Online Video: Stop Waiting and Start Filming

It was December of 2008 when comScore, a prominent Internet marketing research firm, revealed that the number of searches on the video sharing site YouTube had surpassed that of Yahoo. As of January 2010 YouTube remained second only to their parent company Google in number of searches. That breaks down to roughly 3.7 billion monthly YouTube searches compared to 2.7 on Yahoo and 1.8 via Microsoft’s offerings. That is a critical mass of people and your business can no longer afford to ignore them. Take a second and search for your company (or even your own name) on YouTube. Do you like what you see in the results? If not then it is time to create some content. Even if your search returned nothing you have a great opportunity. Online reputation only exists with the presence of information, and a blank canvas is open to anyone. If a person posts something regarding your business on YouTube, in the absence of other relevant search results it will be all that defines you in that space. Why give up that control when it’s so quick and easy to contribute yourself?

Business people need forget what they think they know about video. The Internet, as a medium, and YouTube, as a platform in particular, come with different expectations and standards than television. Videographers and ad agencies have their place, but your cost of entry is generally a camera, a computer, and an idea. As for cameras, it’s not uncommon to find YouTube footage shot with a web cam or a cell phone, so a relatively cheap point-and-click camera like a Flip Video will more than suffice. Most cameras and consumer-level computers even come with free editing software, but given the impromptu nature of online video you might not even use it. Some of the most successful video bloggers, like Wine Library’s Gary Vaynerchuk, forgo editing altogether. If your goal is to connect with people and build your reputation, a “warts and all” approach is humanizing. If you are truly passionate about your subject matter and comfortable speaking about it, then you may not necessarily even need a script.

You will of course want to have a plan so you can stay focused, but YouTube is a social network, not a television channel. You can respond to videos with your own. Demonstrate your expertise and provide value to the viewer by filming step-by-step instructions. You have the opportunity to address your customers with more humanity than you ever could in an advertisement. If you want a great example search YouTube for Sears.ca. The retail giant, despite their vast resources, films unscripted answers to customer questions on the floor of their store with a handheld camera. Their YouTube videos are no more sophisticated or polished than yours would be. This is a level playing field, so why not get in the game?

…from a series of Social Media articles I’ve been contributing to the Business Link newspaper, with editions in Niagara, Hamilton-Halton and Brantford. This article ran in Volume 3, Issue 2, March 2010.