Instead Of Video Spam, Try Video Product Placement

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Two days ago I posted two suggestions for improving Google Universal. Thanks to Sebastian Lewis for bringing up the video search issue. I had pointed out that Image Search has issues. Video search actually has some of the same issues. I was delighted to an interview with video search engine optimization expert Jeremy Clem in today’s issue of Search Marketing Standard.

One of the interesting things Clem said in the interview had to do with motivation for producing and posting videos online:

You need to first understand if video content is advantageous for reaching and resonating with the client’s target audiences.” says Jeremy. If you’re doing video SEO for the purpose of just showing up in the video search results, that’s not reason enough yet.

But what if your client is already producing video content for offline areas (television), and they have a fan base for their commercials? “Then I think that IS a huge opportunity to create video content that is just for the online space, because you already know that there are interested parties to leverage that offline interest into the offline space, and brining more people to your site.” says Jeremy.

I’d have to say that I agree with this. I see people posting videos online for the sake of posting videos. You’re really wasting your time if your target market won’t stop to watch those videos. The first thing you need to do is capture their attention. How do you do that on YouTube? It’s not like people are out scouring YouTube looking for marketing videos to watch.

I think the best use of video marketing in the future will be something akin to product placement. People primarily want to be entertained. So when they watch a video they’ll want to see something that entertains them. Video makers who produce short entertainment videos will need to make those videos pay or they’ll just be frittering their hours away. Enter product placement.

Let’s say I’m a producer of a series of five minute entertainment videos that I publish every Friday afternoon. They’re funny and amount to a little mini-SITCOM. Same characters, same setting, different situation every week. If they’re popular enough and I’ve got the demand to keep producing them, I can make them pay off by having product placement opportunities where sponsors can have their products placed in the scene somewhere without it actually appearing as if they are placed there on purpose as advertising gimmicks. This would take some creative and technical know-how, but I can see that as a way for companies to have their products introduced to new markets while not spamming the search engines and spending thousands of dollars producing videos themselves that no one will watch.