Getting Savvy About Video Blogs: 3 Real-World Tips for Rolling Out User-Generated Content

by Teri Sawers

Published on August 1, 2006

Tags: Blogging, Marketing Smarter, Video Blogs, YouTube

"User-generated content" is much more than today's most tossed-around-the-tongue buzzword. It's the difference between having a flood of site traffic or just a trickle. Empower your users to create information that their peers want to see, and your site becomes a living, breathing place to be. Profiles, photos, and blogs still have currency in this post-and-share world—but video blogging is the hot now thing that's taking off fast.

Savvy.com, for which I'm marketing director, recently rolled out video blogging. The site is ranked as the No. 2 men's online lifestyle site by Alexa and others. With our complementary magazine and social network sections, plus streaming video and web TV, we've been called a "Yahoo for Men."

Our male-oriented news, sports, and entertainment content attracts heavy traffic from a mostly young and male demographic, but that content is not solely what brings them back to Savvy day after day. Audience retention is enhanced substantially by our "Friends" social-networking community, where most of our regular users drop in to update profiles, browse, blog, join model's fan clubs or other groups, and message other members.

In February, we launched video blogging to our regulars and new visitors—and learned three important tips.

Tip 1: Don't wait for "critical mass" to formulate your vlog strategy

Video blogs—or "vlogs"—are not yet entrenched in the mass consciousness. But that doesn't mean you should wait for the hordes to catch on before you start figuring out how to fit vlogs into your site and business model.

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Teri Sawers is marketing director for Savvy.com.

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