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Why aren’t more companies using free online social media tools to distribute their training and marketing videos? It’s an absolute no-brainer.  You immediately reduce or eliminate video duplication costs, because there is no expense for online downloads to your customers and colleagues. Shipping costs and its carbon footprint virtually disappear.  And labor costs for handling are gone.

We created a video podcast for one very forward thinking company in Scottsdale, AZ, Forever Living Products (FLP), to distribute marketing, training and motivation videos to their more than 8 million distributors in 125 countries.  Has it effectively greened the company and saved it money while offering greater training content to its field?  You be the judge.

FLP’s podcast has generated an average of more than 10,000 video downloads per month, saving the company in the neighborhood of $200,000+ in DVD duplication and distribution costs and greening its operations by eliminating shipping.

FLP is the world’s largest grower, manufacturer and distributor of aloe vera based nutritional and beauty products. They just celebrated their 30th anniversary with annual sales of more than $2 billion. For years, we’ve written, produced and distributed long and short form videos for their distributors around the globe.  We’ve sent videos via satellite, VHS, Beta SP, and, most recently, DVD.  This is a timely, costly and resource-intensive way to distribute content.  So we created the company’s “AloePod Initiative.” Where’d the name come from?  Well, FLP supplies approximately 70 percent of the world’s aloe vera. So, as you might imagine, they’re rather “Aloe-centric.” Hence the “AloePod” moniker: (Aloe + iPod + Podcast = AloePod)

1. We started with an AloePod YouTube Channel to get their distributors used to downloading content from the web. The channel currently has more than 552 subscribers and 44,500 views.
2. We created laser-etched 30th anniversary iPods for their distributors to purchase to commemorate the company’s milestone year. The video iPods foreshadowed the launch of the podcast.
3. We then created AloePod.com using WordPress to host the videos and distribute them through iTunes (Don’t underestimate the tremendous co-branding opportunity that is inherent in the use of iTunes to handle your podcast). You can also download directly from AloePod.com without using iTunes.
4. We launched the new site/blog at FLP’s 30th anniversary celebration in Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University. The anniversary was the perfect time to introduce this new green initiative around FLP’s training and marketing program.
5. We trained the international distributors on how to register for an iTunes account and sign up for RSS feeds so they’d know when a new video is posted for their downloads. Here’s the training video.

Plus, now distributors in remote corners of the world can subscribe to AloePod.com and download the FREE marketing and training videos that were not otherwise accessible to them through traditional shipping; at least not in a cost effective way.  The initiative literally places the FLP world in the palm of their distributors’ hands.  The power of AloePod is many fold:

1. It enables FLP distributors to build their independent businesses through convenient and FREE access to marketing and training content worldwide.
2. The podcast is open to the world educating everyone – distributor or not – on how to create better health and more wealth in your life.
3. The online video initiative significantly greens FLP distribution operations.
4. The program has already saved FLP hundred of thousand of dollars in duplication and shipping charges, while reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
5. The use of social media, while greening FLP’s content distribution, builds community around its website and promotes sales through its online store.
6. AloePod gives FLP a platform to launch into greater social media activities for 2009 and beyond. In addition to the videos, FLP executives are blogging on the site as they travel the world working with their distributors.

Do you know of a company or an organization that is doing a great job with online social media to further their cause…or perhaps a company or organization that should be?  Let me know by commenting below.

Cheers!