Category Archives: YouTube Video Tips
How to get more views for your YouTube videos
There’s no more compelling way to tell the story of your brand than with YouTube video but using YouTube effectively for your company or organization does take serious effort.
In this Social Media Week DC presentation, Mary Fletcher Jones of Fletcher Prince http://www.FletcherPrince.com will talk about the marketing advantages of YouTube for your business, agency, or nonprofit organization.
Mary will suggest practical tips for producing high quality video that obtains lots of views, focusing on the core aspects of content, production quality, and search engine optimization.
Download the slides and notes for this presentation here: http://www.slideshare.net/Fletcherprince
This session was recorded live at Thomas Jefferson Library in Falls Church, Virginia on February 14, 2012 for Social Media Week DC.
Please excuse the production quality; it is not up to our usual standard since this is a video taken from a Livestream broadcast on a webcam — but we promised to make this content available to our attendees.
Thank you for watching, and please subscribe to Fletcher Prince on YouTube!
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Nonprofits, apply now for YouTube Next Cause
YouTube has just announced its new program, YouTube Next Cause for nonprofits. The program provides nonprofits with the tools they need to turn video views into donations, volunteerism and awareness.
Organizations that are part of the YouTube Nonprofit Program (full eligibility requirements) are eligible to apply for YouTube Next Cause. Apply online http://goo.gl/ODbI6. Applications for YouTube Next Cause are due February 27, 2012.
Selected nonprofits will be announced on March 5th, and selected participants will be invited to an April 2 one-day summit in San Francisco, where they will receive in YouTube fundamentals and promotion and community engagement tips. One-on-one consulting sessions to grow their YouTube presence will also be offered.
How much do you know about YouTube and online video?
Image via CrunchBase
Here are some lesser-known recent statistics and research findings…
- Online video viewing increased 43% in the United States last year.
- YouTube views increased 25% last year.
- YouTube videos receive 4 billion views/day.
- More than 500 tweets/minute contain a YouTube link.
- Online video is 141 times more likely than a website to generate a “click-through” in search engine results.
- 72% of small businesses say YouTube is highly effective for marketing.
- 72% of senior congressional staffers think YouTube is somewhat/very important for communicating their members’ views
- YouTube is the second most used social media channel among Federal employees and Federal contractors.
- More than half of CEOs and senior executives watch a work-related YouTube video at least weekly.
- 65% of senior-level executives have visited a vendor’s website after watching an online video.
- 67% of senior-level executives said an online video influenced them to make a business-related purchase.
- 58% of journalists have YouTube accounts.
- 53% of journalists say online video makes a corporate website useful.
- 47% of charities are on YouTube.
- 86% of four-year colleges and universities have a YouTube Channel
Question of the week: How can I make my YouTube video go viral?
Viral videos — videos that are shared and exceed 100,000 views on YouTube — have certain characteristics in common. Videos become “viral” when they are shared among people (just like the common cold). Viewers eagerly share it via email and social networks.
Many viral videos are “accidents.” They were not produced to go viral. Typically, the videos offer shock value (bride accidentally falling into a swimming pool) or humor (talking cats). Viral videos are almost always brief (typically less than 2 minutes in duration). Other video content that becomes viral includes videos featuring celebrities, and “how-to” videos that build a huge following (Michelle Phan’s makeup videos). Michelle’s videos are a good example of viral videos that involve advanced level planning and production qualities — those are planned to go viral.
This is a good example of a viral video (incorporating humor, originality, and some shock value — the cross dressing and profanity) that just happened yesterday. My friend, Ray Ortega, posted it on his Facebook profile. I saw it, loved it, and shared it on Facebook and Twitter. At that time, it had 311 views. In 24 hours, so many people had shared it, the views rocketed to more than 350,000 views.
Sometimes, it seems like a video just becomes viral because of luck. Let me give you an example: Dieselducy on YouTube. Just one of his many elevator videos (yes, they are just videos of elevators) has more views than all of the videos on my Fletcher Prince Channel put together, and for that matter, more than nearly any public relations agency on YouTube. Certainly, they achieve viral status, and how humbling is that?! He has managed somehow to put together content, that for reasons many of us would find hard to understand, resonate with a large audience. My son happens to be a big fan, and I have to say they do kind of grow on you. Anyway, whatever the reason, viral videos strike a chord among viewers, and in this way, they are rather successful communications forms.
Is it possible to “make” a video you have produced for your company or nonprofit go viral? You can certainly increase your chances for obtaining more views by creating shocking or humorous content (both are extremely difficult to do, and I only recommend it for certain kinds of brands).
You can also increase views for any YouTube video through
- Optimization (proper tags, titles, descriptions, and playlists)
- Promotion (embeds, blogs, Twitter, email)
- Advertising — YouTube offers a variety of well-tested options
I do not believe I have had the fortune to have produced a viral video, myself. The most views I have ever achieved on a single video would be about 35,000, and I don’t consider that count to be in the viral category. That said, YouTube still contacts me to run advertising on my videos, and they feature them from time to time. So, I know my videos have influence.
Think about your goals. Do you want your video to go viral, truly? Or do you want to reach a targeted audience? Most viral video producers are obtaining advertising revenue from their videos, and may already be in the YouTube Partner program. If you’re trying to make money from videos, you want to produce viral content.
On the other hand, maybe getting out your message is more important to you and your company or organization. In that case, strive to reach your targeted audience with video content they find relevant, useful, and informative. And a note: make it interesting! Videos should not be talking blogs. The visual aspect is what it is important.
Everyone on YouTube, self included, wants more video views. But just because your video isn’t viral doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value.
Related articles
- Watch The 9 Most Popular Viral Videos Of The Week (huffingtonpost.com)
- The Most Watched YouTube Videos of 2011 (myq105.radio.com)
YouTube, We Need to Talk
There comes a point in every relationship where people just need to hash things out.
Today, I am asking you, YouTube, please don’t impose the March 1 “upgrade!” on all subscribers! We don’t want it!
For those who want it, great.
But you PROMISED we could switch back to the old design. Even in your new documentation guide, there is wording about how we can switch back to the old design if we prefer. But now, all of a sudden, there is this notice that the Channels will ALL be switched to the new design on March 1. Not voluntarily. You’re just going to do it.
There are so many drawbacks to the new Channel design! You’re taking away our publicly viewable friends and subscriptions, and so many other aspects that made us social on YouTube. I used to find new Channels to subscribe to by looking at what other people subscribed to on their Channels. Hey, we all did. It was an important way of building audiences. And now, poof. That will be eliminated. Why, why, why?
The new format, in my view, is not user-friendly, and nearly impossible to brand. All the Channels now look the same. We can’t organize our channels by playlists anymore. We can’t make them the color of our brands. We can’t choose a font. The text amount we used to have to describe our Channels, companies, and purpose has been drastically cut. And the hyperlinks we had in our profile descriptions don’t work anymore, either. Just check out Michelle Phan’s site if you don’t believe me.
And where are my Channel comments? I had some nice ones. In the new format, they’re just gone.
The truncated video descriptions that appeared on our Channels that encouraged people to watch the videos are gone. Now they have to click through to the watch page to see what the video is about. We can’t organize the modules in the way we would like. The customization options we know and love have been taken away from us.
I liked being able to feature other Channels on my Channel. My whole portfolio was organized around it. But I’m not the only one who uses that feature. So does the Federal Government. Why are you giving us fewer options to keep people from exploring content on YouTube? How does that work for you?
Hey, if I could pay to keep my Channel like it is, or buy the branded Channel option, I sure would. I don’t know how many times I’ve contacted your advertising rep to do just that. But I’ve never received an answer. I guess you don’t want my money anymore than you want my input!
And the “Feed” setting just makes no sense at all. Seriously, is there a user demand for “Feed” activity? People want to see videos. If I wanted to see what a user “favorited” I could have looked at their “favorite” playlist, like before.
BEFORE
New Design. I don't like it. It's "blah."
AFTER
I don’t like the new version.
And most of all, you’ve never provided a reason why this is a good move for you, or for us. You can’t expect us to support or like this with no rationale at all. That’s not fair. Okay, you said it was more “flexible.” How is taking away options from Channel creators MORE flexible? You said it makes it easier for Channel creators to organize and showcase exactly what they want. Is it opposite day at YouTube? Because it does exactly NOT that. I know. I tried it out. And you said it makes it look and feel easier for viewers to find and watch content. According to whom? Where is the usability study on that? Because I think the organization tools you took away make it a lot more difficult.
I have four YouTube Channels of my own and I administer others for clients. I have tested the new format and I do not consider it an improvement. In fact, I hate it, and so do many who have been there for you since the beginning. Even your Channel doesn’t look good anymore. We worked hard on our Channels and you’re just taking them away from us. We help support you and you support us. There wouldn’t be a YouTube without us, though, and we deserve a choice.
You gave us a choice at first, then you decided to take it away. Please listen to us!
Sometimes, all you have to do is tell the story: YouTube basics
Image via Wikipedia
I’d like to share a couple of examples of good B2C YouTube videos with you today, because I think they illustrate what makes for especially good YouTube content. Not every YouTube video has to be viral, edgy or funny. And you don’t have to spend a fortune on an elaborate concept, either. Sometimes just telling the story in an engaging and visual way is all you have to do maintain interest in a product or service.
You can’t do that in a television commercial, but you can on YouTube, and that is one of YouTube’s great and engaging strengths.
These marketing videos share a number of admirable qualities in common:
- The videos are clearly produced with the audience’s needs and preferences in mind. Watching them, it’s easy to imagine that both of these videos would make the target audiences think positively about the brand, and stimulate purchases or plans for purchases.
- They are original in concept. They’re presenting subject matter that hasn’t been featured over and over by others.
- They are not overly promotional, and they aren’t commercials. Instead, they provide straightforward information that the viewer might not otherwise know about.
- The presenters are warm, engaging, articulate, and credible.
- The videos are brief, well-produced, and fun to watch, with good audio and lots of visual interest.
Check out this video produced by Krispy Kreme, which epitomizes these qualities
and this one by Dutch Wonderland. This one accomplishes twin objectives: it reassures 
parents the rides are safe and it tells kids (and kids at heart) what happens in an amusement park when it’s closed for the winter. This also looks like a great place to work, so I can see how this might encourage summer employee applications
Marketing Idea: Create a Holiday Greeting Video (with video examples)
Holiday Greeting Video Ideas: December Holidays
- Wish your viewers a Happy Holiday, Seasons Greetings, or wish them the plethora of holidays that take place in December.
- Show off the seasonal beauty of your workplace or campus.
- Record a silly skit, with props, Santa hats, etc. Show your employees around the workplace or office: decorating, icing cookies, exchanging Secret Santa presents. Use speed motion to capture the hectic pace of the holidays for a humorous effect.
- Record the haul of toys collected for Toys for Tots.
- Record an appeal encouraging donations to your company’s charity.
Holiday Greeting Video Ideas: New Year’s Celebrations
- Wish your viewers a Happy New Year.
- Record a mini-annual report of your organization’s achievements, or reveal your goals and plans for the New Year.
- Have your staff reveal their wishes for the New Year, or resolutions (keep it positive). How is your business going green? Being responsive to customer feedback and suggestions?
- Relate your product or services to the notion of resolutions that will deliver convenience or quality to your customers or clients: This year, resolve to (benefit) by using (product or service).
- Share a “10 Best of 2011″ list of events or developments that are related to your industry.
Working with Fletcher Prince is a fun and affordable way to create holiday greeting videos for your company. Please contact us if you would like us to produce a holiday greeeting video for you, and show you how to share it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and through email communications. We would love to work with you!
Related articles
- Holiday video greetings for your company or nonprofit organization (fletcher-prince.com)
Tips for recording a great holiday greeting video on YouTube
Everyone markets their company around the holidays, even if all they do is send a greeting card to employees or clients. The trick is — standing out from all that holiday buzz and clutter.
As you know, at Fletcher Prince we are big on marketing with YouTube video. For businesses and nonprofit organizations, YouTube is a terrific way to relate key messages that are relevant and informative for your target audiences.
Business and nonprofit managers should realize, however, that while people do go to YouTube for company and product information and how-to tips, they also want to be entertained and engaged.
Your company can be engaging by being sincere and amiable, and by reaching out to your audiences with positive messages. A holiday greeting video is an easy way to accomplish that.
It’s traditional for many businesses to send holiday greetings to their customers, clients, or members. Creating a holiday greeting video is a novel way to acknowledge that your customers matter.
Creating a holiday greeting video can be as easy as slide show of messages and photos with background music, or a heartfelt greeting from an executive, or as complex as a funny skit featuring your employees with lots of props and settings.
Participating or helping plan a holiday greeting video can be a fun team-building activity for your employees (you can’t say that about a greeting card!). And with social media, there are so many creative ways to use a holiday greeting video, that it just makes sense to try this marketing tactic this year.
And, you know, it’s just a nice thing to do.
Ways to Use Holiday Greeting Videos for Marketing
- Wish your Facebook Page followers a happy holiday (upload the video to your Facebook Page)
- Send a special holiday email to your customers, clients, vendors, partners, and employees (saves postage and paper!). Email communications that “feature” video have higher open rates and click-through rates.
- Use it as the featured post in your blog for the holiday month (ask me how to feature a blog post on your front page).
- Play it at your holiday party, or in your lobby, or other public space.
- Share it on Twitter. The new Twitter allows YouTube video to play right on Twitter (you don’t have to click a link).
Holiday Greeting Video Production Tips
- Look at some of the holiday greeting videos on YouTube. What do you like? What do you think didn’t work so well? Ask some of the creative people on your staff for ideas. (Remember, receptionists are also creative people!)
- In each video, emphasize what is great and unique about your company or organization (incorporate your key message). For example, in the video example from the Business School at the University of Rochester, they used the New Year’s greeting video to reinforce the value of diversity at their school.
- Is location an important part of your company? Do you market locally? Photograph or videotape seasonal decorations around town, and incorporate that in your video.
- You don’t have to have “video” to make video. A collection of high-resolution images with background music can also work.
- Keep it simple and short: holiday greeting videos are best kept under two minutes or so.
- Did you mess up a few times while recording your video? Don’t trash those clips! Keep them and create a bonus blooper video (with all the participants’ permission, of course).
- To incorporate video in a special email message (as you see in the image, right), or in your monthly email newsletter, create an image of your YouTube player and embed it in your email communication, hyperlinking to the YouTube video. Be sure to include the word “video” in your email subject line.
Related articles
- Holiday video greetings for your company or nonprofit organization (fletcher-prince.com)
- 12 YouTube Video Ideas for Businesses (fletcher-prince.com)
Agencies need to post more YouTube videos
Number of Videos: concentrate your efforts on optimization
More than half (65%) of leading public relations and advertising agencies on YouTube have fewer than 25 videos on their Channel.
One global firm is the exception and has the most videos in the group by far, with 288 videos on their Channel.
However, the agency does not have the most combined views for its 288 videos. They’re essentially getting a low MPG for their videos.
Number of videos vs. number of views is an important distinction. Yes, it’s good to have lots of videos, but not if it gets in the way of optimizing the ones you have already produced, or producing more compelling content people want to watch.
These findings were derived from an analysis of 100 leading public relations and advertising agencies and their activities on YouTube.
Related articles
Related articles
- Harness the Power of YouTube, Professional Communicators (fletcher-prince.com)
- Get More Views for Your YouTube Videos With This Checklist (fletcher-prince.com)
- Run a YouTube Channel Diagnostic (fletcher-prince.com)
Holiday video greetings for your company or nonprofit organization
For the second year, we are offering holiday greeting videos for a discounted fee.
Why? Because we like doing them, that’s why!
Holiday greeting videos recorded here at Fletcher Prince: $175
Holiday greeting videos recorded at your location, $300, plus extra if you need bells and whistles. Because bells and whistles are really expensive these days. Otherwise, it’ll just be $300 plus your undying gratitude to us for making such a rockin’ holiday video.
Things you WILL have to pay extra for…
- Set up of your branded YouTube Channel, if you don’t have one yet: $450.
- Adaptation of your logo to YouTube specifications, if you haven’t done that yet: $450
- Incorporate YouTube video into Constant Contact email greeting card: Free, if you join our partner program and have a permission-based contact list of at least 20 contacts.
