How to Build an Audience for Your Web Series - Independent

HOW TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE
FOR YOUR WEB SERIES:
Market, Motivate and
Mobilize
Julie Giles
A Publication of the Independent Production Fund
How to Build an Audience for Your Web Series: Market, Motivate and Mobilize
Publication date May 2011
Written by: Julie Giles
www.greenhatdigital.com
Editor: Andra Sheffer
Graphic Design/Layout: Helen Prancic
Version 1.0 В© Copyright 2011 Independent Production Fund
All right reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by an means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Contact info@ipf.ca
Notice of Liability. The information in this book is distributed on an вЂњas isвЂќ basis, without
warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the
author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any
liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions
contained in this book or any materials or products described therein.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
How to Build an Audience for your Web Series: Market, Motivate and Mobilize
Issued also in French under title:
Comment bГўtir un auditoire pour une websГ©rie: Commercialiser, Motiver, Mobiliser.
ISBN 978-0-9876748-0-7
Published in Canada by:
Independent Production Fund
2 Carlton St., Suite 1709
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1J3
info@ipf.ca www.ipf.ca
4200, boul Saint-Laurent, Bureau 503
MontrГ©al, QuГ©bec H2W 2R2
fipinfo@ipf.ca
How to Build an Audience for Your Web Series: Market, Motivate and Mobilize
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Contents
About the Author
3
About the IPF
3
Introduction
4
How to use this guide
5
Marketing strategy
6
Your marketing plan
8
Audience development
9
Build your website
10
Organic search marketing
17
Content marketing
26
Social media marketing
31
YouTube
40
Publicity and promotions
46
Community development
53
Email marketing
60
Advertising
63
Schedule
65
Budget
68
Appendix A: Content types
70
Appendix B: 40 ways to promote your YouTube channel and videos
71
Appendix C: Performance Metrics
72
Resources and links
73
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About the Author
Julie Giles is a marketer, publicist, producer and filmmaker. Online since the
early days of dial-up, her expertise is both wide and deep, including content
marketing, seo, social media, email marketing, video marketing, and
publicity and promotions. Julie is Chief Madhatter at GreenHAT Digital, a
Toronto-based digital marketing agency. Follow her on Twitter
@greenhatdigital.
About the IPF
The Independent Production Fund (IPF) was established in 1991 by
Maclean Hunter Limited with an endowment now valued at $35M. It is
mandated to support the production of Canadian drama series and to
encourage professional development and training for the television industry.
In the past 20 years, the IPF has invested $52 M in the production of 250
Canadian television drama series. In 2010, it launched a new funding
program to support drama series created for digital platforms.
The Fund is "certified" by the CRTC as an independent production fund,
eligible to receive BDU (Broadcast Distribution Undertaking) contributions. It
is incorporated federally as a corporation without share capital and has
been granted charitable status. The Board of Directors which represents the
industry makes all funding decisions. The Fund is administered by offices in
Toronto and Montreal.
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Introduction
The recent explosion in the production of web series around the world has
given audiences an impressive range of content to explore online and on
other digital platforms. There are series for every taste and every
demographic. Their audiences may be global, or may be targeted and
niche. Yet, producers of this wealth of content share a challenge: how to let
potential viewers know that they exist.
The Independent Production Fund, which began to finance web drama
series in 2010, (after 20 years of funding television drama series), was
amazed by the quality and diversity of material presented to them by both
traditional television producers and new media producers.
A lot of
commitment and passion went into the production of their series. But, we all
soon recognized that just as much commitment and labour and creativity
and skill must go into marketing and promoting the web series, over long
periods of time. No one really realized just what that could entail, if done
right. And who should do it. And when it should be done. And how. And what
resources exist. And how to use them. And for how long. Traditional PR and
promotional techniques would not do the job.
How to Build an Audience for your Web Series: Market, Motivate & Mobilize
is our attempt to answer these questions. It provides practical, hands-on
advice and strategies to attract audiences to web series and websites, and
to inspire audiences to become communities of interest, who in turn can
become the best marketers you can get. There are not many experienced
people in this field. Julie Giles is an exception. She is a digital entertainment
specialist with years of experience, who has agreed to share her vast
knowledge of the art and science of digital marketing.
The Independent Production Fund is a private Foundation mandated to
fund Canadian drama series produced for any platform, and to support
professional development of the production industry. It provides a web
series dashboard for all the series that it funds. As producers learn to
optimize their marketing knowledge, audiences will grow, and hopefully,
fame and fortune will follow!
Andra Sheffer
Executive Director
Independent Production Fund
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How to use this guide
How to Build an Audience for your Web Series: Market, Motivate & Mobilize
is a comprehensive workbook for web series creators interested in
building their audiences and reach via online, mobile and social media
platforms.
It has been designed to provide a practical framework to direct your work
from idea to production, launch and beyond. Each section addresses an
essential aspect of digital marketing and provides specific tactics for
building an engaged and loyal audience.
Whether you are interested in establishing a YouTube presence, building a
video-enhanced website, or engaging Twitter and Facebook followers, the
guide will take you through the necessary steps.
Sample budget, resources, links and timelines are all included allowing you
to develop your marketing plan by platform and chapter, or by following the
month-by-month schedule at the end of the guide.
The tasks suggested here are applicable to a broad range of web series,
and to most creative producers. But keep in mind that you may need to do
other things depending on your objectives and your niche. ItКјs also possible
that some of the tasks mentioned here, which may be necessary for other
producers, may not be appropriate to your goals.
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Marketing strategy
A good marketing strategy begins with a thorough understanding of your
product, your goals and your audience.
Start with defined goals. Know what your want from your web series above
all. Is your goal to:
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
Launch your career?
Take your web series to TV?
Build a large audience?
Build a long-term, sustainable fan base?
Make money (via funding, advertising, sponsorship, etc.)?
Have an impact on the world or create change?
Knowing your goal will define what success means to you and your
team. Defined goals will also help when you have to make hard choices
about where to allocate precious resources.
Once you have decided what your goals are, youКјll need to take stock of
your web series. Is the work good? Will it hold up to the harshness of the
ultra-competitive marketplace? WhatКјs the one thing that makes it both
different and compelling? Are there stars? Is there an irresistible story in the
making of? Is your series shocking or controversial in any way? What make
it вЂњthe only oneвЂќ of its kind? Answering these questions and others will help
you to clearly define and differentiate your brand.
Audience identification should start as early in the process as possible.
Who makes up your core audience? (A core audience might include one
or more niche audiences -- people with a unique shared interest or
preference). Is there a secondary audience that shares some of the same
interests as your core audience? Who are they? Enlist your co-producers
and advisors to help brainstorm audience profiles. It is difficult to market to
your audience if you donКјt know who that audience is.
Understanding your competition, capitalizing on trends and knowing your
marketing channels can further define your marketing strategy and help you
to clearly define and differentiate your brand. Consider the following:
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вЂў What wave are you riding? Make a list of trends that can power your
success. Can you ride more than one trend at a time?
вЂў Who shares the landscape? Who are your competitors? What similar
entertainment products come first, second, and third in the mind of the
audience? Design a strategy to become number one or two. Or, become
the first in a new category (Twilight did this by combining two genres:
vampire and teen lit).
вЂў How will you spread the word? Is your messaging as unique as your
product? How will your audience learn about you? How can you вЂњenrollвЂќ
them to help spread the word about your work? Where should you put
your marketing resources?
вЂў How do you earn fan loyalty? What would turn off a fan? Is there a way
to introduce super fans to new members of your audience? Or to you,
your cast and crew? What cool things can your organize that will make
your fans feel special?
We live in a world where everything is marketing and marketing is
everything. The least amount of friction between who you are, what you
produce, and what you market will give rise to an authentic and honest
approach that can be #winning for both you and your audience.
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Your marketing plan
Your marketing plan should be specific and detailed and include a step-bystep set of actions for you and your team to follow.
Below is a recommended eight-step system to build and execute your
marketing plan:
STEP 1: Develop your audience profile(s).
STEP 2: Clearly define and differentiate your brand.
STEP 3: Design and deploy a content-driven website.
STEP 4: Choose your marketing channels. This can include traditional
(advertising, direct mail, publicity, etc.) and non-traditional (blogger
outreach, social media, etc.) channels.
STEP 5: Build an integrated campaign fueled by four core marketing
strategies: content marketing, organic search marketing, social media and
publicity.
STEP 6: Establish budgets. Allocate your money -- and your time.
STEP 7: Define timelines with milestones, tasks and responsibilities.
STEP 8: Measure everything; be willing to adapt and evolve. If a tactic
doesnКјt work, either make changes or try a different course of action
altogether.
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Audience development
When you build an audience, you donКјt have to buy peopleКјs attention -they give it to you. This is a huge advantage as it allows even small
independents to build an audience for their work.
Traditionally, broadcasters have been the intermediaries between producer
and audience. As such, they have been responsible for driving вЂњeyeballsвЂќ to
screens (usually via mass advertising and PR campaigns). With the advent
of the web, this traditional form of marketing has changed. Now that
producers have a direct relationship with their audience it is less about the
big spend and more about creativity and passion.
To develop an audience for your show, your need to вЂњpullвЂќ people using a
combination of вЂњinbound marketingвЂќ techniques, which include content
marketing, organic search marketing, social media, and publicity and PR.
Once you have people coming to your website, then it becomes all about
connecting to your audience and making them feel like they are part of
something special. It is this вЂњexperientialвЂќ aspect that makes a web series
unique to market.
There are three ways to build an engaged and loyal audience: by building a
large following; by building a community; or by putting together a
combination of the two.
Most of this guide will focus on how to build a large following. This
involves creating great content, engaging with as many people as possible,
getting coverage in top blogs, and maximizing you profile in online
searches.
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Build your website
Your website is the showcase for your web series and the cornerstone for
all your marketing activities.
As you design a site for your show, there are several things to keep in mind.
First, put your web series front and centre. Your video player should be
prominent and appear alongside a memorable tagline that introduces
visitors to the show and explains (in as few words as possible) how it is
different and compelling.
Second, visitors should straightaway know what other content they can find
and what they can do on the site. The main website navigation should be
clear and easy to understand (no creative titles, here) while features such
as the newsletter sign-up should be positioned where visitors typically
expect them to be (top right sidebar).
Lastly, your website should connect visitors to your social media channels
and provide ways for them to interact with you -- as well as each other. The
site should work for search engines (no broken links, slow loading, ghost
pages or duplicate content) and be accessible to anyone using any device
(desktop computer, mobile, tablet) or browser (IE, Firefox, Opera).
Inject your website with lots of personality ... and youКјre ready to go!
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1. Select a unique domain name
Ensure that your site has a unique domain name. Claim your .ca, .com and/
or .tv address. A .com address is the most common domain although not
the only option. Many successful online brands have used non-traditional
domains to make themselves memorable (for example, music service
Last.fm). Most hosting providers offer domains for free along with their
monthly or annual packages. Alternatively, you can purchase your domain
through a service like MyDomain. Protect your brand by buying as many
domain variations as you can afford. The best domain names are short and
easy to remember. For additional characteristics of a good domain, read
this blog post on Daily Blog Tips.
2. Choose a hosting service
There are lots of good, affordable website hosting plans available. Because
your mandate is to first reach a Canadian audience, itКјs better to host your
website on a server located in Canada. For an explanation why, watch this
video from Matt Cutts of Google Webmaster Helps. Do your research
before your hand over your money. You want a service that is fast, secure
and has great server вЂњuptimeвЂќ. If you plan on hosting your own video, you
may want to consider a cloud hosting plan so as to minimize down time if
you start getting traffic spikes.
3. Set-up a landing page
As soon as you have the green light (and after youКјve registered your
domain name and selected your hosting provider), the first thing you want
to do is create a temporary landing page with the goal of collecting email or
Twitter addresses. Your landing page should be simple and focused solely
on capturing addresses. You can design your own or use a launch page
service like LaunchRock. Use the code provided by your email provider to
set-up your opt-in email subscription box.
4. Select a CMS platform
Before you design and build your website, select a CMS platform. Content
Management Systems (CMS) have revolutionized the world of web design,
allowing anyone to create, publish, and manage content online. The three
major content management systems are Drupal, Joomla and WordPress.
Most web designers or developers will have a preference for one or the
other. Make sure that you are comfortable with their recommendation by
testing the platform ahead of time. If youКјre planning to do most of your
updates yourself, then WordPress is by far the most user-friendly of the
three. Good Web Practices has an excellent article explaining why you
might choose one CMS over another.
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5. Choose a theme or template
With the proliferation of ready-made themes and templates, itКјs no longer
imperative to hire a designer for your website. This makes it much more
affordable to design and build an attractive website. If youКјre using
WordPress as your CMS, there are a large number of free and premium
themes to style your website. Once you have WordPress installed on your
host server, then it is only a matter of вЂњskinningвЂќ your site with the theme of
your choice. ThemeForest has a number of affordable premium themes. If
youКјre a web series producer, look for a theme with a (big) video player built
into the homepage layout.
6. Hire a designer/developer
Many themes now come with highly customizable backends that you can
tweak in order to give your website a more unique look. Depending on your
theme (and budget), you may still want to hire a designer/developer to
customize your website for that fully вЂњbrandedвЂќ feel.
7. Design your site for people
Usability (the people side of web design) is both art and science. Sites with
good usability tend to have several things in common: a clear and simple
navigation system, a search function, strong support for the brand, and
easily scannable content. The subject of web design is huge and canКјt be
covered in depth here. Instead, we suggest you visit an acknowledged
design resource, such as Smashing Magazine or WebDesignerWall for tips
and inspiration. The alternative is to hire a designer/developer.
8. But donКјt forget the search engines
Design your site for people but donКјt forget about the search engines.
Search engines (like people) want to see content that is well organized and
downloads quickly. Their main goal is to вЂњcrawlвЂќ and index your site. DonКјt
block the search вЂњbotsвЂќ by using excessive javascript, splash pages or Flash
files.
9. Decide on a navigation style and layout
Make it easy for people to navigate your site. Decide where on the page
you want your main navigation to go: the top (horizontal), side (vertical) or
both. The navigation should provide an overview of what the site has to
offer and how itКјs organized. People are creatures of habit. Use classical
layouts that visitors will easily recognize. Here is one place where it pays
not to be too creative.
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10. Design the perfect homepage
Effective design draws the attention of visitors to important elements. Place
your web series front and centre on your website and вЂњabove the foldвЂќ so
that it can be seen right away and without having to scroll down the page.
Ensure that your important links, images and text are also вЂњabove the foldвЂќ.
Elements to include вЂњabove the foldвЂќ:
вЂў Company or show logo
вЂў Company or show name
вЂў Tagline (a memorable one sentence summary)
вЂў Main and sub-navigation
вЂў Video player (if youКјre producing a web series)
вЂў RSS and email subscription options
вЂў RSS and social media buttons/icons
вЂў On-site search box
Elements to add вЂњbelow the foldвЂќ:
вЂў Sidebar content (blogroll, tag cloud, widgets, etc...)
вЂў Content promos (latest or most popular news)
вЂў Feature promos (latest episode)
вЂў Social media widgets (Facebook or Twitter feeds)
вЂў Footer information (sub-navigation, privacy and copyright info)
11. Add a blog
Blogs play an important function by keeping your audience engaged and by
helping your search engine optimization (seo). If you are using a CMS such
as WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, then a blog is a built-in feature. If you
have a static site, you can use WordPress to add a blog feature. Do not use
an off-site platform such as Blogger or WordPress.com to host your blog.
YouКјll gain nothing from the added benefits that a blog can bring such as
increased traffic and enhanced seo. Try and stay away from Tumblr as well.
Because Tumblr makes it easy to copy content from one blog to another
(re-blogging) and lacks unique title tags for pages, it does not rank well with
Google and other search engines.
12. Build your site from a blueprint
Before you build your website, organize your content (your pages) into a
wireframe or screen blueprint. Doing this first can save time as you hash out
the details of the siteКјs architecture, functionality, and content prior to
actually starting the build. Wireframes can be executed with pen and paper
or with special tools. For an overview of the wireframe process and a
comprehensive list of resources, visit Smashing Magazine.
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13. Burn your RSS feed with FeedBurner
As soon as your website is built, one of the first things you want to do is
burn your RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed with FeedBurner. To create a
FeedBurner account, youКјll first need to have a Google account. Follow the
instructions included in this WP beginner post to burn your feed. Manually
add a redirect from your original feed to your new FeedBurner feed, or
install the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin to do this automatically.
There are several advantages to using FeedBurner. One of the main
advantages is that it lets visitors sign-up to receive your news feed by
email. This is important as many people are still unfamiliar with feedreaders
and whatКјs involved in subscribing to an RSS feed. Other advantages:
FeedBurner allows you to find out how many people are subscribed to your
feed. It automatically вЂњpingsвЂќ the search engines to let them know when new
content has been added. And, if you change your blog, you can easily port
your new feed to your FeedBurner account without interruption.
14. Add an email subscription box
Encourage email subscriptions on your website by adding an opt-in email
subscription box. Place it вЂњabove the foldвЂќ in the upper-right corner of the
page. The box should appear on your homepage as well as on the top ten
pages of your website (including your blog). When creating your email
subscription box, ask only for the information you absolutely need (i.e. an
email address). If you absolutely have to collect more information, design a
two-step sign-up process. In addition to having a subscription box on your
website pages, you may also want to consider adding a call-to-action and a
link to your sign-up page at the bottom of every blog post.
15. Enable social sharing
Enable social sharing on your website so that your content can be easily
shared by your visitors. If youКјre using WordPress, there are hundreds of
social sharing plugins to choose from. AddThis is one of the more popular
plugins. Mashable has a good вЂњhow toвЂќ post on adding social sharing
buttons to your website. To learn more about how the digital landscape is
being reshaped by social sharing, read this blog post from Edelman PR:
вЂњWhy social sharing is bigger than Facebook and TwitterвЂќ.
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16. Add a Facebook вЂњLikeвЂќ box
One of the easiest ways to extend the reach of your website is to add a
Facebook вЂњLikeвЂќ Box. The вЂњLikeвЂќ box widget can be customized and added
to your siteКјs sidebar. Grab the embed code from Facebook Share. The
вЂњLikeвЂќ box allows you to acquire new fans for your Facebook page without
them having to leave your website. It also helps to build your social proof by
showing your fan count.
17. Add your Twitter stream
Another way to extend the reach of your website is to add a Twitter badge.
The Twitter badge shows your real-time Twitter stream and provides a link
to your Twitter account. As with the Facebook вЂњLikeвЂќ box, the Twitter badge
helps build social proof. If you plan to use this feature, just make sure that
your account is active.
18. Add a row of social media icons
Add a row of social media icons (or buttons) to your sidebar and then link
the images to your most important social media channels (Facebook, Flickr,
Twitter, YouTube, etc.). Make sure that your buttons are вЂњabove the foldвЂќ
and large enough to be visible. There are numerous plugins that let you
add and customize this feature. DonКјt forget to include your RSS feed (the
famous orange button) in your вЂњsocialвЂќ row.
19. Add a toolbar
Adding a toolbar to your website can help encourage on-site activity and
interactivity. Toolbars typically sit at the bottom of the browser and provide a
number of useful tools such as site search, translation, live-chat and more.
Popular toolbars include the Meebo Bar and Wibiya Toolbar. The only
downside of toolbars is that they can slow the load time of your website. If
you are planning to add one, do your research and optimize your cache.
More on this in the Organic Search Marketing section.
20. Use feedback to discover problems
Embed feedback widgets to discover problems and to find out from your
visitors what is and isnКјt working with your website. There are two main
types of feedback widgets: survey tools that pop a little question up from the
bottom corner of the screen, and live-chat tools, which let you engage in a
conversation. Add a survey widget (Olark, KISSinsights) or a live-chat
widget (SnapEngage) to your site for insights into points of confusion that
you might not have thought of.
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21. Make your site mobile friendly
Strengthen your ability to reach your audience anytime and anywhere by
making your website mobile friendly. There are several plugins available (for
WordPress) to help вЂњmobilizeвЂќ your site, including the WordPress Mobile
Pack, Mobify, Mofuse and WPTouch.
Bottom Line:
Follow established вЂњbest practicesвЂќ when it comes to the design of your
website. When in doubt hire a designer/developer but remember to make
sure that you can handle updates yourself and that you are able to manage
the CMS they recommend. Add a blog to make your website dynamic and
to help with search engine optimization. Link to your social media channels
and encourage on-site activity through widgets and other вЂњstickyвЂќ features.
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Organic search marketing
A big part of finding an audience is making sure that they can find you
during an online search. Search engine optimization or seo is one of the
strategies used to accomplish this.
Seo can provide you with a distinct advantage if only for the fact that most
people either neglect or ignore this side of the marketing equation.
The primary goal of organic search marketing is to put you on the short list
of best answers to a searcher's question. Search engine listings come two
ways: paid and organic. Organic search listings are the free listings that
dominate search engine results pages (also know as SERPs). In Google,
these are the results on the left side of the page. Paid listings, sponsored
results and pay-per-click, are typically on the right sight of the page and
appear as a few spots at the top of the page.
Organic search marketing вЂњpullsвЂќ people to your website by highlighting
content that is relevant to what they are looking for. Search traffic delivers
visitors who are actively searching for information; who may have heard of
your show from friends or family members; or who have a passionate
interest in your themes and topics.
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22. Develop a list of organic keywords
The first step in a search marketing strategy is to develop a list of keywords.
Organic keywords are those keywords (and phrases) that appear naturally
on your website and contribute to the search engine ranking of the page.
Keywords come in two types: head terms and long tail terms (or broad
terms and narrow terms). Head terms are single words like вЂњTVвЂќ or
вЂњwebisodeвЂќ; long tail terms are multi-word phrases like вЂњTV series angel
castвЂќ or вЂњwebisodes for kidsвЂќ.
Long tail terms comprise 70% of all search queries. If you know your
audience, you will probably have a general idea of what words and phrases
they might be using to search for your theme, genre or topic, genre. The
more closely you can target highly specific phrases that are being used by
your audience, the better youКјll be able to match their information needs to
your content plan.
There are several free tools that you can use to develop a keyword list:
Google Suggest, Google AdWords Keyword Tool, WordstreamКјs Free
Keyword Tool and WordtrackerКјs Free Keyword Tool. These tools generate
keywords and keyword variations based on search queries performed by
real people. Use Google AdWords to further refine your list by looking for
keyword phrases that are popular with searchers but not that popular with
webmasters. These are often referred to as competitive keywords.
YouКјll want to generate a short list of long tail terms and a longer list of head
terms. Use your keywords on pages, in posts and to identify images.
Develop a broader and deeper list of keywords for use on your weblog. Or
look for a browser extension, such as Seo Blogger, so your can search for
keywords вЂњon the goвЂќ.
Have one or two target keywords in mind before you start writing your
website copy. A general rule of thumb is to use tail terms when optimizing
web pages with specific content, and head terms when optimizing web
pages with more general content (for example, your homepage). Select
keywords that are consistent with the content of each page, as well as with
the overall theme of your website. Refine your keyword selection, on a
regular basis, by reviewing your analytics program and making changes
based on what terms people are using to find your website.
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23. Architect your site for search
A good site structure helps people navigate your website. It also helps
search engines find and index your content. Good site structure should:
вЂў Look like a pyramid. Your site structure should look like a reasonably
balanced pyramid. No section should be more than twice as large as any
other section. Your site should neither be too wide (too many main
sections) nor too deep (too many sub-sections). Use pen and paper or an
online mapping tool like Gliffy to map your site.
вЂў Organize your content. Your site structure should organize your content
and logically group it into sections. You wouldnКјt expect to find your show
episodes in your вЂњAboutвЂќ section. Neither will the search engines.
вЂў Name your content. Each page on your website should have a unique
URL. Each URL should describe the content of that page, yet it should be
as short as possible. Include important keywords in your URL if possible.
вЂў Link your content. Increase your site's rank-ability by building a fluid
internal link structure.
To deep dive into intelligent site structure for better seo, visit Yoast.com.
24. Optimize your web pages for search
When optimizing your web pages for search, there are two factors to
consider -- the structural (such as file names and title tags) and the written
(primarily the web page copy). For a complete analysis of on-page
optimization factors, read вЂњPerfecting Keyword Targeting and On-Page
OptimizationвЂќ from Seomoz. To execute on basic page optimization, follow
these steps:
вЂў Title tags. Title tags are the most important element on the page. Search
engines use the text within the title tag to determine what the content of
the page is about. Limit your title tag to 65 characters or less (search
engines wonКјt display more). Be mindful to create unique title tags for
each page of your website. If you are using a CMS like WordPress, you
can install a plugin that lets you customize your title tags, meta
descriptions and keywords.
вЂў Files names. If youКјre using a CMS, your file name will be automatically
generated from the title of your page or post. You may want to edit the file
name so that it is shorter and includes a keyword. WordPress and other
CMS include tools that help with this.
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вЂў Meta description tags. Meta description tags summarize what your Web
page content is about and are displayed in BOLD as part of the
information people see on a search engine results page. Write a brief yet
informative description about your content, including the keyword or
phrase used in the title tag.
вЂў Meta keyword tags. Although most search engines ignore this tag, some
still use it in their ranking algorithms (Yahoo!). Keywords and phrases
contained in your meta keywords tag work in tandem with the meta
description tag to describe the content of your Webpage. Generate a
short list of no more than 10 keywords or phrases to add.
вЂў Header tags. Main topics and ideas can be placed within header tags.
They alter the format of the text in the Web browser and tell the search
engines that these keywords and phrases are important. Header tags are
arranged in preset levels of importance from <H1> to <H6>. Text included
in an <H1> tag appears larger than other text on the page. Header tags
can be used anywhere within the body of the text.
вЂў Body copy. Your written copy should include keywords. There is no hard
and fast rule regarding keyword density (number of times a keyword is
repeated within a section of copy) although two to three times for a short
page and three to four times for a long page seems about right. Bold/
strong and italic/emphasis tags seem to carry some weight and should be
used to emphasize the targeted term at least once.
вЂў Images. Search engine spiders cannot read images present on your
pages. Therefore you must use <alt> image tags to describe your images.
If youКјre using a CRM, you can add <alt> tags once your image has been
uploaded. The <alt> tag should describe the image and be no more than
two to five words long. Make sure that your image has a вЂњrealвЂќ name (for
example, вЂњmy-name.jpgвЂќ rather than вЂњ00f45ffg.jgвЂќ) and add a title to
describe the image. The title can be a bit longer than the <alt> tag and
read like a sentence. Relevant captions under or near images, or related
text in the paragraph before or after images will further help the search
engines and may produce a slightly higher ranking in the SERPs.
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25. Optimize your blog for search
If youКјre using WordPress as your CMS or as your blogging software, there
are some specific steps youКјll need to take to make your site/blog more
findable:
вЂў Update the permalink structure.
changing the default setting for
www.abcwebseries.com/?p=123 to
episodes/thefirst. Click on Custom >
add the following code:
Make your URLs seo-friendly by
the permalinks from this: http://
this: http://www.abcwebseries.com/
Customize Permalink Structure and
/%category%/%postname%/
For more information on the subject of permalinks, visit the WordPress
Codex.
вЂў Improve your siteКјs load time. Site speed (how quickly your website
loads) is now an official ranking factor for Google. Load times can become
an issue if you have a lot of plugins running or are streaming video from
your site. One way to ensure faster load times is to optimize your cache.
WouldnКјt you know it, thereКјs a plugin for this, too -- W3 Total Cache. For
background information on site speed, read this post, вЂњSite speed is now a
ranking factorвЂќ, by Joost de Valk . This video explains how to install and
configure W3 Total Cache. Note: This is not for the technical newbie. Talk
to your programmer or ask for assistance.
вЂў Add an XML sitemap. Sitemaps tell Google what pages are on your
website and offer an easy way for the search вЂњbotsвЂќ to crawl and index
your site. Download and install the Google XML Sitemaps plugin to
automatically generate a sitemap, or look for an seo plugin (such as the
WordPress Seo Plugin), which comes with a build-in sitemap generator.
YouКјll need to configure your .htaccess files in order for the plugin to work
so read the instructions first. For more on sitemaps and their importance,
visit Google Webmaster Central.
To explore seo optimization for WordPress in depth read вЂњWordPress Seo:
The Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For Your BlogвЂќ by Joost de Valk.
For instructions on how to optimize Drupal, Magento and Joomla, refer to
the following: Joost de Valk has a guide to Magento Seo; the Joomla
website provides an extensive list of seo resources and tutorials for the
platform; Volacci has produced an e-book, вЂњDrupal 6 Search Engine
OptimizationвЂќ, for those using the Drupal platform.
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26. Create and install a video sitemap
Unfortunately, Google canКјt read Flash very well (although it is trying), and
as a result, most video content is invisible to GoogleКјs search crawlers.
Therefore, the best way to have your video appear in GoogleКјs blended
search results is to submit your video using a video sitemap. This is similar
to an XML sitemap, but is formatted specifically for video, and only contains
information about your video content. It is submitted using GoogleКјs
Webmaster Tools.
If you have a lot of video content on your website (which we hope you do)
then it is important that you submit a video sitemap. The video sitemap
provides information to Google including: location tag, thumbnail location,
title and description, content location, player location. Other data that can
be included in video sitemaps include: video duration, expiration date,
publication date and restriction tag
27. Create an account with Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools provides you with detailed reports about your
siteКјs visibility on Google, such as when you are getting 404 errors (pages
not being found), and who is linking to your site. ItКјs also a good place to
verify that your XML sitemap has been submitted correctly and that your
pages are being indexed.
28. Use an analytics tool
It is vitally important that you know who is coming to your site and what they
are doing while they are there. There are a number of free tools available
that track just this sort of information. Google Analytics is the most common
analytics tool and the one we will talk about here. In addition to Google
Analytics, there are several new free real-time analytics tools (such as
Clicky and Woopra) that are well worth a try.
To set-up and install Google Analytics, youКјll require a Google account.
Watch this Tubetorial, вЂњGetting started with Google AnalyticsвЂќ, which shows
you how to create an account and grab your tracking code. YouКјll need to
add the tracking code to every page on your website that you want to track.
Alternatively, you can copy and paste your tracking code into the footer of
your CMS website or weblog for tracking across all pages.
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29. Establish conversion goals and funnels in Google Analytics
Conversion goals are the actions you want your site visitors to take when
they visit your website. Examples of conversion goals are: account signups, email newsletter sign-ups, RSS subscriptions, and video plays.
To get started with goals and funnels, examine your website and make a list
of all of the actions youКјd like to track. If the actions are based on a
sequence of steps, youКјll need to set-up whatКјs known as a funnel. Add
these goals and funnels to your Google Analytics account.
To learn how to set-up goals and funnels, read this guide to goals and
funnels or watch this video tutorial. If you want to take a look at some of the
more advanced goals that you can track, Web Analytics World has posted
an article, вЂњ10 Must Track GoalsвЂќ.
For a comprehensive, in-depth, blow-by-blow examination of web analytics,
subscribe to Avinash KaushkikКјs excellent Web Analytics Blog.
30. Boost your search rankings with editorial content
Links to your website from other sites give your audience a way to find you.
Links from other sites give search engine spiders a trail to follow to find and
index your pages. Links are also вЂњvotesвЂќ for your site and factor into search
engine algorithms, which determine where you appear on the SERPs.
Link popularity is determined by the number and quality of websites that link
to you (also known as back links). A link from a high-quality website (for
example, The New York Times) is worth more in the search engine
algorithms than a link from a low-quality website. At the moment, link
popularity is still an important ranking factor. But, it may be diminished as
social media becomes a more popular way to share links. Follow blogs such
as Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch or Seomoz Daily Seo Blog
to keep on top of changes at the big three search engines: Google, Bing
and Yahoo!
One of the best ways to build back links to your website is through editorial
coverage. Therefore, you want to ensure that you have articles and reviews
appearing online as well as in print publications. One of the best ways to
get editorial coverage is to have a good marketing вЂњhookвЂќ or angle and to
get your content in front of as many relevant webmasters and bloggers as
possible.
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To find relevant websites or weblogs, create Google Alerts for themes,
topics, genres or people related to your show. Look for bloggers who are
writing about your topic (or who may have written about other web series).
Follow their blog, comment on something they have written and add a link
to your website. Ask bloggers to add you to their blogroll; offer to add them
to yours.
You can also build back links by submitting your URL to industry directories.
Use social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, digg, mixx, reddit (and
hundreds of others) as well as news aggregators like squidoo, hubpages,
zimbio and weebly to get authority links to your website.
DonКјt forget to ask all your investors, sponsors and partners for a link.
Organize a link exchange with other web series producers...or other
bloggers working in the same genre. For additional link building tips, read
this post on SeoMoz.
31. Boost your search rankings with social media
Links from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are now one of
the factors that determine your rank in search engine results. The effects of
social media links on rank are still relatively small, however, most seo
experts agree that over time social media links will become more and more
important in determining where you are listed on a SERP.
Although no one but the mathematicians at the search engines know
exactly which factors carry more weight, seo experts speculate that the
following social media factors are likely to influence your ranking:
вЂў Quantity of fans and followers
вЂў Followers to following ratio
вЂў Quality and importance of fans and followers
To encourage links via social media:
вЂў Submit and promote your content on key social media networks, such as
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
вЂў Develop relationships with authoritative social media users.
вЂў Find creative ways to encourage others to share your content.
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32. Annotate important events in Google Analytics
When you get traffic spikes (from a blog post, press coverage, video upload
etc.) add an annotation note into Google Analytics so that you can
remember the reason for the surge the next time you login. Not only is this
good for historical tracking, but deeper analysis of the data during these
spikes can point to marketing opportunities.
Adding annotations is easy. Click the small gray drawer handle below the
monthly traffic chart to open the notes panel, or click directly on a node
(blue dot) in the chart. For further instructions and some good suggestions
about the types of events to record, read this post on making notes with
Google Analytics.
33. Add custom reports to your Google Analytics dashboard
Set-up custom reports so you can get a quick overview of your most
important metrics at a glance. The first step in setting-up a custom report is
to figure out what you want to report on -- perhaps pick your top 5 KPIКјs
(Key Performance Indicators) -- and create a report for each. Add the report
to your dashboard. This saves the setup and structure of your report вЂњqueryвЂќ
so that you can access the data from one overview screen whenever you
need to produce a report.
34. Run regular seo checks
Make sure that your website is performing at its best by running regular seo
checks using Google Webmaster Tools. To perform just such a check,
follow the steps as outlined in Search Engine LandКјs вЂњ9 step seo check-up
using Google Webmaster toolsвЂќ.
Bottom Line:
Search engine optimization is the one thing that most producers neglect or
ignore so even if you just do the basics youКјre still ahead. The best and
quickest way to improve your search engine rank is to install a blog and
produce a regular schedule of optimized content. Tap into the power of
keywords by incorporating them into your social media, video marketing
and publicity strategies. Seo is a process. Check Google Analytics regularly
and make changes to your keyword strategy as you go. Consider using a
tool like SeoMoz to help manage and refine your organic search marketing.
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Content marketing
Joe Pulizzi, the co-author of the book вЂњGet Content. Get CustomersвЂќ, says
that content marketing is вЂњthe art of communicating without sellingвЂќ.
Having editorial content (in addition to your awesome web series content) is
imperative if you plan on keeping your audience interested in your project
over the long term.
Content вЂњpullsвЂќ people to your website. It delivers direct traffic (the most
valuable kind) when it is shared, included in a tweet, posted to a
bookmarking site, or embedded in a blog post.
To build a following for your web series, youКјll need to develop editorial
content that complements your themes and topics, and appeals to your
target audience.
Content can be text or image-based, audio, video or transmedia. For a
comprehensive list of content types, please refer to Appendix A at the end
of this guide.
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35. Choose your niche
By the time youКјve reach this stage, you will have done a lot of research
and have a very clear picture of who your target audience is and what
topics they are interested in. Hopefully, your interests and passions match
those of your target audience as it will be much easier for you to find a true
connection with them, and less of a chore to do the research.
Your organic keyword research (#24) will have provided insights into words
and phrases that your audience is using to search online. At this point, you
may want to use Google Insights to find out just how popular your topic is
and where (geographically) there may be pockets of intense interest. Just
remember, you donКјt need a topic that everyone is searching, just one that
resonates with your audience.
When developing your editorial strategy, look for any content вЂњgapsвЂќ that
you can fill. Is there a way that you can become the вЂњonlyвЂќ? Heed the
advise of blogger Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) and aim to become a big fish
in a small content pond rather than a small fish in a big content pond.
Invest time in research. Use AllTop.com to find heavily trafficked blogs
covering your subject area. Run a topic search using Addict-o-matic to find
text, images, and video content and to see what is being said (right now) on
Twitter. See whatКјs making news in Google News, Topix, Yahoo! News and
Blog Pulse (among others). Bookmark your research.
Use Google Alerts, Fastflip and other tools to search for less heavily
trafficked or local websites and weblogs. Set-up an account with Twitter and
search for keywords and phrases related to your subject. Save these
searches, watching for trending topics. Do this online but also keep an eye
on TV, newspapers and magazines for hot trends that you can ride.
36. Develop an editorial plan
With your research completed, follow these steps to develop an editorial
plan:
вЂў Take a content inventory. Make a list of all the content you have on
hand. Once youКјre finished doing this, youКјll have a clear idea of the
strengths and weaknesses in your current content assets and where you
may have gaps: areas where you lack content.
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вЂў Think about what youКјd like to create. Write down all your content
ideas being as specific or generic as you like. Think about what you can
have fun with as well as what you can use to inform, educate or entertain.
вЂў Aim to have a good mix of content. What types of content will you
offer? Short articles? Long articles? Profiles? Editorial pieces? New
items? Audio podcasts, etc.? Remember that you donКјt have to create
every piece of content yourself. Use a mix of original and curated content.
Pull blog content from videos someone else has made, a Flickr feed of
photos, etc. Use news stories to populate your Facebook feed, Twitter
feed or as inspiration for a blog post.
вЂў Get your community to contribute. Solicit posts from your cast and
crew, guest bloggers, partners, etc. Find out if there are opportunities to
incorporate user-generated content into your editorial plan. Set the tone
for community contributions based on your interests and the
characteristics of your project.
вЂў Re-purpose your content. Review your editorial plan with an eye to repurposing your content in multiple ways on multiple platforms and in
multiple channels. For example, a photo can be posted to Flickr, sent to
Twitter, pulled into the sidebar of your website, shared on Facebook,
included with an audio podcast, added to an e-book, etc.
37. Link your editorial plan to outcomes
Make each piece of your editorial plan count by tying it to specific
outcomes. Jay Baer explains how to do this on his weblog вЂњConvince &
ConvertвЂќ. He also provides a worksheet to guide you through the steps. You
can download the doc here or copy and paste the following outline into a
Word or Excel document and then вЂњfill in the blanksвЂќ based on your plan:
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
Format of content
Description of content
Budget (Time, Energy and Money)
Who will be interested in this content?
What questions does this content answer for them?
What keywords will be used to find it?
What do you want the audience to do after consuming it (call-to-action)?
Three success metrics.
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38. Develop an editorial calendar
An editorial calendar is a way to organize your ideas and develop a
publishing schedule. Have an editorial calendar planned out, with
responsibilities and deadlines, for the first six weeks of your project and
refresh it at the beginning of every month.
The Junta 42 blog has several good articles on content publishing, including
this one on how to develop an editorial calendar and this one, which talks
about how to set-up a long-term publishing schedule. Note: Both are
business-focused but can be modified to non-business goals.
39. Hire a PMD
At this point, you might want to take stock of your human resources and
hire a PMD or Producer of Marketing and Distribution to take over
responsibilities for your marketing strategy and execution. Although this role
is relatively new, it does fill an important skills gap and is quite popular
within the independent film industry.
Typically, the PMD is responsible for developing the marketing strategy and
producing content assets, including photography, behind-the-scenes
footage and interviews. The PDM develops and manages all social media
channels -- your Facebook Fan page, Flickr page, Twitter streams, and
YouTube channel -- and is responsible for influencer outreach and audience
development. The role may also handle seo, publicity, live events, crosspromotions and partnerships. And, be your de-facto community manager.
40. Build your original content assets
Assign someone from the crew or hire a PMD to build your original content
assets. The best time to do this is during production when there is lots of
activity on set and the cast and crew are accessible. Return to your editorial
plan and take stock of what assets you want to produce. At minimum, youКјll
want to take photos, produce video clips, and do talent interviews.
41. Execute on your content strategy
DonКјt wait for the start of production -- or worse -- for your launch before
planning and executing on your content strategy. You can start blogging or
tweeting almost as soon as your production has the green light and youКјve
identified your content niche. Be consistent. ItКјs better to do a small
вЂњsomethingвЂќ everyday then to have a flurry of content followed by big gaps
in your editorial calendar.
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42. Start blogging
Blogging is probably the most over examined aspect of social media (next
to Twitter) so we wonКјt go into great detail here. The basics: blogging helps
in two ways; first by driving traffic to your site and second by helping your
seo.
Blog to have a conversation with your audience. In addition to writing and
posting your own material, ask for input and comments. Mix things up by
offering insights into your process, interviews with your collaborators, and
commentary on the web series industry in general. Once production and
post-production starts, work your on-set stories and post-production
progress into your editorial plan.
For expert advice on blogs and blogging, subscribe to Problogger (Darren
Rowse), Copyblogger (Brian Clark) or Chris Brogan. If youКјre new to
blogging, you may want to first read ProbloggerКјs guide to blogging for
beginners. For those of you with prior experience, Darren Rowse
(Problogger) has an excellent 31 day series of posts, featuring daily tasks to
improve your blogging skills.
Bottom Line:
Know your target audience. Dive deep into your subject area. Know who
your competition is and look for content вЂњgapsвЂќ that you can fill. Tie your
editorial plan to specific outcomes and make sure that each and every
piece of content is optimized for search and includes a call-to-action. Hire a
PMD to take over responsibility for producing your editorial assets and for
developing and executing your content strategy. At minimum, make sure
that you take photos, produce video clips, and do talent interviews. Include
a blog in your editorial plan to help drive traffic and improve your chances of
being found in the search engines.
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Social media marketing
Social media is the brand new tool in the digital marketing toolkit. Social
media marketing builds awareness, promotes your work, helps with seo,
and allows you to communicate directly with your fans (among other things).
Social media вЂњpullsвЂќ people to your website, driving a lot of traffic through
content links. Initially, this type of traffic is of lesser value -- people see an
interesting item and click through to вЂњcheck it outвЂќ but donКјt stay very long.
But, as you build relationships this traffic can become much more
valuable as one-time visitors return and are converted to fans.
Social media strategies take many months to implement and are part of
an ongoing effort that includes seo, search, community development, etc.
Social media is not a silver bullet -- and does not provide instant results. It
requires consistency and perseverance as well as an eye for opportunity.
There are hundreds if not thousands of social networks. Find which
networks your audience prefers, participate in the networks they participate
in, and use those networks to grow your audience base.
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43. Claim your social network accounts
Avoid having your brand hijacked by setting-up accounts with important
social networks. Do the majors -- Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube -right away. You may also want to set-up accounts with niche social
networks that are important to your audience. Use a free service like Know
Em or Check Usernames to check on the availability of your username
across hundreds of social media networks.
Create accounts with video sharing sites or use Tubemogul, a video
distribution service that allows you to maintain profiles on multiple video
sharing sites. Make sure your username is consistent across all your
channels (for example, facebook.com/yourbrandname or twitter.com/
yourbrandname).
44. Set-up a Twitter account
You can start вЂњtweetingвЂќ as soon as your project has the green light. Just
make sure that you have a landing page in place so that any traffic you
drive there can sign-up to your email newsletter. Customize your basic
Twitter account by doing the following:
вЂў Design a branded background. This article by Smashing Magazine
includes everything you need to know about how to design a stunning
Twitter background. Note: For screen resolutions of 1280 pixels, you are
limited to roughly 108 pixels for the core part of your background design
and messaging.
вЂў Set-up your profile. Add a short description of your web series (your
tagline) in the bio section. Include one or more keywords in your tagline
as this will help people to find you via Twitter search.
вЂў Change your avatar. Replace the default Twitter вЂњeggвЂќ with a personal
photo, image or logo ASAP. Nobody trusts accounts with a generic avatar.
Having a distinctive image is also important as many people use the
avatar to quickly scan their stream for their favorite Twitter feeds.
вЂў Add your URL. Add your URL and make it active (http://...) so that people
can link through to your website. Make sure that you have a landing page
in place that is collecting email addresses.
You may want to have multiple Twitter accounts -- one for yourself and one
for your project (not to mention character accounts if this is part of your
creative strategy). Just make sure that you have the human capacity to
manage more than one account and follow the steps above to customize.
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If you have to choose between a personal and project account, you may
want to choose personal: people-oriented Twitter accounts tend to do better
overall than вЂњbrandвЂќ accounts. If youКјre sharing a project account with
another person and have a personal account, say so in the bio. You may
also want to add your initials to tweets so that followers can identify who is
doing the tweeting.
Twitter is one of those things that you only master by doing. If, however you
do want acquire some quick tips on Twitter success before starting, read
this post from Social Media Explorer.
45. Define your Twitter style
There are three main styles of Twitter communication. Decide which style
feels most natural to you and then jump into the stream:
вЂў Creators. People who share content theyКјve written or produced. Ideally,
this is you! Your Web series gives you a great starting point to engage in
conversation, or at the very least, is something to talk about and share
with others.
вЂў Curators. People who subscribe to lots of relevant content and then
share it with others. Share content that resonates with your audience. A
good strategy is to send your followers to content that youКјve curated on
other social media channels.
вЂў Chatterboxes. These are people who engage in conversation for the
majority of their stream. YouКјll want to include some вЂњchatвЂќ in your stream
so that your followers know youКјre human. You can also use this style to
develop creative story lines and backstories, or for character accounts.
Twitter tip: Remember when tweeting to leave about 20 characters at the
end of your tweets to let people re-tweet without having to edit your
message.
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46. Build your Twitter following
There are several ways to build a following on Twitter. The best strategy is
to focus on sharing quality content that will grow your following organically.
Focus on QUALITY of followers not QUANTITY of followers. To build your
Twitter following:
вЂў Follow other people. Target people who are part of the niche you are
interested in, who tweet about your topic, who offer good information, or
who are members of your industry: festivals, distributors, other producers,
journalists, etc. Most people within your community will follow you back
but donКјt expect a high rate of return from well-known influencers or
celebrities.
вЂў Check out who your followers are following. They are likely interested
in similar topics, and are a natural extension to your existing network. This
can be a very time consuming process so do it in small chunks or use
TwitterКјs built in вЂњWho to followвЂќ tool.
вЂў Participate in tweet chats. Target your core audience. This is an
excellent way to gain a lot of high-quality followers very fast. For the
definitive Twitter Chat schedule browse this Google doc.
вЂў Use Twitter search. Find keywords or phrases that relate to the audience
you are trying to reach using Twitter search. Save your search query so
that you can browse through the Twitter stream and follow people who are
вЂњtweetingвЂќ about your topic.
вЂў Browse directories and lists. Find Twitter users by industry or interest
using directories such as Mr. Tweet, Twellow and twibs. You can also
browse through Twitter lists to find people or use a third-party tool such as
Listorious.
вЂў Social influence tools. A raft of social influence tools have hit the market
claiming to measure online influence. Some of the better known tools,
include Klout, PeerIndex, TwitterGrader and Twitalyzer. These tools can
help you identify influencers but some of the rankings are a bit iffy so use
common sense when going for the follow. The Klout blog posts lists of
influencers by niche (for example, вЂњchefs with kloutвЂќ, вЂњmoms with kloutвЂќ,
etc.) which may be helpful to your research.
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47. Manage your Twitter following
Organize your followers into lists. By doing this, you can easily sort your
Twitter stream and zero-in on your most important followers. Read this
Mashable post on how to use Twitter lists or visit the Twitter help center.
DonКјt automatically follow everyone. If you do, youКјll become a target for
spammers and youКјll get a lot of unfocused followers. Reject people or donКјt
follow back people who are not part of your niche or your industry. Un-follow
those people who are not following you and get rid of inactive accounts by
using a tool like Friend or Follow or ReFollow. Tools like Nearby tweets will
allow you to geo-target followers for local messaging.
48. Manage, schedule and track your tweets
There are numerous free and paid tools that can help you manage your
Twitter account, including CoTweet, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck (to name just
a few). Remember that Twitter is a вЂњsocialвЂќ tool and is best used to build and
nurture relationships. DonКјt treat it as a broadcast channel. In other words,
donКјt automate your account and try and be present daily -- even if itКјs only
for a short time.
You may want to look into mobile versions of the more popular Twitter tools.
Many people seem to find if easier to tweet вЂњon the goвЂќ from their smart
phone or tablet than from their desktop.
When to tweet is sometimes an issue so weКјll briefly touch on it here.
Basically, you want to schedule your tweets for when your audience is most
active online. As a general rule of thumb, if youКјre trying to reach as wide an
audience as possible, start your tweets at 9 am PST so that you hit the start
of the work day on the west coast; lunchtime on the east coast; and the end
of the work day in Europe.
Twitter tip: According to blogger, Dan Zarella, Saturdays and Sundays are
amongst the highest days for Twitter click-through rates. For more tips on
when (weekends and afternoons) and how often to tweet follow his blog or
read 13 Takeaways from The Science of Timing Webinar.
49. Manage your Twitter conversations
Stay on top of relevant conversations by setting-up a keyword search in
your favorite Twitter client. Go back to your organic keywords list and pick a
few keywords or phrases to track (plus any brand and genre-related terms
that you think might be useful). Do a search for the term(s) and save the
results. Refer back to the saved search and watch as conversations take
place in real-time. Re-tweet items of interest, or jump in and engage with
people.
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Twitter tip: You may want to investigate the creative possibilities of live
streaming apps such as Twitcam or video micro-blogs, such as
BubbleTweet, robo.to and TwitVid.
50. Create a Facebook fan page
Create a Facebook fan page for your work. A fan page lets you grow as big
as you want, send updates to an unlimited number of people, and keeps the
focus on your web series.
Facebook is also a great place to share video. The social network is now
the third largest video site after Google/YouTube and Yahoo! Recent data
from Dan Zarella also shows that Facebook is better for video marketing
than Twitter.
Facebook is an amazing tool for audience development. Just keep in mind
that it is not that great at driving website traffic or building important
relationships with influencers or within communities. Use Facebook to build
awareness for your work.
There are two ways to create fan page. If you have a personal account
login, find the create a page link and then select your type of fan page
(Entertainment) and category (TV show). Since the rollout of FacebookКјs
вЂњnewвЂќ page design, you are now able to modify your category in вЂњBasic
InformationвЂќ. You can also create a page without having a personal account
from the Facebook homepage, and you now have the option to вЂњlogin asвЂќ
your page.
The new page layout is all about photos. Make sure that you have a profile
picture that вЂњpopsвЂќ by taking advantage of the maximum image dimensions:
180 x 540 pixels. You may want to add your website address to the photo or
take advantage of the layout of the photo gallery to further promote your
website or brand. Mashable has three photo galleries of creative layouts,
which you can see here, here and here.
Fill out your вЂњBasic InformationвЂќ completely. Add keyword-rich text into your
вЂњDescriptionвЂќ and вЂњPlot OutlineвЂќ. Add links to your website and other social
media channels. Ensure that the links to your вЂњPhotosвЂќ and вЂњVideoвЂќ are
active in the sidebar. Unfortunately, the new page layout is not as good as
old design for marketing. You may have to test different landing pages, wall
updates, etc. before you hit on what works best for your project.
DonКјt forget to add video. There are a number of video apps for Facebook.
Please review this list from ReelSeo for either free, one-time purchase or
subscription options.
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51. Design a Facebook landing page
Design a custom landing page to encourage more people to вЂњlikeвЂќ you or to
highlight your latest video content. Here are some examples of inspired
Facebook landing tabs to get you thinking creatively.
To send non-fans to your Facebook landing page, youКјll need to create a
custom tab in iFrames and then set your options so that non-fans are sent
to the new landing page tab rather than to the main wall.
To set your options:
вЂў Click the вЂњManage PermissionsвЂќ link in вЂњEdit PageвЂќ.
вЂў Then change the вЂњDefault Landing TabвЂќ to the custom tab (created above)
If your fan page was created before the change to the new design then you
can still use FBML (Facebook Mark-Up Language) to create your landing
page. For those of you who are setting-up new pages, follow the
instructions contained in this two-part post (Part 1 and Part 2) on how to
build with iFrames.
52. Add an email app
Add an email app so that fans have the option to sign-up for your enewsletter from your Facebook fan page. MailChimp and Constant Contact
have built Facebook apps that add an opt-in subscription form tab to your
page. Further promote your newsletter subscription landing page by
including a link in your updates.
53. Find your friends
Upload your personal database (family, friends, cast, crew, etc.) to
Facebook or to a compatible third-party service (HotMail, Yahoo Mail,
Skype, etc.) and invite your closest friends and family to вЂњlikeвЂќ your page.
Use these people to build your initial fan base of twenty-five so that you
grab a branded URL.
Gradually expand your invitation circle by inviting your cast, crew and
industry вЂњfriendsвЂќ. If you are logged into Facebook as a person (rather than
a page), youКјll have to вЂњfriendвЂќ people first before inviting them to your page.
DonКјt send an invite вЂњblastвЂќ. Spread out your invitations over several days
so that you have a steady stream of activity. You donКјt want to get 50 вЂњlikesвЂќ
one day and then nothing.
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54. Set-up a branded URL
To claim your page and acquired a branded URL (sometime called a vanity
URL), youКјll need to have an established fan base of at least 25 fans. As
soon as you reach this number, go to http://www.facebook.com/username/
and choose your URL. Keep your page name short and accurate as it canКјt
be changed once itКјs been created.
55. Grow your fan base
Employ the following tactics to grow your Facebook fan base:
вЂў Target the right demographics. Facebook skews female and younger
so if your target audience is male and older, this may not be the best
place to expend a lot of time or energy. Do your online research and know
how best to tap into FacebookКјs huge user base.
вЂў Get influencers working for you. Hire or offer an incentive to influencers
who are also members of your core audience. Have them invite their
friends and reward them with merchandise, site visits, walk-on parts or
anything of value. If you can get 20 people to invite 100 or 200 people
each, you can ramp-up your numbers rather quickly.
вЂў Promote your Facebook page. Set-up a specific marketing campaign to
promote your Facebook page. Promote via online communities, forums,
websites, email lists...anywhere you have a presence. Cross-promote
your page via other social media channels such as Twitter.
вЂў Offer exclusive content. Leverage your fan base by offering exclusive
content. Offer to unlock a special вЂњprizeвЂќ if the page hits a certain number
of fans.
вЂў Pay for fans. You may have to buy your way in either through hiring
influencers or by running Facebook ads. More on this in the Advertising
section.
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56. Leverage your content to get fans
Facebook (like Google) вЂњshapesвЂќ what updates people see in their
newsfeed. The more fans engage with your updates (Like/Comment/Share),
the more likely it will be that that content ends up in their вЂњTop NewsвЂќ.
Therefore you need to remind fans on a regular basis to Like/Comment/
Share your content.
Facebook values shared videos, photos, links and status updates (in that
order) so you want to ensure that you are uploading and sharing video and
photo content on a regular basis and not just posting your latest idea. To
learn more about how to leverage FacebookКјs EdgeRank algorithm, read
this article by Scott Meldrum.
There are a large number of third-party apps that can help you add content
to your Facebook page. Test them out to see which works best for your
project. Set-up your wall to display updates by page admins and by fans.
And, encourage your fans to add videos, photos and links.
Try and update your page at least three to four times a week. Consider
posting updates on the weekend when Facebook traffic is often at its
highest. For further insight into when and what to post, see this infograph by
Dan Zarella.
57. Respond to fans
Providing quality content is just one aspect of building a good Facebook fan
page. Another critical aspect is engagement. By actively responding to your
fans' comments, questions, suggestions, ideas, etc., you show that you are
someone who cares, listens and takes action to engage your community.
The most successful Facebook pages are ones where the admins and the
fans are actively engaged in the art of communication.
Bottom Line:
Heed AesopКјs advise to develop strong social media chops. What this
translates into is: вЂњthe early bird catches the wormвЂќ ... start early in your
project to build your social media presence ... and вЂњslow and steady wins
the raceвЂќ ... be consistent; doing вЂњsomethingвЂќ small every day is far better
than doing a lot of something one day and then nothing the next.
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YouTube
If youКјre looking for any kind of substantial audience for your web series
then you must have a YouTube channel.
The YouTube audience is ginormous, exceeding 2 billion views a day.
ThatКјs nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major U.S.
broadcast networks combined.
The YouTube user base has a broad age range, from 18 year-old
skateboarders to cat-loving grandparents, and is evenly divided between
women and men. And these users come from all over the world.
The average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube. Fifty-one
percent of YouTube users visit the site weekly (or more frequently) and fiftytwo percent of 18 to 34-year-old visitors share videos with their friends and
colleagues.*
In addition to being the largest video platform on the web, YouTube is also
the second largest search engine (after Google) and an important social
media network.
*Website Monitoring Blog: YouTube Facts & Figures
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58. Use YouTube to help get found
Video earns a lot of search engine вЂњjuiceвЂќ. In fact, Forrester Research found
that videos were fifty-three times more likely than traditional web pages to
receive an organic first-page ranking in Google. So, from a practical seo
perspective, itКјs important that you upload your video to YouTube.
YouTube, in addition to being a video platform, is a very popular search
engine in its own right. For many demographics, YouTube is their search
engine of choice. At the risk of sounding repetitive, itКјs important to have a
presence here.
59. Use YouTube Suggest to find organic keywords
YouTube Suggest is an enhanced search function (not unlink Google
Suggest), which doubles as an excellent video marketing keyword
suggestion tool. The feature uses predictive text to display popular query
suggestions (in order of search volume) in the YouTube search box.
With YouTube Suggest, you can gain insight into how users are searching
YouTube. Using this knowledge, you can extrapolate keywords and phrases
to use in your video titles, descriptions and tags. Optimizing your video for
search will increase the chances of it being found by your target audience.
As with traditional seo, youКјre much more likely to see results if you target
вЂњlong tailвЂќ search terms.
60. Customize your YouTube Channel
To set-up a YouTube channel, you will need to have a Google account. Log
in then follow these steps to customize your channel:
вЂў My Channel. Click on the four main tabs in the вЂњMy ChannelвЂќ section.
Under вЂњSettingsвЂќ add the title of your channel and choose вЂњDirector
AccountвЂќ as your вЂњChannel TypeвЂќ. Add your most important tags (your
keywords) under вЂњChannel TagsвЂќ. In вЂњThemes and ColorsвЂќ chose a theme
that matches your brand or create a new theme. Upload a background
image that is 2000 x 2200 pixels. YouTube will center your background
image behind your channel content so design your background image so
that your logo and messaging appears just to the left and right of the 960
pixel center column. Add the modules that you want to appear in your
layout. Under вЂњVideos and PlaylistsвЂќ make sure to check off
вЂњPlaylistsвЂќ (more on that later) and choose a featured video... your trailer,
for example.
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вЂў Account Settings. Under вЂњAccount SettingsвЂќ add a picture, your website
address and a keyword-rich description. Add your URL at the start of the
description. DonКјt forget to include the вЂњhttp://...вЂќ so that the link is active.
Under вЂњInterestsвЂќ add a list of 10 to 20 keywords. Under вЂњFavorite Movies
& ShowsвЂќ etc. add titles of movies, shows, music and books that share
similar keywords or similar genres to your project.
вЂў Activity Sharing. Connect your YouTube account to Facebook, Twitter
and other important social media channels as desired.
вЂў Manage Account. If you donКјt want to have ads displayed with your
uploaded videos, make sure to check off вЂњDo not allow advertisementsвЂќ.
YouTube tip: If you plan to produce more than one web series, you may
want to have a YouTube channel for your production company rather than
for your show. Upload all your video to this channel and then organize each
show into a playlist. This is a good strategy when you have lots of new
content that would benefit from the proximity of older, heavily trafficked
video.
61. Optimize your YouTube channel for search
YouTube search works on a slightly different algorithm than the major
search engines. Results (and where you appear on the search results
page) are based on a combination of keywords, back links, channel views,
video views, ratings, comments, etc.
To optimize your channel and assure a good ranking in the results page,
youКјll need to:
вЂў Pick a descriptive title. Include descriptive keywords in your title.
вЂў Add relevant tags. Use YouTube Suggest to find and add relevant tags.
вЂў Build external links. YouTube infers how вЂњrelevantвЂќ a resource your
channel is by looking at the number of inbound links there are.
вЂў Build internal links. This also helps with relevancy. There are two ways
to do this: the first is by posting a video response to a popular video. The
second is to get your video added to a popular playlist or to include your
video in one of your own playlists.
вЂў Encourage ratings. Add an annotation near the end of your video
reminding views to rate your video.
вЂў Encourage comments. Comments add indexed content to your page as
well as a link to your video, which appears on your commenterКјs page.
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62. Time your video uploads
YouTubeКјs clock starts ticking from the moment you upload your video. The
вЂњfirst dayвЂќ on YouTube starts at midnight California time, and ends 24 hours
later. Therefore, a videoКјs first day isnКјt the 24 hour period after it is made
public, or even uploaded. If you upload at 12:01 AM YouTube time, you
have the full 24 hours to build your stats. This is important if you are trying
to maximize your number of daily views to enhance the viral character of
your video.
63. Optimize your video for search
To optimize your video and increase your chances of it turning-up near the
top of a YouTube search, youКјll need to:
вЂў Write a descriptive title. Ensure that the title includes your most
important keyword or keyword phrase. Your video title can be up to 100
characters long, including spaces (15 words). As in website seo,
keywords that are close to the front of the title carry more weight. If you
want to include the name of your series, put it at the end of the title (thatКјs
unless your brand name includes a keyword).
вЂў Write a good description. The description should be keyword-rich and
as detailed as possible. Add your URL at the start of your description,
followed by a hard return. This way people will be able to see the link to
your website even if the description is mostly hidden. DonКјt forget to
include the вЂњhttp://...вЂќ so that the link is live. Your description can be up to
5,000 characters long, including spaces (800 words). Your description is
the next-best indicator of the video's content, right behind the title.
вЂў Add keyword-rich tags. Tags should be as detailed as possible and
include keywords from your title and description. Tags should relate to the
content of your video. Tags can include: keywords, brand names, genres,
topics, etc. You only have 120 characters so donКјt use natural language
phrases and waste tag space on words like вЂњandвЂќ or вЂњtoвЂќ.
64. Add a call-to-action
Take advantage of YouTube's caption and annotation features to add a callto-action near the end of your video. With captions and annotations you can
add notes, subtitles, descriptions, and links directly over the top of the
video. You might want to use annotations to ask viewers to rate your current
episode or watch the next. Use these features judiciously so that you donКјt
interrupt or spoil the userКјs viewing experience.
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65. Add your video to a playlist
Playlists are a fantastic ways to guide new viewers through your content the
way you prefer them to experience it. A well organized playlist can also help
viewers discover older videos they might have missed or highlight your
greatest hits. Playlists also help your YouTube rank as they are indexed
separately from individual videos. This means you double your chances of a
video being found through search if you have it in a playlist. Plus, as we
saw above, adding a video to a playlist helps build internal links, which
Google seems to like.
Use Playlists to promote your channel. Negotiate internal links with other
YouTube Producers in the spirit of вЂњAdd me to yours and IКјll add you to
mine. You can also add curated video to your playlist to make your channel
more вЂњstickyвЂќ. More on this at The Next Web.
66. Upload and promote
In order to maximize your daily views, youКјll need to promote your video
after it has been uploaded (and within the first 24 hours). Notify your fans
that youКјve uploaded a new video via Twitter, Facebook, and other social
media channels; email bloggers (and traditional media outlets) that cover
your genre or topic. See Appendix B for 38 more ways to promote your
YouTube channel.
67. Get numbers. Get featured.
The вЂњOn the RiseвЂќ program lets users vote on which videos are featured on
the YouTube home page. If your channel is rapidly growing its subscriber
base but hasnКјt quite reached 100,000 views, itКјs a great candidate to
receive this kind of broader recognition. If your channel has been around for
a while and consistently puts out content that reaches people, it has a
chance of being featured on YouTubeКјs вЂњFeatured ChannelsвЂќ section.
68. Embed the YouTube player
If youКјre looking to build as large a following as possible, we recommend
using YouTube as the de facto player on your website. You can also post
new videos from your YouTube channel or playlist to your Facebook fan
page automatically using a Facebook app like Cueler. In addition to
YouTube, there are other high-quality video platforms with competitive
features or specialized markets. Use alternative players (such as Vimeo or
Blip.tv) if there is a distinct advantage to your project from networking or
promotional activities.
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69. Learn from YouTube Insights
YouTubeКјs analytics feature is quite robust and provides information that
can help you with future marketing activities. View your referral headers to
find out which websites are sending you the most views and then tailor your
marketing efforts accordingly. For example, if Facebook is your largest
referrer, make it your first and highest priority. DonКјt assume that the top
referrer on your most recent video is the top referrer for all your other clips.
Top referrers are very likely to change from video to video. YouКјll need to
review insights for each and every video.
70. Apply to become a YouTube partner
When you reach a certain amount of traffic (usually thousands of views),
you can apply to become a YouTube partner. Partners get a share of
revenue from ads that run on their videos, and more control of their
channelКјs design. In order to qualify as a YouTube partner, your videos
need to attract a certain number of views, and youКјll need to post regularly.
Unfortunately, the exact number of views you need and the post frequency
requirements arenКјt clearly defined by YouTube. You can learn more about
YouTube Partner qualifications on the YouTube website.В Bottom Line:
YouTube is the largest video platform on the Internet. If your goal is to build
a large following for your web series then this is the place to be. Make sure
your video has a fighting chance by optimizing it for YouTube search. Learn
as much as you can about video marketing and apply your newfound skills
to further improve the chances of your video being found. Share your video
content and encourage others to share it too. Host your episodes on
YouTube and share via your website and social media channels to capture
views and build audience numbers.
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Publicity and promotions
Creating вЂњbuzzвЂќ is important for building awareness and anticipation for
your work. Buzz can be defined as anything which makes people talk about
your project. This is sometimes referred to as free publicity.
Publicity is dependent on getting editorial coverage in traditional media
outlets (newspapers, magazines, radio, tv) as well as non-traditional media
outlets (weblogs, websites). To do this, youКјll have to search out and find
вЂњinfluencersвЂќ who will help support and champion your project.
The skills that you brought to content, search and social also apply here -consistency, persistence and an eye for opportunity.
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71. Find online influencers
Start early in the project to find and connect with influential people who love
your work. Influencers are the people your audience listens to. They may
include opinion leaders (political, government, business leaders), experts
(academics, analysts, activists), columnists (journalists, commentators,
critics, bloggers), trendsetters and creators (celebrities, actors, artists,
musicians) and connectors (online networkers, business networks, leaders
of community groups, etc.).
Start your outreach with top-tier influencers as they are easiest to find.
Keep in mind, however, that they will also be the hardest to reach and
engage. AllTop.com, Guy KawasakiКјs news aggregation site, can help you
find influential bloggers covering your subject area. Go to the sites listed in
AllTop and take note of the editorial contact. See who is listed on their blog
roll. Click through to see their contacts, expand your list and repeat.
YouКјll want to identify at least twice as many influencers (if not three times)
as you are actually planning to send something to. YouКјll end up removing
some for various reasons. Whatever you do, don't throw away any of the
research you do because you never know when you'll need it for future
projects.
Use influencers to build awareness for your web series via editorial
coverage and back links. Before heading in with a pitch, build a relationship
with the person. When you do вЂњpitchвЂќ your story, make sure that it is
newsworthy. You may want to solicit reviews from influencers. Before you
do, make sure that the вЂњfitвЂќ is right by following the individualКјs blog.
72. Find influencers with Google
Take one or more of your keywords and search вЂњinwardвЂќ from the most
general to the most specific terms. Look for influencers who may have
written on your topic in the past. Conduct a secondary search of your
competitors (this could be other Web series, TV shows, films, etc.) by
coupling keyword + company name or keyword + project name.
Keep in mind that the search results you see are not universal. They are
determined by your geographic location. So, if youКјre searching from a
Canadian IP address you will see Canadian results first. To find results for
geographic areas other than Canada use Google Advanced search.
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73. Find influencers with Twitter
Twitter is the place to build longterm relationships with influential people.
There are a number of third-party applications that can help you to find
influencers on Twitter. Consider adding FollowerWonk to your list of tools.
Refer to the вЂњUltimate How-To: Find, Network With & Influence People via
Social Media GuideвЂќ for more tools and techniques for finding influencers
on Twitter.
74. Follow influencers
DonКјt pitch bloggers (or other influencers) without first following their blog or
Twitter feed. Get to know what topics they cover. Some influential bloggers,
like Liz Shannon Miller of GigaOM, are very specific about how they want to
be pitched. If you have any doubts about how to approach a blogger, ask
first. ItКјs ALWAYS a good idea to introduce yourself and your project before
heading in for the hard sell. And keep in mind when you do вЂњpitchвЂќ your
story to always think of it from the perspective of the writer and what he/she
will get from covering your story.
75. Craft an email вЂњpitchвЂќ
Before sending an email to an influencer, think about the intent of the
message and вЂњwhatКјs in itвЂќ for them. Your message should be short and
include a strong hook (or angle) and some sort of вЂњaskвЂќ. Make sure that you
include a link to your online press room so that the writer can publish an
item without having to do further follow-up with you.
Try to be enthusiastic and let your personality shine through in your
correspondence. For tips on how to reach out to webmasters and other
online influencers, watch this excellent video by Tom Critchlow, head of
search marketing, at Distilled.
76. Build a press room
Build a press room on your website so that journalists and bloggers can
easily find your marketing materials. The press room should include the
following:
вЂў Press kit. Typically a downloadable PDF that includes your seriesКј tag
line, synopsis (short < 100 words and long < 500 words); cast & crew
credits; bios; producer/director statement(s); production information; and a
feature story. Re-post this information to your вЂњAboutвЂќ section so it can be
easily copied and pasted into a blog post or article.
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вЂў Press releases. Post HTML versions of your press release in date order
(most recent first). DonКјt post press releases as PDF files. Make it easy
for journalists to copy and paste your text. Optimize your press releases
for search to get an extra boost.
вЂў Images. Include a selection of high res (for print) and low-res images (for
Web) as well as key art, portraits or behind-the-scenes shots.
вЂў Trailer. Offer a downloadable version of your trailer that can be used as
вЂњB-rollвЂќ for TV news items or interviews. Make sure that your trailer is also
available as an embedded version on YouTube or other popular video
platforms.
вЂў Contact info. Include full contact information (email, phone and skype)
for your, your spokesperson or PR representative.
77. Write a press release
The press release is almost -- but not quite dead. Generic press releases
are ok for вЂњthe wireвЂќ but donКјt send them to your A-list bloggers or A-list
publications. If you goal is a feature story, send a personal letter that tells
the writer or editor why you think your story merits coverage and how it fits
into their audience interests.
Have your generic press release written and ready to send as back-up or to
your B-list of bloggers and publications. To improve вЂњopenвЂќ rates follow
these guidelines:
вЂў Pithy not pitchy. Stick to the point and donКјt try to вЂњstuffвЂќ your release
with unnecessary information. Work your key points into your headline
and sub-head and repeat the points in your opening paragraph. Most
journalists donКјt read past the headlines so donКјt bury your story in a
secondary paragraph.
вЂў Scannable not readable. People today have short attention spans. They
scan headlines and skim through paragraphs, clicking on hyperlinks as
they go. Keep your press release short and to the point (one written page
or less). Replace paragraphs and pages with bullet points and lists of
resources or approved quotes. Banish the hyperbolic boilerplate and
instead link out to additional information about your company and your
partners.
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78. Send your press release
The best distribution method for your press release is via your own lists.
Upload your list of B-list bloggers and websites to a hosted email service
such as MailChimp or Constant Contact. This way you can track who has
opened your press release.
Send your press release via a wire service. Typically you wonКјt get a lot of
pick-up but sometime it can help get you into larger news aggregators such
as Google News. To save money, only write to the minimum number of
words demanded by the wire service, and include a link to a full version of
your press release on your website.
You can also send your press release via free and paid online press release
distribution services such as PRWeb. Just donКјt expect much pick-up from
legit media or quality blogs. The only plus of sending a press release via a
distribution service is that it provides another inbound link to your website.
Lastly donКјt forget to post a copy of the press release on your website and
share via your social media channels.
79. Hire a publicist
Hire a publicist to give your web series an extra promotional push close to
the launch. Be strategic when hiring. If youКјve already developed
relationships with A-list bloggers (which you should have) and have good
contacts with the trades then you donКјt need a publicist to get you coverage
here. Instead look for a publicist that has good contacts in your subject area
and have them focus their efforts on these outlets. The best strategy is to
get your story off the entertainment pages and into the sections that your
core audience reads.
80. Include industry-specific blogs
Make sure that you get to know the bloggers and journalists covering your
industry, including the people at Indie Intertube, Newteevee, Slebisodes,
Tubefilter and WebSeriesToday (to name just a few). A news item or review
on an industry blog can sometimes result in pick-up from more mainstream
media.
81. Screen your series at festivals
Festivals are a great way to create вЂњbuzzвЂќ for your web series.В Speciality
festivals include LA WebFest and the New Media Film Festival but donКјt
forget to look for traditional film festivals with "new media" categories. For a
list of festivals that accept web series, visit Slebisodes.
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82. Submit your series to awards programs
Get recognized for your extraordinary achievement and artistic excellence.
Submit your web series to prestigious awards programs such as The Shorty
Awards, The Streamy Awards or The Webby Awards. Publicize any wins to
industry and local media. Ride trending news by having a generic press
release written and ready to go.
83. Submit your content to вЂњcoolвЂќ websites
If you have unique or unusual content (or a really good story to tell),
consider submitting to high traffic вЂњcoolвЂќ trending sites like BoingBoing,
Laughing Squid, Neatorama, Notcot, Waxy.org, and We Make Money Not
Art.
84. Submit your content to social news sites
Submit your content to social news sites such as Digg, Mixx, Reddit and
Sphinn to give your traffic a bump. Social news sites feature user-submitted
stories that are ranked by users based on popularity. Each social news site
has a different audience and naturally likes different types of content. For a
list of social news sites categorized by niche, visit SquareOak or do a
Google search using social news + keyword or social news site + keyword.
See what types of content are being consistently voted up and try to shape
your own ideas to fit the desired format. Although not as influential as they
once were, social news sites can be important sources of information for
niche audiences as well as yet another back link to your website.
85. Submit your video to StumbleUpon Video
StumbleUpon Video is a new section of the StumbleUpon website. It
aggregates bookmarked videos and shuffles them so users can watch one
video after another and vote on them through their StumbleUpon account.
Videos are organized into channels and users can see what videos others
вЂњstumblersвЂќ have voted on and shared. The service supports videos from
YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, Metacafe, CollegeHumor, Funny or Die,
Vimeo, Dailymotion, Veoh and vbs.tv videos.
To submit your video, youКјll need to sign up for an account and then
download and install the browser toolbar. Once you've done this, direct your
browser to the video you'd like to add to StumbleUpon's database and click
the "I like it" button on the toolbar. If your video hasn't already been added
to the database, a small window will pop up. You'll be asked to decide
whether the content is Safe For Work, and to assign it a topic and tags, and
add a review.
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вЂњStumbleвЂќ your own videos. Ask friends, fans and members of your
community to review and вЂњstumbleвЂќ your content. Make sure you have a
StumbleUpon button on your video posts and channels.
86. Submit your video to other video recommendation services
Submit your video to other video recommendation services such as
Popscreen, ShortForm and Redux. Some of these sites are getting
significant traffic. Redux, for example, has some 200,000 visitors a month.
87. Submit your content to Clicker
Submit your show to Clicker вЂњthe TV Guide for the Internet ageвЂќ. The site
now has more than 1 million TV episodes, movies and web series in its
database and a growing base of 2 million-plus monthly visitors. Make sure
that you add the Clicker check-in or Clickr widget to your website. Clicker
has a growing social network that allows friends to share favourites and see
what their friends are watching.
88. Add your video to video search engines and search sites
There are a number of dedicated search tools and websites, which search
for videos. Some of them, such as Google Video Search search across
multiple sites; others, such as Youtube, will search only for their own
uploaded content. Visit ReelSeo for a list of video search sites. Check that
your video is indexed and if not submit your site. You may also want to
check-out Topsy, a new search engine that surfaces hot videos that are
being shared via Twitter.
89. Add your video to video sharing sites
There are more than 300 video sharing sites on the Internet -- from
YouTube and Yahoo Video to WTF Humor and Motor Sports Tube. Add your
video to the biggest and most important sites and to niche sites relevant to
your core audience.
90. Distribute your video with TubeMogul
TubeMogul is a video advertising and analytics platform. It is also a great
way to distribute your site to multiple video and social networking sites.
TubeMogul users can also leverage TubeMogul Destinations to easily
distribute to custom sites as well as encode and create RSS feeds to
syndicate video anywhere. For a list of other multiple video sharing sites,
visit ReelSeo.
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Community development
Earlier, we looked at audience development and some of the ways to grow
a following using content, social media and publicity. In some situations, you
may find that your following wants to become more involved with your
project -- and with each other. Voila! You could have a community on your
hands.
According to author and consultant Richard Millington, the easiest way to
understand the difference between a following and a community is thus: a
following is an audience that interacts with you. A community is an
audience that interacts with each other.
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91. Know your core audience
Know your core audience and where they congregate online. Join their
communities and become and active participant. Know who to target as
potential community members. In particular, you want to find people who
are casual internet users as youКјll have a better chance of getting them
interested and involved in what you do. Heavy internet users are too busy
to get involved, while influencers are too preoccupied with building their
own networks to care.
Find potential community members in:
вЂў Fan communities. Fan communities are a good place to start your
outreach. Search book, music, film and TV sites that focus on comparable
topics or genres.
вЂў Niche communities. Use Big-Boards and Boardtracker to find popular
forums and message boards in your niche. Join and get to know people.
For a comprehensive list of community sites, refer to Shara KarasicКјs
Online Community/Social Media SUPER list.
вЂў Bloggers. Not influential bloggers, but people with a blog about your
topic. Look for people who are so passionate about the topic that they are
willing to spend time writing about it.
вЂў Comments. People that comment on blogs are great to contact. TheyКјre
interested, know the tools and have the time to spare. Most news sites
allow people to add their comments to news stories. DonКјt be afraid to
approach anyone who expresses a strong option about your subject.
вЂў Book reviewers. People that review books about your genre are
becoming more approachable. Visit Amazon, eBay and other sites to find
potential members.
вЂў Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. Learn how to search
for people by interest. (More on this in the Social Media section).
вЂў Industry blogs and magazines. Take note of whoКјs writing about your
industry. Google their names. Do the same with вЂњLetters to the EditorвЂќ and
comments contributors.
вЂў Event. Attend events or conventions that appeal to your niche audience.
Better yet get a booth or host a panel. Collect names. Follow-up.
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92. Decide what type of community you want to host
Different types of communities exist both in the face-to-face world and in the
virtual world. Broadly speaking there are five different types of communities:
Interest. Communities of people who share the same interest or passion.
Action. Communities of people trying to bring about change.
Place. Communities of people brought together by geography.
Practice. Communities of people in the same profession or who
undertake the same activities.
вЂў Circumstance. Communities of people brought together by external
events/situations.
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
вЂў
Communities of interest are the most popular kind of communities to build.
But, they are also the most difficult as you are competing for peopleКјs
mental вЂњdownвЂќ time against every other media product out there. Broaden
your scope by thinking about ways that you can develop a non interestbased community. Documentary film producers, for example, have been
very successful at building communities around action; while software
developers have build large communities of practice.
93. Hire a community manager
Community managers have specialized knowledge on how to grow and
manage a community. Typically, they are experienced communicators who
know how to listen. They are responsible for building awareness of your
project through non-marketing efforts, finding opportunities to connect in
and out of the community. Within the community, they are responsible for
connecting people and facilitating conversation. The community manager
may or may not be the same person who is responsible for social media
outreach.
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94. Start your community outreach
Community development should start as soon as you have the green light
to move ahead with your project. It takes a long time and consistent effort to
find and nurture relationships. Your goal should be to build a small group of
true fans in the first year and then grow the numbers from there.
Keep your outreach manageable by aiming to contact five people a day.
And, with this approach you wonКјt be able to use the excuse that you donКјt
have time! Ask everyone on your personal list to recommend people they
think would like to become involved in your community. Take heed NOT to
approach:
вЂў A-list bloggers. Too busy to bother with your community. Focus on the
people that comment on their blogs instead.
вЂў Journalists. Same as above. Some journalists troll large communities
looking for story ideas or leads.
вЂў Cast and crew. Bring them in only if you have a good fan base.
вЂў Existing online communities. DonКјt mass invite members of pre-existing
online communities. Very bad netiquette.
95. Develop authority
DonКјt just promote your project, join the conversation. Contribute something
of value before expecting something in return. Spend at least four months
building relationships before you start вЂњsellingвЂќ your ideas. YouКјll feel less
pressured to make friends quickly and the interactions will be more
meaningful. Make sure to stay involved with the communities that you join,
even when you donКјt have project news to share.
96. Build a place for your community
There are a number of free tools available that allow you to build a place for
your community. They range from the simple -- mailing lists, forums and
Facebook groups -- to the more complex, such as Ning sites and branded
social networks. Start small. Start simple. Only when you have a growing
community should you think about integrating it into your website.
вЂў Facebook Groups. The new Facebook groups are designated spaces
where small groups of friends can share information. By default they are
closed communities. Make sure you unlock this feature before starting
your outreach. Members can participate in back-and-forth IM
conversations via group chat. It is all explained here. As with anything
Facebook, approach with caution. Facebook make frequent changes to its
interface, often without warning. And, it owns your content.
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вЂў Forums. You can easily add a forum to your WordPress website via
BBPress, SimplePress or Vanilla Forums. Forums are sometimes called
вЂњmessage boardsвЂќ as they act much like a message board in an office or
school. You post a message on the board and come back an hour, a day,
or a week later to see if anyone has responded to it.
вЂў Ning.com. Ning.com lets you build your own private-label social network.
Each ning has a central group page and provides blogging and social
networking tools for each member so they can build their own presence
and brand. Web Series Network is a social network for web series
producers (and fans) built on the Ning platform.
вЂў Website. If youКјre using WordPress as your CMS, there are several free
plugins available that let you add a social network to your website. These
range from simple plugins that allow you to set-up user profiles to more
complex plugins, such as BuddyPress, which are essentially social
networks вЂњin a boxвЂќ. For more robust solutions, you may want to look to a
for-pay platform such as Get Satisfaction .
97. Encourage community participation
Encourage participation in your community by giving everyone the
opportunity to be involved. Build strong relationships between members.
Introduce yourself to members -- and members to each other. Learn how to
facilitate conversation within the community: when to ask leading questions,
when to email people privately, when to post publicly, and when to let the
conversation flow.
98. Write about others to build relationships
Use the 80/20 approach to building relationships by writing about others
80% of the time and yourself 20% of the time. Each week select one of your
most active members and interview them for your blog. Interviews
encourage others to participate more so they can be interviewed, too.
Interviews also let you target specific people. You can interview people who
you want to participate more, or who you want to join your community.
99. Build вЂњbuzzвЂќ within the community
Get the members of your online community excited and involved by making
cool things happen. Offer exclusive discounts. Arrange for community
members to send questions to your cast members and get replies. Host
exclusive events, such as online chats or tweet-ups.
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100. Get your cast and crew involved
Get your cast and crew (or development team) involved in building your
online community. Some of the ways you can do this are:
вЂў Interview them. People like to feel important. Interview cast and crew for
the blog. Then get them to interview other people in the crew or in the
community.
вЂў Introduce them. Introduce them to the community. Talk about them in the
community. They may get curious about what is being said and they might
then be inclined to join.
вЂў Give them a column. Make a cast or crew member responsible for
producing a weekly column. Limit the run of the column to 3 or 4 weeks so
that it doesnКјt seem too onerous a task. Who knows? They may enjoy
contributing and ask to continue.
101. Use social networks strategically
The large social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are places where
you can develop big followings. However, they are not that effective as
community building tools because they are not designed to get your friends
and followers talking to each other.
The exception to this is Twitter chat. Twitter chats are great for building
community -- and can be exciting experiences, too. For tips and tricks on
how you can start and run your own Twitter chat, read this post by
Mashable. Host a Twitter chat then archive it on your website to help grow
your community.
102. Get people involved with your website
Even if youКјre not building a dedicated fan community, there are still plenty
of ways to get people more involved with your website. If youКјre on
WordPress, there are several free plugins that can help build community
functions into your website. For details read Noupe.comКјs вЂњBuilding
Community Sites with WordPress: 15 Plugins to Get You StartedвЂќ or
MashableКјs 10 WordPress plugins post.
Other tools that encourage people to get more involved with your website
include newsgroups (also known as вЂњlistservesвЂќ) and chat. One of the
easiest ways to add a chat feature to your website is via a toolbar that sits
at the bottom of the browser. Two of the most popular toolbars are the
Meebo Bar and Wibiya Toolbar.
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Bottom line
Rome wasnКјt built in a day. Your community is much the same. It requires
time (and a healthy dose of persistence) to build a strong community. Find
prospective members among casual internet users who are passionate
about your subject. Build your community one person at a time. Give them
a place on your website where they can hang out and meet one another.
Keep them excited and involved by making cool things happen.
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Email marketing
Email marketing may feel a bit old and fussy in this era of real-time
interactions. But in reality, it is a fantastic tool for building your brand and
keeping your fans returning episode after episode.
TodayКјs third-party email providers let you create professional looking enewsletters for next to nothing and integrate with most social media
networks through an open API.
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103. Set-up an account with a hosted email provider
If you plan to send bulk email, youКјll need to create an account with a
hosted email provider. Such services allow you to design, send and track
HTML and plain text campaigns. Several of these services also offer
additional features such as social share and QR codes. There are many
excellent paid third-party services available, including Constant Contact,
Campaign Monitor, Mail Chimp and Vertical Response. Mail Chimp is
probably the most user-friendly of all and itКјs FREE until you reach a certain
list size.
104. Build your email list
Add an opt-in subscription email box to your website, weblog, Facebook fan
page, etc. Grow your list with social media. Host an online event (chat,
panel, etc.) and include an email list subscription as part of the sign-up
process. Ask people you meet at events, if you can add them your list.
105. Make your email newsletter unique
Use ready-made templates or design your own branded email newsletter.
Offer content that fans canКјt get anywhere else on the website via your enewsletter. Use <Merge> tags to personalize and customize your enewsletter. Add a share functionality, allowing subscribers to share your enewsletter with their social network. Ask people to forward and share your
email to others in the email copy.
106. Set-up a publishing schedule
Set-up a publishing schedule (monthly, bi-monthly or weekly) and stick to it.
Send вЂњhotвЂќ updates when you have breaking news (for example, major
press coverage, an award, etc.). Build a sequence of autoresponders to
вЂњbuild upвЂќ to your launch or to keep fans engaged with your show. You can
also use this strategy to вЂњpingвЂќ your fans on their birthdays or other
important days.
107. Offer mobile subscriptions
MailChimp and other services will automatically generate a mobile-friendly
version of your email campaign to send to your mobile subscribers. Remind
your fans of this via Facebook and Twitter updates.
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108. Have fun with QR codes
Generate a QR code that includes a link to your e-newsletter sign-up page.
Add the code to any print design (for example, posters or flyers) and post
them around town or where your audience might hang out. QR codes can
also be added to T-shirts, mugs or even your business card.
109. Make the most of unsubscribes
When someone unsubscribes from your list, take the time to get feedback
from them about why and what could be improved. Who knows, you might
win them back or convert them into a super fan.
110. Promote your email subscription
Promote email subscription sign-ups by encouraging followers to sign-up for
future email updates. Include a shortened link to your subscription page
(using bit.ly or a similar service) so that it can be tracked. Give your Twitter
followers a taste of your content. Automatically send your email updates to
your Twitter account.
Bottom line:
Email isnКјt just for mom and dad. ItКјs still one of the best way to reach
anyone who has a job (yep, thatКјs when they flip from chat to more
conventional forms of communication). Email is a great vehicle for
promotions, breaking news and rewarding fans. Use autoresponders to
keep fans coming back after the first episode.
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Advertising
The rise of social networks has opened-up a number of low-cost
advertising options. These types of campaigns are affordable yet effective
and can include display ads on community websites, Facebook ads, or
StumbleUpon discovery ads.
Use advertising to:
вЂў Build awareness among your core audience.
вЂў Prime the social media pump and drive geo-specific niche audiences to
become вЂњfansвЂќ.
вЂў Drive traffic to your website around important events such as your launch.
вЂў Test the viability of complementary audiences prior to launching a fullblown social media campaign.
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111. Advertise with niche sites
Advertise with niche websites or weblogs. These types of partnerships
deliver the best results and produce вЂњadded valueвЂќ as you can usually
leverage your buy to include editorial coverage, backlinks, and more. The
basics of display advertising are frequency and reach. Consider doing a test
campaign over a two to four week period and if the results are good commit
to a longer run. Negotiate for placement, making sure that your display ad
appears вЂњabove the foldвЂќ. Set-up a goal in Google Analytics to track results.
112. Run a Facebook ad campaign
Drive fan acquisition rates with a Facebook ad campaign. Target your
campaign to specific demographics, geo-locations and вЂњinterestsвЂќ. Make
sure that your image is eye-catching and not too detailed as the actual size
of the ad is quite small. Try asking a provocative or leading question in your
copy to tantalize your core audience. Break your overall campaign into
smaller вЂњbitsвЂќ and schedule each campaign over a three to five day period
with a $50 to $75 ceiling. Repeat using different criteria and track results.
Pay for impressions rather than clicks. Facebook ad campaigns are most
effective when they are driving people to your fan page (rather than your
website).
113. Run a StumbleUpon campaign
StumbleUpon Paid Discovery can be VERY effective for driving traffic to
your website or YouTube video channel. Sites that are part of the Paid
Discovery program are integrated into the stream of sites that StumbleUpon
users are вЂњstumblingвЂќ to based on their interests. Your website is the ad,
meaning you control 100% of the engagement. StumbleUpon ads are
cumulative, meaning the more users like your site, the more people will see
your ad -- driving additional earned media. Expect to spend between $100
to $200 for a short three to four day campaign, and upwards of $1,000 for
longer campaigns.
114. Tap into YouTubeКјs Promoted Videos program
YouTubeКјs Promoted Videos program is like Adwords for YouTube.
Partners can run campaigns for their videos that will give them exposure
across YouTube. As with Adwords, you pay only for actual clicks through to
your video.
Bottom Line:
Advertising is a great way to prime the social media pump and drive geospecific niche audiences to your channels. Use cost-effective social media
advertising and measure, measure, measure to know its effectiveness.
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Schedule
Month #1
1. Select a unique domain name
2. Choose a hosting service
103. Set-up an account with a hosted email provider
3. Set-up a landing page
104. Build your email list
22. Develop a list of organic keywords
35. Choose your niche
36. Develop an editorial plan
37. Link your editorial plan to outcomes
43. Claim your social network account
71. Find online influencers
74. Follow influencers
91. Know your core audience
Month #2
4.Select a CMS platform
5. Choose a theme or template
6. Hire a designer/developer
9. Decide on a navigation style and layout
23. Architect your site for search
11. Add a blog
12. Build your site from a blueprint
13. Burn your RSS feed
14. Add an email subscription box
15. Enable social sharing
18. Add a row of social media icons
21. Make your site mobile friendly
24. Optimize your web pages for search
25. Optimize your blog for search
27. Create an account with Google Webmaster Tools
28. Use an analytics tool
44. Set-up a Twitter account
45. Define your Twitter style
Month #3
38. Develop an editorial calendar
42. Start blogging
29. Establish conversion goals and funnels in Google Analytics
39. Hire a PMD
93. Hire a community manager
40. Build your original content assets
46. Build your Twitter following
94. Start your community outreach
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Month #4
17. Add your Twitter stream
30. Boost your search rank with editorial content
31. Boost your search rank with social media
32. Annotate important events in Google Analytics
33. Add custom reports to your Google Analytics dashboard
47. Manage your Twitter following
48. Manage, schedule and track your tweets
49. Manage your Twitter conversations
50. Create a Facebook fan page
51. Design a landing page
52. Add an email app
53. Find your friends
54. Set-up a branded URL
55. Grow your fan base
95. Build a place for your community
Month #5
16. Add a Facebook вЂњLikeвЂќ box
56. Leverage your content to get fans
57. Respond to fans
76. Build a press room
75. Craft an email вЂњpitchвЂќ
97. Encourage community participation
99. Build вЂњbuzzвЂќ within the community
100. Get your cast and crew involved
106. Write and send your email newsletter
112. Run a Facebook ad campaign
Month #6
26. Create and install a video sitemap
59. Use YouTube Suggest to find organic keywords
60. Customize your YouTube channel
61. Optimize your YouTube channel for search
62. Time your video uploads
63. Optimize your video for search
65. Add your video to a playlist
66. Upload and promote your video
77. Write a press release
79. Hire a publicist
110. Promote your email subscription
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Month #7
67. Get numbers. Get featured
68. Embed the YouTube player
78. Send your press release
84. Submit your content to social news sites
85. Submit your video to StumbleUpon video
86. Submit your video to other video recommendation services
87. Submit your content to Clicker
88. Add your video to video search engines and search sites
89. Add your video to video sharing sites
90. Distribute your video with TubeMogul
111. Advertise with niche sites
113. Run a StumbleUpon campaign
Month #8
19. Add a toolbar
20. Use feedback to discover problems
34. Run regular seo checks
69. Learn from YouTube Insights
70. Apply to become a YouTube partner
81. Screen your series at festivals
82. Submit your series to award programs
83. Submit your content to вЂњcoolвЂќ websites
102. Get people involved with your website
114. Tap into YouTubeКјs Promoted Videos Program
вЂ¦ and keep on goingвЂ¦!
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Budget
Be sure to include cost centres in your budget for labour, facilities and services that you will
need to undertake your marketing campaign -- and resist the temptation to dig into these when
you start to go over-budget during production! Following is an example of the basic costs and
allocations for the marketing of a web series:
Item
Cost (Range)
Labour & Fees:
Marketing Consultant
* depends on whether they are
providing a few hours of consulting or
whether they are on-side to assist
with project execution
$50 - $150 per hour
$500 - $5,000
PMD
* depends on responsibilities and
length of engagement
$50 - $100 per hour
$5,000 - $10,000
Social media or community manager
* depends on responsibilities and
length of engagement; some tasks
may be part of PMD responsibilities
$30 - $50 per hour
$3,000 - $5,000
Marketing & PR Materials:
Graphic design (key art)
$1,000 - $3,000
Graphic design (misc)
$500 - $1,000
Press kit
$0 - $100
Posters, postcards, stickers, t-shirts
and other promotional items
$1,000 - $5,000
Trailer/EPK
$0
Publicity/Promotions:
Publicist (National)
* depends on whether task is farmed
out or is part of PMD responsibilities
$0 - $5,000
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Item
Cost (Range)
Publicist (Affinity)
* responsible for niche PR
$1,500 - $3,000
Viral marketing teams
* Facebook promo teams
$0 - $2,000
Website:
Website design/development
$1,000 - $4,000
Web hosting
$110 / year
Email provider
$120 / year
Other accounts
* HootSuite, Social Sprout, etc.
$120 - $240 / year
Advertising:
$500 - $2,000
Launch party/events:
$0 - $5,000
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Appendix A: Content types
Text-based
вЂў Website pages
вЂў Weblog posts
вЂў Email messages
вЂў Email newsletters
вЂў Status and Twitter updates
вЂў Testimonials/quotes/reviews
вЂў Press releases
вЂў Social bookmarks
вЂў Wikis
вЂў Books, e-books, comic books
вЂў Digital magazines and paper.li newspapers
Image-based
вЂў Photos (production stills, head shots, behind-the-scene, key art, etc.)
вЂў Drawings (story boards, sketches, illustrations)
вЂў Maps and Infographs
вЂў Icons and avatars
вЂў iPhone and iPad wallpapers
Audio
вЂў Soundtracks
вЂў Music (original and licensed)
вЂў Podcasts (interviews, monologues, music)
Video
вЂў Web series episodes
вЂў Animations
вЂў Music videos and вЂњshortsвЂќ
вЂў Trailers
вЂў Interviews, behind-the-scenes and К»how toКј video
Transmedia
вЂў Mobile applications
вЂў Online games
вЂў Facebook applications and other widgets
вЂў QR codes
Events
вЂў Twitter chats
вЂў Live or recorded Skype chats and Q&AКјs
вЂў Fan conventions and conferences
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Appendix B: 40 ways to promote your
YouTube channel and videos
1. Embed your videos on your website
2. Embed your videos on your weblog
3. Embed your videos in your email updates
4. Embed your videos on online forums
5. Embed your videos on community and Ning sites
6. Embed your video and create a unique landing page for new Facebook fans
7. Embed your YouTube videos on your Facebook profile
8. Embed your YouTube videos on your Facebook Fan page
9. Link your YouTube channel to your website
10. Link your YouTube channel to your weblog
11. Link your YouTube channel to Twitter
12. Link your YouTube channel to Facebook
13. Link your YouTube channel to LinkedIn
14. Add a link to your YouTube channel in all your outgoing emails
15. Get your videos featured on YouTube
16. Use StumbleUpon Paid Discovery to promote your channel
17. Use Google Adwords to promote your channel
18. Get T-shirts printed with your channel URL
19. Get T-shirts printed with a QR code containing your channel URL
20. Create a YouTube video promoting your other videos
21. Advertise your YouTube channel on other websites and weblogs
22. Digg your videos
23. Stumble your videos
24. Like and Share your videos on Facebook
25. Tweet your videos
26. Add your channel URL to Twitter
27. Ask others to re-tweet your videos
28. Blog about your videos
29. Do a review of your videos
30. Ask others to review your videos
31. Do an interview with the producer/director and embed in your вЂњAboutвЂќ page.
32. Cross promote your videos
33. Tag your YouTube videos
34. Buy targeted YouTube views
35. Buy targeted YouTube channel subscribers
36. Add a вЂњsubscribe toвЂќ YouTube button to your weblog or website
37. Add your YouTube video to a video directories and search engines
38. Shoot and post a video response to a popular video
39. Shoot and post a parody video as a response to a popular video
40. Shoot a music video, covering a popular song; post as a response
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Appendix C: Performance Metrics
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Pageviews
Unique visitors
Repeat visitors
Comments and trackbacks (on weblog)
Tags/ratings/rankings
Time spent on website
Average length of visit
Video plays (if self-hosting)
Downloads (if offering вЂњdownloadableвЂќ content such as PDF files)
International audience: number of countries where people engage with your content
Subscribers to RSS feed
Subscribers to mailing list
Inbound links
Page rank
SERP rank
Facebook fans
New Facebook fans
Active Facebook fans
Likes/comments/shares on Facebook
Twitter followers
Appearances on Twitter lists
Re-tweets and direct messages
Mentions on Twitter
Klout score
Plays on YouTube
Channel subscribers on YouTube
Likes/comments/shares on YouTube
Video responses on YouTube
Tweets, re-tweets, lists
StumbleUpon reviews
Blog mentions or reviews
Mentions or reviews on community sites, forums, message boards
Number of credible professionals in entertainment, journalism, marketing, and other
related industries who support your work (maintain a collection of quotes from these
individuals)
Comments about your work on multiple social networks (positive or negative), plays,
profile views, and friends
Festival screenings
Industry awards
FanКјs choice awards
Brand recognition and brand-specific searches
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Resources and links
Blogging
Chris Brogan: How to blog almost every day
Copyblogger: 50 CanКјt-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics
Liz Strauss -- http://www.lizstrauss.com/
Problogger: How to choose a niche topic for your blog
Search Engine People: How To Get Blog Post Ideas
Community Development
Community Spark -- http://www.communityspark.com/
GigaOm: Building Online Community Brick by Virtual Brick
Online Community Report -- http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/
Content Marketing
Junta42 blog -- http://blog.junta42.com/
Smart Blogs: From SXSW How HBO Keeps True Blood Fans Thirsty For More
Conversion & Analytics
Six Revisions: Google analytics in depth: goals and funnels
The Conversion Scientist -- http://conversionscientist.com
YouTube: How to create Google analytics conversion goals
Web Analytics World: 10 must track Google analytics goals
Demographics
TechCrunch: Why Women Rule The Internet
EMail
Email Marketing Reports -- http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/
Facebook
All Facebook -- http://www.allfacebook.com/
Dan Zarella: The Facebook Marketing Book -- http://danzarrella.com/books
Inside Facebook -- http://www.insidefacebook.com/
Influence & Persuasion
The Daily Seo Blog: An illustrated guide to the science of influence and persuasion
Marketing
Online Marketing Blog -- http://www.toprankblog.com/
Seth GodinКјs Blog: How to get traffic for your blog
Six Pixels of Separation -- http://www.twistimage.com/
The @KISSmetrics Marketing Blog -- http://blog.kissmetrics.com/
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Search Marketing
iMedia Connection: Rules for beating Google at Seo
Search Engine Journal -- http://www.searchenginejournal.com/
Search Engine Watch -- http://searchenginewatch.com/
SEOMoz Daily -- http://www.seomoz.org/blog
Social Media
Dan Zarella: The Social Media Scientist -- http://danzarrella.com/
Mashable -- http://mashable.com
SmartBlog on Social Media -- http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/
The Conversion Prism -- http://www.theconversationprism.com/
Twitter
Alltop Twitter -- http://twitter.alltop.com/
TwiTip: Twitter Tips -- http://www.twitip.com/
Usability
Alertbox by Jacob Neilsen -- http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
YouTube
GigaOm: 11 YouTube Tips From YouTube Experts
iMedia Connection: 9 new rules for YouTube marketing
Video & Web series
Christopher Sharpe: How to Build an Audience for a Web Series
Christopher Sharpe: Leveling Up - Building an Audience is Kind of Like Playing a Video Game
GigaOM Video -- http://gigaom.com/video/
GigaOm: Want To Get Your Web Series Sponsored: 10 Things To Think About
IdiotScreen: Marketing the Internet Web Series: 5 Steps for Success
Lost Remote -- http://www.lostremote.com/
paper.li: The #webserieschat Daily
ReelSEO Video Marketing -- http://www.reelseo.com/
Slebisodes: When & How to Launch a Web Series
Web Series Network: Jen Dawson on Marketing
Web Series Network: Aleem Hossain Talks About His Marketing Process
Web Series Network: Chris Wiltz on Marketing His Web Series
Web Video SEO and Marketing News -- http://www.videoseonews.com/
Will Video for Food -- http://willvideoforfood.com/
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Independent Production Fund | www.ipf.ca | Page 74

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