Yes, it’s true…I thoroughly enjoy creating deliciously dorky birthday videos. It gives me a chance to show off another facet of my personality…the REAL NikNik! And apparently, highly intelligent and obviously fun-loving people find them somewhat engaging! If you haven’t seen one of these masterpieces, check out these birthday dance grams for @Respres, @MikeMueller, and @BHGRE_Sherry.
More recently though, I’ve created “welcome videos” for my new Twitter followers. I wanted something that would stand out in a sea of simple greetings like…”Thanks for following!” So I usually send new followers a welcome message with a link to a video that lets them know what they can expect being a follower. The only downside to the video link is that it takes new Twits to a 3rd party site (like Viddler) to view my videos. Now I have a video player embedded on my blog, but to keep my “welcome video” most current I would have to create a blog page specifically for a welcome video. But, I’m looking for a bit more flexibility with my short and sweet videos.
Thanks to the BubbleGuru (aka: Kevin Sherman) and his Bubble video solutions I have some seriously great video options now! With BubbleTweet, BubbleComment, and BubbleTestimonial, I can create, send and manage all sorts of fun and informational videos and place them atop any Website or page I choose! Bubble-what? Let me break it down for you:
BubbleTweet.com is a free app that helps you easily create and share a video message with other Twits. You can create a “welcome message” for new followers like the one I have done here. You can also just communicate or send special messages to Twits containing the link to your BubbleTweet. Choose to place your video on your own Twitter profile or on top of the Twit’s profile you are sending to.
BubbleComment.com has both free and paid-plan options. I like BubbleComment because I can simply create a video message and place it on top of ANY Website of my choosing. This would work especially well for guidance on your blog or sharing helpful resources with others.
BubbleTestimonial.com is a powerful video sharing and management tool for businesses. Create both video and text testimonials to demonstrate your expertise on your Website or blog. You can even invite existing clients to record and add a testimonial at any time. You are then able to manage all the testimonials with complete control over the content and customization. BubbleTestimonial offers a free 30 day trial and 3 different plans with features.
Here are a couple of ideas for implementing the Bubble video solutions into your real estate business:
BubbleTweet:
(1) Create a “welcome message” for your new followers.
(2) Send special messages (RE specific or for fun) to followers.
(3) Record a birthday or holiday message and place atop the recipient’s profile.
BubbleComment:
(4) Create a “welcome message” for your real estate blog.
(5) Record videos about how to use the features and functions on your real estate blog (i.e. IDX search, forum, join community callout, RSS callout, email newsletter callout, etc.).
(6) Place a comment on top of a newly created single property Website for a listing and send to the client…showcasing your online marketing and how to interpret and share the site with others.
(7) When sharing a Website resource (links to schools, neighborhoods, listings, community sites, businesses, etc) record a video and place atop to explain why you’re sharing or how it’s helpful.
(8) If using Google Adwords, create a video for the landing page instructing visitors where to view the information they are looking for.
BubbleTestimonial:
(9) Record client testimonials and share on your Website/real estate blog.
(10) Invite clients to record their own testimonials.
(11) Provide directions on how to use the features on your site.
(12) Embed a bubble testimonial gallery.
Your vids are frikkin' awesome. You remind me of my own daughter with
your energy and "moves". She lives and breathes music as you do. She is also
gorgeous and very bright, if I must say! I love you!
Your friend,
David in Akron Ohio
Just to let you know:
1. Your vids are great and are a lot along the same lines I'm thinking
2. When I hit the tweet button, the message was about 17 char too long
Yes, it's a fact. Britney is trembling. Christina is crying. Madonna is fearful. Kylie is is taking psychotherapy sessions.
nik_nik has the fault.
She is the new Rockstar Diva.
There are a new Queen
And a new kingdom: They call it Queeniknikland.
God save our Queen.
VVVVV
=====
David, Alvin, & Adrian- http://www.bubblecomment.com/id/xj3m
am i missing something or can users only see them on your site/blog if they get the "bubblecomment" generated link that you have to provide them?
cheers, August
August-You are correct! Bubbletweet is free! But BubbleComment and BubbleTestimonial offer paid plans with additional features, like embed codes.
I'm going to have to check Bubble Video out. One of the things that I do like about Viddler is that you can embed the videos into a blog post or an about page on your own blog and send that link to new Tweets. I realize that you can embed most video types, but I love how Viddler can be customized and that it directs people to your other videos, as opposed to YouTube, which directs people to related videos.
In any case, video is too fun and I am hooked on it. Recently, I have been trying to get Qik.com figured out to stream live video to my blog directly from my Blackberry, but the feed keeps cutting out after 10 or 11 seconds?
Ryan- I actually love Viddler and record or upload most of my videos there. I embedded the Viddler player here: http://www.mytechopinion.com/authors/niknik.
But every time a create a new video…the embedded player gets updated with the latest video (playing first). So they are actually always changing and you can look back at all the other videos I've created. The downside for sending tweets there is that because the player is updated with each new video I create….my "welcome video" for new twits gets pushed back. The only way to get around that is to create one page for that one specific video you are sending twits to.
So I just send new Twits to the original video on Viddler….and the video does the rest of the work. I also use BudURLS to track how many plays I get from sending these tweets with the video links.
There are certainly numerous ways to get creative and custom with your video. I think the best part is that we are all just trying to figure out what works best with the solutions we have in place already and what we fill comfortable using! Hey…at least we're trying, right!
Personally, I'd be cautious about posting any audio/video content with auto playback on a real estate business site. From my personal experience, people hate (including myself) when you open a new site and all of a sudden it starts playing music or talks without your consent. And then you sporadically rushing around the page to find where the hell is the button to turn it off or at least lower the volume. Personally, I simply exist the site within seconds if I can't turn the audio off, and if this site is not the end of the world for me.
Auto playback on web sites has been a "no-no" item from usability standpoint for quite awhile. I think it's much better to make this option obvious to the user, but let them to decide if their want to watch or hear it at this particular moment.
And there are legitimate reasons why people might not appreciate you making noise from their speakers without their consent. I just pulled my own stats for a month based on visitors from Arizona state (thats where I reside) so the time is correct. Out of 20,000 our local online visitors 54% visited out website between 9am and 5pm, which are usual business hours. 24% of the visitors came in between 9pm and 7am – that's a usual personal privacy time when kids and family members can be asleep. This adds up to 78% of the visitors.
Now, ask yourself – why would you take a 78% chance to make your online visitors uncomfortable or even worse? Just imagine you didn't have an option to answer your phone and whoever called you just could simply talk AT YOU at any time.
I believe Seth Godin has written extensively that a pop out welcome video is a good thing and actually increases sign ups. If you are just playing music then I agree but there are ways you can use it and of course you have to put something very obvious to turn it off then it's ok. Especially if its short.
Alvin,
on the other hand when you go to Seth's blog or his e-child Squidoo – nothing pops up. There is a difference between pushing some welcome messages or explaining what people can find on your site and trying to increase some sort of conversions. You're safe playing audio/video in places where they are expected, like YouTube, or when you click on a menu tab/link that says "Welcome Video from Alvin" or something along those lines…
For those that try to implement this, I would strongly recommend to watch their bounce rates. If it increases – then you know what to do. If doesn't increase and you page views go up – then you're in luck.
Wow great product here. I actually tried using it and its a great product to use for a starter like me. Thanks..just keep it coming.