Welcome to Saucy Horse - Video Production & Social Media Marketing.

Visit our websites :

VIDEO PRODUCTION FOR BUSINESS & WEB
http://SaucyHorse.co.uk

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING http://SaucyHorseSocialMedia.co.uk

Thursday 28 July 2011

Social Media Policy Summarised Part 1 – “Don’t do anything stupid”!

Have you set up a company Social Media Policy? If not, what has put you off? Is it the thought of having to draft a long policy document? The thought of having to make sure that everyone in your company ploughs through it so that they know how Social Media Guidelines impact employees?

When I received a link to the BBC News Social Media Guidance I won't lie, I made myself a cup of tea and a sandwich to keep me going as I thought I was in for the long haul. When I opened it I was pleasantly surprised. It's brief, no nonsense and to the point, and excellent advice for any employer who wants to set up guidelines for their own staff.

I love the fact that the first point is;
They can all be summarised as: 'Don't do anything stupid’.
This covers everything - checking that you are in the right twitter account (unlike this unfortunate ITV news tweeter); don't swear (unlike this Cheapflights post which also ties in with check you are tweeting from the right account. Note - SFW, asterisks out the swearing but does use a pejorative term); check before making a site live (oops, that's a BBC one) and many other things.
You shouldn't state your political preferences or say anything that compromises your impartiality. Don't sound off about things in an openly
partisan way. Don't be seduced by the informality of social media into bringing the BBC into disrepute. Don't criticise your colleagues. Don't reveal confidential BBC information.
Take out "BBC" and put in your company name and these are excellent rules for all Social Media. "Seduced by the informality of Social Media" especially. If you wouldn't say it in a meeting, don't say it on Social Media. You know your customers and the level of informality they are comfortable with so if you stick to that you won't go wrong.
 

Monday 25 July 2011

video production for websites, video production conferences, video production eventsA great way of building interest in a forthcoming event is to trail it with a video. Video all your conferences, roll-outs, product launches or even informal get-togethers and edit it into a short business video for your website.

Not only does it help the attendees know what to expect, it builds anticipation and lets them have a taster of what the event will involve. Here is a short video that we produced for Nigel Botterill's Entrepreneurs Circle, highlighting a recent meeting in Ascot. In just over two minutes it gives a flavour of the event and highlights how helpful the attendees found the meeting.



 

Share the video around on your Facebook Page, twitter and your company LinkedIn page. Use it to build a buzz!

Have you ever trailed an event with video for your website? Would it be something that you think you would do?

Friday 15 July 2011

If you don’t ask, you don’t know!

We’ve all been there. In the middle of an interesting conversation, presentation or meeting a fact, statistic or comment is thrown out that you either don’t understand or don’t know about. In real life we ask for further explanation. On twitter, facebook, linked in or blogs it should the same thing – ask away.
Social Media is the ideal platform for this. You are giving the other person the opportunity to position themself as an expert, you’re expanding your knowledge and you are also creating the dialogue that Social Media needs to exist. Yes it’s easy to look up things on Google or the numerous Questions/Ask sites but by asking questions to the originator you are finding out their perspective.  It opens both parties up to new possibilities and sharing of ideas as you don’t know what turns the conversation is going to take.  Other people may join in to give their opinions or take on the situation and the conversation could take a different turn.
The same theory applies if you are looking for information.  Throw out a question on the Social Media platform of your choice – a simple tweet, a facebook wall post, a linked in discussion on Groups and see what happens. People love sharing knowledge.
If you see someone asking a question, share your expertise. Every contact builds a relationship.
What sort of relationships have you built up on Social Media through the simple act of asking or replying to a question?

Thursday 14 July 2011

Video For Websites - Where do you find your inspiration?

As I sit here in my garret, looking for inspiration, a thought strikes me. Actually, in this technical age should it still be a garret? Shouldn't it now be an EMP-shielded-bunker?

As I sit here in my EMP-shielded-bunker, looking for inspiration, a thought strikes me. If you are looking to put video on your website but are unsure as to how to do it, where should you look for good examples? Join me as we wander through my thought processes. I'll try to keep the tangential thoughts to a minimum.

How are good things recognised? Sometimes, with awards. So off I went to have a look at the Webby Awards site. Each category has two awards; the Judges' votes and the People's choice so gives a fair result as to what is going on in website land. You could easily lose a day wandering round the Webby website but today I am focused and looking for inspiration, so went straight to the Best Use Of Moving Video Category. The winner, The Wilderness Downtown is - OMG THIS IS AMAZING - focus focus - utterly beautiful, but not exactly what I am looking for for inspiration if I wanted to put video on my site (actually that's not true; we can take ideas and concepts from it but not what I am looking for today). So with a last longing look at my childhood home on the video, I went to TED.com the winner of the People's Choice award. (This is more about TED)

TED's whole concept is "Ideas Worth Sharing" and the whole site is videos of people sharing ideas, concepts, discussions. Again, I seem to have led you into a site that could happily keep you entertained all day, so please forgive me. If you are looking for inspiration, go to inspirational people and this site is full of them.



There's my quick ten minute guide as to where to find inspiration for putting video on your website. Seriously, inspiration is everywhere. The Wilderness Downtown shows that if you have an idea, explore it and see if it's possible. The Webbys is only one website, if you see a video or have an idea, explore it, find out if it's suitable for your business or message and then film it and put it on your site. It doesn't have to be on a massive scale if that is putting you off - create something that people want to see and return to. You will reap the benefits.

What ideas or inspiration have you had for videos?

Thursday 7 July 2011

A Social Media question we all need to ask ourselves - Why?

A question we all need to ask ourselves -Why?

Read this article based on Brian Solis' well-timed question - in terms of social media for a brand or a business, Why are we doing this? What do we want to achieve?