Author: Infuze Marketing

Elements That Contribute To Viral Videos

Elements That Contribute To Viral Videos

Infuze Marketing

With social media growing rapidly, videos are the next popular feature. Between Instagram Reels, TikTok, and Youtube, businesses have a major advantage to communicate their message through the hottest media outlet available with minimal production or labor costs.

We did a little research and uncovered 10 points that will help your videos have greater impact and viewership:

Emotion 

Incorporating emotion is important, whether you are telling a story or just using facial expressions. People want to see that you are real, including seeing facial expressions, so sharing emotion is key.  Which leads into our next point… 

Authenticity 

While social media has developed into user’s highlights, videos bring a digital sense of authenticity back to social media.  Why is this important?  Because authenticity has been noted as one of the top 5 components consumers look for when considering a purchase.

Humor 

It’s been said that the most successful advertising incorporates kids, dogs and/or humor.  But to use humor just to use humor…doesn’t work.  It has to be authentic humor…real (see points 1 and 2 for logic here).

Transitions 

Transitions can make or break a video. It helps determine the flow or in some cases, the non-flow. A great tool for this is InShot, which is a video app you can download on your phone. 


Surprise Factor 

Wow!  Surprise!  AWE! We love a shock ending or twist we didn’t expect.

Popular Hashtags

Research your hashtags…they can make or break you.  They not only expand your reach but also cause people to search easier to get to your page.  Make sure they are relevant and don’t lead the viewer to something they do NOT want to see.  

Education

Learning has become fun again, because of video.  Educate your audience in a simple and clear fashion and it will drive a greater following, especially if you (wait for it) use humor, wit, authenticity….you get where we are headed here.  

Less is more 

When first starting videos on any platform, it can be overwhelming. By taking the approach that less is more, your videos will surely be more successful. Note: videos that are easy to watch are easy to remember. 

Captions 

Consider adding captions as a way of making them interactive and user friendly.  This will also help our friends that are hearing impaired.

Pops of color 

Is it fun? Is it vibrant?  Does it look cool? It has to be for Gen X, Y and Z to even pay attention to it. Color brings life to video and can create a vibe you may not have from the video content alone.  But don’t overdo it.  Just a “pop” means “accent”.  Not  an explosion of color.  

Next time you watch a video, notice the things you like or dislike about it. Was it too long? Did it make you laugh? How was the music/audio? By starting to analyze elements of the media you consume, you will become a better digital media creator. 

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Leadership Quotes to Make An Impact

Leadership Quotes to Make An Impact

Infuze Marketing

Leadership quote(s):

1.  Those who call themselves a leader and think that they will sit over the top of someone and simply bark orders clearly missed the memo of what an effective leader is all about.

2.   If you won’t empty your own trash and grab your subordinates a cup of coffee on occasion, you’ve missed the memo on how to be a good leader. 

Good Morning Drinking GIF by University of Phoenix - Find & Share on GIPHY

3.  A good leader will have days where they want to quit, but they  don’t.  A good leader will wonder if anyone is listening, but they are.  A good leader will question their decisions, only to take ownership of them.  A good leader will fail, but will learn from  it and do it better next time.  A good leader will listen to others, because they recognize they aren’t  the only smart one in the room.  A good leader will surround themselves with smart, capable, humble, grace-filled people, because they know the formula to success is having people better than them at the table.  A good leader doesn’t take credit for everything, because they know it’s never about them.  

4.  A good leader doesn’t take credit for everything, because they know it’s never about them. 

5.  A good leader leaves the role better when they leave than when they came into it.

6.  A good leader will be bashed, revered, ignored, adored, criticized, complimented, abandoned and followed.  Then they will get up the next day and do it all over again until they reach their objective.

7.  An effective leader will always ask questions before reacting or responding..  

8.   A good leader gives…and serves FIRST.

Till next time…

The Boomer

Top Tactics For Improving Leadership Skills

Top Tactics For Improving Leadership Skills

Infuze Marketing

I suppose at some point, we all get an opportunity to lead in one way or another.  Whether it be with your family or friends, serving on a board, heading up a group of volunteers… or you have just been promoted to a new role with direct reports or perhaps you are the CEO of any size company…all of us need to continuously be open to improving our leadership skills.  At any given time, we have no idea who is watching, listening and learning from any leaders behaviors, actions and wisdom.

So why not lead by example for those who need more than “words”?  Add a few of these to your life and it might help boost your leadership skills:

  1. Read books by reputable authors who have lived and experienced what they are writing about…not just someone who knows how to write well
  2. Find someone you respect that is in a leadership role and ask them to meet with you on a consistent basis to provide insight and wisdom to you.  Come prepared to those get-togethers with questions for them to answer or subject matter to discuss.
  3. Ask 3 to 5 people in your circle to give you a performance review.  If this is business, choose one of your direct reports, one of your supervisors, one of your clients, one of your colleagues and one of your friends.  
  4. Clear your head daily by taking a walk
  5. Journal ideas and concepts
  6. Bring others in on discussions/brainstorming so there are varied ideas being presented
  7. Train others.  By training people, you will see what is valuable, what works and what doesn’t in the process.  
  8. Step out of your comfort zone and try something new.  Learn a language, travel outside your sphere of influence, take a tour of someone else’s company or industry to see how they do things differently, join a CEO/Leadership round table group
  9. Listen actively  to direct reports and provide feedback
  10. Pay attention to the market  (past trends, current circumstances and future assessments)
  11. Stay on top of technology
  12. Empower others

For a few of my preferred leadership books or podcasts suggestions, drop me an email at stacey@infuzemarketing.com and I will gladly send those over. 

Until then…

Welcome to 2022.

The Boomer

Marketing Plan:  What’s the Point?

Marketing Plan:  What’s the Point?

Infuze Marketing

Because throwing spaghetti at a wall to see if it sticks doesn’t put it on the plate for eating

Listen…(here I go again)….”back in the day”…marketing plans were these grueling 200 page documents that we spent half a year developing and 5 minutes never looking at again.  Today, things are different.  You can develop a plan quickly with a 1 page marketing plan and just follow the steps.  

Reason for this: 

  • Gives you goals/objectives
  • Keeps you on track
  • Outlines your tactics so you don’t try to do too many (which is a major waste of time)
  • Helps you not get distracted (shiny penny?)
  • Gives you something to measure against so you know if it worked or not

You can write up a simple plan for each campaign, each idea, each product, each market so quickly today.  And now there’s even software to dummy proof our desire to make it a ton of work.  AKA:  fill in the boxes and off ya go. (just a few…and no we don’t get paid for this promotion, I just did a google search and the good news is…you can too: https://www.plannuh.com/marketing-planning-software/ 

  • Trello.
  • Wrike.
  • Percolate.
  • IBM Marketing Cloud.
  • SendX.
  • Outbrain Amplify.
  • Husky Marketing Planner.
  • Mediatool

Remember:  A plan is not the gospel.  Keep it flexible because in today’s world you may have to adjust at random since our market needs fluctuate rapidly.

I could really generate a much longer explanation or justify the rationale for developing a plan further, but really…what’s the point.  

Until next time…

The Boomer

To Give or Not to Give…that is the question:

To Give or Not to Give…that is the question:

Infuze Marketing

There’s this thing called Giving Tuesday.  Logically it shows up on a Tuesday.

Used to show up once a year, which made it unique.  Now it shows up numerous times throughout the year.  It’s starting to sound like “national cappuccino day” or “national horse dentistry day”.  

I get it…nonstop bombardment with “give here” and “give to us” and “don’t be stingy…just give” can be overwhelming and cause most people to just not want to give. 

But here’s why giving Tuesday is brilliant (even if it’s every other Tuesday):

It makes you remember to think of someone…anyone really…than yourself.  And sometimes in our day to day lives of survival, we forget that there are those who don’t have a family or a best friend or a community to walk alongside them in difficult times.  Sometimes we need a gentle reminder that our lives don’t mimic the lives of others.  And an occasional Tuesday reminder where we can effortlessly and easily donate $10 dollars (close to the cost of a specialty 16 oz coffee these days) or considerably more (depending on the blessing of your own personal good fortune) can be given through this online vehicle in the mere 5 clicks of a keyboard.  And then we’re off the hook until the next Tuesday.  

In all sincerity, I’ve never heard a person say “I feel awful after giving $ to help another human being or animal or climate cause or….”.  Never.  

So, although I personally have a desired slant to give on Sunday or Monday when I’m paying the bills, I’ve even become accustomed to the occasional “Tuesday”.  

I’m making it even easier:  Giving Tuesday is (put the date in here) and the link is (put the link in here).

And hey….thank you for your generosity.

Until next time…which might be a Friday….

The Boomer