Using youtube

[Dave A]

No discussion about Web 2.0 can be complete without discussing using video sharing like youtube.

I'm not even going to try to introduce this myself - here is an excellent article/discussion thread on using youtube to promote your site.

[Superscenic]

Even if your business has nothing to with it directly. Film a funny clip and post it with your bussiness details. I am amazed at how many clips "real ghost caught on camere" "demons" "aliens" "monsters" etc. are enjoying a lot of views and really have very little to do with any of those topics.

If you're in the electrical industry film a shoot "pretty girl gets shock of her life" there you go 5000 views right there. Low budget is acceptable and funny is best.

[duncan drennan]

If you're in the electrical industry film a shoot "pretty girl gets shock of her life" there you go 5000 views right there. Low budget is acceptable and funny is best.

5000 views, no sales. Waste of time if it does not convert to sales. The web makes it really easy to get exposure, but even easier to click on through to the next video.

Make a video, but make sure it is about an idea worth spreading, or something that your customers would find useful.

[Dave A]

This could get interesting - particularly if we start discussing content strategy.

What fascinated me about the article I linked to was the recommendation that one video wasn't going to give you best bang for your efforts. To take full advantage you needed to create and load three or more.

[derrickm]

For a good example of how to do it, have a look at Bill Myers Video Tip of the Week.

Bill Myers Video Tip of the Week - Zoom into a photo in Sony Vegas

Bill Myers Youtube Profile

Bill has 111 videos at the moment, most of which are under 5 minutes. He may not get millions of views, but he does get quite a bit of traffic to his website.

[BrandSmit]

Has anyone tried Ustream.tv? Apparently it's the platform of choice for people who want to go live with streaming video. If I'm not mistaken you can also password-protect your live streams so there are paid online seminar possibilities. I recently finished a humble 5-pager on online video, and I found the videos I added surprisingly informative (I more or less just picked a couple of videos that seemed on target). The link: http://unlimitedvideo.info/videos.html

[Dave A]

Maybe I'm missing something, but aren't those demo videos hosted on Youtube?

Surely one of the golden rules of marketing - Don't use the competition's product in your promo.

[BrandSmit]

Maybe I'm missing something, but aren't those demo videos hosted on Youtube? Surely one of the golden rules of marketing - Don't use the competition's product in your promo.

Funny, actually. Those same videos might be hosted on Ustream as well (seeing that the people in the videos all have accounts there). They probably figure it makes sense to gain exposure from as many video sites as possible (including the one that would get indexed by Google first). The other thing, like YouTube, Ustream is a free service, so the only competition is for contextual advertising profits.

[johanhorak]

I make videos from photos and with a video camera to get exposure. I add a link to my video info and get many people exposed to my business for free. And I get real high ranking for keywords that I target with youtube. If I had to write a SEO blog post to get the same ranking I'll still be tweaking it.

If the video is viral then great. My focus is on short 1 min -3 min videos and as many as I can make to target different keywords and to get high ranking in Google.

[Dave A]

They probably figure it makes sense to gain exposure from as many video sites as possible (including the one that would get indexed by Google first).

Fair enough. But I still think it hurts their credibility to use Youtube rather than Ustream hosted videos on a promo page.

Maybe that's just me.