Brand XLerator
Milwaukee
Innovation: Content XLerator, a web platform that publishes content across multiple outlets
www.brandxlerator.com
www.contentxlerator.com
With a couple of mouse clicks, Milwaukee-based marketing agency Brand XLerator allows companies to disseminate their content across a range of digital mediums at once – from social media platforms to blog pages to personal websites.
The wide-scale distribution is made possible by a newly developed web platform called Content XLerator.
Using Content XLerator, which is accessible via smartphones, tablets and computers, companies can record videos or podcasts, capture images and create text to share with the world through their preferred channels.
Instead of posting a video to their website and Tweeting it out separately, a company could feature that video on their site, simultaneously Tweet it, email it, post it on its Youtube and Vimeo channels, and add it to its Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ pages – all in a matter of minutes.
The Content XLerator platform exists as a “sole location to manage all of your video and audio assets,” as well as images and text material, said Allen Oelschlaeger, president of Brand XLerator.
Upon entering Content XLerator’s site, a user decides what kind of content – video, audio, image or text – he or she wants to create and broadcast. Once that content is recorded or created on the platform, the user simply clicks “submit.” From there, the content travels to an IBM hosting facility in Dallas, where it is compressed, transcoded and then stored. Those transcoded files are then transferred to a user’s account and are published through whichever outlets the user has designated.
Through Content XLerator, users can largely customize where they want each individual piece of content to land. Brand XLerator has also constructed the platform to be compatible with pre-recorded material.
Oelschlaeger said the company has found an assortment of customers to serve with Content XLerator, including sales professionals, internet marketers, growing businesses, franchise businesses, marketing agencies, media companies, health services companies, and education and training initiatives.
One particularly effective use of the platform, according to Oelschlaeger, has been dissemination of content by individuals or companies wanting to sell their expertise. For instance, Milwaukee-based social media trainer, speaker and consultant Wayne Breitbarth, who is well regarded for his prowess as a LinkedIn coach, has taken advantage of Content XLerator to develop his online courses and begin promoting his work.
The tool is equally helpful for companies interested in sharing customer testimonials online, Oelschlaeger said, as companies can seamlessly record testimonials and circulate them on the web through their desired platforms.
Content XLerator also is a viable recording and distribution tool for companies in the midst of conducting large-scale training for employees or customers, as they can film the training sessions and disperse them accordingly.
The platform, which has been in development since 2010 and was officially launched in May, generates revenue off subscriptions, available at three levels. The “silver” level, which costs $25 for setup and an additional $25 per month, guarantees a user the ability to send video and audio content out through email, as well as through the social media account of his or her choice. At the “gold” level, which entails a $200 setup fee and an additional $100 per month, users can distribute their content through as many social media channels as they want. Brand XLerator also sets up a WordPress website, where gold clients can direct and display their content, and gives them their own content submission page, a user interface screen where they enter their content.
At the “platinum” level, accessible for a $500 setup fee and a $150 monthly charge, users reap all the benefits of the silver and gold levels and are able to share the content on their own website.
Beyond the three levels, Brand XLerator can transfer its Content XLerator platform to a company’s server so it can maintain a private content creation and distribution platform.
While companies across a spectrum of industries and sizes can find value in Content XLerator, Brand XLerator designed the tool with the needs of small- and mid-sized businesses in mind.
Oelschlaeger said similar video platforms already exist for large companies with sizable budgets and staffs, but he hasn’t come across any such platform for smaller companies lacking excessive resources.
He predicts Content XLerator will be “explosively big” for Brand XLerator and Milwaukee, particularly as video and podcasts continue to gain popularity as tools for marketing and information delivery.
