Archive for video
3/10 Tips to a Better Profile Video – Incorporating B-roll and Testimonials
Posted by: | CommentsThere are no magic formulas for what makes the perfect profile video. No one style, format, or approach will work across all industries and for all business people. Hopefully this series will help you take away some useful information that will help to make your profile video, however you produce it, be the perfect video for your particular needs.
Tip #3 – Incorporating B-roll and Testimonials
Most profile videos are nothing more than talking heads in a little square video box. One way to improve your profile video is by incorporating other elements that help to reinforce the story that you are trying to tell. Some of the elements that you might use to enhance your profile video are B-roll, stock photos and video, and customer testimonials.
B-roll is any additional footage that you might already have or that you might have shot of you or your business. This could be you or your staff interacting with customers, video of a particular service or operation that you perform for customers that is hard for people to grasp without seeing it, or footage of your business/staff/fleet in action. This is a great way for you to reinforce what you are saying with visuals and can also be used to cover up any rough spots in the on camera part of your profile.
Another option for adding to your profile video is adding stock photography or video. This stock material can be great if your business is not in an ideal location for filming (i.e. your home), if you or your clients are camera shy, or if you just don’t have the time or money to have a professional company come shoot it for you. Stock material can be a very affordable way to add a more symbolic bit of imagery to your video. Sites like istockphoto have royalty free (you don’t have to pay again to use it) photos and video that can be very affordable.
Everyone feels more comfortable doing business with someone they feel they know and can trust. That’s one of the best reasons to do a profile video in the first place. A good way to help establish credibility in the eyes of prospective clients is by having a satisfied customer give an on camera testimonial to the benefits of using your product or service. Customer testimonials can give your profile video that extra bit of authenticity that can make the difference of whether a prospect contacts you for your product or service, or keeps on shopping.
With just the right amount of additional material any profile video can go from dry and informative to engaging and compelling.
Check back for “10 Tips to a Better Profile Video – #4 Lighting Tips
Learn more about the author, Corey Lopardi.
http://www.biznik.com
Adding Video into the Mix on Your Site
Posted by: | CommentsOnline video marketing has now become a key business differentiator for companies wanting to communicate with customers or prospects in a compelling manner, and to do it in a short timeframe.
There is really not anything else that rivals the effectiveness and persuasion power of a well crafted video message that is placed on a website’s “landing page” (the page that new visitors to a site see first).
I believe that video should almost always be part of every social marketing mix. I say almost always because I don’t believe in cookie cutter approaches to anything. But I also haven’t seen many types of businesses that can’t benefit from incorporating a video component into their overall online marketing strategy.
Why? Because these days, the average attention span of a web user today is measured in mere seconds.
Today’s web surfer has a notoriously short attention span. When they visit a site, they very quickly determine whether the content and style matches what it is they’re looking for or interested in. If you can grab their interest right there and then, then they might stick around a little longer!
It’s not an understatement to state that you have one shot at arousing the interest and/or curiosity of a first time vistor to your website. They are always just one click away from leaving your web page if you have failed to engage them in some way.
With that one click, you have lost the opportunity to develop a relationship with that person, and the potential conversation about your product or service that can lead to a sale.
That click away factor is why I strongly recommend an easily seen video message on the web page that people will see when they first go top your site. It has the ability to arouse curiosity, entertain, hold the attention of your site vistor.
Most people who click on a short video (2-4 minutes) watch it to completion.
That means you have a captive audience for those 2-4 minutes! You have your shot to intrigue them, interest them, educate them…whatever your objective is.
“But I have no idea how to create a video for my website!”
It’s easier than you might imagine. You can be as basic or as advanced as you prefer, or as the marketing campaign requires.
A really basic method that can be effective is to create a video using screen capture tools. These tools make it possible for you to capture websites, make a video screen capture of you going through a PowerPoint presentation, or any number of other things like that.
And really, it is not all that complicated.
What you will need to get going with this method is a video screen capture program and a simple microphone. And if you want to create videos of PowerPoint / Word / Notepad presentations, you will of course need those programs as well.
Camtasia is without exception, one of the best screen capture utilities available – but it will cost you a little over 300 bucks! If you can swing it, I would highly suggest you get it. The makers of Camtasia offer a 30 day free trial for you to try it out before committing to it.
Here’s a bonus hint for you! Camtasia was inspired by a program called Cam Studio, which is free. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Camtasia has, but it’s a pretty decent program. And the price is certainly right!
With these types of tools, you can produce very slick and professional looking videos. Here are just a few ways you can use them on your webpages:
* Create a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions
* Create video tutorials or “how to” demos for products or services
* Create video-based information products that you can then sell
Here’s a link to the free version: http://camstudio.org/
Here’s a link to the “all the bells & whistles” version: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia
The other and probably more common method that people use to produce videos is a simple camcorder.
Frankly, most consumer camcorders shoot very high quality video. With the right sound and light accessories, you can shoot a highly professional looking video to upload to your website.
There are a number of editing programs to polish your video before putting it on your site.
Free options include Windows Movie Maker for XP or Vista users or Apple iMovie for Mac users.
This is something though, that you may want to spend a little money on. For under $100, you can get some fairly powerful video editing software. Google these to find the products: Adobe Premiere Elements, ArcSoft Showbiz DVD, CyberLink PowerDirector, MoviePlus, Nero Ultra Edition, Pinnacle Studio, Roxio VideoWave, Ulead VideoStudio.
Once you have produced and edited your video, you will then be uploading it to share. There are a number of sites that you can upload your video to.
If you wish to embed the video on your site (usually the best option), then sites like You Tube will host your video while providing you with code that you can place on your page.
You can also set things up so that visitors to your site click on the video play button and never leave your site.
All things considered, I believe video to be a “must” for anyone who wished to leverage the social spaces if the internet.
It’s not a magic pill however. It takes work, creativity and a good strategic plan to make it effective.
Do some research, develop a strategy, decide what types of videos to produce, shoot them, edit and enhance them, create your online presence with them!
Learn more about the author, Grant Criddle.
10 Tips to a Better Profile Video – #2 Pre-Plan Your Videos Structure
Posted by: | CommentsThe second in a series of articles on producing effective videos. Stay tuned as they play out over another eight more segments. -Editor
Tip #2 – Pre-Plan Your Videos Structure
I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” If you’ve ever marched head long into shooting a profile video, only to be disappointed with the outcome, then you’ve probably made a few mistakes that a little planning could have prevented. Planning the structure for your profile video is a key step in having a pleasing and effective profile video.
The first thing you want to do when your planning your profile video is follow a basic three part structure. This structure was first documented in the writings of Aristotle, and is very simple. Have a beginning, middle, and end. When was taking classes in public and competitive speaking many moons ago the structure was explained in this way. “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you’ve told them.” In a creative writing class it was once described as, “Get your protagonist up a tree, throw rocks at him, and get him back down (dead or alive).” I like to look at a basic structure for a profile video like this:
- Introduction – Who, What, Where (Who you are, What you do, Where you do it)
- Middle – Why (Why you do it, Why I need it, Why you’re the best)
- End – When, How (When will I see results, How can I get it)
The next thing you want to do when planning your video structure is making sure you have all the video elements you need before you start to put it together. What images, audio, props, notes will you need before you can put the video together. If you are planning a video that’s going to involve some other element, you don’t want to find out after you’ve shot that the element won’t be available, and you’ll have to shoot your video again to make up for that element that’s missing.
Learn more about the author, Corey Lopardi.
Finally, plan your profile video with a call to action at the end. This call to action will be different depending on where the video will be shown, and what your product or service is, but you definitely want the viewer to take some sort of action after watching your video. Whether it’s calling for more information, click on a link, or logging on to your website, it’s the call to action at the end of your video that will prompt the viewer to move closer to doing business with you.
10 Tips to a Better Profile Video: #1 Know Why
Posted by: | CommentsThere are no magic formulas for what makes the perfect profile video. No one style, format, or approach will work across all industries and for all business people. Hopefully this series will help you take away some useful information that will help to make your profile video, however you produce it, be the perfect video for your particular needs.
These tips are part of a 10 part series based on a Biznik presentation given on June 1st 2009.
Tip #1 – Know Your Purpose For Producing a Video
When beginning the process of producing a video for your business it’s important to take into consideration what kind of business you are in. The type of business you are in can be very instrumental in determining the type of video to produce, and how to produce it, or if already produced how to tailor it to your specific market.
What are you trying to sell? Is it a product? Is it a service? If you’re in a business that’s person to person like a massage practitioner then an impersonal video like an animation is probably not going to build the type of customer trust and confidence that you will need to get new clients. Someone looking for a personal service like that is looking to see that you are honest, pleasant, and have integrity. Those things would not come through in an animation, but they would come through if you were giving a short talk about your philosophy and what clients should expect when they set an appointment.
For a service business that is more concept oriented like security consulting you would need a video that does more to explain the process, and establish customer expectations. That business wouldn’t necessarily need a video that puts a face to the business, but one that establishes your companies experience and reliability.
Another thing to think about when starting the process of creating a profile video for your business is who your clients/customers are. If they are business owners, then a professional video directed at highlighting the benefits of doing business with your company might be appropriate. If they are consumers with whom you will have a long relationship with throughout the purchase process, then a more casual get to know you profile video might be in order. Whoever your clients/customers are they will feel more comfortable knowing they are doing business with someone who they see as understanding and relating to their needs and concerns versus a person or company they see as outside their circle.
One more thing to think about when determining the purpose for your video production is where will you show the video. If you are only planning on having the video on a social networking or video hosting site then the quality doesn’t have to be as good as if you are going to be sending it out in emails, or direct mailing in a DVD, or using it as part of a broadcast TV commercial.
Knowing the purpose for producing a profile video is the first step in assuring that you have an effective and beneficial video.
Check back for “10 Tips to a Better Profile Video – #2 Pre-plan Your Video Structure”
Learn more about the author, Corey Lopardi
www.biznik.com
Using Video Submissions to Build Backlinks
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| The main idea behind video submission is that search engines assign more weightage to pages containing videos. For instance, if you submit a video of your product on Youtube, then when anyone searches for that product on the Internet, the possibility of your video showing in the top results is much higher when compared to not having any video. Additionally, if you put a link pointing to your site in this video or under it, it can benefit you as well as your site. This is because when people watch your video, they see your products or services in it and if they are interested in what they see then they will visit your website to buy what they have seen and liked. | ||||||
| Advantages of Video Submission | ||||||
| Some of the key benefits of the video submission process are: | ||||||
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| How to create a video? | ||||||
| Since video submission is the most happening process to boost traffic to a site, it would be a good idea to start creating a video if you don’t already have one. If you have any text based content with you, it can be converted into a video by you speaking about it or creating a presentation out of it. However, it is important to keep in mind that a video must be interesting enough to be able to capture the attention of your audience and keep them engaged. It can also contain a demonstration of how users can use the product or particular software for their business. | ||||||
| How to gather content for your video? | ||||||
| Once you have chosen the topic you want to create a video on, you can then start talking about it before the video camera. When you put yourself on the video, it adds a more personal touch and builds more credibility. Also, it instills more trust in people and increases the chances of them connecting with you. | ||||||
| You can also create a video that contains the actions people need to take in order place an order for your product or use it. This can be done using a screen capturing software that will record a video of your actions on the computer. By demonstrating your ordering procedure, it will help people know how easy and secure it is to place an order with you. This can benefit you by driving more sales. | ||||||
| Finding your audience | ||||||
| Once you have created your video, you need to upload and submit it to the video submission sites who will allow you to host your video free of cost. You can check out sites like YouTube, AOL Video, Google Video, and many others and sign up to create an account with them. Each of these sites will guide you on hosting your video, assigning keywords to them, putting them under the correct category, etc. The main advantage of hosting your video on these video hosting sites is that you will free up your own disk space and not take up the bandwidth of your web server. |
