Tag: YouTube

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Easy Video Press: Video Player for WordPress Blogs

video player thumbnail

[evp type=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln-Xbz3TgbM[/evp]

 

Easy Video Press is a WordPress Plugin that makes it very easy to play videos on your WordPress blogs.  You can play videos uploaded from Amazon S3, YouTube or your computer.

You also have the option of customizing the video player – e.g. color of the background, buttons or outline.  You can change the size of the displayed video and allow full screen playing.  If you prefer, you can set the Easy Videos Player to play immediately someone visits your blog post (… and you can change this for each video).

Easy Video Press comes with four very short videos that explain each step in the process of setting up the Plugin and creating a video player for your blog post.

Monetizing videos with Easy Video Press WordPress Plugin

Easy Video Press enables you to add a hyperlinked logo to your video and build in a redirect to a website of your choice so that you can monetize the video.  I have illustrated these features in the video player below:

 [evp type=youtube logo=http://smallbusinessodyssey.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/meritsolutionsthumbnail1.jpg link=http://www.meritsolutions.com.au]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4StJfmKDus[/evp]

 

Easy Video Press: an easy WordPress Plugin for displaying a video player

This is a powerful WordPress Plugin that can open up the world of video marketing.  It is easy to use and makes video playing on your WordPress blog so much easier.

All you have to do is install the WordPress plugin, customize the default settings (e.g. Amazon S3 URL’s, color scheme, video size) and then start using the video player within your blog posts.

When you want to display a video in your blog post, you provide a few details and the WordPress Plugin creates a “shortcode” which is automatically inserted in your blog post.

The following illustration shows the control panel that appears below your blog entry as you are developing your post.  It enables you to:

  • specify the source of video – Amazon S3, YouTube or your computer
  • size of the video player
  • color scheme for the video player
  • cover image
  • logo image (if desired)
  • logo URL link (if desired).

 

easy video press control panel

 

If you want to use the advanced options available with Easy Video Press, you can do any of the following:

  • allow full screen
  • auto start video
  • hide controls/buttons or show them
  • redirect viewer at end of video

 

easy video press monetization

With either the basic or the advanced controls, Easy Video Press will generate a shortcode that is automatically inserted in your blog post when you hit the “Send Shortcode to Editor” button.  You can then locate the video player wherever you choose within your post.

I was becoming increasingly frustrated with displaying videos on my WordPress blogs until I found this simple-to-use WordPress Plugin.

Easy Video Press is, as the name suggests, an easy-to-use WordPress Plugin that will take the stress out of your blogging and enable you to professionally display, and monetize, videos on your WordPress blogs.

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Social Media for Small Business Marketing

social media for small business

 

You have to search really hard to find someone who relates social media to small business marketing and does so in an easy-to-understand way. However, Social Media Today has achieved this sharing by assembling a panel of experts who can guide you through the social media maze.

The YouTube video presented above gives great insights into how to use social media to advance the marketing of your small business. They effectively cover Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube and relate these to small business marketing. The information is really well grounded and focused on “how to” information – it does not go into the technicalities of each of the social media sites.

The video covers the practicalities of social media marketing:

  • How to use social media to build your small business
  • What social media to use for small business marketing
  • How to avoid the risks associated with social media
  • How to connect with your customers (current and future) through social media
  • Ways to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing.

Without this kind of guidnace, you can easily waste time, money and resources on social media and inhibit the success of your small business.

Core messages for small business marketing using social media

After watching the video and related Slideshare presentation, I distilled eight (8) key messages that relate to the use of social media for small business marketing:

  1. Social media are designed to build community, not to offer a platform for direct marketing (overt marketing can result in account deletion)
  2. Social media marketing is a form of indirect marketing (unless you use paid advertising on social media sites)
  3. Your goals should be to build connections and relationships with current and potential customers
  4. Unless you have a specific strategy when you visit social media sites, you will waste a lot of time for no productive outcome
  5. The essence of social media is conversation with others and sharing – about yourself, your small business, your interests and information relevant to your niche
  6. Effective marketing on social media requires content creation on your part – blogging, podcasts, e-books and videos
  7. It’s important to personalise your business and your staff – profiles and videos help greatly here (you have to present as a real person, with real interests and real staff)
  8. Profiles are critical – make sure they are relevant to your business, up-to-date and keyword rich (for SEO purposes).

Small business owners can use social media effectively if they follow some basic principles and develop a marketing strategy.  The potential of social media is enormous but the realization of this potential requires focus, targeting and discipline.