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"According to YouTube, 13 million hours of video were uploaded in 2010, 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and 3 billion videos are viewed everyday. Looking at comScore\u2019s August U.S. Online Video Rankings, U.S. consumers alone drove a record 6.9 billion views across a variety of online video platforms. And most recently, the Pew Research Center found that 71% of Americans using the internet regularly visit video sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, up from 66% in 2010.\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, if video content is absent from your marketing program, you\u2019re sorely missing out on a massive audience. One of the essential success factors for video is it\u2019s sharability. Much like photos, videos enjoy the \u201Cone click, and enjoy\u201D factor that their still image counterparts soak up on Facebook. And it\u2019s not all just fun and games (although funny videos do have a higher chance of virality), as online video encompasses much more than just the standard YouTube clip.\r\n\r\nGot a newsletter signup? Instead of that static \u201CThanks\u201D page, why not include a message from your company president? Got a product that really needs to be seen and demonstrated to be fully appreciated? Sounds like a video opportunity waiting to happen. Got a company related event coming up? Live streaming could be a huge traffic pull. All of these are prime examples of what video can do beyond YouTube.\r\nThe Drawing Room\r\nBut before we go into crafting that perfect video, let\u2019s take a minute to decide exactly what type of video you\u2019d like to produce. The way I see it, there are really three main areas that can be addressed:\r\n\r\n\tEntertainment\r\n\tInformation\r\n\tHow-to\r\n\r\nYes, there are many, many sub categories to these main three, but let\u2019s keep our eye on the prize and stick with as many general groupings as possible.\r\n\r\nEntertainment\r\n\r\nPossibly the trickiest of the bunch to master, but when it\u2019s done right\u2026oh baby! Whether you\u2019re B2B or B2C, at the end of the day you\u2019re selling to people, and people like to be entertained. Look no further than the runaway success of the Old Spice Man to reveal the true power of video in your marketing strategy.\r\n\r\nThink that entertainment videos are just for big brands with big brand sized budgets? I point you to Will it Blend for all the proof you need. In 5 years, the Orem, Utah based Blendtec, have garnered over 180 million views of these series, and won countless awards. A little creativity and some careful edits can propel your product to an entirely different level if executed properly.\r\n\r\nInformation\r\n\r\nLove \u2018em or hate \u2018em, TMZ.com is arguably the go-to online destination for all celebrity related errr..news(?). There\u2019s plenty of written content on the site, but if you have a glance at the right hand column, you\u2019ll notice nothing but video waiting to be clicked.\r\n\r\nBecause of the immediacy of video, it\u2019s a great vehicle to drive information. If your organization has some hot news to deliver, or breaking product information, instead of only using the standard outlet channels, try getting your CEO in front of a camera for a few minutes to deliver the message. It\u2019s a heckuva lot faster for a blogger, PR pro, journalist, etc. to copy/paste your video message than sort through the fluff and distill the essential information.\r\n\r\nHow-To\r\n\r\nThe easiest of the bunch, but not to be treated lightly. As noted above, there are a number of sub categories present here, perhaps most notably under the How-To umbrella. How-To videos can cut down on your customer service department\u2019s headaches, as well as show your customers how to get the very best out of their purchased product.\r\n\r\nDo you have customers that have done amazing things with your product? Sure, they could (and should) write about it, but how about collaborating with said customer, and produce a video about how and what they did with your product? If it\u2019s a hit with consumers, clear your calendar, as I foresee a fantastic series of How-To videos coming your way.\r\nThe Production Studio\r\nRight. Now that you\u2019ve nailed down how best to serve your community, as well as draw in future potential customers, it\u2019s time to get down to brass tacks and make the best damn video this market has ever seen. But how?\r\n\r\nQuality counts\r\n\r\nBefore any scripts are drafted, any voiceovers thought of, or any big marketing plans start evolving, let\u2019s get one thing straight: Quality Counts. Think about the last awesome video you saw. Chances are there was a professional crew (or at least one superawesomevideodude) that executed this video. If you\u2019ve got the budget, don\u2019t reinvent the wheel, and let experts do what experts do. Now that doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019ll need a film crew equipped with a few RED Cameras to shoot your video. Both Nikon and Canon are quite proud of their capabilities, and astounding results can be achieved from a number of consumer budget friendly cameras.\r\n\r\nIf you can\u2019t bring in a professional to shoot and edit your video, here are a few basic tips that can help your creation stand out:\r\n\r\n\r\n\tLighting \u2013 often under appreciated, good lighting can go a long way. If you\u2019re putting your product out there, make sure it can be seen. Conversely, make sure that you\u2019re not over lighting a situation and causing the screen to blow out. If you\u2019re shooting a presenter, a 3 light setup is key to success.\r\n\tEditing \u2013 Watching a skilled editor at work is akin to watching a ballet. By playing with music, timing, and emotion, a good editor can either incite your viewers to do something right now, or sit back, relax, and engage in some deep thought.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\tDress \u2013 the next time the evening news is on, watch the mode of dress carefully. You will never see a news presenter with a striped shirt on. The reason? Without getting too far into technicalities, you\u2019re watching a moir\u00E9 pattern in action. For optimal video results, presenters should dress in plain, simple colors. Bonus: Avoid sky blue and light green colors, as these are often two key colors that are used for chromakey (green screen) effects.\r\n\r\nDeliver for Relevancy\r\n\r\nThis factor is closely tied to your Drawing Room plans, and will dictate the direction of your production. The key to delivering a successful video is presenting your viewers with valuable or entertaining content, preferably both. What\u2019s the key message you\u2019re trying to get across? How can it be presented in a manner that your grandmother would appreciate?\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019re a widget maker from Cleveland, OH and have just completed your survey on how your widgets increased factor floor production time by 40%, your standard outlay would be to distribute via your website, publish to major press outlets, etc., but with video you now have an entirely new canvas to work with. Sitting in front of a camera and reading a whitepaper sounds about as exciting as watching the grass grow, but seeing a few infographics, some footage of the factory floor, your widgets in action, and a short, one or two-line sound bites from factor staff employees\u2026ok, now you have my attention. Toss in some awesome music and a call to action (see below), and now you\u2019re really on to something.\r\n\r\nMake \u2018em act\r\n\r\nJust because your video is entertaining doesn\u2019t mean that it has to be all laughs. While your video might not be editable after it\u2019s published (unless of course you\u2019re prepared to lose view counts), the text surrounding the video is.\r\n\r\nSince we\u2019re talking marketing department video here, what would an output be without a call to action? Be sure to use a trackable link (I &amp;amp;lt;3 you bit.ly) and send consumers over to a customized landing page tied directly to this video. Based on your video this landing page can be anything from a special promo code that offers 50% of consumers next purchase, a request for more information, have a salesperson get in touch, etc.\r\n\r\nShare it\r\n\r\nSure, YouTube and Vimeo are the big players on the block, but what about all those other video sites? Just because they don\u2019t have the name recognition that these two do, that doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t have an audience (and potential customers).\r\n\r\nJust as with all your messaging, you\u2019ll need to take care as to which platforms you send your video creations to as an information video would probably not suit Funny or Die (or if it does, you might have an award winner in your hands).\r\n\r\nWhile there are a few floating around, when it comes to mass video distribution, it would be quite hard to beat TubeMogul. Their OneLoad service offers free accounts for personal usage, and businesses can step up their game for only $75. TubeMogul offers one-click, multi-site publishing, and their analytics and reporting features are sure to keep marketing professionals and their bosses happy.\r\n\r\nDon\u2019t forget the search!\r\n\r\nYes, yes, SEO. I see weren\u2019t not quite done with this relationship yet, are we? If you\u2019re optimizing 99.44% of your content to be discovered, don\u2019t do a half @$$ed job with your video descriptions.\r\n\r\nRemember, you might have James Cameron onboard, but if your descriptions, title, and tags aren\u2019t lining up with terms your customers are searching, the chances of having your production found is next to none.\r\n\r\nAlso ensure that your settings on each individual video sharing platform are optimized to be found. If your video could be cause for discussion, make sure that comments are turned on. Google loves to see an active discussion. Likewise, don\u2019t be afraid to ask your views to rate the video. This will not only help you in rankings, but also determine the success rate of your production.\r\n\r\nKeep it short\r\n\r\nBefore a light is even lit, a camera turned on, or action ever called, break out the editing pencil. Think about the last video you watched and enjoyed. While the optimal figures go back and forth at a constant rate, my guess is that it was no longer that approximately 2 minutes.\r\n\r\nIf you absolutely can not cut your message down to 2 minutes or less (don\u2019t forget the intro/outro timings), consider breaking it out into chapters via multiple videos.\r\n\r\nSounds about right\r\n\r\nFor all the visual magic that skilled editors, or even presets can deliver, there\u2019s no excuse for horrible audio. Do not think that the $12.99 headset you purchased at OfficeDepot is going to cut it for your video production. With an audio engineer behind it, perhaps, but if you\u2019re going it alone, invest in a few Better Audio for Video techniques to make your production sing. Literally.\r\n\r\nVideo is a marketing tool that is simply too big to ignore. If you\u2019re not in the game already, it\u2019s time to get started. Sure the initial investment might cost a bit of time, experimentation, and yes, money, but with the growing and sustained consumption of video, it\u2019s an investment in your organizations\u2019 future. By applying the advice above, you\u2019ll be ahead of your competitors, and ready to come out of the gate with a stellar first production that will bring results and spur team members and management into further investment in the medium."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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