Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Jeannie and RC Toys recent posts on video contests gave me a lot to think about.   So, we decided to run a video contest too.  Hopefully we will get some great fun videos!http://www.youtube.com/group/houseofjerkycontest

 

What do you think?  If you have had any type of video contest, will you share it?

 

Thanks!

Janie

 

 

 

 

Hi Janie,

 

Just saw your video commercial on youtube! That`s neat! I just gave you top ratings too! ;-)

But as for your contest, how will people know about it?

 

Can you make another video showing and talking about the contest instead having people read about the contest on youtube.  Maybe title it "How to win free Beef Jerky for a year!" or at least include the key words.."beef jerky" into your title because right now, you only show jerky as the key word and when I`m looking at the other videos, they don`t talk about beef jerky much. But if I typed in beef jerky in the search box, a whole bunch of beef jerky videos come up.  Like..how to make your own beef jerky, etc...  So you want those who are interested in beef jerky to be your target audience.

 

Like for me, I don`t have my product name in the title of my video at all. I just typed the keywords: Wacom Cintiq Tablet PC Art Glove -no friction & smudges

I put my main target audience (wacom cintiq) into the title and so far I`ve been getting views. You can see that I created my commercial here. But let me forewarn you, that my video is totally low budget and quite boring. But since I don`t know the first thing about how to make a video, I decided to use a picture slide format using Windows Movie Maker. It was my first attempt so I just figured...it will help people know what my product is and where they can find it. Anyways, here it is..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a6IzCeJH3P4

 

I also use the same keywords on ebay.  Are you selling your product on ebay too? Oh, but I just looked at ebay for beef jerky and there`s so many selling jerky. :-(

 

Anyhow, those are just my suggestions.  I hope you get lots of videos for your contest! =)

 

Jeannie

 

 

600+ views!  That`s fantastic Jeannie!  Your video is very good! What are you talking about?

 

Thanks for your input.  The idea to put a video for the contest is probably a very good idea.  Hmm...

 

As far as beef jerky, I wasn`t going to limit it to that since we have other types of jerky. But beef jerky is in the tags.

 

What I`m doing to try to get people to find it is,.... it`s posted on my site, it`s posted in my jerky news. It will be sent out to all my news subscribers tonight and I will do a press release.  Yes, I do hope they find it! It just seemed like a fun thing to do. Hopefully I can create a buzz about it.

 

Nope, not a jerky ebayer.  I`m sure you can find a lot of cheap jerky there.   Would love to know how many people actually purchase jerky on ebay.

 

Thanks Jeannie,

Janie

We`ve entered contests to have fun but hadn`t thought about sponsoring one; this is my favorite one we made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u95g7_jCZcE

I have been thinking about a "product placement mktplace" for user generated videos but I can`t image anything more wonderful than Jeannie got from her users (that`s so amazing! and it`s so cool to see how your marketing has changed in the past year!  That is so sweet!)

Nicely done video Kathy!  My video is actually our commercial that is on TV. (that`s a fast talking guy on there, isn`t it!).  But it`s only been on TV three days and we are definitely seeing results from it, in our store already. That makes me happy.

 

Roland just added it on you tube. Sorry, if it made it confusing for the contest. Now I`ll have to see about making a video to announce the contest.  Always something!

 

Chris, you`re video is hysterical!!!.. and shows how to use your product very well! I think I need you to make my video. :)

 

Janie

Hi Janie,

 

Thanks for the kind comment about my video...but my 6 yr. old son was the one who critiqued my video...and he said, "Mommy...your commercial has no sound and I can`t read the words fast enough and it`s BORING!" - so that`s why I had to warn you guys in advance! ;-)

 

Also, since you have other types of jerky, then you should take advantage of the available tag space and type in more of your other types of jerky as keywords too so that if someone wants to look for ostrich jerky or something, they can find it too! 

 

I actually made two videos and one was targeted for Wacom users and the other was targeted for lefties and art drawings. I wanted to test out the differences and I used different key words and titles for both.  While one got 600+ views..the other only got 30 views.  So it`s good to play around with your keywords or even create more videos just to see which ones get you the best views. Since Youtube is free, it`s a good way to spread the word about your product! =)

 

Also, posting the contest to your website and in your news is a great way to get people to know about it! Especially if you are getting press for it!  Good Luck with everything!

 

Wish you the best!

 

Jeannie

 

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for your nice comment about my video too! Yes, trying free or low cost various ways to get the word out there is what we entrepreneurs need to do! And I agree with you too that it was actually fun to make the video! =)

 

I notice that we actually have the same experiences...from having a new product, selling it on ebay to attempting for the first time to make a video on Windows Movie Maker! ;-) 

 

Hey, thanks for rating my video on youtube and for adding a nice comment! My first one! =)  THANKS!!

 

Wishing you the best,

 

Jeannie

 

Thanks for all the helpful advice Jeannie.  I have to work at our store on Monday`s so I have to get going, but when I`m there I`m going to check out all your videos again!

 

Janie

Hi Chris!

Thanks for your kind comment about my video! Your video is cool too! I think it`s wonderful to see all SuN members` great efforts in creating videos on Youtube! Janie`s, Kathy`s and your`s are great examples of what we need to do for our products! Excellent work guys & gals!! =)

 

May we ALL succeed BIG TIME!  ;-)

 

Jeannie

 

 

Hey Kathy,

 

So when you say that all the advertising has paid off...what kind of advertising did you do?  Please let us know which ones worked for you! =)

 

Jeannie