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Best Platform to Host Video

YouTube logo

When we create videos for our clients, they often ask, “Where should I put this video?” Unless they’re creating their video for a commercial to run on cable or broadcast television, this is a very good question. Yes, the obvious answer is to place it on their website, and this is often where it starts, but should it be hosted somewhere else? There are a few schools of thought on this. The SEO companies of the world say to host it on YouTube because it’s owned by Google. Some like to host it on Vimeo because it plays much cleaner and give you options not easily set up on YouTube. Both might be right, but now there are many other players entering the arena.

YouTube just celebrated it’s 10 Year Anniversary and much has changed since it’s inception. YouTube was first started in 2005 and later purchased by Google in 2006 for $1.65 Billion in stock1. Most of the early users were the general public…but not so much by businesses. Since then, many business host their videos on YouTube. In fact, checking Internet Live Stats, as of 11:30 AM on September 23, 2015, there have been over 2,481,613,747,000 YouTube Videos Viewed today! Think of that…from Midnight to 11:30 AM. Mind boggling!

So…Where SHOULD I Post My Video?

YouTube

While YouTube is one of the most often used locations to post your video, it’s not the only one. A couple of pros and cons to YouTube. First, YouTube is easy to embed into your website (or anywhere else), they have highly reliable servers, you can analyze your data from multiple angles, excellent search capacities and search results are viewed as you search (even in a Google search). One of the main cons to YouTube is that content can often be hard to find. Unless someone stumbles upon your video or it’s embedded into your website, most people may not find it easily. YouTube doesn’t lend well if you’re looking for your audience to find you accidentally.

Vimeo

There are many similarities between YouTube and Vimeo; however, one of the most noticeable differences is design. Vimeo is used by many who are very conscientious about design elements and visual components important to their brand. You might have noticed a lot of professional filmmakers listed on Vimeo for this reason. Also, one of the drawbacks to Vimeo is the number of people registered as users. It is a significantly smaller community that YouTube.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the newest members of the video hosting companies. We all know Facebook in a social way, but now they are offering the ability to host a video within your feed…while giving it priority over posts without video. The current algorithm improves your post to be seen if it has video (especially when uploaded to Facebook directly, not hosted elsewhere). With one of the largest audiences on the planet, Facebook will soon be one of the larger video players in the near future. If you already have a Facebook fan base, using video will improve your engagement with your fans. They key is to have a large enough fan base. Without the base, your video will only be seen by a few. One other thing to keep in mind is that people usually log into Facebook to get updates about their families and friends, not learn about your business…so be tasteful in your post quantity!

Wistia

Wistia is a relatively new video hosting website that is a paid site. This might be for you if you wish to embed video and get extreme analytics on the backside such as how long someone watched the video, at what second did they leave (or stop watching), where viewers skipped to, where viewers rewatched, etc. They have a feature called Heat Map that shows you a timeline with color coded action points. You can also integrate email programs with Wistia. This is a little more complex, but worth it if you’re into data.

We know there are many more places to host your videos, but these tend to remain at the top of the list in terms of popularity, ease of use, and providing embedding capabilities with some analytical features. Do you have any sites you use to host your videos? Do you have any better options that we don’t know about? Post them in our comments section. We’d love to learn about them!

1 Wikipedia – History of YouTube

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How to Use Video on LinkedIn

linkedin logo

Did you know that LinkedIn has added the ability to add video to your profile. There are a couple of simple steps you need to take, but, it’s simple. Under the section you want to add the video, click the video option after “Add Media:” You can add a document (think PDF), a Photo (maybe a project you’re working on or a photo of your office building), a link to a website, Video, or Presentation (you can even upload a PowerPoint).

When you link the video, it will embed the video into that section. All you need to do is go to your Profile page, click the little pencil at the top of the section of your Description. A new window will open and allow you to enter your Name, Position, etc. and all the way at the bottom is an area where you can either upload a video or provide a link to media. This is where you’ll want to upload your current, most interesting, video. Once you’ve added the media, you can add a title and a brief description. That’s it! Now, Add to Profile.

The next question is, “What should I put there?” That’s the easy part! We think an explainer video might be best, but here are some other options:

  • Explainer – Essentially a video that tells your potential clients a little about you.
  • Customer/Client Testimonials – Let your clients tell potential clients why they were happy working with you.
  • Product Demo – Show your potential customers something important or new about your product.
  • Service Demo – Show people what you do.

A couple of questions you might have after reading/watching this is “How long should my video be?” While you can click on the link to find out the answer to this, we can sum it up here with: that depends. A commercial is typically 15 or 30 seconds. While commercials are nice, they’re not your best option for LinkedIn. A 60 to 90 second video should do perfectly for LinkedIn because someone who has searched and found you will most likely want to spend a little time learning about you, and 60 to 90 seconds is adequate for that.

This is an example of an Explainer video:

Regardless of length, the key is to tell a story and make the viewer relate to you and your business. It’s very important to help the view understand why they need to hire you. Remember, you’ll be able to host your video on Vimeo or YouTube and embed it anywhere…including LinkedIn. Create one stellar video and use it everywhere! It builds your brand and it builds confidence in you.

If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call or post the question in the comments below.

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4 Suggestions to Hiring a Video Production Company

video camera used at a football game

We get called frequently to create videos for potential clients. We are asked many of the same questions. But when it comes to hiring a video production company, asking the right questions and investing a little time will be worth the effort. You’ll end up with a much better resulting video that will professionally position your company. Choosing a production company can be a delicate process because, many times, you’re asked to pay up front for something that doesn’t even exist yet.

What to Consider When Hiring a Video Production Company

Listed in this blog posting are a few insider tips to finding a production company that can produce the high-quality video your business deserves.

  1. Demo Reel – Don’t Be Fooled! Many production companies create a great demo reel on their homepage. Usually it is just about two or three minutes long showing you snippets from multiple projects they’ve worked on. Looks cool. Looks like they can produce a great product…but the real question is, “What does the finished product look like?” Your video isn’t being created to just be pretty or cool, it’s created to effectively communicate a specific message you’ve created. You’ll want to dig a little deeper into the project to find out what the client was trying to create and the message they were trying to communicate. If you can’t find the finished product (red flag!), you might want to keep looking.
  2. Recent Projects. While we don’t always update our website as soon as we’ve completed a project (admittedly, we probably do this two or three times a year), if you can’t find a single recent project that was completed in the past few months, you’re probably dealing with someone who isn’t doing this type of work full time or isn’t very detailed in their business. Take a few minutes to visit their social media pages to see what their most recent works look like. Recent projects usually show you exactly what they can do and as well as show you their strengths.
  3. Get Quotes. While we don’t enjoy being shopped around, we also know that when we are shopped around, we’ll do well. Last year, we assessed our pricing to determine if we were in line with the market. We sent out a fake RFP (through a friend’s company) to see how other companies would bid on a project. What we found was shocking! We found that for the same project, bids were between $800 and $20,000! That’s a pretty big delta! When evaluating who to work with, think about the value you’ll receive (that doesn’t mean cheapest or most expensive) and the one with the best value is the one you should choose.
  4. You Usually Get What You Pay For. You can hire someone at any price to create your video. If you want to be on the upper end of the scale above ($20,000), you can find someone to charge you for that and probably wow you with their equipment and style. If you want to be on the lower end of the scale above ($800), you can find some college student or someone newer to the industry who is trying to build up his or her portfolio to produce your video. Keep in mind that professionals that require higher rates can do so because they are confident in their product and have enough experience to make your video stand out from the rest.

Keep in mind, these are recommendations we have when you’re trying to find a video production company. You may have other thoughts. If you do, or if you have questions, we’d love to answer them in the comment section. Feel free to post a question or comment below. Until then, good luck in your search!

Source: Jager, J. (2015). 4 Tips for Hiring a Great Video Production Company. Entrepreneur Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243236 on April 24, 2015.

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Why You Should Never Let a Local TV Station Create Your Video

man frustrated

A common question we get is, “Will I get the video when it’s complete to use as I wish?” This seemed like a very odd question. Of course! Why not? You’ve paid for it and it’s yours once completed. This prompted us to ask, “Why are you asking this?” The answer will amaze you.

Should I Hire a Professional Videographer…or Just Go with the Local TV Station?

When we asked why they were asking, they said, “Because the local television station won’t give us our video now that we’ve paid for it.” You read that correctly, they paid for it…but didn’t get the video. That’s what they think! The truth is, if they had read the fine print, they would have known that what they are paying for is the commercial air time. That is what they are buying! The air time, not the video. The video was an extra bonus for signing up! The ‘client’ in this case, does not own the rights for the commercial/video. That’s ok, right?

So What? How Does that Affect My Video If I Use the Local Television Station?

The truth is, the station owns the video. If you were the one stuck in this situation and wanted to use the video on another medium (oh, let’s say something important like your website, an email, your YouTube Channel, your Vimeo channel, another television channel, or on a grouping of cable channels) you couldn’t. You’d have to hire someone to create another video. That’s ok if you want to spend money over and over for the same thing, but why do that?

Be productive with your money. Our suggestion: Create a professional video that is good for at least two years, usable in multiple mediums, and, if appropriate, create separate calls to action at the end of variations of the video to further measure the successfulness of your video.

Don’t Be Fooled! And don’t get frustrated like that guy! Got a question, let us know!

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5 Keys From YouTube on Marketing Your Videos

Word Cloud related to SEO and Websites

Knowing that you’re going to spend some money on a quality video, shouldn’t you at least know how to better market them on YouTube? Here are a 5 keys to smart marketing on YouTube. Many of these came from YouTube’s Playbook, so use wisely!

  1. Create a Playlist. This is a grouping of videos, either by theme, subject matter within a theme, or any way you want to dice up a theme. A playlist can either be your own videos or from other channels. The goal behind creating a playlist is to get people to stay on your channel longer. If you have your viewers going from one video to another because you provide good content, your brand gets recognized. Your brand begins to place higher in the “Suggested Video” section.
  2. Trailer. We’ve all heard that movie voice, “One man, against all odds, …” but having a channel trailer is important because it’s the first thing people will see when visiting your channel. One of the keys to having a trailer is to make it engaging and interactive. Why should people look at your channel? What content are you providing? Keep it short, but make it stick. Make sure the video shows the brand’s personality and character. If your company is whimsical, the trailer should be too. If you brand is serious, so should be your trailer.
  3. Annotations. While admittedly an annoying feature if you are watching the video, this is one of the best ways to engage your audience. Annotations are those text boxes that show up on the screen. They are clickable and can give some important information that might not be included in the video. Remember connecting is important. Get those viewers to comment by adding annotations.
  4. Analytics. What gets measured, gets done. One of the best tools Google offers is the YouTube Analytics page. It’s available for your YouTube channel as well. Learning which video has been watched the longest (not necessarily the most number of times) can tell you a lot about what your audience wants to know. By looking at the analytics, you can customize and improve later videos you post. You can also determine who your viewers are and how engaging your videos are to them.
  5. Interaction. Finally, one of the keys to successful marketing your YouTube page is interaction. Not just with your viewers, but with other channels. Interaction on your part is simple. Like other videos (while logged in as your brand), make playlists with other channel’s videos, and commenting on other channels. As with anything being measured, do this in moderation. Google doesn’t like it if you just like everything.

We hope this helps you be more productive on YouTube and improve your rankings. If you liked this article, please give it a share!  

Source: SoMedia Networks. (2014). Five Tips from YouTube's Playbook on Marketing Your Videos. Retrieved from: videomarketing.somedia.net/five-tips-from-youtubes-playbook-on-marketing-your-videos/

 

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Website Video Idea – Employee Spotlight

Employee Spotlight Video

Do your customers know who they are talking to when they call your business line? How about your potential customers. Ideally, they don’t know you or haven’t met you directly. This would mean that they found you online through a search engine and have made the decision to call you. Wouldn’t it be nice if they had some idea of who they were talking to when they call? Now they can!

We believe that potential customers would like to feel comfortable calling a business. We also believe that a business can move the level of comfort for potential customers to the positive by supplying the customers with an Employee Spotlight video. This allows the customer to know who they are talking to. We’ve all seen the About Us pages on websites that usually contain a photo with a brief description of their role. Why not change this? Why not make this a video introduction supported by the brief job description of the employee? This can significantly improve search engine performance for each person’s name as well as the name of the business.

Who Needs an Employee Spotlight Video?

This works particularly well with organizations like law firms, partnerships, ad agencies, and chambers of commerce. These tend to have lower turnover allowing the video to have a longer shelf life. Even if turnover is a little higher, shooting a video highlighting high-level employees can improve morale and make the employees feel a bit more connected to the company/firm.

If you’re considering a video that spotlights the employees and partners in the business, contact us today to learn more about how we can help.

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How To Be Ready For Your Video Production Shoot Day

sony video camera

By following these tips, you’ll find you will save a little time, aggravation, and money on your shoot day. You’ve hired the production team; they’ve created the script, scouted the location, and started the planning process. They may have even hired some professional actors for the shoot. Here are the steps you can take to improve the video outcome.

Solidify Your Needs

Knowing what your objectives are for shooting is important. Defining them early is even more important. There is nothing more frustrating for a client when they change directions, change objectives, and find out how much it will cost them because the script doesn’t accomplish these tasks. Anytime a client decides to change directions, a cost is incurred later. Clarify your objective and needs before doing anything else.

Communication with the Producer is Critical

Do you know what you’re going to do with the video? Communicate it with the producer. Do you know you’re going to need commercial for TV at a later date? Communicate it with the producer. Do you know that you are going to use these for multiple websites or multiple blog postings? Communicate it with the producer. The more the producer knows in the beginning, the better the planning will go and the better the results of the project.

Save Time (& Money) in the Edit Suite

Video production includes editing, cutting clips together, importing video, color correcting, adjusting audio levels, and exporting. All of these tasks take time. Editors work on an hourly rate, so if you can assist in the planning stage, you can often save time in the editing portion of the project. Time saving happens when the editor is able to ‘batch tasks’ and completing multiple projects simultaneously. When this happens, you save cash.

Do you need some help in the video production planning stage? We can help.