Could You Be A Candi Winner?

September 8, 2011 By 2 Comments

Roll out the red carpet…

because 12 Stars Media is bringing you The Candis (pronounced like “candies”) - awards given to our very own Candidio Producers for producing videos that are real, simple and worthy of extra recognition.

Here are some things you’ll want to know about The Candis…

  • Only videos produced using Candidio are eligible.
  • Michelle Downs, our Producer Advocate will be making nominations weekly.
  • If you have a suggestion for nomination, let Michelle know on twitter or on our facebook wall.
  • Check out the nominations on our YouTube channel.
  • We’ll also be using Candi nominees as examples in prominent places on our websites.
  • Michelle will be periodically blogging about Candi nominees.

Candi Award Winners

But most importantly we will be naming winners at each of our quarterly support group meetings! Look for information about the support groups in your email box and on our social media profiles soon.

As always, we thank our Producers for choosing us to help them produce their video content and we hope The Candis can bring even more fun to the process!

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Meet Michelle Downs, New Producer Advocate

August 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

Announcing the newest member of the 12 Stars team, Michelle Downs!

It’s always been our hope at 12 Stars to “be there” for our Producers, but as we grow we need help commenting on your blog posts, retweeting your links, and helping to share your videos.

 

 

Enter Michelle.

As your advocate, Michelle is here for you. To RT you. To look for opportunities for you to post your videos as guest blogs.  To help find the answers to your most difficult questions (well, maybe you should save those for Zach).

So, you’re asking yourself “that sounds mighty fine, how can I put Michelle to work helping me?”

Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Follow MichelleADowns on Twitter
  • Connect with her on LinkedIn
  • Ask her to RT you, especially when you tweet about your videos
  • Let her know of your blog posts so we can help promote them
  • Watch for more ideas of how Michelle and the rest of our team can help you!
Filed Under: Blog

Candid Q & A | Hazel Walker – Business Networking and Sex

August 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

We had a chance to sit down with Hazel Walker, coauthor of Business Networking and Sex, for a Candid Q & A. In the video below, she answers: “Do Men and Women Communicate Differently When Networking?”

You can learn more about her upcoming book, read a sample chapter and subscribe to updates at http://businessnetworkingandsex.com.

About Hazel:

Hazel Walker‘s passion for lifelong learning, personal growth, and relationship-building has been invaluable in her evolution to serial entrepreneur, seasoned author and dynamic speaker. Once a stay-at-home mom unfamiliar with enterprise and entrepreneurship, Hazel’s business acumen soared within a few short years when it became mandatory that she manage her ailing husband’s insurance business, Creative Brokerage Services. Diligent and indomitable —and dedicated to great customer service—Hazel turned both the company and herself into a success story—with sequels.

Today, she is the Executive Director of the Central Indiana Region of Business Network International (BNI), where she has won awards for her “Networking Strategies for Success” Conference, Outstanding Regional Performance, and innovative officers’ training. Most recently, she has been selected for the BNI International Franchise Advisory Board and Founder’s Circle. Hazel also owns and operates a franchisee of Referral Institute, a worldwide referral marketing training organization. As a Master Trainer, Hazel provides business-expansion expertise to entrepreneurs and corporations by teaching business professionals comprehensive referral marketing stratagem.

In 2006, her franchise earned both the Top-Grossing Franchise award and the honor of hosting the Referral Institute International Conference. As a member of the National Speakers Association, Hazel travels the world speaking to organizations and associations on a variety of topics, ranging from Social Netwoking, Creating Systems for Referral and Networking for Men and Women.

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Candidio – Get your videos professionally edited online

August 1, 2011 By 2 Comments

Online Professional Video EditingIntroducing… CANDIDIO!

Have you ever wanted to post a video, but didn’t have the time or budget? Maybe an email campaign would have had a higher click-through rate with a video thumbnail, but no one had time to edit a video? Or, maybe your blog could use a video post every now and then but you don’t want to pay a videographer to shoot the content; at the same time, you don’t want to post totally raw content either?

What is Candidio?
The team at 12 Stars is proud to introduce our new service Candidio (what’s with the name?), which enables organizations to produce video that changes audiences into relationships. Simply shoot your own video clips, send them to us for editing, then share the finished video on your website, blog, email messages, and social media profiles! It’s as simple as shoot, send, and share!

Why use Candidio?
Save money by not paying for the videography and save time by not editing the video yourself. We’re happy to say that since the launch of our first version we’ve processed over 350 videos for small businesses, restaurants, bloggers and Fortune 500 companies.

Check out some of the candidios on our YouTube channel. You’ll find behind the scenes videos, testimonials, tips and tutorials and more.

Like this great behind the scenes candidio by one of our Producers, Randy Clark of TKO Graphix…

 

Been thinking about using video for your organization? You probably know it boosts SEO and SMO, drives traffic and increases conversion, enhances brand value and recognition and makes customer interaction more personal, so why not give Candidio a try today?

 

Filed Under: Blog

BackPack Attack Needs Your Help!

July 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

We first learned about BackPack Attack at the June Indy Social Media Breakfast held at the Indianapolis City Market.

The BackPack Attack is an annual school supply drive for Indianapolis and Marion County students. Since 1999, BackPack Attack has collected more than 2.8 million school supplies for children in the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) as well as other schools in Marion, Boone, Hancock and Hendricks counties. It is estimated that 83% of IPS students can not afford school supplies.

Breakfast attendees were encouraged to take an empty bin to their workplaces and return them (filled!) to the July Indy Social Media Lunch.

While at the July Social Media Lunch – which was held at the BackPack Attack Warehouse – we had a chance to chat with Maggie McGaughey, the chair of BPA:

Some of our favorite clients at 12 Stars Media are non-profits. We feel wholeheartedly that online video is a powerful way to elicit donors and volunteers, share the success of a campaign or fill stakeholders in on general information about the organization.

The video above is a great example of how quick and easy it is to make a candid plea to potential donors that can have a greater impact than an email or a flyer. Why? It’s personal. It’s authentic. And it puts a human face and voice to a worthwhile cause.

To get involved with the 2011 BackPack Attack drive, you can donate supplies or you can contribute financially. But don’t delay! The drive ends on Thursday, July 28th! Donations can be dropped off at Indiana Members Foundation – 5103 Madison Avemue, Indianapolis, IN 46227, or at 1830 W. 16th Street. Supplies needed include backpacks, notebooks, papers, pens, pencils, scissors, calculators, crayons, markers, art boxes, folders, glue sticks, rulers, etc. All school supplies and office supplies are welcome. You can learn more by visiting http://www.indybackpackattack.org or call 317-554-8229.

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Congratulations Cope Environmental Center!

May 18, 2011 By 3 Comments

And the WINNER is…

Garnering nearly HALF of the over six hundred votes in our Race for Candidio, Cope Environmental Center in Centerville, Indiana is the winner of over $1K in Candidio services. We hope their mission to promote the sustainable use of the earth’s resources through education, demonstration and research will be even better served using our Candidio services over the course of the next year.

SPECIAL OFFERS!

For those of you whose organizations were nominated and for those of you who simply took a few moments to vote, we appreciate your participation and would like to make a special offer to you.

SPECIAL OFFER For NFP Nominees

$150 off the setup investment for a Candidio package and just $149 per video for one video per quarter over the course of the next year if you sign up within the next week. That’s a savings of over $500!

Offer reduces to $75 off the setup investment and just $149 per video for one video per quarter over the course of the next year if you sign up within the remainder of the month of May.


SPECIAL OFFER For Voters

$100 off the setup investment for any Candidio package if you sign up within the next week!

Offer reduces to $50 off the setup investment if you sign up within the remainder of the month of May.

Special offers subject to change without notice.  Offers expire on May 31st at 11:59pm.  Offers only valid for new Producers who sign up using an email address registered and used in participation with the Race for Candidio.

Filed Under: Blog

A Ride in the Wienermobile Video| Fun Facts and Marketing

May 17, 2011 By 3 Comments

“Oh I wish…”

Who doesn’t love the Wienermobile? Even if hot dogs aren’t your thing (I only eat about one or two a year), you just can’t deny the catchiness of the song and the pure marketing genius of sending six giant hot dogs on the road every year with young, energetic folks behind the wheel.

Here are some fun facts Tera “Louise with Cheese” shared with us after we interrupted her lunch and begged her to give us a ride in the Wienermobile…

  • At any given time there are SIX Wienermobiles hauling buns around the whole doggone country
  • The marketing teams are only on board for one year, to keep new “dog“orrtunities available
  • The Wienermoble measures 27 foot longs!
  • And one of the Wienermobiles has even been to Hawaii – HOT DOG!

Thanks Tera “Louise with Cheese” for the ride aboard the Wienermobile, and best of luck to wherever you’re headed next.

Filed Under: Blog

Cisco Shuts Down Production of Flip Cameras

April 12, 2011 By 4 Comments

In a (not really all that shocking) announcement Cisco says they are closing up shop on the production of the popular Flip camera. Over the past few years the Flip has provided a way for users to shoot and share video more easily than ever before with no tapes, rewinding, or wires, but now most of us can shoot and share high definition video using our mobile devices.

Our Candidio service, which allows users to shoot their own video clips, send them to us for editing and then share the finished video on their website, blog, and social media profiles will continue to be a valuable tool for users who want to continue using a Flip camera or similar device to provide us video clips, while we continue to develop the tools to allow our users to send us clips via their mobile devices.

Candidio is glad to be growing and staying ahead of the fantastic growth of using video online!

Filed Under: Blog

5 Simple YouTube SEO Mistakes

April 1, 2011 By 4 Comments

You may have heard that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, but have you given much thought to what that means for your YouTube videos and how they’re found?

Here are five simple SEO mistakes that YouTube users make -
 
 
1. Not keeping it relevant. Before we even get into where to put what, let’s make sure we’re on the same page.  Keywords, at the risk of oversimplifying, are the words we use to tell search engines what our content is all about.  And, in this day and age, keywords are only good if they are relevant, while still giving their SEO a little boost.

In all the following examples, I am going to reference a fictitious company called SuperShiny.  We’re going to pretend that they offer floor cleaning services in Atlanta. So, SuperShiny should stick to using keywords in their titles, descriptions and tags that are actually relevant to their video content.
 

Title

2. Using just your organization’s name in the title. Think about what people would be searching for if they needed what you’re providing, but they didn’t know you existed yet.
 
For example – rather than titling your YouTube video “SuperShiny Floor Waxing” give “Floor Cleaning and Waxing Service Atlanta Georgia – SuperShiny” a try. Searchers are more likely to be looking for a floor cleaning and waxing service than they are to be searching specifically for your company.  And, if your organization is local, throwing your location into the title can be very beneficial to SEO.
 

 

Description

3. Not putting a link to your website or a relevant landing page/blog post as the first line of your description.  Often, the first line is all YouTube viewers will see if they are viewing your video on YouTube (they have to click to expand the description, and who wants to mess with that?).  Also, be sure to include the “http://” in your link, otherwise it will not be clickable and there’s a good chance that only creepy stalker type people will actually copy and paste your link in their browser’s address bar.
 
4. Not providing a keyword rich description using, once again, keywords that are descriptive of your organization rather than just an organization name or tagline.
 
For example – “http://www.SuperShinyAtlanta.com  Floor cleaning and waxing for commercial, industrial and residential wood, ceramic, vinyl, tile, laminate and marble flooring surfaces in Atlanta, Georgia.  Servicing Fulton county for over 35 years…”
 

Tags

5. Not thinking deep and wide enough when tagging. Keep in mind, YouTube video tags are used to help YouTube suggest those “Related Videos” that come up when a viewer is finished watching a video.  So, think about what other videos might be relevant when it comes to people searching for your content and tag appropriately.  You can be a little more frivolous and adventurous here since your viewers are not likely to read through your tags as they would your title and description.
 
For example – rather than just “floor cleaning”, “floor waxing”, “Atlanta”, and other keywords that may apply directly to the video and/or organization, try using some other still relevant, but perhaps a little less relevant, tags on your video as well. Also try “scrubber”, “natural floor cleaning”, “floor repair”, “floor care products”, “buffer”, etc. even if SuperShiny doesn’t use natural floor cleaning methods. Perhaps, someone searching for “natural floor cleaning” would still find SuperShiny’s content relevant.
 
So, there you have five simple mistakes to avoid when trying to give your YouTube videos a little SEO boost.  Hope you can make good use of them, and should you ever need help creating YouTube videos, you know who to call.

Filed Under: Blog, Great Ways to Use Online Video

How to Remove Ads from YouTube Videos

February 21, 2011 By 15 Comments

Recently a client of ours noticed ads popping up on her organization’s embedded YouTube videos. “Is there a way to prevent ads from showing up on our YouTube videos?” she asked.

Yes, there is a way to eliminate ads for the videos to which you own all the rights.
 

First, sign in to your YouTube channel.

 

 

Next, up in the top right corner, click on your channel’s name and a dropdown will appear.  Click “Account”.

 

 

On the left click the “Manage Account” link.

 

 

Click “Content displayed along with my uploaded videos”.

 

 

Select the “Do not allow advertisements” radio button and click the Save button.

 

 
This little trick should ensure that your embedded YouTube videos do not display ads.  Of course, if you’re looking for great content to post to YouTube, we can help you produce videos for your website, blog, and social media profiles.

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