New York, NY – August 21, 2012 – HookLogic, the leading provider of ecommerce media solutions and services, today announced a strategic integration with Authntk, a video marketing platform enabling auto dealers to use mobile devices to quickly and easily create an engaging, personalized video email for each lead. As a result of this powerful new relationship, car dealers can now send branded, customized, and personalized video emails directly to prospects with the added incentive of a gift card to drive that lead into the showroom.

Authntk’s technology provides an end-to-end solution for capturing, personalizing, and sending walk around video ePostcards within minutes from the time a prospect inquires about a vehicle. HookLogic’s AutoHook solutions provide dealers with an advanced platform for managing the delivery of time-sensitive, high-value incentives that can only be redeemed in-store, turning qualified leads into showroom visits and test drives. The new strategic alliance between the two companies enables incentive offers to appear directly within Authntk’s personalized ePostcard video emails, adding another layer of engagement that encourages car shoppers to come into the dealership for a test drive.

“For the first time, our customers can create personalized, brand-safe video emails for each and every lead, while also offering those leads valuable incentives to visit the showroom, based on the customer behavior,” said David Metter, president of automotive for HookLogic. “Our partnership with Authntk is shining example of the future of the industry. We believe in open an integration that benefits the dealer community. Selling cars just got a little easier.”

“This partnership creates the most engaging and impactful method for auto dealers to personalize the buying experience by enabling the sales person to create a relationship with the buyer prior to them even walking into the dealership,” said Len Ostroff, co-founder and chief executive officer of Authntk. “Our integration with HookLogic provides in-market customers with a real incentive to visit the showroom, accelerating the decision process.”

About HookLogic’s Incentive Solutions for the Auto Industry:
HookLogic powers targeted incentive programs that drive in-market shoppers to auto dealerships and other lead-driven businesses. HookLogic solutions are easily implemented, work with nearly any marketing medium and enable end-to-end reporting and optimization. Headquartered in New York City and backed by Bain Capital Ventures, the company has offices in Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and London, UK. Clients include MileOne Automotive, Germain Motor Cars, Suburban Collection, Acton Toyota, and AutoTrader.com. To learn more about Lead to Show, visit www.lead2show.com or call 855-LEAD-2-SHOW.

About Authntk:
Authntk’s Walkaround Videos (www.walkaroundvideos.com) enable auto dealers to use their mobile devices to quickly and easily create an engaging, personalized video email for each lead. This video email is customized with the dealer’s branding and includes phone, email, and website links, a picture of the sales rep, and a map to the store. Dealers simply record a video of the vehicle with their mobile device, enter the lead’s contact information, and email them a custom-tailored video postcard in minutes. To learn more about Authntk Walkaround Videos, visit www.walkaroundvideos.com or call 410-402-1037.

Media Contact for HookLogic
Erin Geoghegan
646-467-8201
Erin.Geoghegan@HookLogic.com

Media Contact for Authntk
Len Ostroff
410-402-1037
Len@Authntk.com

Some dealers are hosting their walkaround videos on YouTube, but YouTube doesn’t provide any dealer branding or moderation, and enables (even encourages!) competitors to advertise against their videos on the same page. Many dealers also block access to YouTube in the dealership, so store employees can’t even see what they’ve posted.

Other dealers are using ‘stitch videos’, which are really just a bunch of static pictures edited together with a 3rd party voiceover. People are no longer fooled by the ‘Ken Burns’ effect. Not only that, but these stitch videos are not customized or personalized for the prospect.

To solve these problems, we’ve created an end-to-end solution for capturing, personalizing and sending walk around video ePostcards. Within minutes from the time a prospect inquires about a vehicle, the dealer’s Internet sales department can record and send a personalized video postcard back. This speed is crucial in showing the prospect that the dealer wants their business.

With Authntk Walkaround Videos, dealers can efficiently and effectively market to their prospects on a 1:1 basis while creating a warm introduction to the sales rep and dealership.

Authntk Walkaround Videos enable auto dealers to respond to each lead with a personalized video landing page of the vehicle they are interested in. This page is customized with the dealer’s branding and logos, and includes a picture of the sales rep, links to their email and phone number, as well as a map and other dealer-specific information. These individual pages are also custom-tailored for each lead and can help dealers distinguish themselves from their competitors.

Our mobile app enables sales reps to shoot video with an iPhone or iPad and have it immediately uploaded into Authntk. There, store management can review the video prior to emailing it out to the prospect. Videos can also be uploaded into Authntk through a simple web interface.

Visit WalkaroundVideos.com to learn more!

Simplifies the management of consumer generated media.

Columbia, MD (PRWEB) May 16, 2012

Authntk, Inc. today announced the launch of its social video marketing platform enabling agencies, companies, and brands to simply and easily capture the passion of their customers through video. Video testimonials, product reviews, survey results, contests and other consumer generated video content can now be effortlessly captured through Authntk’s cloud-based video marketing platform. Authntk combines all of the necessary technologies into a single, easy-to-use interface for collecting, managing, deploying, reporting, and amplifying Consumer Generated Media (CGM).

The advent of social media enables consumers to have two-way conversations with companies and brands. Just as friends telling friends about their product experiences generates trusted recommendations; companies are building goodwill through these online conversations. Companies are quickly learning that word-of-mouth marketing is dramatically more effective than any ad they could have created.

More and more consumers are now relying on these social conversations when contemplating purchasing decisions. According to a January 2012 BazaarVoice survey, “84% of Millennials report that CGM from strangers has some influence on what they buy.” Clearly, CGM creates a new opportunity to build credibility and authenticity with customers and prospects. The most persuasive user generated media is video since it’s the only medium that conveys sight, sound and (e)motion.

Internet video usage is skyrocketing. However, for most companies, implementing video on their website is still confusing and difficult. They need one solution for capture, another for hosting and playback, a technical person to add the video(s) to their site, someone to amplify the message through social mediums, and another who can interpret the reporting data.

Authntk solves all of these problems by providing its clients with a single cloud-based platform for collecting, encoding, moderating, managing, hosting, analyzing and reporting on their consumer generated video content. It’s fast, easy-to-use and highly scalable.

The Authntk platform enables companies to capture video through a mobile device, a visitor’s webcam and/or a file upload. Once captured, Authntk notifies the company that new content is awaiting their review and approval. The company simply signs into their Authntk account to review the video and either approves or rejects it. Approved videos are added to their customized Authntk Dynamic Player (ADP) with a simple click, and the new video automatically appears on their website in the size and position they indicated.

Additionally, Authntk videos can be emailed, added to the company’s Facebook page, Twitter feed or other social network with just a single click, amplifying the value of the content. And to close the loop, when a video is approved, the company can choose to notify the submitter via email. The notification contains a link to the video along with encouragement to share via social services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

Authntk’s sophisticated reporting and analytics back-end provides its clients with valuable insights by tracking how their content is distributed, consumed, and shared; helping to identify their most loyal and influential customers.

“The market opportunity for Authntk is enormous. Online video is growing at a staggering rate and social media continues to propel companies and brands toward more direct interactions with their customers,” stated Len Ostroff, co-founder and CEO of Authntk, Inc. 

“The conversations between companies and customers will only get richer and more interactive and Authntk will be the enabling platform. Authntk’s flexibility enables our clients to use it for video testimonials, contesting, surveys, product reviews, short video stories, and much more.”

About Authntk
Authnkt is a social video marketing platform enabling agencies, companies, and brands to simply and easily capture the passion of their customers through video. Video testimonials, product reviews, survey results, contests and other consumer generated video content can now be effortlessly captured through Authntk’s cloud-based video marketing platform. Authntk combines all of the necessary technologies into a single, easy-to-use interface for collecting, managing, deploying, reporting, and amplifying Consumer Generated Media (CGM). For more information on Authntk, please visit http://www.authntk.com or email us at sales(at)authntk(dot)com.

Media Contact
Len Ostroff
(410) 402-1028
Len(at)Authntk(dot)com

Cutting-Edge Innovators Looking to Capture the Spotlight and Advance to TechBUZZ Showdown

McLean, Virginia May 15, 2012

Capital Connection’12, a nationally recognized technology industry conference, will premiere 28 entrepreneurial ventures debuting innovative solutions at the 2012 TechBUZZ on May 23. These seed stage companies will compete for the title of “Best of the BUZZ” and earn the chance to introduce their breakthrough companies to a powerful and influential audience at the Capital Connection’12 finale.

The 28 finalists are comprised of 27 selected from a record number of entrants through the TechBUZZ application process, and one firm identified as the winner of the nationwide Startup America TechBUZZ Challenge Contest. More than 200 early stage and start-up companies submitted their ideas and models in hopes of securing a moment in the spotlight to unveil their vision to an audience of peers, advisors and potential investors who might help them bring their dreams to life. The selected companies represent a diverse range of industry fields.

The selected TechBUZZ’12 companies are:

• AakinaTek, LLC
• Aardvark Sensors
• Activity Rocket LLC
• ARCSys
• Augaroo, Inc.
• Authntk
• Barrel of Jobs
• BetterPointment
• CloudeAssurance, Inc.
• Edorati
• Fiteeza
• forMD
• Goodzer
• GroupMD
• IntroHive
• iFanXP
• Kapta Systems
• Kinergy Health, LLC
• MedClimate
• My Design Guide.com
• Naaya
• PointClickSwitch.com
• ProConIt.com
• RideLeads Inc.
• SocialSpring
• Speek Inc.
• Syllabuster, Inc.
• Startup America winner

“We have an amazing group of seed stage entrepreneurs on a trajectory for introducing some interesting innovations that could change the way we live and work,”said Thanasis Delistathis, Founder and Managing Partner, New Atlantic Ventures. Mr. Delistathis is serving with Steve Fredrick, General Partner, Grotech Ventures; and Tom Roberts, Partner, Harbert Venture Partners as Capital Connection’12 Conference Co-Chairs.

“The record-breaking response from technology start-ups made the selection process extremely difficult,” said Grant Allen, Vice President, ABB Technology Ventures and Co-Chair of 2012 Selection Committee. ”The companies selected represent but a portion of the broader group we were privileged to review this year, who will share their creative, game-changing approaches to market opportunities in a Fast Pitch format with the goal of advancing to the Main Stage as a ‘Best of the BUZZ’ to present their business vision to the entire Capital Connection’12 audience.”

“At this early stage in their development, these applicants often are seeking critical first rounds of investment to help them move forward with build out and implementation of their prototypes, pilot projects and early-to-market plans. Our selection from such a large field of up-and-coming new ventures, reflects a great cross-section of industry and companies launching their unique products and services,” explained Joe Harar, Principal, TDF and Co-Chair of the 2012 Selection Committee. “Even though we were limited by space to hear from 28 companies on the TechBUZZ platform, we were very pleased to see so many strong prospects in the marketplace, many of whom will be in attendance.”

TechBUZZ kicks off on May 23 at 1:00 p.m. with a keynote from Founder and CEO of Opower, Dan Yates. The TechBUZZ program follows with each company allotted four minutes to present their business concept as a game-changing technology-based solution. This rapid fire format will provide the audience with a snapshot of some of the promising, emerging technologies and business models in development. With real-time feedback collected from the audience through a customized app, the top presenting companies will be announced as the “Best of the BUZZ” and will advance to the TechBUZZ Showdown. The final event of Capital Connection’12 will be the TechBUZZ Showdown at 4pm on May 24th, when the “Best of the BUZZ” will provide an encore presentation of their TechBUZZ pitches to the entire Capital Connection audience. Based on audience feedback, one TechBUZZ company will be named the 2012 champion.

Key features in this year’s Capital Connection and TechBUZZ conference:

• Keynote Speakers: Chairman and CEO of Revolution, Co-Founder of America Online and ultimate entrepreneur, Steve Case; Gilt Groupe CEO and Co-Founder, Kevin Ryan; and CEO and Founder of Opower, Dan Yates.
• Who’s Hot: A who’s who of hot companies and recognizable market leaders.
• What’s the BUZZ? The high energy, fast-pitch TechBUZZ program showcasing what’s new and fresh from Seed Stage startups. This year featuring the Best of the BUZZ with real-time feedback from audience participants.
• Easy Access: A new rate structure to make the conference accessible to a broad range of entrepreneurs, angel investors, incubators and companies across all stages of growth.
• Opportunity to Tell the Company Story: An unparalleled opportunity for early, growth and late stage firms to present business models for investment or showcase their success.

Capital ConnectionTM, one of the nation’s most respected industry conferences, will be held this year on May 23-24 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Registration for Capital Connection’12 with its featured innovative TechBUZZ event is now open on the conference website located at www.capitalconnection.org.

About Capital Connection™

In its 25th year, Capital Connection brings together the broad community of entrepreneurial companies and potential partners to help enhance business and economic growth. Opinion leaders from business and government share their knowledge and expertise, along with leading technology companies at all growth stages who showcase their capabilities to a nationwide audience of investors, advisors, partners and entrepreneurs at the annual signature event. Launched in 2011, TechBUZZ provides start-ups and seed-stage companies center stage in spotlighting the “next big thing.” For more information and to register, go to www.capitalconnection.org.

About TechBUZZ

TechBUZZ was first piloted in 2010 and launched in May 2011 as a half-day conference preceding Capital Connection in response to the growing impact start-ups and seed-stage companies are having in recent years on the investment ecosystem overall. MAVA is dedicated to continuing to foster and celebrate this vital area of our membership by bringing together investors and entrepreneurs in a dynamic and meaningful format. TechBUZZ shines a well-deserved light on the visionary innovators and company-builders in our region who are actively developing their concepts, testing their beta or prototype products and services and pursuing a path toward market entry.

About the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association

The Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) represents the full spectrum of private equity and venture capital firms with investment interests in the mid-Atlantic and beyond, entrepreneurs and their strategic partners. MAVA provides a wide range of programs, information and forums designed to stimulate revenue and company growth, facilitate quality deal flow, encourage collaboration and foster relationships among entrepreneurs, investors, strategic partners and customers. To learn more about MAVA and the extensive services the association provides, go to www.mava.org.

His voice and tone set the stage beautifully, but when it came down to it, even the famous Warner Wolf’s verbal descriptions of a sports scene could never take the place of actually watching it unfold.

The days of video tape are gone, but video remains our common thread. Unlike text or audio, video doesn’t rely on a common language to get a point across. Video conveys emotions and tells a story that cuts through all cultures, ages and languages barriers. It’s one of the reasons why advertisers love TV. They can get their message across even if the sound is muted.

If video is so powerful, why are most websites still text-based? I believe it’s simply a matter of education. Companies think video is hard. It can be, but there are a services available that make video much easier to implement (insert gaudy self-promotional plug for Authntk).

How many times have you visited a website only to quickly leave because you had to spend too much time figuring out what the site offered? There’s TOO MUCH TEXT. And let’s be honest, most copy on company websites is verbose and there to take up space.

The quickest and easiest way to engage a visitor is through video. Just don’t make them think. A big CLICK HERE to watch our 1 minute video about our new WoopDeDoo 123 sets your visitor’s expectations to their time investment while telling them exactly why they are watching.

Video is the new text.

As one of my VC friends said to me recently, “video is the new text”. Since most people don’t like to read on their screens, give them something they’re used to doing, watching video. According to a 2012 eMarketer study, “54% of respondents plan to add video to their content marketing mix”. Clearly, video is a quickly growing trend.

Start experimenting and add video to your website. It can be about your company, your products or the cool office party that you just threw. Video has changed the way people consume online content and is still rapidly evolving. See what works and engages your visitors. Build a connection. I bet you’ll be surprised by what you find.

Step 1: Write a script for the story you want to tell

First, we brainstormed a bunch of different use cases for Authntk, including agencies, companies, and brands. Separately, we listed out the problems Authntk solves, from easy video collection for businesses, to simple video moderation, to social video sharing, and so on. Then we chose one of the use cases with a few associated pain points, and made up a story to go along with it.

We created two fictional characters (Alice and Dave), and told of their struggles with video.

Step 2: Create storyboards for each scene in the story

Once we had the story we wanted, we drew some (very) rough sketches on a whiteboard of each scene to go along with each point we wanted to emphasize in the story. We transferred the whiteboard sketches to a PowerPoint deck, and along the way refined the scenes to go along with the story, and refined the script to go along with the scenes.

Step 3: Find someone who can draw

When we took turns drawing crude stick figures on our whiteboard it quickly became evident that while we’ve got a talented team at Authntk, none of us can draw to save our lives! So we all reached out to our social networks to the artists that we know, and within an hour, we had found Mike Ricigliano, a national sports cartoonist who was interested in learning more about the assignment.

Len sent Mike our PowerPoint slides, and after Mike saw how hopeless we were (he must have felt sorry for us), he agreed to come into our office one afternoon to help us out. We talked through each of our crude sketches and discussed the main elements we wanted to convey. He drew a few different styles of characters for us to choose from, and then we left him alone in our conference room to sketch. A few hours later he came out with about 20 awesome drawings!

Step 4: Scan and cleanup the artwork as needed

After the drawings were done, we ran them through our scanner so we’d have electronic copies to work with. Once all the images were scanned, we cleaned up some of the pencil marks, cropped out the extra white space, erased some of the backgrounds, and re-sized a few of the drawings so they’d all be in proper scale to one another.

Step 5: Manipulate the images to create each scene

While Mike drew all of the core elements we needed in a few hours, it would have taken days to draw every single frame for our video. Instead, we imported the scanned pictures into image editing software, and put each drawing on it’s own layer. We duplicated many of the drawings and parts of drawings onto multiple layers so they could be modified or moved to create the “animation”.

After all of the duplications and modifications were made, we were left with an image file with 150 or so separate layers. We began with the layers that we wanted visible in the first scene and hid all the other layers. Then we saved off a separate image file for just that scene, hid and un-hid layers to move the characters and elements a little bit, saved off another image file, and kept repeating that process until all the scenes and all the movements were done. When we were done saving off images, we had over 100 individual files.

Step 6: Record a voice-over

Since we had the script written from the beginning, recording the voice-over was easy. Our smooth talking CEO whipped out his trusty iPhone, launched the memo app and nailed it in a few takes.

Step 7: Find background music

We tried to get Ayo to crank out a quick tune for our background music, but he’s been so busy coding that he’s out of practice on his guitar (or so he claims). Instead, we looked online for free (or cheap) music to use. Creative Commons has a pretty good list of sites that have legal music for videos, and the Vimeo Music Store has a nice selection of music as well.

We narrowed it down to a few choices we liked, and finally settled on “Fastest Man on Earth” by Jahzzar (betterwithmusic.com).

Step 8: Import the assets into your video editing software

Once we had all the content for our video, it was time to merge everything together. Fortunately, we had the foresight to name each image file sequentially, so when we imported them into our video editing software, they were automatically sorted in the order we wanted them. We also imported the voiceover audio file and the background music file.

Step 9: Sync up the audio and images

When we imported the images into our video editing software, the default time (or number of frames) each image was shown was exactly the same. We adjusted the time for each image to make the animation (somewhat) smooth, and to coordinate the images with the voiceover story. Some images are only shown for milliseconds, while others are shown for several seconds.

We also trimmed and split the voiceover track in a few places to to add or remove pauses as necessary, and played with the volume levels to make sure the background music didn’t drown out the voiceover.

Step 10: Create the movie

Once all of the hard work was over, it was just a matter of letting the video editing software do it’s thing to process and convert the video into a playable format (we used an .mp4). About twenty minutes later, the movie file finished and was ready to watch! We made a few revisions to tweak the language we used in the voiceover, the voiceover-to-image timing, and the sound levels.

Step 11: Enjoy the finished product

The Shovel

Last year (or was it two years ago?) my wife and I cut down a massively overgrown bush in our backyard (which turned out to be 4 or 5 bushes that had all grown together). A couple of weekends ago I was out in my backyard finally getting around to some long overdue yard work, and I decided it was time to stop procrastinating about digging out the old stumps. So I grabbed my trusty shovel and started digging away.

If you’ve ever tried to dig out a stump, you know that it is usually difficult and extremely frustrating work (which is why I put it off for a year or two). After a fair amount of digging, hacking, prying, sweating, and muttering under my breath, I got the first stump out, so I proceeded to the second. That’s when the real fun began. I repeated the same digging/hacking/prying/sweating/muttering routine a couple of times, but couldn’t get the stump to move. When I finally worked the shovel blade down under the stump, I began prying as hard as I could trying to lift it out of the hole. Before I knew it the shovel handle split in two, I was lying in the dirt, and the stump hadn’t budged.

After I picked myself up off the ground, dusted myself off, and made sure none of the neighbors were watching, I examined the shovel handle and noticed an old faded sticker that said 15-Year Limited Warranty.

Wow, I thought, who warrants something like a shovel at all, let alone for 15 years?

I couldn’t remember exactly when I bought the shovel, but I knew it had to be somewhere around 10 years ago. There was no way I saved the receipt from that long ago, and I didn’t even remember where I bought it, but I went to the manufacturer’s website anyway to see what I could find. I didn’t find much warranty information, so I shot a quick email to their customer support, and received a response the next day. They asked for a few pictures of the shovel and the model number (which I could just barely read off the splintered handle) and then shipped me out a brand new shovel, no questions asked! How impressive is that?

The Lock

The other warranty experience I had was last year. I was preparing to refinish the wood floors on the main level of my house, and I had to move my refrigerator off the wood floors and into my foyer so that it would be out of the way. In the process of moving it, I managed to catch the corner of the fridge against the front door lock handle, and the twist lock popped completely out. I tried to put it back together, but one of the interior pieces was broken and I couldn’t get it to work properly.

I went to my local hardware store to look into replacing the whole front door handle, but a matching replacement was more money than I wanted to spend, especially since the handle itself was in great condition, and I just needed a new lock.

Since the handle was fine, I thought maybe I could just replace a few lock parts and fix it myself, so I went to the manufacturer’s website to see if I could purchase what I needed. I couldn’t any replacement parts that looked like they would work, so I used the online chat feature to contact a support agent. He informed me that the entire handle and lock set was sold as one mechanism so I couldn’t replace individual parts, BUT the lockset was covered by a Lifetime Warranty! I gave him the model information and my mailing address, and a week or so later I received a brand new front door handle, lock set, and extra keys. He even matched it up to my existing locks so I didn’t have to get anything re-keyed!

In both warranty experiences, I had low initial expectations. Two negative situations were turned into positive experiences by great customer service.

I thought I’d have to haggle over the terms of the warranty, the conditions under which the products failed, and who was at fault, but instead both companies fully stood behind their products and far surpassed my expectations. In return, both companies got an extremely satisfied customer (me), and I’ll vouch for their products and recommend them to others.

Surprisingly, neither company followed up with me to ask how my experience was or ask for a short testimonial. If asked, I would have happily obliged, and I even scanned both websites for testimonial pages. One website had a few text testimonials (but no easy way for me to submit one), and the other company didn’t have any.

Here’s what I learned:

1. Stand behind your products – the simple act of keeping their word (honoring their warranties) and standing behind their products spoke volumes about these companies, and they’ll have me as a customer for life!
2. Ask your customers for feedback – both of these companies would have received a glowing review from me, had they only asked.
3. Strike while the iron is hot- As time passes, my passion about those products fades and my motivation to share my positive experiences with others lessens, because I have new experiences with new products that take their place. It’s important to ask your customers for feedback while the positive experience is still fresh in their minds.
4. Make it easy – I was really happy with both these companies, and if they had an easy way to capture customer testimonials I would have done it in a heartbeat. When I couldn’t find anything, I simply gave up.

As a Millennial, (I was born in 1984, when The Boss was still “Dancing in the Dark”) this research inspired me to take a look at some of my own tendencies and behaviors.

I recently partook in one of life’s biggest events – in January, I married my beautiful wife, Nicole. When we got engaged I was eager and excited to take on the details and planning of the honeymoon. We knew we wanted white sandy beaches, tropical water and a resort. It should have been easy enough to plan right?

Wrong! Not only were there hundreds of different destinations that fit the description, but each destination had hundreds of resorts. I was a bit overwhelmed to say the least. So how did I finally make a decision?

I spoke with my friends and co-workers, read REAL visitor reviews, looked at user uploaded photos, and then talked to more friends!

Here’s how the process went:

1. We chose our destination based on a strong recommendation from a family friend.
2. I then used a travel site that was highly recommended by one of my buddies.
3. I relied on visitor posted feedback more than a resort’s own website to help choose the right one.
4. I spent hours reading customer reviews and do’s & don’ts.
5. I talked and listened to real people about their experiences.

It was easy to look at each resort website and see how beautiful they CAN be. More importantly, I wanted to see photos that actual vacationers uploaded at 2PM on a random Thursday afternoon, while the maintenance crew was driving their diesel trucks up and down the shore line!

So what did I learn about myself, that I think rings true for most Millennials?

• When I’m making a purchase of almost any kind, and especially a large purchase, I do my research
• REAL user feedback is way more valuable to me than a flashy website
• As soon as I got home, I was quick to share my experiences (both positive and negative) online and in person to help others out

My point is, Millennials do their homework, and Millennials talk!

I just recently posted reviews of a doctors office, restaurant and veterinarian and shared them on my local Patch site, CitySearch and Facebook. And I have to tell you, it was a little painful.

Why don’t businesses make this easy for their customers? Have links on your website to your video testimonials page. Let us see and hear from your clients! Have a Facebook and Twitter page where we can interact. But most importantly, be real and authentic… Because if you’re not, we’ll post it, share it, tweet it, blog about it and +1 it to anyone who will listen!

Word of mouth is amazingly powerful and represents one of the most influential tools in a marketer’s arsenal. More than any other channel of influence, consumers place incredible value on the recommendations and suggestions of their peers. Other marketing mediums like TV, radio, magazines can’t hold a candle to the power of friends telling friends how much they like (or dislike) something.

Social media has dramatically increased the velocity of these recommendations. In the past, I had to speak with one of my friends and tell them what a great dinner I had at my local restaurant. Now, I can simply post to Facebook, Tweet or just send an email and hundreds of people can immediately see (and comment on) my recommendation. Plus, it remains online ‘forever’, creating an archive of things that I like and that interest me.

Obviously, the Internet has forever changed recommendations, but many companies aren’t leveraging the POWER of this paradigm shift to transform their marketing and advertising.

I am constantly reading reviews and customer comments before purchasing a product I’m not familiar with. I’m not alone. Research from Forrester shows that 71% of online shoppers read customer reviews. Consumers trust other consumers. Data shows that many consumers gravitate to user generated content even before reading product information. They want to know what other people think first before wasting their time learning more about a product. This powerful social recommendation trend is strong and getting even stronger.

According to a recent study by BazaarVoice, Millennials tend to most trust the opinions of people in online communities.

Eight-six percent of Millennials believe that “UGC is generally a good indicator of the quality of a brand, service, or product,” and “65% say UGC is more honest and genuine than other information they find online.”

These are amazing numbers. And since Millennials are the largest online consumers, retailers would be wise not to ignore them.

This “social consumer” is rapidly shifting the voice of influence away from retailers and toward consumers. However, this voice is does not resonate as loudly when text is the communication medium used. Adding reviews and other consumer commentary to your site is a great first step, but text just doesn’t hold the same level of influence as video.

To take full advantage of the social consumer, you must incorporate video.

Provide your consumers with an easy way to capture their passion for your products. Give them tools to quickly and easily create and share this content and you’ll be rewarded with even more educated and engaged consumers. After all, nothing else online can even touch the influence of video and its sight, sound and (e)motion.

Leverage this new consumer generated video content on your site as well as your blog and social networks. Track the most influential of your customers and reward them. Make sure that they know how important they are to you. Do that and they might just make a lot of your traditional paid advertising irrelevant.

Social video grants your customers an incredible amount of power. You may think that social video marketing is a double-edged sword until you realize that your customers have already taken control of your advertising. They can share your video content, comment on it and actually build a community around it.

Today, all video is social and all of this shared content conveys incredible benefits. Social video is terrific for increasing your search rankings. In fact, Google has confirmed that Tweets and Likes influence organic search rankings, so get your fans and followers to share away!

Social video also provides you an opportunity to directly engage with your customers. Your customers and prospects are already spending time on many different social media properties and talking about your company. Provide them with compelling video content and an easy way to share and promote it, and then join the conversation. After all, it’s no fun to talk to yourself.

So instead of restricting where your customers can repost your videos, provide them with sharing tools! That way you’ll get analytics data and most importantly, insights into how your content is shared so you can identify (and reward!) your most passionate fans. But be careful not to focus so much on sharing and optimization that your content falls short. Create compelling content first and optimize for search engines second. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.