Secrets to Online Marketing Series - Using YouTube as a powerful advertising tool

This month we will continue our online marketing series by giving you a tips on creating your own video and posting it on YouTube to market your MLM business online.

Marketing Magic's Contents

• Tools and Techniques to make your own great marketing video
• Step by step process from planning to uploading of a video
  

YouTube Creation Tools and Techniques for a Great Marketing Video

Video marketing is the latest and hottest trend for online businesses. It has the ability to attract audiences to your website, products and services. Also, it has been the highest converting marketing tool found on the internet. YouTube is one of the biggest sites on the internet today that makes videos reach out to millions of people all over the world. To utilize this marketing tool would mean instant conversion for your online business.

To get started with YouTube, you need to sign up for an account and upload videos!! The most important aspect to get traffic to your online business website is to have a good informative clip to get the viewer's attention. Videos that have something distinguishing about them are ranked high and gain instant exposure. The popularity of a video depends on how it entices the viewer and triggers them to forward it to other people.

To make a good marketing video it is essential to follow some proven tips, tools and techniques as mentioned below:
 
Planning a good video

Creator's corner (http://www.youtube.com/t/creators_corner) is a very good library of resources to put together a good video. A good video can be produced and directed by proper planning and execution of important steps such as:

Inspiration: The origin of a good video is attributed to a bright idea. Compile a list of ideas and notes about your promotional video. Think audio-background music or narration, visual-images, people or demonstration, and video type-funny, serious, inspirational, etc.

Script: With the idea in place, create a powerful script for the video by writing words that you want to appear in the clip. Combined together, these words would then become powerful statements in the development of your online business.

People: You can choose Actors, Employees, Friends/Family or Yourself to take part in the video. People who are part of the business have more conviction in their narration about the products and services they talk on.

Set: Backdrop and lighting of a video must be visually appealing to the eye. Make use of sunlight or artificial lighting to light your shooting area. Background could comprise of your company's logo, or plain background. Clear your area of shoot for unwanted objects appearing in the video!!

Tools: Make sure you have a tripod for shooting to be used with the camera or camcorder to maintain height and minimal distortion. Experiment with different heights to capture the perfect visual. Position the microphone to clearly capture the narration. This could later be used as is or edited in the future by a voice over or music with recording software.

Enact: Trial run your video many times to get the entire package as accurate as possible. Check on all aspects of the making of the video to avoid errors. You could outsource your film production to professionals. It is not a very expensive option though the initial idea, script and how you want the video to look is entirely your contribution; the rest is carried out by the production team.

Types of popular video

According to online website trends, certain characteristic videos tend to capture the viewer's attention. There are 10 characteristic video types found in YouTube: Gross, Shocking, Interesting, Funny, Inspiring, Weird, Instructional, Sexy, Demonstrative and Personal. Out of the 10 types, the following characteristic video types could be implemented while thinking of the concept of the video.

Funny: A funny video makes people laugh and also could cause a viral marketing stir as people forward such videos to friends.
Interesting: Here the curiosity levels are irked by having a teaser video. It makes the viewer want to know more about the business, products and services.
Inspiring: Inspiring stories of people who have made a successful business are very popular.
Demonstrative: Demonstration videos of the different business products are a guaranteed success. It can show the viewer how effective the products are and interest them to buy.
Instructional: The most simple, useful and easy to create videos that could talk about the business products and services. It tends to interest the viewer in the products and help establish the trust factor.

Tips for making a good video

The next step is to conduct a few case studies to understand the trend of popular videos that could launch a successful campaign for your business. A few things to consider are:

1. It is not always necessary to use the promotional technique for your business.
2. Using the right tags for your video to get high ranking during keyword search
3. Informal videos make the viewer feel more connected to your products than a professional advertisement gig
4. Simple, informative and short videos are the key to the viewer's attention span for the video. A good clip should not exceed 2-3 minutes
5. Snapshots of your website in the video signifies the online presence of your business
6. Light-hearted and humorous videos form an instant rapport with the watcher
7. Create a buzz, curiosity and excitement about the business to encourage the audience to leave comments, go to the website, etc.
8. In the video description, mention the website link and a brief note
9. An effective video shows in the business growth and not in the number of times it was viewed
10. Demonstration of your business products, how they work and their benefits aid in product sales
11. It is very important to have people in the video. It gives more credibility to the business by the conviction demonstrated by the anchor on the benefits of using the products and services

Video equipment

There are different types of digital video equipment used to capture video footage. Some of the basic ones that help you achieve this are:
            1) Camcorder
            2) Digital camera with recording feature
            3) Cell phones with video capture ability
            4) Web camera &,
            5) Screen capture software

Video editing tools and uploading

Video editing software turns a raw video in to a powerful marketing tool. It can weave together video clips, audio clips, logo, URLs and voice over. There are many paid and free video editing software like Adobe Premiere, Microsoft movie maker, Sony Vegas, and Pinnacle studio 9 to name a few, available on the internet that can enhance the look and feel of the video. These software tools can add effects like title, credits, transitions, and sound to make your video a great multimedia experience.
A sequence of video clips that transition from the start to finish can be achieved by following:

1. A title at the beginning of the video
2. A set of shots (video taken from a specific angle) that capture the essence of the business, products and services
3. Other shots of the video taken from different angles to keep the flow interesting
4. Seamless transitions between shots like fading, spinning, etc. These are some of the special effects that can be used during editing
5. Using good quality and relevant soundtrack. It could be a narrative or music
6. A few static shots or snapshots of he website can be weaved in to the video
7. Have titles to identify people, products or other items
8. Try different tempo like fast or slow motion at times to create an extra effect

To achieve this, all you require is a camera/camcorder, laptop/computer and video editing software.

Video upload format:
The formats allowed by YouTube while uploading a video file are: .MOV, .WMV, .AVI and .MPG. The highest quality video format recommended by YouTube: MPEG4 format, 320x240 resolution, MP3 audio and 30 frames per second. The video must be under 10 minutes in length and less than 100MB in file size.
In the YouTube website, there is a handbook (http://www.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_produce ) that guides in a production of a movie. The best format for uploading a video:

• Video Format: H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 preferred
• Aspect Ratio: Native aspect ratio without letterboxing (examples: 4:3, 16:9)
• Resolution: 640x360 (16:9) or 480x360 (4:3) recommended
• Audio Format: MP3 or AAC preferred
• Frames per second: 30
• Maximum length: 10 minutes (we recommend 2-3 minutes)
• Maximum file size: 1 GB

Alternative: It is not essential to have a motion video footage for YouTube. Still photos, snapshots of website and word presentations with a good voice over too can work wonders!!

With these techniques and tips in mind, you could have a great marketing video ready to take the world of YouTube by storm for your internet marketing business. It is good to take advantage of this medium as the trend of online videos is becoming popular by the day.

In the next chapter, we will learn how to drive traffic to your website using YouTube!

Until next month....Happy Networking

Troy Rocavert

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