YouTube Video Marketing Magic

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by in Online Marketing, Social Media

Video marketing is one of the most powerful marketing strategies in internet marketing and if you aren’t capitalizing on it in some way, you are leaving money on the table…period.

Why has video marketing become so popular over the last few years?   You can chalk it up to a couple of main reasons.

Reason #1 – It’s simple to do & can be really effective (especially when done right).

Anyone can shoot and edit a basic video.  High quality cameras are really inexpensive these days and incredibly easy to operate.  Not everyone makes a great video…but everyone can at least bang out something they can put online.

YouTube is the 3rd (some say 2nd) largest search engine on the planet.  If you think about that for a second, that means more people go on YouTube to find something than on Yahoo.

Google (who owns YouTube) loves videos when it comes to search engine ranking.  A video ranks quickly and can hold a top position for a long time.  This means a video don’t right can yield you traffic month after month after month with only minimal work.  It’s a great example of pull marketing.

I have some videos that took me literally 15 minutes to shoot and edit that have had thousands of views and produced a ton of leads and sales.   This is why video marketing can be so powerful.

Think about that for a minute.  Let’s say you have a video that gets 400 views a month and it produces 10-15 leads from those views.  That may not seem significant but what if you put out ten videos like that or 20 or 30 videos like that?  It’s unlimited.

You can see that over a short amount of time, your little video soldiers will be out there all over the internet consistently creating opt-in leads for your business.

Reason #2 – It’s personal and people would much rather watch a video than read.

Think about it.  We are the TV and Internet generation.  We want our information fast and without having to work to get it.  Video provides all of this for people.

Video let’s people see the real person and their personality…or lack thereof.  It’s real.  It’s immediate.  It’s drive-thru information.

Additionally, videos add a level of entertainment value that is not found in print.  Whether it’s music, lighting, special effects or just the person in the video being creative…it’s easy to add attention-grabbing content to videos.

Here are a couple core fundamental principles for video marketing that you really must follow to create solid results.

1. Create a clear, simple and powerful message – think out what you will say and how you want to say it.  If it’s a live video, it shouldn’t be scripted, but it should be planned.  If someone can’t follow your message, you’ll lose them in 60 seconds.

If you are camera shy, pick up a program called Camtasia or Screenflow (for Mac) and create a screenshot video that you can simply narrate.  These videos can be incredibly powerful and are really simple to do.  This way, you can really just read a script if you choose.

2. Be attractive – no, I am not saying you have to be physically good looking…attraction is far deeper than that.  Attraction is about energy, confidence, poise, posture and clarity.  Be YOU all the time…be authentic and real.

And for the love of God…please smile.  Seriously, you are asking people to listen to you and follow you.  People want to make more money for the lifestyle it provides.  You should at least look like you are enjoying yours.

3. Just Get It Done & Get It Out – People who are new to video marketing often sit and agonize over what to say, how to say it, what shirt they should wear and where they should shoot the video.  They get stuck in all of the little details and never get the actual product out.

Plan it well, but then just get after it and crank the video out.  A decent video is better than no video.  Some of the videos I have done that I didn’t think were very good at all have produced great results.  Here is one of them.  I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s no Avatar!

4. Research Your Keywords – if your video isn’t seen by anyone, it doesn’t matter how great it was or how clever your message is.  You have to get it in front of people.  Since videos rank so well in organic search results, you want to specifically target the keyword phrases you want to compete for.

There are a ton of different keyword search tools available online.  Google offers a free a Free Keyword Tool as does NicheBot Classic.

If you want to take things up a notch, Market Samurai is an amazing tool for a really nominal one-time cost.  You can hone in on some golden nugget keywords and dominate search results.

When you are just starting out, here is a really, really basic way to look at what keywords you might be able to rank for on the first page.  Do a search.  If page one of Google doesn’t have any videos, blogs or article sites, you can probably get a video to rank on page one.  That is a very simplistic approach…but it will work.

5. Promote Your Video Everywhere – YouTube is the largest video sharing site on the internet…but there are hundreds more.  Sites like AOL Video and Metacafe and nearly a hundred others offer some great additional sources of traffic for your video.

There are two main ways to get your video out to these video sites.

The first is to do it manually.  You would go and set up accounts with each of these video sharing sites, then manually upload your video to your account and manually put in the title, description, keywords and such.

The second way is to do it automatically.  If you are like me, I am all for automating whatever I can, especially when it comes to routine, mundane tasks.

Probably the best F*REE software is by TubeMogul (www.tubemogul.com).  They offer a solid platform that is easy to use, but they are limited to only about 20 sites submissions.

By far the best software on the market is Traffic Geyser. Traffic Geyser lets you pump your video out to all of the video sharing sites with the touch of a few buttons.  I am a non-tech guy and I find it very easy to use.  There are a ton of other features you can add, but you can explore those when you go check out the Traffic Geyser product.

Now you have the Why’s and the How’s of video marketing. Now all you have to do is figure out what you want to say, get the tools to support your efforts and get to work.

Let’s get after it.

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  • http://www.insyncresources.com Angela

    Excellent article – very helpful, Keith. This is my next obvious marketing step, and I needed to read this now. I didn’t know about TubeMogul, but I’ll definitely check it out. Be well! – Angela LoĂ«b, owner of http://www.insyncresources.com & co-owner of http://www.greatoccupations.com

  • http://authentic-networker.com Keith O’Brien

    Thanks Angela – let me know if there is anything I can do to support you.