Using Video Hosted On YouTube to Promoite Your Company

Video is probably the best way for a company that offers experiences, such as whitewater rafting, skydiving or dinner cruises, to tell potential customers about the experience and how the company uniquely approaches that experience. YouTube a) offers free video hosting to anyone, including businesses; b) has excellent search and discovery tools for finding relevant videos; c) YouTube videos are now embedded in Google’s search results for topical (non-video) search queries; and, d) YouTube is wildly popular, attracting millions of viewers each day.

If your company isn’t using video and YouTube now is the time to begin learning how to use video and YouTube to promote your company’s unique action, adventure, recreational, educational or entertainment experience.
Benefits of Using Video on YouTube

A key benefit of using YouTube as a promotional tool is that when YouTube hosts your video, you don’t have to. Many small businesses that host their own website have limitations on data storage and bandwidth consumption. Also, when you add self-hosted video to your site your server’s configuration can slow down your entire website. A slow website or webpages on your site will ultimately deter people from using your site and finding out more about your company.

By hosting your video on YouTube, you will save valuable storage space on your own web server. Once you upload your video to YouTube, you can then use “embedded code” – a URL, which YouTube provides – in the HTML of your website’s webpages. You simply “plug in” or “embed” the code where you want your video to appear on the webpage and YouTube.com will work its magic as it serves the video from its site to your site, streaming video directly to people viewing the relevant webpage without you or your server having to do anything more.

When YouTube hosts your videos, the video – though it appears to appear on your website – actully comes directly from YouTube. This means that while you will still have a slight bandwidth usage when someone views the text on your web page, you save on paying for the bandwidth used when visitors watch your videos.
Consumer Friendly Video

When using YouTube to market your company you have to consider what type of message you want to send. The best type of promotional video is one that shows viewers something about your company’s values (customer care, safety, etc.), it shows that the service you’re providing is enjoyable (real customers, not actors, engaged in the activity you offer), and otherwise conveys how customers will get what they value from experience.

One of the best things about YouTube is that your video does not need to be recorded with high-tech video equipment or special effects in order to get attention. You can use videos that you already have, or you can create a video with a simple webcam or digital recorder.

Some companies record their experience while it’s taking place, and use that video to promote their company. An example of this is the Magic Falls Rafting company, which offers white water rafting in Maine.  Magic Falls recorded live white water rafting trips, which they uploaded to YouTube. Now, when people interested in a white water rafting search YouTube, searchers – often people at the early stage of choosing a service provider – will find their video and contact information about the company.

If you have expertise in your area, you can also create a short video recording of yourself describing a particular topic of interest within your field, helping to establish your credentials. With a bit of study or help you can splice into your presentation clips of the activity you wish to explain or highlight.

The most appealing videos are those that are between 2-4 minutes, though YouTube sets a maximum time limit of 10 minutes.

The one video that you don’t want to waste your time uploading is a commercial or something that looks, feels and smells “like a commercial”. People change channels on commercials, turn off the tv, or turn down the volume. Likewide, the one thing web visitors certainly don’t do is go hunting on YouTube for commercials.

Unless you create a Superbowl worthy commercial don’t waste your time or anyone else’s by uploading a commercial that will rarely be viewed, may be panned or mocked, and will certainly not draw repeat viewers or gain word-of-mouth.
Non-Promotional Video That Promotes Your Company

To produce a successful YouTube video, one that will drive potential customers to your website, you need to create a video that offers an interesting, exciting or intriguing demonstration of your company’s services. The video needs to “be inviting while being exciting” – to create in people a desire to learn more about your company.

The best bet is to design a video around your customer’s experience of your service. What is more authentic or believable than real customers, in real time, enjoying your service? At the same time, a successful video will be informative, interesting, and entertaining. Repetitive images of smiling customers, out of the context of the experience itself, can quickly lose the viewer’s interest. A successful video will keep the viewer engaged until the end of the video, where you can place a prominent display of your companies URL and phone number. A viewer hooked on your experience – who watches to the end – likely wants to where or how they can find more information.
Meeting YouTube’s Requirements

Before you get started on creating your promotional YouTube video, make sure that your video file meets YouTube’s requirements:

* MPEG-4 format video with either the DivX or XviD codecs
* P3 format audio
* 320[ts]240 resolution
* Frame rate of 30 frames per second (FPS)
* Length of 10 minutes or less
* • File size of 100MB or less

Before shooting your video you need to keep in mind that the video will most likely be viewed in a small 320 x 240 pixel window on the viewer’s computer monitor. The challenge becomes making a compelling video that is about the size of a standard note card.

The benefit of the small screen is that you won’t need to waste your money on high-tech production values that won’t be visible on the small screen. Instead, your task is to focus on close up action shots that will keep the viewers attention and get your message across. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

When shooting a video for YouTube you can use an array of digital recording equipment. If you have access to professional video equipment that is great, however, not necessary. Many successful YouTube videos are recorded on a simple video camcorder, computer webcam, or camera.

The attention span of an online viewer is short, so keep your video recording under five minutes. The most successful videos tend to be between 2-3 minutes. Feel free to shoot a 30 minute recording, but be sure to edit the video down to 2-3 minute segments. This allows you to produce multiple videos that you can post throughout different pages of your website.
Uploading Your Videos to YouTube

One of the best things about YouTube is its’ simplicity. The process of uploading your video will be the easiest task you do.

To upload your video, click the “Upload” link located at the top of the web page, directly to the right of the search bar. You will be required to sign in using either a YouTube or a Google Account.

After you have logged in you will be able to access the Video Upload page. Here you can enter a title, a description, and tags for your video. Make sure that your title is short and sweet, and your description goes at length to describe more about your company.

Take advantage of adding as many tags as you wish, since tags become the keywords that people use when searching. The more tags you use, the more possibilities you have of attracting as many potential viewers as possible. It’s best to add tags that are less common, thereby increases your chances of being viewed. Again, there is no limit to the amount of tags you can add, so, the more the merrier.

After you have filled in all of your descriptive details, follow the simple steps to uploading your video file. Once the file is uploaded, you will be able to broadcast your video throughout YouTube searches. By copying the embeddable code into your HTML file, people will also be able to view your video live on your webpage.
Welcome to the age of social media marketing!