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)

Link to related YouTube videos, channels or search results from within a video

Vest said he believes that engagement -- people sharing, liking and commenting on videos -- is more valuable from a marketing perspective than SEO for organic search results. He added that through extensive testing, he has found videos that receive more social media exposure rank higher in search.

"One way to actively engage people is to use annotations," he explained.

Wasp Barcode uses annotations at the end of the video. Instead of the links going to related videos, the viewer is presented with options to watch another Wasp Barcode video.

"Instead of letting YouTube decide what videos people are going to next, you actually engage them," stated Vest.

He added this approach increased views 30% to 40%, depending on the month.

Step #5. Link to landing pages

In the video descriptions, Wasp Barcode puts a link to the main website in the first line because many browsers won’t automatically show more than a line or two of the description without the end user having to click to show more of the description.

But, he added, by the second or third paragraph, there is also a link back to a landing page for whatever product the video discusses.

"By default, all of our landing pages are lead generation landing pages," said Vest. "The idea is to get people to do a live demo, or a test drive of our software."

He added that since beginning video marketing, live demo leads and catalog downloads have increased.

"Ultimately, we want people to watch our videos who are actually interested in this type of product, click on a landing page, and either get a catalog or check out a demo of our software," Vest said.

RESULTS

The main key performance indicator for this effort was demo leads. With that in mind, video marketing at Wasp Barcode has produced these results:

Demo leads increased 63%

Subscribers increased by 4,190

Website traffic was boosted by more than 450,000 visitors

Here are some additional metrics on Wasp Barcode’s YouTube channel:

Top playback locations

YouTube watch page - 62.7%

YouTube channel page - 31.6%

Mobile devices - 3.9%

Embedded player on other websites - 1.8%

Top traffic sources

View referrals from YouTube - 87.1%

Mobile apps and direct traffic - 9.3%

View referrals from outside YouTube - 3.6%

About this campaign, Vest said, "Online marketing is a lot more than getting a click or a lead. It’s more about providing something that is of true value."

In Wasp Barcode’s case, its entire video marketing strategy is to provide value by answering the questions its customers and prospects are asking.

By providing thought leadership, the campaign can drive viewers to the videos, get outreach through third-party sources such as bloggers, and eventually get that clickthrough to a product landing page to drive the desired demo lead.