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Has the thought of being in the movies ever appealed to you? Dreamed of having your own television show? Want to be seen by hundreds, thousands, and even millions of viewers? If you said yes, then video is for you. Video is one of the hottest marketing tools around. Not only is it great for promotions, but when done right, viewers really feel that they’ve gotten to know you, and that translates to great marketing. There are two basic approaches to video: direct to camera and screen capture. Direct to camera is filming yourself, colleagues, and/or experts conducting a training session, demonstration, or presentation; doing an interview, book trailer, or testimonial; or delivering a speech. You can film your expert interview or any other kind of interview rather than recording it as an audio. Screen capture is turning something on your computer such as PowerPoint slides or online locations into a video. The number one online video location is YouTube. There are plenty of others, but YouTube gets so much traffic that posting your video there is a “must-do.” It’s a video-sharing website where users can upload and share videos. No matter what you’re interested in, there are likely video clips about it online. There are millions of video views per day on YouTube. Shouldn’t your video be part of those views? You can use video to gain visibility, promote products, and build your subscriber list. Since YouTube is by far the most popular video site, I focus on YouTube in this chapter. To load videos, do a search on YouTube on “mechanics.” Search further on “subscribing to YouTube,” “loading a video,” and “setting up a YouTube channel.” The Purpose of Video The two main uses of YouTube in terms of marketing and your business are to gain visibility and to do research on virtually any topic. It’s a great way to connect with your market if you’re comfortable in front of a camera. You are viewed as a real person, and people feel more connected to your message than they do using other media. The more you practice in front of the camera, the easier it is. When you use screen shots, you will record a voice-over rather than being on camera. If you are uncomfortable with being on camera or recording your voice, simply have someone else do it. But give it a try before you decide that you truly can’t do it – getting your own personality out there is really the point. Focus on the benefit to your market and business, and it should make the task much easier. What Is Your Message? Four areas to focus on when doing video are: Who are you? Who is the video for? What problem are you solving? What is the solution you offer? When you can clearly answer these questions, your videos will be more beneficial to your viewers. Your Own Channel One of the best things about YouTube is that you can create your own channel which acts as your home page at YouTube. This allows for enhancing your brand and subscriber list, and it’s easy to do by following the directions. Your channel includes your account name, account type, your uploaded videos, and any user information you enter. You’ll have a YouTube subscriber list so those on your list can stay on top of the videos you release. The more people on your subscriber list, the more people who will get your message. And when you have something to promote, you can reach more potential buyers. As with other areas of your online visibility, proactively promote your channel through your Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other social media networks you use. Add your channel address to your sig file or resource box with a bit about what your channel addresses. SEO with Videos Videos are one of the best ways to get SEO. Use your keywords in your video title, video description, tags, and the words you speak. Google picks these up and your SEO improves. Include a clickable URL in the first line of the description tag (the first line is most important). Viewers can then go directly to your website, blog, or landing page. When you’re promoting an event, book, or product, posting videos on YouTube will result in a higher search-engine ranking, so be sure to include YouTube in your social media marketing mix. Consistency Is Key Once you add videos to your marketing strategy, keep up a consistent flow of videos on YouTube, especially when you have subscribers. They subscribed for a reason: to see what you are up to, learn from you, and follow your message. Types of Videos Demonstrations Mini-presentations Book trailers How-to’s How-to’s are the best for SEO. Let’s say you are a dog trainer. What better use of a video clip than to give a “how-to” demonstration of a training tip? If you’re a chef and want to teach viewers how to use a certain type of cooking utensil, what better way than with a video? If you teach a specific art technique, video is definitely the way to go. You can film a short portion of a training session to tease your viewer, then direct them to where they can get the full training information. There are unlimited uses for video. Ways to Promote Your Video Once your video is posted, you can tweet the URL, post it to your Facebook wall, and put the actual video in your blog by using the embedded code. Another way to gain visibility for yourself and your channel is to comment on other people’s videos in a related field, industry, or topic. The more you can pinpoint your comments, the better. Many people search out more than one video about their interest, so the more comments you leave, the better. (And the more videos you post that this market would be interested in, the better). Make your comments substantial rather than simply saying “Nice video.” Search out high-traffic videos. You can tell how popular a video is by looking at the number of views. Depending on the topic, viewer interest and a video’s relevance determines how many views it gets. About a year ago I met a gentleman who was averaging well over 100,000 views for each of his videos. They had to do with the sport of boxing. That’s a number most people would be very happy with. Unfortunately he had done nothing to drive viewers from his videos to an opt-in opportunity. I advised him to insert a live link at the beginning of the description of each video and add an invitation to request a free report to get them on his subscriber list. From there I recommended he provide high-value information to subscribers to gain trust from this market. Then he could introduce paid products and services. By implementing this one strategy, this gentleman was able to build an opt-in list that he could now offer paid products to. To make a strategy like this work you must be consistent. To gain viewers with no backend plan is somewhat of a waste. Think in terms of continued value to your market, leading to earnings. The viral aspect is the great thing about videos. When people like videos, they tweet about them, mention them on their Facebook walls, post links on their blogs, and add them to articles, just to name a few ways videos gain traction. Add to these a way to drive traffic to your subscriber list, and it’s a pretty sweet deal.
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