Using YouTube and website videos

[Drachsi]

I'm working with a customer that plans to use small video footage to show how to use certain aspects of their product. I have a wide range of software to handle the task.

Do other members use video, how, and was it successful?

Drachsi
My name is my website

 

[Newcott]

What do you have in mind - "using video" is way to much of a broad term now.

Is it for getting new interest/promoting the business. Will it be a talking heads or a funky advert? subtle video with the hope of it going viral?

"Wide range of software" Such as ? (just wondering why you need a wide range?)

 

[Drachsi]

Images are worth a thousand words it is said. Yes, you can use an image and a screen capture program to show more exactly where to look, often an audio track is needed. This is not a practical solution when you want the visitor to see something that is moving.

It is about providing all the information neccessary, so that potential customer can understand the product, and proceed to a purchase. This also helps the support team, as most of the questions are already covered. Also, very important if exporting, as many times it overcomes any language barrier.

Additional benfits are the possiblity of viral marketing, discussions on Blogs and Forums, more exposure for the company and website.

Well these days, you need a program for all sorts of things. A program for creating and modifying images, a video editor, an audio editor, a screen capturing program, then access to stock images and audio, a video conversion program, then a customer account with YouTube, if needed, publishing as a Flash file etc.

Drachsi
My name is my website

 

[Jeff Knows]

I'm not clear on the question your asking.

Video isn't automatically a good thing or a bad thing. It's a medium that you could choose to use if the particular problem in question is best solved with video...

I think people too often believe if they do some kind of content as a video, instead of just text, that somehow makes their website 1000% more attractive. It doesn't. You might be excellent at article writing and completely awkward on video. Or perhaps your visitors surf at work and YouTube is blocked, or they don't have enough bandwidth, or they can't listen to audio at that particular time.

Honestly, I think solely using video to express information is more obnoxious than not using video. For many people they don't want the web to be some multimedia extravaganza. They just want some text with information in it they can read, with their own music playing, at their own pace.. then move on.

There are exceptions, of course. BBC iPlayer would be terrible without video, but video is the point of the website. It is clearly understood by the visitor that they are in for some video and everything that entails. Selling car parts from a Garage in stoke does not require a 150x150pixel YouTube embed of a video you shakily took and badly narrated outside the premises, without a wind sock.

If you are going to use video as a content device it has to be DAMN good video to beat out text. It has to be stable, well edited, well acted, well lit with high definition an option. Otherwise you are wasting your time, imo.

 

[Newcott]

I think what Drachi is trying to pormote is screen captured video or tutorials on clients products/sites.

Jeff - Pretty much, too many people have the same bug as facebook - hearing that one company has done well and go out and do it, not thinking if its right for the company or not.

Video done well can be great but you've got a whole ton of criteria to hit for it to be viable (as you mentioned qaulity, ability, content ect...)

Saying that a video done well with good tags, titles and content that means it will get shared could easily put a customer on page one.

 

[thetime22]

Video is great. launched a video a few weeks ago and it already has 1000 views. Would recommend.

 

[Jeff Knows]

I think what Drachi is trying to pormote is screen captured video or tutorials on clients products/sites.

Jeff - Pretty much, too many people have the same bug as facebook - hearing that one company has done well and go out and do it, not thinking if its right for the company or not.

Video done well can be great but you've got a whole ton of criteria to hit for it to be viable (as you mentioned qaulity, ability, content ect...)

Saying that a video done well with good tags, titles and content that means it will get shared could easily put a customer on page one.

Yeah. I think the same applies to Screencaps. I've seen companies put out demonstration videos of their software with "THIS IS A DEMO EDITION OF SCREENRECORDER 2010" slapped across the screen. It doesn't look good at-all.

 

[Drachsi]

I am doing it because my customer wants it, I have the video footage. I do welcome comments, because there always many ways to look at a situation. Just image how one of those self assembly jobs, could benefit from a short descriptive video.

Drachsi

 

[Dexter01]

Videos are one of the most important elements of the whole marketing process. Quality videos will increase the brand recognition of your business which will also help you to promote and sell your products or services more effectively. Video marketing is the best option to boost your sales.

 

[hdwedj32]

I use video on everypage of my website and my customers have responded very well to it.

I also have the website videos and my company adverts all listed on our You Tube channel -

 

[oliverhall]

your web link didn't seem to work.

I agree that video is very important on websites. How do you currently host the videos on your website?

 

[oliverhall]

No Problem - Good to see people using web videos on their websites!

 

[Drachsi]

You may not have video of your products, but it is certain you have photos. You could combine these, with text and animations into a video very quickly, and publish to YouTube etc. Don't forget the title, description and keywords are important. Then embed in your website like business videos.

Drachsi
My name is my website

 

[channs]

How Are You Planning To Market The Videos? For You Tube There Are Several Ways To Make Your Videos More Viral, e.g. The Long Pause Trick And Video Responses.

 

[oliverhall]

Video marketing is the best option to boost your sales.

Indeed it does. But remember that video carries your company brand. It is important to make sure the video represents the company in the way the company should be represented! i.e. professional video production!

 

[Maverick1984]

Using youtube is perhaps the smartest thing you can do when promoting your website. Not only does it increase authority but it also engages and develops trust with your Market.

When looking at it in context, it makes complete sense. Would you personally buy from an anonymous vendor or someone you've personally seen?

There are people i know who have used youtube to develop their own personal brand. What's brilliant about this is that they're literally able to sell purely on their persona alone (assuming their products and services are of high quality)

I would get posting

 

[maxine]

Youtube has been fab for our small plastering and plumbing business in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Our channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/Float129 and it's amazing that even just one of our vids has had over 10k+ hits. This is such a brill way for a small biz to get in front of customers. It started off as a bit of an experiment (so video quality pretty poor) but starting to get a bit better now some editing software. We have had customers say they chose us because of our youtube clips and some of these are embeded onto our site and blog too.

I've not long started doing one for my marketing business and one is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqfpRpqi8WY

We're planning on doing more and it's very much in our marketing plans.

A tip someone passed onto me was that in your first line of your description type the url including http so http://www.maxxy.co.uk then it becomes a clickable link from the first line description on youtube

 

[nggroup]

We plan to have video on the homepage of our website. The plan is by showing a friendly face who tells customers where they can find information, it will put the customer at ease and will hopefully work well.

We also plan to create some ads, hoping they go a bit viral, to show how our services work.

I have started seeing video on business websites more often over the last few weeks. To make it work, you cannot afford for the video to be jumpy on a standard internet connection (Whatever that is!)