Incorporating video into your marketing and communication efforts is easier than ever through the popularity of social media sites such as YouTube. Using video as a communication medium allows your business or organization to compose compelling messaging with images that bolster your brand and cause.
There was a time in business that having a corporate video was an expensive luxury reserved for abundant budgets and critical projects. With the developments in video technology and the popularity of social media tools any business or organization can develop quality videos with the ability to distribute the video over the web and embed a video player into your website.
Here are 5 Easy Tips to Use YouTube for Your Business or Non-Profit Organization:
1. Define Your Purpose for the Video – Who are you targeting with the message? What do you want them to learn from the video? How will the video be used (YouTube exclusively, on a home page of a website, or pushed for viral distribution)? This is the most important part of the process so that you have a good idea.
2. Put It on Paper – Very few people can create a quality video experience without having a plan. Depending on your purpose you should consider creating a script, a shot list, compiling a list of who will be interviewed, what questions will be asked, who will be the host or on screen talent if any. By putting these important planning components on paper you will be better prepared to communicate your vision to the team participating in the development.
3. Select the Team – Unless you have in house production resources, it would be easiest to engage a qualified production team to help with the process. Ask for examples of their work. Look for examples that are similar to what you are looking to accomplish. There are two approaches in hiring a team either going to a video production company that will charge for filming activities and also post production and editing, or alternatively hiring a marketing company such as Nuance that can drive your vision to completion with experience managing video teams and post production. Either option will help in creating a professional video experience. Your budget and experience with this type of project will be factors in your decision. Our team can help send us an email at [email protected]!
4. Magic is in Post Production, Edit Wisely – Video productions are assembled in post production. All of the on-screen interviews, b-roll footage, music, titles, headers and bumpers are edited to create a quality video project. If you are targeting videos for the web focus on brevity. If you have a 10 minute video use that in a place on a website where you know people want an in depth look. Average video attention for the web is between two and three minutes. Also don’t get over excited about flashy transitions and graphics as they can have the opposite effect making a video look more amateur. When you communicate with your editing team, revisit your initial plan for the video. What you want it to look, sound and feel like.
5. Create and Manage a YouTube Channel and Embed – Sign your organization up for YouTube creating a channel for your organization. The service is free and by signing up you create a channel that plays only the content you create and shares it with other visitors. Also you are able to create a customized URL such as www.youtube.com/ncaaba. Remember that as you build your profile this is an opportunity for you to add critical information about your organization along with links to your homepage and website. This also assists your Search Engine Optimization for the channel. While there are a number of personal, social channel’s on YouTube more organizations and businesses are using the services to spread the message. Once you’re set up upload your finished video project. Spend time creating good titles for the videos and also tags that accurately describe the content (try not to use more than 5 tags if possible to prevent your tags from being viewed as SPAM). Once you’ve created the video you will receive an html code that allows you to incorporate the content into any blog, or website very easily. With some development expertise you can create a multimedia library that looks very custom with content feeding from your channel.
Our company, Nuance Marketing provided this solution to the non-profit organization, the National Council of Asian American Business Associations (NCAABA). NCAABA’s goal is to increase visibility and procurement opportunities for Asian American Businesses. One of the primary challenges for their constituents was the lack of documentation and testimony from Asian Business owners and leaders. Our team wrote, produced and directed the development of “Our Mission, Our Voice” a video documentary on the challenges facing Asian American Businesses. During their 2009 Stimulating Change Summit we interviewed and captured content. We were fortunate to have former CNN anchor Sachi Koto as the host and moderator of the video series.
Here are some examples from the NCAABA “Our Mission, Our Voice” project:
NCAABA worked to push the envelope with the content and created an integrated video gallery with the YouTube solution. Click here to visit the NCAABA video gallery. Through a series of videos that were produced NCAABA has been reaching a broad audience with their message and bringing multimedia to their website revision.
Our team at Nuance Marketing can assist you in managing the production and development of a compelling video project for your business or non-profit organization. Nuance provides full service marketing, advertising, public relations and video production support to a range of clients including the Fortune 500, Small Businesses and Non-Profit organizations. To contact us please call 404.551.3305 office, or send an email to [email protected] or visit www.nuancemktg.com.
