Check out this video;

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Pretty cool way to sell T-shirts, huh? A video can be seen as many things; something for entertainment purposes, a social media tool but, most importantly to businesses, as a sales tool. So lets say you’ve got your awesome video concept and it’s been produced to a quality standard, how do you now make the best of it? Essentially, how can you best place your video on your website to maximise views and conversion rates?

Considering that the average time that people spend on a web page is just over 30 seconds it can be pretty tough to grab their attention. The best way to keep your clientele on your site is to engage them with interactive widgets and not only is video such a widget but, if it’s good, it will actually drive extra traffic to your site through recommendations.

So what’s the best way to display your video? As a link? As an icon? Or embedded in the page? With every click it takes to reach something you will be statistically losing viewers so having a simple link isn’t the best option for getting people to engage. With a link you could be looking at a 5-15% view rate whereas with an embedded video you could be looking at a much more hearty 10-35% view rate. If you must link to your video then the best option is to use an icon and the more that it looks like a video player then the more clicks it will receive. Also, you will get more clicks by simply displaying the word “play” by the link – text really works and can be surprisingly effective within your video too.

The next decision is where to place your player on the page. Above the fold is best, with less views being recorded the further down the page your video is displayed. And finally, should the video play in response to user clicks or should it autoplay? You would think that autoplay would receive more views therefore higher conversion rates but some companies feel that the autoplay option is a bit too much of a hard sell. It ranges from client to client as to how beneficial autoplay is, some seeing great conversion rates whilst others see a negative impact. It comes down to how you want to present your company or if it is right for your particular video so it’s best judged on a case by case basis. Still not sure? Recruit some friendly guinea pigs and see what they think or try testing either way and stick with the one that increases your conversion rates the best.

The Sussex Safer Road Campaign video is having a massive impact on the public having received almost 700,000 views on Youtube since it’s launch in late January. Incidentally, that’s almost 200,000 more views than there are people living in East Sussex! And that’s not counting how many people have seen the video re-posted on other websites. The video has received views from 89 countries and not only has it garnered interest in the local press, having appeared on the local news on mainstream TV and in The Argus, but has been invited to appear on French national TV, at a California conference which promotes innovative ideas and in an article in the Norwegian press. So how can such simple idea reach so many people?

This was much more than just a video campaign. Promotion was done via the traditional billboards and the not so traditional spray painting of the logo and web address around different sites in Brighton. There’s even one just down the road from the Fat Sand office (see picture below). Sussex Road Safety have shown that they understand how people are using new media today. That people are using the internet and mobile phones to view and share ideas and campaigns should be designed to best target these behaviours.

The Facebook group for the film, which was set up by a fan rather than being an official page, has over 1480 members. The public have given 3,428 ratings on the SSRC Youtube channel awarding the video an average of 5 stars. This shows the quality of the film and it’s production, something that has made it stand out amongst the 100 million videos that are posted on Youtube. Yet this is a simple idea that wouldn’t have cost a bomb to make – certainly not in comparison to how many people it has ended up reaching.

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If you were wondering if your company really would benefit from having a video it might help to know that whether it is watched or not, your video will affect your clients and increase sales. Studies have shown that even if your video is not watched, it’s very presence on your site will increase conversion rates. So how does that all work then?

Your video will strengthen your brand and increase consumer confidence because it shows that you have the confidence to present yourself and your product in all your 3D, real time glory and also that you care enough to reach out to your customers in interesting ways. Interactivity is key in holding users attention and getting your ideas across – the more involved clients can become with your webpage the more they will understand your message. So it makes sense to make your webpage more interactive and encourage users to stay there a little longer.

But can video damage your message? A poor quality video can actually damage conversion rates.
Ok, so we’ve all heard the adage that “content is king,” and certainly an awesome concept will make people think you are clever and cool, but if the production quality is low your video will look unprofessional and even tacky. Poor lighting, bad acting and extra fuzzy background sounds will reflect on your company in a big, bad way. What is that saying about you?

Check out this perfect of example of how NOT to make a company video…

Incase you missed it on BBC South Today, two guys 3x British Champion Lewis Crathern and Bir Air Master Jake Scrace jump over Worthing Pier, they’ve been planning this for 3 years waiting the the right conditions and it finally all came together.

Confused by all this Team this bloke or that bloke?  Well we were up in Battersea Park yesterday evening with LoveFilm to capture the hysteria that surrounds the launch of the new Twilight Saga : New Moon film. If you haven’t heard of it then all you need to know is its got vampires, werewolves and two leading guys that send girls and womens hearts a flutter, and make them scream like banshees! It suffices to say that by the end of the night it was not our necks but ears that were bleeding!

We got interviews with both Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner and a quick sound bite from Kirstin Stewart, wrapped at 7:30pm and after a quick review of the footage at the pub with LoveFilm’s editor Helen, we jumped on the train back to Brighton, setting the footage capturing and everything was edited & uploaded by 2am – ready for the LoveFilm to put live.

We’ve had A LOT of late nights over the past month covering the London Film Festival for our friends at LoveFilm. It finally came to a close on Thursday night with a star studded awards ceremony at Temple. Enjoy.

Working with our friends at Indigo Cow, we covered the winner of Pomegreat and OK! Magazine’s Ultimate Make Over Day Out in London.

LoveFilm managed to get access to 2 Klingons and convinced them to review the new Star Trek movie for their website. Fat Sand handled all the filming and post production, for the full story check out LOVEFILM

We’ve mid production on an internet viral for our friends at Bite PR. I don’t think we’ve seen this much kit in the office for some time. Stay tuned for the final piece!

We do a lot of work for leading DVD rental company, LoveFilm. Check this interview with Damned United star, Michael Sheen.