Showing posts with label youtube videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label youtube videos. Show all posts

Friday, 11 October 2013

How to Create YouTube Videos That Connect With People

Are you looking for ways to improve your YouTube videos?
Do you want to increase your YouTube channel views and subscribers?
Keep reading to discover five valuable tips to enhance your YouTube marketing.

Simple YouTube Strategy

Here’s a simple strategy.
Want to integrate YouTube into your online marketing strategy effectively?
Then you must create and share valuable video content that’s relevant to what your ideal customer is searching for on the Internet.
This might be an answer to a frequent question, a tutorial or a customer review of your services.
When you use video strategically, YouTube will generate leads for your business.
In this article I’ll show you five styles of YouTube videos that will get you the results you’re looking for on YouTube.

#1: Turn New Viewers Into Subscribers With a Trailer Video

YouTube Trailer Video lets you feature a video at the top of your channel when nonsubscribers visit.
Why not use this space to tell new viewers who you are, what your business is all about and what they can expect from your content?
your trailer video
Your YouTube channel and trailer video as seen by nonsubscribers.
Here is a simple, three-step outline to help you create a 45-to 60-second video that will convert viewers into subscribers who will get alerts whenever you post new video.
  • The Intro—Welcome new viewers to your channel by introducing yourself or the name of your business, then share notable credentials that will help instill confidence in the service you offer.
  • The Why—To captivate your audience, tell them what benefits they’ll receive from your videos, then share why you do what you do. This is where your personal story comes in and will go a long way toward creating a personal connection.
  • The Call to Action—Wrap up your video and tell people what to do next. Tell them how to subscribe to your channel. If you have a web page or blog you want them to visit, give them the URL!

#2: Share Stats That Matter to Benchmark Yourself

Position yourself as a reliable source of information with a video that presents numbers and niche market data in a unique, easily sharable way. People love statistics, and if you gather and present good data, they’ll share your video with colleagues who are interested.
About two years ago, I uploaded a simple two-minute video to share the latest statistics about online video, entitled YouTube and User Engagement. The original received 16,000 views and the follow-up, Video Revolution 2.0, now has close to 40,000 views.
video revolution image
Video Revolution 2.0 shares the latest statistics about online video and has close to 40,000 views.
Use these three simple steps to create your own stats video and share important, relevant information with your market:
  • Collect eye-opening figures and data about your market.
  • Find an awe-inspiring song over at Premiumbeat.com.
  • Hire an Adobe After Effects animator at oDesk to combine the facts and figures with graphics and music.

#3: Share a Customer Success Story to Establish a Good Reputation

There are few things more powerful than a first-person testimonial that tells how your product or service made a customer’s life better.
This doesn’t have to be polished and technical. You can record customer interviews with your mobile device or on a Google hangout with a simple webcam.
Better yet, ask your past customers to put their own success stories on camera and send you a link to their video so you can share it on your own channel and add it to your channel’s favorites.
alejandra costello youtube
Showcase the stories of your customers through video.
Here’s a simple formula you can use to help customers bring their stories to life for you.
  • Intro—Have your customers introduce themselves so people trust they’re real humans.
  • The before—Ask them to share what need led them to search for your product/service.
  • The shift—Remind them to tell viewers why they chose you.
  • The after—Encourage them to share how your product/service has made their life better.

#4: Answer Questions to Demonstrate Your Knowledge

Your potential customers are going straight to Google to find answers to their questions. Claim your Google Authorship, then connect your Google+ profile with your YouTube channel and use video to deliver those answers. You’ll become a go-to Q&A resource in no time.
Share your knowledge with little things and people will remember you when they need to buy big things.
marie forleo youtube
Marie Forleo of MarieTV reads and answers the questions her audience members ask.
To get a jump-start on the questions your customers ask most, use keyword research tools, review forum questions or send out a survey to your existing subscribers and customers. Use these questions to record a Q&A library of videos that are short and to the point so people get what they need quickly. Provide real value, avoid the fluff and don’t hold back!

#5: Teach People Something to Create Top-of-Mind Awareness of Your Services

If you do a quick search for “how to tie a tie,” you’ll find videos at the top of Google’s search results. Some of these videos have more than 13 million views.
Rather than writing a text-based article with a series of pictures on how to do something, record step-by-step tutorials, demonstrations and how-to videos. Your viewers can pause the video as needed and that makes their lives easier!
how to tie a tie on google
Find out which “how-to” keywords your customers are searching for on Google!
If you’re camera-shy, the good news about tutorial videos is that the “star” of your video is the product. For online or software tutorials, screen-capture software likeCamtasia or ScreenFlow will record your screen and you don’t even have to be on camera!
Here’s a recap:
The ONE Element Every Video Needs
There are more than five styles of videos that work on YouTube and you don’t have to limit yourself to the options in this article. Find the best fit for your business, theninclude the only essential element every video needs: your Call to Action. 
Provide value and communicate a clear and compelling call to action that inspires your viewer to subscribe, purchase, visit your website or share the video they just watched and you’ll see results in no time.
What do you think? Are you including video in your online marketing strategy? Which types of video work best for you? Please leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Monday, 9 September 2013

Should You Post YouTube Or Native Videos Onto Your Facebook Page?



Although Facebook has its own video uploading feature, allowing businesses to post videos on their Page, many companies still prefer to post links to YouTube videos on the site. In fact, over a five day period in January, analytics site Socialbakers registered 3,684 YouTube links compared to just 458 Facebook videos posted on Facebook.

Of course, this is completely understandable. Having created a video intended for online sharing, a company will normally post it on YouTube first. It’s then easier and quicker to post a link from the video on YouTube than it is uploading it all over again. However, Socialbakers’ study revealed that although there were far fewer Facebook videos posted on Facebook than YouTube videos, they got almost the same number of likes and even more comments. The YouTube videos, on the other hand, were shared more often.

Presumably, the Facebook videos received far more comments on Facebook because commenting on Facebook is easier than on YouTube: you’re already logged in and the other comments on YouTube, which often ‘flame’ videos, can often dissuade you from contributing. If people want to comment on a YouTube video, they can do it on YouTube.

There could be any number of reasons why YouTube videos are shared more frequently. I would guess, though, that it is mostly because, seeing as companies can post other people’s YouTube videos instead of just uploading their own, users are more willing to share them: they are more diverse, and users won’t necessarily be directly advertising a company by sharing their YouTube videos. Of course, the company’s name will still appear in the share.

Facebook videos have a lot of other great features that are lacking in their YouTube counterparts: a ‘Like Page’ button can be included in an uploaded video, but not on a shared link; people can be tagged in videos; uploaded videos will appear in a Page’s gallery instead of being pushed further and further down the timeline; put simply, Facebook videos just look better on Facebook.

The main advantage of a YouTube video, apart from the speed and ease of posting a link, is that it can be shared across all social media platforms. You can then measure how many views the video gets using YouTube’s analytics software. Also, any YouTube video you personally create and post on Facebook will link back to all your YouTube videos on your channel.

So, which is better, a Facebook upload or a YouTube link? In my opinion, if you have the time, you should upload any video you create for your company to both YouTube and Facebook. YouTube links look ugly in the timeline and News Feed, and they quickly disappear, whereas Facebook uploads just fit, sticking around in your Page’s gallery.

Of course, you’ll miss out on YouTube’s analytics software, helping you measure how popular your video was across all sites, but you can just monitor Facebook’s own analytics and add it to your YouTube views. By uploading a Facebook video, you will also encourage more commenting and engagement on your Page. If you don’t have time to upload your videos to both sites, then uploading to YouTube is clearly the better option, but if you do have the time, you’ll definitely benefit from uploading every video you create twice.

Stay vigilant though, Facebook’s upcoming video ads could turn public opinion against Facebook vids. If you still can’t decide, our graphics department has cobbled up a quick table showing all the pros and cons of Facebook and YouTube.

table for will

Do you prefer posting YouTube links or uploading videos on your Facebook page?