CES 2015: Innovative Technology Pairs Well With Solid YouTube Strategy

CES 2015 is currently in full swing in Las Vegas, bringing out some of the most innovative (and occasionally bizarre) consumer electronics seen yet. From smart yoga mats and belts to futuristic cars, robots, and drones, brands are pushing the envelope when it comes to defying design conventions. And this year, the Pixability team has traveled to Vegas to see the hottest tech trends of 2015 for ourselves.
Alongside newer names in the field are more familiar brands such as Samsung, which has received significant press lately for its curved televisions. CES 2015 features Samsung’s new 105-inch SUHD TV.

Although Samsung‘s presence on YouTube is predominately focused on their mobile devices, their most recent YouTube holiday spot, “Holiday Dreams,” featured the UHD TV in almost every frame.
This spot works because Samsung cleverly integrates its products directly into the video as a way to tell the holiday dreams story, instead of using standard product placement. The video itself is an incredible feat that combines technology and animation with an elaborate camera setup. An end card leads viewers to a behind-the-scenes video that explains the magic behind the production. Where Samsung does fall short, however, is on its YouTube SEO; only seven tags in use and a short video description do little to help drive organic traffic.

While Samsung is clearly going after the premium market, Microsoft has taken the opposite approach this year with its Nokia 215. As discovered in Pixability’s Consumer Electronics and YouTube study, product teaser videos on YouTube typically receive the highest average views and engagement.
Microsoft’s Nokia 215 video fits right into the teaser category by showing off many of the phone’s features, which are aimed at developing markets. Microsoft should have added annotations before publishing to provide additional opportunities for viewers to learn more about the phone, on or off YouTube, and should have included a link in the description to direct users to a landing page. The video’s mediocre engagement and view count reflect these oversights.

Seagate Technology‘s announcement video for the Seagate “Seven” hard drive not only arrived just in time for CES 2015, but also sports incredibly good SEO, with many of its video tags ranking in top search results. Seagate ranks #1 for keywords “thinnest hard drive,” #2 for “portable hard drive,” and #7 for “hard drive.”
Needless to say, Seagate should see increased traffic around CES searches, especially with “CES 2015” as a tag and keyword in the video title. Pixability recommends leveraging tent-pole events like CES and Black Friday to produce custom video content, and then making sure to optimize video metadata for search around those events before publishing. One final tip: always make sure links can be tracked to measure performance.