A look at how Facebook Fan Pages impact your online presence;

ImageBeam's Facebook Page showcases client work, reaches a unique audience and drives brand awareness by giving users what they expect on Facebook.

The Facts
Since September 21st 2009 ImageBeam's Facebook Fan Page has grown from 14 fans to 94 fans, a 671% jump in just 11 weeks. That's over seven new fans per week.

How did we grow and what has been the impact?

What we've done:

1. Publishing work we have completed with clients. This includes newly launched websites and videos that have been produced.

2. ImageBeam's Facebook Fan Page is a distribution point for our Press Releases, particularly events and announcement that include rich media photos or video.

Things to consider in 2010:

1. Contest give-aways directly from the Facebook Fan Page

2. Advertising on Facebook

3. Use of Discussion forums on Fan Page. "Worst Website Award" contest is an example of a user generated campaign.

Tools and Techniques

Tool 1: ImageBeam Facebook Fan Page Admins.

ImageBeam employees are allowed to be Facebook Fan Page Admins, which allows more control to share and post content. Spikes on Sept. 23rd, Oct. 8th, and November 20th are from direct invites from ImageBeam employees to their personal Facebook profile friend's list. A successful business Facebook Fan page is powered through it's Admins, active admins create new fans and engaging content.

Tool 2: Rich Media (Photos & Video).

On November 8th, 2009 ImageBeam posted a video on its fan page. It got 46 views and added 6 new fans without direct invites. In addition, the video was viewed 51 times on YouTube. Rich media has played a huge role in our exposure on Facebook because it is the preferred medium to interact with on Facebook. Users love photos and videos over plain text and links

The Results

New Clients! - from non-traditional relationships.

One of our newest clients, indicated interest in our services by reading posts from a personal relationship with one of ImageBeam's Facebook Fan Page Admins and the ImageBeam Fan Page itself. It was unlikely that this client would asked us about our web development capabilities through traditional channels nor would ImageBeam's business development team recognize them as a prospect, yet here we a...doing business with personal contact with a sale rooted in social media.

Should your company launch and manage a Facebook Fan Page? Things to consider

Return on Investment (ROI) of Facebook Fan Pages - Effective and Measurable.

The "I" in ROI. Investment of time and resources from ImageBeam has been minimal. ImageBeam uses existing content that is distributed through other channels. Press Releases, Client Work, Event Photos and Videos are all popular posts and is was natural fit for ImageBeam’s Facebook fan page as the content was a part of our existing Marketing and PR efforts.

The "R" in ROI. Return on Investment has been high for ImageBeam's Facebook Fan Page and most importantly, it's measurable. Facebook Fan Pages provides a comprehensive analytic tool which generates detailed reports about fan demographics, interactions and even rates your post quality for the day. Also, ImageBeam's Facebook Page Admin's existing use and comfort with Facebook and willingness to publish new content while working.

Be our fan to see our client work and win prizes!

Sharepoint Video Portal for Stemedica

One of my favorite clients came to me with a rather special and urgent need.

ImageBEAM has been managing the on-line presence of Stemedica Cell Technologies Inc for nearly two years now. This has involved the creation of numerous web sites to allow the company to share what it is doing in the area of developing breakthrough Stem Cell treatment products to be used on clinical studies and research throughout the world.

An important aspect of this work is the collection and dissemination of critical patient progress information - many times in the form of patient progress videos. This information is confidential - but needs to be shared with authorized staff and partners on a world-wide basis.

In the past Stemedica has shared this information by creating DVD's of these videos which are then shipped around the world. As their progress on their clinical trials and research is accelerating a new approach to handle this process was needed - with the following features;

1. Allow for rapid distribution of videos.
   Stemedica wanted to find a way to have immediate access to the videos - rather than relying upon mailing physical DVD's
2. It has to be secure.
   The videos feature proprietary and confidential patient information - and as such they need to be protected by password and encryption
3. Videos can be updated / replaced as needed.
   The information shared in these videos is constantly being updated. The system had to be flexible enough to allow the content to be easily updated.

With those requirements Stemedica turned to ImageBEAM for a solution.

Over just a few days we had designed and implemented a custom Video Portal solution based upon a combination of Windows Sharepoint Services and Windows Media Server from Microsoft. The solution allows the videos to be posted rapidly with tight security in place allowing item-level security. Individual users of the portal may be given or denied access to any particular videos.

The client is of course delighted with the solution.

5 Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Video Investment

Having spent over 30-plus years serving the SMB market, I've come to learn the importance of the word "repurpose". Marketing and advertising investments rarely serve only one purpose these days.

Online video is probably one of the easiest investments to repurpose, with little to no additional expense required. So how can you maximize your investment in a marketing video? Here's a few suggestions:

• Close your video with a call-to-action post-roll clip - Most marketing videos fade to black with no call-to-action, no "next steps" for its viewers. Tell your customers what you want them to do after watching your video - give your company a call, visit another page of your website, read something else on the page, etc.


• Turn your video into a hiring tool - Feature your video on your Careers page or include the link on online postings about any of your employment vacancies. According to JobCircle, embedding a company video into online job ads Increases job posting applications by over 20%.


• Open your next meeting with your video - Break the ice at your next company meeting by playing your video to clients and employees. Your clients will be impressed with your organization and your employees will be proud to see their company's professionalism.


• Display your video in reception, at trade shows and conferences - Plasma and LCD purchases or rentals are fairly inexpensive these days. Play your video in reception at your booth or kiosk at industry trade shows and conferences. You may need to work with a rich media production firm like ImageBEAM to plan your video production so that it works for every medium (Mobile, Web, PowerPoint, DVD, HDTV).


• Feature your video on your web site, email campaigns and corporate newsletters - The Internet is getting increasingly social and interactive, and people are expecting that same level of interactivity almost everywhere else. Turn a traditional newsletter or email campaign into a dynamic experience by including a link or embedding your video in your next issue or promotion.

There are several other things you can do to increase the value and maximize the investment of your marketing video. Learn more about ImageBEAM's rich media production services.