Notorious Video Production

It was 1918 when the the first version of the swine flu broke out.   Hundreds of thousands of people died.  The subject in the video I’m working on almost died from the flu.  As I began my research on the Library of Congress’s website I wasn’t aware that this flu had been here before.  But as usual, history is standing by ready to repeat itself.  We are so lucky we have a great medical system despite it flaws.  Anyway the Library of Congress is a great resource for documentary filmmakers.  You need a lot of patients and fast connection but you can find some real gems if you look hard enough.

Why bother to make documentaries? The question has haunted me for

years. Most of the time I don’t think about it. I just go ahead and make

.lms, but occasionally, in a quiet re(R)ective mood, I return to this basic

question: Why invest so much energy in a pursuit that is not particularly

well paid, that can make you old before your time, that can separate you

from your family, and that more often than not may hang on the screen

for a mere .fty minutes before vanishing unmourned into eternity?

Simply put, there is nothing else that comes close to the effectiveness and persuasion power of a well designed video production. Why is video the best way to go? Today, the average attention span of a web user today is measured in seconds. Web users are seeking information, entertainment, people, meaning, meassage, etc., and they want it quick. Users apply limited effort and time to see whether she can make sense of what you are offering and to decide whether your content is a good fit for what they were actually looking for. If in just seconds you can convey your message you succeeded. Don’t try and trick people with long drawn out promises that never bare fruit. Today’s users are to savvy for that. They came because of a promise, so deliver.

According to a recent BurstMedia survey seven out of ten online viewers watch online video. Out of all surveyed, men are likely to watch more video by 76%. In fact, online viewing is not just for the young, 56% of those surveyed are 65 years and older. I find this extremely enlightening. You can use web video for all ages. Web video is getting stronger and marketers need to embrace online video in more ways then one.

Today we are working on evaluating our Facebook Ads for the Alameda County Fair. Your ads rely on the content in facebooks profile content.  So I hope every one is honest and forthcoming when they fill out their profiles, yeah right! One thing I know is If your ad looks and sounds like any other ad, people are more likely to tune it out.  It costs you money each time your ad compels people to click but doesn’t live up to its promises. Your ad need to get people to buy not click so one way of writing ads is to try to weed out people who don’t intend to buy.  A good ad would be, “Do you like going the Track? Contact me If you want to go to the track for $2 a Day.  Your ads have to be more “insider” or “personalized”.  Facebook is for friends not for hype. Keep it close.