Viddler

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Zach Onisko, Director of Product Design at Branchout. Branchout is a forward thinking company utilizing social media to connect people in search of employment. During these hard times, Branchout is helping people easily find jobs by networking with the people around them via Facebook. Check out the great interview below and visit Branchout today.

How did BranchOut come together?

Great question! The idea for BranchOut developed when founder Rick Marini was contacted by a friend who wanted an introduction for a sales lead. Rick wanted to use Facebook to see who he knew at the company in question. That search capability was not yet available, so Rick asked our Director of Engineering to build it. He did and we immediately knew we were on to something. BranchOut officially launched in July 2010.

What is the mission of BranchOut?

BranchOut is the largest professional networking service on Facebook. BranchOut users leverage their Facebook friend network to find jobs, source sales leads, recruit talent, and foster relationships with professional contacts. BranchOut also operates the largest job board on Facebook with over 3 million jobs and 20,000 internships. We fundamentally believe BranchOut will change job search, recruiting, business introductions and professional networking by allowing users to fully utilize their social network.

We are a free application for anyone interested in professional success. All BranchOut users create a professional profile that includes their work history and education. So personal information, (like photo albums and status updates), aren’t included in BranchOut profiles. BranchOut also offers endorsements and career badges, which friends and colleagues give to one another as a way to acknowledge skills and accomplishments.

How has the use of video contributed to the growth of BranchOut?

We determined that close to 25% of our new users watch our “How-To” videos on Viddler. We have a light box that appears over our dashboard with a 30 second video. All of our top videos play on Viddler. Obviously, we are pretty big fans!

How has Viddler helped you have complete control over your videos?

Viddler has helped us control the look and feel of the player. We moved to Vddller when YouTube started putting ads in all of our videos. We’ve tried other video providers, but thanks to our trusty Viddler representative, we’re now saving thousands of dollars a month!

Thank you to everyone who took part in our Privacy & Security Webex earlier this month. I hope everyone that regeistered got the opportunity to learn about Viddler’s numerous tools and features that were developed to provide our users with the highest level of privacy and security for your videos. Due to popular demand I am releasing a raw recording of the Privacy & Security Webex that was given by our Director of Customer Support, Bernie. Enjoy and please email darryl@viddler.com with any questions.

Remember the promo code “webex” is still open to everyone who registered for the webex. Enter the code on the sign up page to receive 50% off your 100GB of minimum bandwidth for the first 3 months of your account.

Viddler’s whitelisting security business feature allows you to take full control over where your videos are embedded.  Take a look at the video below to get a full walk through of the Viddler whitelisting feature.

At Viddler, we are very proud of the full customer support we are able to provide our users everyday. We enjoy nothing more than helping our users utilize all features of our platform. Yesterday we introduced Bryan, one member of our all-star support team. In respect to the amazing job Bryan and his team does everyday, I wanted to share some recent praise our customers have shared with me in reference to our customer support. Remember if you are having any questions you can always email netsupport@viddler.com.

I got amazing customer service from @Viddler today – it’s a pleasure to use them for video hosting – @mollyjorosen

thanks to @viddler for having some of the best customer service on the web…and I guess their player is alright too – @drumtolive

I am continually impressed with the level of customer service demonstrated at Viddler. You guys are class-acts. – RVG Marketing

What is your typical day?
Each morning I come in and check the help desk tickets that were created during our off hours and respond to them. After we are caught up with our tickets I work on reviewing invoices for the day before to make sure everyone has their bill created accurately and on time. The rest of the day I keep a look out on our help desk to make sure we are not getting backed up, while making sure we are financially stable to continue to provide our great service.

Where are you from? Where did you attend college?
I am from Easton PA, and went to Kutztown University studying Communications.

When and why did you join Viddler?
I joined Viddler in the spring of 2010. I came to Viddler because it was a small team when I joined and I looked at it as a way to really make a difference in a company. Before Viddler I worked for a larger company and it was hard to see your impact on the company. Here it is easy to see the impact that I have every day which helps drive me.

What is your favorite experience at Viddler?
It’s hard to say since I touch so many of our customer’s every day. What I can say is my favorite part of my job is when working with a client and the moment when the two of you are on the same page and you both have that aha moment that is needed to resolve their concerns.

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of Viddler?
I always enjoy a good movie, I’m a bit of a cinophile. Enjoy getting together with friends to try a new restaurant for good food and drinks.

I recently got to chat with Dr. Brad Semp and discuss Busyness TV and the use of online video to spread his message.

What is the story behind the creation of Busyness TV?

My personal mission for some time has been to help others to identify what it is that they want in life and then design and take the right action that will lead them to their desired results.  I’ve focused the last 12+ years of my life doing this at a personal level, as an executive leader in corporate America and now as a coach and consultant to individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses ranging from small-sized to Fortune 500 stature.  In doing so, the one common theme across all scenarios is the fact that we live in an extremely busy society.  Unfortunately, many of us delay or miss what we really want in life because we get caught up in BUSYNESS, i.e. “meaningless action”.  I started the Busyness TV show to address this hidden societal problem and help folks to combat busyness and life an UNBUSY LIFESTYLE.

How does online video allow you to effectively deliver your message?  

Prior to launching the Busyness TV show, I would dabble in blogging and produce how-to videos in sporadic fashion.  Unfortunately, the “on and off” nature of my blogging and video publishing did not allow me to gain traction in exposure or in developing relationships with my clients and customers.  Using online video has enabled me to make a commitment to consistent recording, production and distribution of videos (and therefore my message) to a growing population of Internet users who watch videos online.

How has Viddler contributed to the success of Busyness TV?

The Viddler platform has enabled me to leverage a single, centralized platform for both the hosting of my show videos as well as for gaining additional exposure and viewership.  Powering my Busyness TV show videos at Busyness.com with Viddler has provided for a high-level of quality in the delivery of my videos as well as allowing me to leverage some of the Viddler features such as player customization and in-video tags.  From an exposure perspective, general visitor traffic through Viddler has increased the number of weekly views of my shows and I also utilize the ability of Viddler to integrate with iTunes to reach an even wider viewer base.

What benefits does online video provide that you would not be able to obtain with any other medium?

Online video allows for a level of engagement and relationship development with prospects, clients and customers that is unparalleled with other mediums.  As viewers are able to watch me speak to them via video, they are able to connect and engage with myself and my message in a much deeper manner than by reading one of my emails or blog posts.  For this reason, we are actively transforming our platform to deliver video messages at each of our customer touch points.

What advice would you share with another individual that could market there ideas, products, or services via online video?

There are a couple of pieces of advice that I would offer up to folks who are considering using online video as part of their marketing repertoire.  First, I suggest my concept of 10% Perfect.  This means that you do not have to have a perfect video or a perfect situation to get started today.  Just take the action to get started, put videos out on a consistent basis and improve your videos over time.  Second, I would recommend consistency.  Whether it is an every day schedule, every week, or every month thing it is important to set a regular interval for your video production and stick to it.

Viddler provides 3 different player styles for you to use when embedding videos on your site or blog. Each player has a different look and slightly different functionality. Check out the video below in each of our 3 player styles. Get a complete rundown on the different features each one of our players provide and see how some of our clients utilize the different player styles.

Mini:

Simple:

Full:

Let us know which player style is your favorite!

Hello, Mondayers! It has been quite a while since I’ve shared a giddy music video with you all. As you may have noticed, Viddler has been a powerhouse of awesome changes that have kept us in locked rooms; away from natural light. We do get candy though!

Anyway, today we have a glorious music video from my home town of Sydney Australia. A young fellow by the name of Sam Westphalen has a unique way of jamming on a guitar and it makes my ears tingle. This was recorded at the Australian Institute of Music Sydney (subscribe).

More about Sam Westphalen

Sam started playing the guitar about 10 years ago and he has been surrounded by music ever since. He’s currently completing his bachelor of composition and music production at the Australian Institute of Music. He’s already done the music for three short films and several theatrical productions.

There isn’t much to discover about Sam on the web; no personal website, Twitter, or the like. So I recommend you march on down to AIM and demand a live show before he becomes a star with over a million followers on Twitter.

You can check out more about AIM on their website, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Is the Spice Girls more your style? Then scoot on past the break and check out another one of Sam’s videos.

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Viddler provides a Subscriptions tool so you can sell access to your premium content videos. Start a business or enhance your current business by selling your videos. Our very own Solutions Specialist, Darryl Rentz, will be discussing the benefits of selling your premium content and giving a walk through demonstration on how to best utilize our subscriptions tool.

Learn about:

• Current state of users paying for premium online content
• Creating premium content
• Setting up your online store
• Customizing and branding your online store
• Monitoring your online store
• Getting paid!

At the conclusion Darryl will show use case examples of how other Viddler accounts utilize our subscriptions tool. Darryl will also answer some user submitted questions. Please send all questions to webex@viddler.com with the subject “Subscription Questions” before August 16th, 2011.

Registration Opens: August 9th, 2011
Registration Closes: August 16th, 2011
Webex Date: August 18th, 2011 @ 2:00pm EST / 11:00am PST

Space is limited so please register today to secure your spot!

Click to register!