Sound and Vision Media is The Boston Video Production Leader. Winner of 5 Davey Awards, 5 Minutes from Downtown Boston! Call 24/7
Sound and Vision Media is The Boston Video Production Leader. Winner of 5 Davey Awards, 5 Minutes from Downtown Boston! Call 24/7
YouTube has become one of the largest search engines in the world. According to their site, YouTube has over 800 million unique users watching over 4 billion hours of video each month. Seventy two hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and in 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views, that’s over 100 views for every person on Earth. Those are staggering figures. With so many people using and watching YouTube, how can you put it to work for your business?
Before we get into talking about what to create, let’s start with the basics; creating a YouTube channel for your company. This isn’t as obvious as it might seem. YouTube is owned by Google and uses Google accounts for user registration. Don’t use a personal Google account for this since you may want your colleagues to contribute to the channel and wouldn’t want to share your personal Google credentials. Instead, create a Google account with a generic email address such as info@yourcompany.com, and go from there. Also, be sure to pick a username that reflects your company’s name or brand. Choose a name for your channel that also reflects the company such as “Your Company’s Channel”. This will help people find it when searching YouTube for your company. It’s also important to have all your company’s information updated including your website, contact information and a brief description of your products and/or services.
Now that you’re all set up, what kind of videos should you produce? This answer is going to be a little different depending on what type of business you are in, but here are some simple guidelines that will help you figure out what’s best for your business. Remember that people will watch your company videos for the same 2 reasons they watch anything else on YouTube: information and entertainment.
Informational videos generally provide help that the customer can use such as how-to, advice, and educational videos. For example, if your business is a hair salon, produce videos that demonstrate different styling techniques or review new hair products. Your goal with an informational video is to establish your company as an authority. By providing information that is valuable to your customers, you build credibility and trust which can lead to increased sales. A customer is more likely to spend their money with a company they trust than one they don’t trust or have no opinion of.
A video could also provide information about the company itself. These can include company profiles, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes videos. They can be formal and serious or fun and entertaining. Most importantly, they need to match the personality of your company and the nature of your business. A toy store would naturally have more fun and silly videos while a company that is working to end world hunger would probably take a more serious tone. Behind-the-scenes videos can be effective by giving your company a human touch. By allowing the customer to connect with the people behind the brand, you create personal connections that can build trust and credibility.
When done correctly, entertaining videos can be very effective at getting views on YouTube. They are the videos that people are most likely to share. But they can also be the most difficult to produce. Comedy, in particular, can be one of the most difficult things to write. Everyone has a different opinion of what they find funny and taken the wrong way, a bad joke can do just as much damage as an insulting or offensive statement. Most importantly, you want to be sure that the tone of your video is working to enhance the company brand and not detract from it. In many cases, hiring a professional writer is recommended.
Shooting video with your smartphone is fine for videos of your cat, but probably won’t cut it for your company YouTube channel. Remember that these videos represent your company and business and you want them to look and sound good. People make value judgement in the blink of an eye, so the first impression you make on a potential new customer should be a good one. You want to be using a quality HD video camera, a good microphone and have good lighting. Another option is to consider using a professional video company. Many of them offer affordable rates and will provide the expertise, equipment and knowledge to produce great looking and effective videos. If you are looking to produce videos on a regular schedule, many video production companies can work on a retainer basis that will help you manage your costs.
When you are ready to upload your video to YouTube, be sure to name the video with the search terms you want it to appear in. For example, “Headphones Review: The New X-Brand Headphones.” Give a detailed and thorough description of what the video is about and add your website URL at the beginning so people can click it and find you easily. And don’t neglect those tags at the bottom. Choose categories and keywords that will help people find your video when searching.
Creating videos for YouTube often seems more difficult and more expensive than it really is. If you think about the conversations you have with your customers every day: What’s new? What’s going on? How do I do that?, you’ll discover the same subjects they will want to see on YouTube. It can be a powerful tool to help increase sales and gain new customers. Contact a professional video company in your area and talk to them about how they can help put YouTube to work for your company.
