Boost Your Visibility Online with Video

The Facts:

• YouTube videos are 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google results than a text page
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the U.S.
• As of February 2011, visitors were spending around 2.9 billion hours on YouTube per month

Content:

The first step in using video in your marketing plan is to create great content. Here are some simple steps that you can take to start making interesting video to help drive viewers to your brand.

Do your homework:

• Start by asking yourself: Will this content be relevant in 1-6 months from now?
• Do some keyword research: Check out what kinds of video are popular for the keywords that you are going to be using and tailor your video accordingly.

Pick a Topic:

• Company news can be a great topic.
• Screencast is good for technical presentation as it allows you to use shots of your computer screen to create videos. Some screencast software includes:

*Screen Flow for Mac

*Camtasian Studio

*Jing (Free!)

• Interviews recorded with screencast above can be inserted using:

*Skype

*ooVoo

*Tinychat if you want to record an interview with multiple people

How long should my video be?

• 60-90 seconds is about right for things like tips and how-to videos.
• Shows (for example a concert or restaurant review show) can be a bit longer, around 10-15 minutes.
• Make sure the first 3-5 seconds are very exciting, otherwise you will loose your viewers right off the bat.

Editing/Equipment:

• Your camera doesn't have to be very high-tech these days to get good video, you can get started with merely an iPhone.
• Flip cameras, Cannon or Kodak cameras that shoot video are also good.
• However you MUST HAVE GOOD AUDIO as viewers will not sit through your video if there is fuzz or feedback in your audio.
• You can get started with basic editing software like:

*iMovie for Macs

*Windows movie maker for PC

YouTube Optimization:

Metadata Optimization can help visibility. You can optimize your video title, tags, description and category. Thumbnails are also key. YouTube automatically chooses thumbnails from points in your video near the ¼, ½, and ¾ mark. So, make sure you have visually exciting content at one of these points in order to have a good thumbnail to choose from.

Video Promo and Distribution:

• Use existing Social Media networks. Connecting your YouTube channel with Facebook and Twitter is easy!

*Go to your Username

*Click Account

*Click Activity Sharing

*Link your Channel to your Preferred Social Networks

• You can also copy your YouTube url to post video on your Facebook fan page.
• YouTube allows you to pay to be amongst their promoted video.
• Annotations (links within your video) can drive viewers from your more popular videos to new videos.
• Embed your video in your blog or website. Google’s algorithm factors in how many times a video is viewed and anytime someone views a web page where your video is embedded it will add to your YouTube tally.
• Don't forget to re-post your video even if it's been on your channel for a while.

Use the YouTube Community:

• You can create cool skins or add a subscription option to all of your channels.
• Make sure to moderate and respond to your comments.
• Engage with your fans who rate and view your content and encourage them to comment or subscribe to your channel.

Article Sources:

http://www.capturetheconversation.com/social-community/youtube-search-engine-optimization

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-integrate-video-into-your-social-media-marketing/

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2117783/Optimizing-3-Types-of-Content-on-YouTube-Flickr-SlideShare