11 best branded Instagram videos from November 2014

It’s the monthly round-up of mini social video wonders from the wide world of brands on Instagram.

Put aside 165 seconds, pop on your headphones, sit back and enjoy.

LEGO

Moving away from the stop-motion of previous efforts, this tackles the classic tale of Sisyphus with the gravitas of the Chuckle Brothers.

Ford

A quick glimpse into the semi-near future. And to think, by then we’ll have already seen the new Star Wars movie and life will be meaningless again.

National Geographic

Yeah, that’s right, you bitter cold-hearted cynics…

Adidas

Yeah, that’s right, you bitter cold… What was that sorry? No I’ve never heard that phrase before. Why is the pot even talking to a kettle?

Toyota

Re-enacting the breathless Black Friday rush using Hyperlapse. Footage where they beat a fellow customer to death over a HD TV is thankfully missing.

GoPro

Yeah, “just jump”, I mean… how hard can it be, right? 

TopShop

Cara Delevingne loses her mind for TopShop in a rather captivating way.

J Crew

Ah puns, you had me at trunks. Whatever comes after doesn’t even matter.

Virgin America

The only good delay. That includes the guitar sound of U2. Wait no, that’s the only good thing about U2.   

Coca-Cola

I remember watching loads of videos in school about the dangers of plastic ring holders on badgers and other such wildlife. Coca-Cola seems to have left this important message out of the following video. Think of the badgers Coca-Cola!

KFC

I always like to end on a weird one. Here’s some chicken. Really really slow.

For even more tiny branded marvels, check out last month’s Instagram video round-up.

How to make blogging for photographers more than a photo shoot

It's hard for some photography businesses to picture what they might say on a blog, but to succeed with inbound marketing, they must!

Photographers must work very hard in order to establish any real difference between their work and the services offered by the other millions of photography websites.

So, what can you do to not only showcase your professional work, but also show people who you are, why you do what you do, and why they should consider your services?

Have you ever considered blogging? Here’s a look at how having a blog can build your brand and grow your photography business, and some tips on best blogging practices.

A photography blog can support and promote your website

There seems to be a never-ending race among photographers to see who can create the flashiest website with the sleekest graphics to showcase their work.

The internet has become a visual community, but long-lasting success cannot be achieved with graphics alone. Search engine rankings and customer engagement are driven by quality web content.

A wedding photography blog

A well-designed photography blog will not only better promote your work, it will help you make a personal connection with your audience.

And as Google has made very clear, good content that real people want to read is the key to improving search rankings.

A photography blog creates value for your customers

Photography Concentrate features a very informative article on how photographers can blog successfully. This article stresses the importance of making your audience feel comfortable in hiring you, since they’re probably trusting you with some important moments in their lives.

So, the first requirement for a successful blog must be to understand your audience. 

This article details some important things a blog can do that allow you to connect better with your customers: 

• Show who you are, why you are a photographer, and what value you provide.

• Showcase your latest projects.

• Improve search rankings with consistently updated content.

• Allow clients to share their own photos.

• Establish your brand.

• Acquire new customers.

Starting a photography blog without a clear understanding of your audience and a well-defined purpose will make things difficult for you and uninteresting for those who visit your website.

In order to have a positive outcome, you must create value in every post you write.

Photography blogs that work

Duo Photography's attractive and inviting website is a great example of an effective photography blog. It not only features the professional work of the photographer, it's just a fun place to visit.

Since the business’ focus is family photos, the blog is filled with ideas and tips for family activities in addition to cute photos from recent shoots.

It’s a great example of how many post ideas are out there that can keep your blog filled with relevant and useful information, including topical stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses of photo shoots, human-interest pieces, and frequently asked questions.

A wide variety of content helps keep the website traffic flowing and can even attract customers who didn’t think they were in the market for photography services.

The Symbol Photography website and blog are on the simpler side, but the execution is flawless.

The simplicity of the design allows the photos to be the center of attention, exactly as they should be. The well-designed blog on the site highlights the following characteristics of an effective photography blog:

• It's personal - Not only does the blog display fantastic wedding photos, the photographer provides some background on the couples and the shoots that makes a personal connection with the audience.

• It's different - Instead of simply posting a few of the best photographs, the blog writer highlights fun shoots that are shareable and relevant. 

• The blog is "home base". By providing engaging content with social sharing links, the blog is actually the home base for all social media activities. All tweets, pins or shares will increase blog traffic and improve search rankings for the entire website.

Another photographer with an effective blog is Craig Parry, a self-taught landscape photographer who won the International Landscape Photographer of the Year Award in 2014.

A quick visit to the Craig Parry Photography website makes it clear how the blog helps promote his work. He not only displays amazing images, he is always delivering quality information to communicate and engage with his audience. 

Just because you have a photography blog doesn't mean you have to write about your photography all the time.

There are many great blogging ideas waiting for you to put your personal stamp on them.

By focusing on some critical elements of blogging as well as your strengths and interests, you can showcase your expertise and promote your portfolio while making lasting connections with your audience.

Should you use a free blogging service platform?

An interesting article at the CMBlog, published by Summit View Communications, outlines some helpful tips for creating a more effective photography blog, one of which is hosting your own blog versus using a free blogging platform. 

People who spend a lot of time online are familiar sites like Blogger and WordPress, where anyone with any random thought can start a blog.

Using one of them to promote yourself as an artist is kind of like opening your photography studio in a gas station.

It’s just not a very professional atmosphere. A self-hosted blogging platform, on the other hand, has:

• Customization options and the flexibility to add features and themes.

• The ability to sell advertising.

• The possibility of running multiple blogs from the same installation.

Finding a hosting company for your blog and filling it with useful information created by yourself or professional blog writers gives you the best chance for success.

It builds trust and credibility and lets potential customers (and search engines) know exactly who you are.

Should you hire a blog writing service to fill your blog?

Writing quality blog content that people and search engines demand requires a certain level of skill in writing and the time, patience, and commitment to get the job done.

Many photographers understand the importance of blogging, but just don't have the time to write engaging articles on a consistent basis.

Sure, anyone can write a post, but not all posts are quality web content that people will appreciate and search engines will promote. 

If you have the time and expertise to consistently write articles that will attract the attention of your audience, you are very fortunate. If not, you may want to rely on professional blog writers. There are many professional blog writing services available online.

If you decide to outsource your content writing, don’t choose a writing service based on price alone. You should choose professional blog writers who are enthusiastic about your project and will deliver original quality content tailored to the unique needs of your audience.

Keep your blog and website together

If your blog and website are separate, you are confusing your audience and losing search ranking potential. There is really no reason to purchase two domain names and register them separately.

By incorporating your blog within your website, you are providing useful information in one place and also improving your chances of being ranked higher in the search.

Google likes it when they send someone to a website or blog and that person has a good user experience, meaning they find what they’re looking for and the content keeps them on the site.

The days of the five-page website loaded with only photos are long gone. People and search engines require that new content be added to a website on a regular basis. Otherwise, it will be forgotten.

If you are presenting only photos, your site looks just like all the other photography sites. The best way to stand out above the crowd is to have a well-designed blog with your portfolio, where you can post fresh content and manage it easily. When you provide useful information that people are searching for, you can rest assured that Google will send people your way.

Seven of the best social campaigns from November 2014

December is upon us so now's the time to roundup the finest social campaigns we saw in the past 30 days or so.

As always this list is based purely on things that I thought were clever, inspirational or just plain noteworthy.

We’re not here to try and measure ROI so please don’t leave any snarky comments nor troll me on Twitter.

Now let’s begin...

Tinder sex trafficking

In what is surely some kind of world first, Ireland’s immigration council used Tinder to highlight the problems with sex trafficking.

Fake profiles were setup on the dating app featuring a range of profile pictures that started with a normal girl before showing the impact of physical abuse.

The images got progressively worse before showing a message reading: “Sex trafficking victims have no options. You have the option to help end it now.”

Clearly the idea was to create a high impact campaign that grabbed headlines as much as it influenced individual Tinder users.

#Giveacrap

A charity campaign that uses the hashtag #giveacrap and asks people to tweet at Mick Jagger was always going to make it onto this list.

Rehabstudio came up the idea to raise awareness of World Toilet Day and WaterAid, though I don’t think either officially endorsed the app.

It worked by taking the estimated wealth of celebrities then working out how much they’d usually earn in the time it takes to go to the toilet.

Users could then tweet this figure at the celebs along with a message asking them to donate that amount to WaterAid.

You can also work out the value of your ‘daily dump’ using the ‘cack-u-lator’.

It’s quite childish and unlikely to actually get Sir Mick to donate the $1,045 he earns while in the loo, but it’s creative and quite fun. 

Secret Scan-ta

Christmas is just round the corner so it won’t be long before we’re all forced to take part in an office secret Santa game.

Tesco has seen a window of opportunity here and created a Secret Scan-ta app. It works by reading a person’s Twitter feed then suggesting a gift idea based on their interests.

The gift suggestions are quite terrible, but the app is a good idea and one that people might have a bit of fun with.

#TeamLHmovie

Lewis Hamilton had the fastest F1 car this season, which meant he won the 2014 championship.

To celebrate he asked fans to submit footage of themselves in the build up to the final race of the season using a custom-built mobile app.

Four short films were published on YouTube in the three day leading up to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, then one final one was created showing fans watching the race.

Personally I find it all a bit too cringing to watch but it’s still a great way to reward fans and make them feel involved in Hamilton’s championship win.

Thomson Airways

Thomson Airways is giving Instagram users the chance to name its new 787 aircraft.

To enter users have to take a photo of a Thomson 787 and tag it using the hashtag #787pics.

It runs from the middle of November until January 14, at which time five of the best entries will be posted on the company’s Facebook page.

The image that collects the most ‘likes’ will then be crowned the winner and the airplane will be named after the Instagrammer. They will also get a trip for two to Mauritius.

     

Thomson ran a similar campaign to name its last 787, however that used Twitter instead of Instagram.

It’s a very simple idea but the prize is decent so it should generate some interest. There have already been 245 photos posted using the hashtag in less than two weeks.

One issue is that it’s not particularly easy to enter as you’d have to go out of your way to spot a 787, unless you're going on holiday already of course.

H&M

H&M used Twitter to slowly unveil a new Alexander Wang range of clothing using the hashtag #AWxHMreveal.

Anyone using the hashtag in the lead up to the launch was sent a personalised image. If they used it again they were sent further images and videos of the new range.

@vikkichowney This one is for you! Tweet #AWxHMreveal to @hmunitedkingdom to reveal more! pic.twitter.com/5FBKPxIiMm

— H&M United Kingdom (@hmunitedkingdom) November 5, 2014

This type of personalised campaign has been done before, but it can be very effective as the user feels they are getting something unique in return for using the hashtag.

H&M also put a different spin on it by encouraging people to keep using the hashtag to reveal additional content.

Ted Baker

Ted Baker is due to open a new outlet at Heathrow Terminal 4 at the end of November and is promoting this momentous occasion by giving away two suitcases.

To enter you just have to upload a picture of your favourite holiday moment to either Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #TedBakerT4.

This is another incredibly simple social campaign, but if it gets people talking about the brand then it can only be a good thing.

@ted_baker here's my favourite #TedBakerT4 holiday moment. My husband and our little girl #Alcudia #2013 pic.twitter.com/U0cwUEotPS

— Kyra Heath (@KMFerrier) November 27, 2014

Successful corporate-startup ventures. Pt 2: Doing the deal

In the last post, we looked at finding real mutual value in corporate–startup venturing linkups. In this post we’ll look at doing the deal in the right way.

Designing a deal structure which gets the value exchange, risk and rewards properly and fairly allocated is much more complex than many realise before embarking on the startup venture strategy.

Although various intermediaries are springing up with experience in this area, some of these lack the statutory regulation necessary for arranging these deals.

As more corporates look to deals with startups, in some cases we’re finding that initiatives are being created without full internal alignment around whether the objective is short term innovation or long term financial return.

This in turn creates issues around whether the money is coming from operating expenditure or capital expenditure. The route chosen has big implications on who the right internal stakeholders are.

If you are intending to take an equity stake in a startup, it’s helpful to understand how different the world of VC and angel finance (where startups tend to raise most of their money) is from the realm large listed companies.

The two worlds have such fundamentally different attitudes to risk and control that corporates can quickly find themselves facing challenges in either getting the startup to agree terms, or in getting internal approvals within their own organisation.

Before you start on the deal, you need to look at your organisation and honestly assess whether key stakeholders have a true picture of the length of time before they can expect a return, the risks, the likely additional capital needs the business will have, and who in the business will take the P&L hit from any writedowns (and inevitably there will be some writedowns).

Once you’ve got that alignment internally, framing the deal well requires you to adopt a win-win style of integrative negotiation rather than the hard-bargaining negotiation that might be more prevalent in your organisation.

Even if long-term equity gain is not your principal reason for forming the partnership, we’ve seen many times how putting some money on the table to become a shareholder can lead to better outcomes than simply paying for services or only trying to use non-monetary value added.

Once you’re a shareholder, you’re much less likely to bargain hard for a deal which might satisfy your short term interests at the expense of the startup’s long term future.

There isn’t really a shortage of investment capital right now, and for the good companies it is certainly an investee’s market not an investor’s; so if you want to work with the best, you want your deal to be smartest, best-value one on the table.

If you can’t, or won’t, compete on deal terms to work with the best startups, it’s worth questioning whether you should really be doing this in the first place.

In summary, doing the deal in the right way requires you to consider:

• What the real value exchange is.
• The time horizon in which your organisation needs to see a return.
• Whether you’re funding from capex or operating expenditure.
• Having the right internal stakeholders aligned.
• Covering off the likely future capital needs and taking account of the possibility of writedowns.
• Adopting win-win negotiating strategies.
• Having deal terms that are at least competitive and ideally the best in the market.

In the final post we’ll look forward to how you keep your organisation engaged, and how you can be a great partner to the startups you work with.

Will gTLDs help you rank higher in search results?

The range of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) is expanding to include new options such as .Hotel, .RealEstate and .Berlin.

Will they help you rank higher in searches?

Of course, Google has categorically denied that there would be any rankings benefit from using the new domain extensions.

And this seems to align with its strategy of reducing the impact of keywords in domain names which was very clearly demonstrated with the roll out of the EMD algorithm update in October 2012 (this downgraded the positive impact on rankings of having domain names which included keywords that exactly matched search queries when the site itself did not provide quality relevant content).

But it is still intriguing to speculate whether the new gTLDs might provide a ranking benefit.

After all, doesn’t it make sense to show domains ending with .hotel higher up in searches relating to hotels? Or for city specific searches (eg ‘hotels in Berlin’) to place hotel sites with the .Berlin extension above others?

To investigate, we analysed the rankings of .Berlin domains both in the local (Location: Berlin) area and in non-local Google searches. 

We used a specific keyword set and compared the outcomes with the equivalent search results for .de and .com domains.

The analysis shows that .Berlin domains perform better in local searches than in non-local searches in 42% of cases. For comparison, websites using the .de national domain ending perform better locally in only about 28% of cases.

In fact we found that domains with the .Berlin extension are ranked 1.18x higher on average in local searches than .com and .de domains (in many cases it was as much as four positions higher).

So back to the original question: can the new gTLDs become a ranking factor that has a positive impact?

The early evidence from our study indicates that there obviously is a difference and gTLDs rank better, at least for local searches.

It should be noted that this was a rather limited ad hoc analysis; partly because the number of.Berlin domains is still relatively small and because very few of the new gTLDs are currently represented in search results.

But there is at least the beginning of a trend which can be investigated by further analysis.

In general, I think Google will treat the new gTLDs less as a keyword and more as a category. In recent years, Google has tended towards favouring pages in search results that cover the topics relevant to search queries in a comprehensive, holistic way with unique added value information.

So it remains to be seen whether Google will make an exception and convey rankings benefits to specific TLDs.

20 Content Marketing Tips Guaranteed To Yield Results

Want to get your content marketing on track for 2015? Integrate these 20 Content Marketing Tips Guaranteed To Yield Results from 9 experts into your plans.

The post 20 Content Marketing Tips Guaranteed To Yield Results appeared first on Heidi Cohen.

10 best intergalactic oddities from the internet this week

Something feels different today... Not sure I can quite put my finger on it.

It’s as if there’s been a fundamental change in the way you can read this article. Almost like if you were to stretch the edges of a window either way, it would adjust to fit.

I would even go so far as to say that if you happened to be reading this on the tiniest mobile phone, your experience would be as legible as if you were looking at it on the side of a mountain.

It’s probably just my imagination. Perhaps this new found... um, what’s the word I’m looking for? Responsiveness! Perhaps this new found responsiveness will lead to a brand new outlook for the weekly round-up of internet oddities? 

Not bloody likely. On with the show...

IT’S HERE IT’S FINALLY HERE

Well it depends on what time you’re reading this. As I write, it’s approximately three hours away from Star Wars Episode VII trailer time, but by Friday evening we’ll have already judged it, tailored our hilarious tweets accordingly based on its brilliance/rubbishness and the cycle of expectation can begin once again.

So in order to remain relevant and evergreen, may I present a whole bunch of beautiful Star Wars infographics that will either help celebrate the release of the new trailer if it’s good, or help forget there were ever more than three original films if it’s bad. 

How I Met Your Mon Mothma

This is a definite curiosity, a Star Wars inspired sitcom pilot from the 70s that was promptly shelved and hidden in a vault till this Redditor got their hands on it.

Seven brand new jukebox musicals (that may not actually be real but should be)

Is there anything worse than a jukebox musical? Of course not. Don't worry though, I've fixed them. Here are seven brand new productions featuring your favourite artists, including Aphex Twin, GWAR, Neil Young, Death Grips, Bonnie Prince Billy, Gary Numan and Ice-T. (Two warnings: #1 I wrote it. #2 Bit sweary).

How do I look?

Here’s a collection of older people wearing funny t-shirts. Do they know what they’re doing? I don’t think it really matters.

A force to be reckoned with

A group of drunken Australians challenged some cops to a dance-off. They lost. The next challenge, bare knuckle fist-fight, also didn’t end well.

What makes you dutiful

So Liam Payne from One Direction, when exactly did you lose your zest for the mega-pop-star life?

Hack the planet!

It’s a supercut of computer hacking in 90s movies. Ah Ah Ah! You didn’t say the magic word!

Your weird doodlings brought to life, within reason

Budsies is a US based toy company (or flipping dream-weavers if you want to be more exact) that’s taking childrens’ drawings and making bespoke genuine stuffed toys based on them.

My anatomically correct Ryan Gosling is still being ‘processed’ apparently.

Guardians of the Galaxian

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this five part video history of video game graphics. Bliss.

Chancellor of the Exche-bleughhh

Because we can all spare a few moments to gaze at a deeply hungover (do I need an ‘allegedly’ here?) George Osborne.

That’s it for this week, me and the internet have left a massive queue outside Currys' online store while we did this round-up so we should probably head back to attend to it.