Power Video

Viral Video: WSJ Finds a Few Formulas

Today’s Wall Street Journal special section on small business includes a feature on entrepreneurs looking to cash in on the viral video wave (subscription only, at least until Rupert Murdoch has his way). While acknowledging that luck and timing are big contributors to any successful viral video, the Journal pinpoints a few key factors that lead to gold, including “Be Funny,” “Tap Into Current Events,” and—our favorite—“Get Your Customers Involved.”

The example given for the last formula is an Atlanta-based restaurant called Moe’s Southwest Grill. The company encouraged customers to send in 30-second video clips about its burritos, which were posted to a Web site. Visitors voted for the favorites, and Moe’s picked a winner from the top 20 (the winner received Moe’s burritos for life). Sales increased since the promotion ran and its e-mail marketing database grew.

We have a stake in making user-generated content more accessible to the masses, so of course we’re glad to read this type of success story. But we truly believe that users make the best evangelists for your brand, and user-generated video is an ideal way to spread your message.

New For You: Fliqz Webcam

What are we giving thanks for this year? Lots. Right now we’re thankful that we can offer you the Fliqz Webcam. As always, there’s no software to download. Just click “Record” and we’ll capture and store the video on your account on our servers. When you’re finished recording, we deliver an embed code that you can immediately add to your Web site, blog, or social networking page.

It’s the quick and easy way to add video to your site on the fly. Enjoy.

Fliqz in the News

We’ve been getting lots of love in the press and blogosphere recently. Here’s a quick roundup:

Smallbiztechnology.com highlights our Self Serve Video Player Creator as an easy, low-cost way for small businesses to add video to their sites.

Design World gives the lowdown on the backbone of our Video Web Service and Search Web Service.

NewTeeVee cites Fliqz as a serious competitor to VideoEgg and Brightcove.

Inc.com mentions us as a way for small and mid-sized businesses to upgrade their Web sites with video.

There’s more great news coming in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

Online Video Confab

The good folks at NewTeeVee are holding an online video conference Wednesday, Nov. 14, called NewTeeVee Live. Industry bigwigs such as YouTube founder Steve Chen and BitTorrent co-founder Ashwin Navin will be among the featured speakers.

The event is in San Francisco, and it’s sold out. But in the true spirit of the industry, you can catch the whole thing live tomorrow on NewTeeVee. Should be a good way to gain some insight into the future of online video.

Fliqz on Vator.tv

Check out this video of our CEO Benjamin Wayne chatting with Vator.TV’s Bambi Francisco. Benjamin gives the lowdown on what separates Fliqz from the competition.

Viral Video Advertising: 3 Case Studies

Liz Gannes over at NewTeeVee offers up three examples of small companies that used online video as experimental advertising. The results were mixed, but it’s interesting to examine the approach the companies took. Gannes warns that if you’re looking for a successful viral video formula, you’re out of luck. You’ll just have to find a method that works for you.

Fliqz Self Serve Wizard: Help Yourself

We’re all about making things easy for you. Today we launched our Self Serve Video Player Creator, which lets you build a branded player in a matter of minutes. Simply upload graphics for wallpaper, watermarks, and logos—we do the rest instantly. It’s a quick and easy way to promote your brand through a custom video player. No design shops, no back-end integration.

To get started, click Build a Custom Video Player on the Fliqz home page. After signing in, click the Manage Players link from the Fliqz Control Panel and you’re off and running.

Enjoy.