photo credit: Andres Rueda
Videos are great departure from standard text content because they are dynamic and are capable of keeping the attention of Internet surfers with short attention spans. Remember that some folks like to listen to, some like to see, and some like to read information, so it’s important to add in multimedia to your marketing mix.
Videos can be informational, illustrate a process or they might just be pure entertainment. With sites like YouTube.com, video is exploding in popularity. YouTube allows you to reach their millions of visitors. Plus, the site allows others to publish your videos with simple copy and paste code.
Here are 5 great ideas for creating videos for your business:
1. Create a ‘Welcome to My Website’ video – When visiting a website for the first time, it’s great to be welcomed by the owner. You can build instant rapport, and give prospective clients an overview of your services and a quick tour of the site.
2. How-to information – Creating a how-to video demonstrates your expertise, and again, gives people a taste of the services you offer.
3. Live action video – Create a live action video to spice up your sales/landing page. The theme of a recent joint venture was “launching” and having your products “take-off,” so it was no surprise that we drove to a local airport and used it as a backdrop for our introductory video.
4. Slide shows – Have the slide deck from a recent presentation? Add audio to the slides to create a video presentation. By adding a link to the video in your email signature, you gain more exposure to your presentation.
5. Screen-share videos – Create tutorial videos for your team. It’ll save you time.
The videos you create for your business should be posted to your YouTube channel. YouTube is the 3rd largest search engine, so take advantage of it. Consider these tips when posting videos on YouTube:
• Create a profile that has your business information in it, including your website’s URL.
• Make it short. Generally speaking, the shorter the video is the better. People have short attention spans and you want your marketing message to get out there before they lose interest. This advice will apply to most of your video marketing.
• Take advantage of YouTube’s promotional tools. YouTube gives you the ability to publicize your videos using email and bulletins. You can even customize messages that go along with them.
• Display your URL/logo on your videos. Make sure the URL is to the left of the screen as YouTube put their logo on the right.
• Become active in the community. You can leave comments on other videos. You can also set up a group or join one that’s frequented by your target market. If you create a group, center it around your target market’s interests, needs or desires.
If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, consider searching YouTube channels for competitors’ videos. Find out what’s popular and has the most subscribers. Do further research and sort your results by time to see what videos are being viewed and when. Study those videos and determine how you can add value to your own.
Other video sharing sites include:
BigThink.com
Blinkx.com
Blip.tv
Break.com
Google Video
Hulu.com
Kewego.com
MSN Video
Ovi Share
PhotoBucket.com
Revver.com
UStream.com
Viddler.com
Vimeo.com
Yahoo Video
Do you have more ideas for creating videos for a business? If so, I would love to see your comments below:
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