Category Archives: YouTube Video Tips
New changes to YouTube Channel features and layout
Image via CrunchBase
YouTube dramatically changed the appearance of YouTube Channels today, available as a preview option, removing several customization features in the new version. To me, it doesn’t appear to be a good thing. The main benefit I see is the design is much cleaner. But so many features have been sacrificed. They must have their own reasons behind it, and maybe they will re-consider as this is tested.
This change won’t affect most users yet. Right now, it’s purely an “opt-in” feature (like Facebook’s Timelines). Once you opt in, all channels will appear this way to you. Right now, it’s reversible, just click “Exit Preview” and your Channel will revert to the old design.
When the changes take place, Channels will look much more like each other. Removed features include:
- No more font selection.
- No more color selection.
- No more ability to rearrange elements on a page.
- Channel count views have been removed from display.
- Subscribers are no longer displayed (!)
- Subscriptions are no longer displayed (!)
- Friends are no longer displayed.
- “Insights” stats reports has been changed to “Analytics.”
What else is new…
- The Channel title is much more prominent, so be sure to revisit that, in case it needs tweaking.
- The total amount of video views is more prominent.
- The channel has 3 new “tabs:” “Featured” (combination of videos and playlists), “Feed” (your activity, if you choose to share it, plus Channel comments and bulletins), and “Videos” (your uploaded videos and playlists).
- You no longer have the option of featuring certain videos as you once did — for example, before, you could feature your favorite 6 or 12 uploaded videos on your Channel. It was a great feature. That’s gone now.
Sigh. The more things change, the more they are really different 
The new YouTube doesn’t feel very social at all. I really don’t like them taking my subscriber views away. I tried it (didn’t like it much) and “opted” out.
If you are ready to opt in and change your Channel, click this link. And let me know what you think of the new layout and features in the comments!
Writing for engagement: tips and best practices (video presentation)
I had the opportunity to speak at the RHED Pixel annual Open House last week on best practices for effective social media updates, and wanted to share the video with you today.
I enjoy this event because the speakers are terrific, it’s informal and interactive, and free! So mark your calendars for the Open House next year.
Thanks so much to Richard Harrington for inviting me to present and to Adam Martray and the terrific RHED Pixel team for coordinating and taping the event (which featured a lot of other speakers, including Richard Harrington).
If you didn’t have a chance to go (the room was packed!) or watch the presentations live on UStream, I’ll share the link to those recorded presentations when they become available online. Meanwhile, the folks at RHED Pixel have generously shared the video of my presentation and if you have the time, check it out. I’m sharing tips for marketing your business, nonprofit, association or govt. agency with blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter profiles, YouTube and more.
These are my highly subjective opinions about what has worked for me and what I have observed. If you concur, or you believe differently, or have tips to share, please leave a comment. I would love to hear your views.
For more creative and affordable marketing tips, please subscribe to the Fletcher Prince blog http://fletcher-prince.com/blog
Presentation recorded October 25, 2011 in front of a live audience at RHED Pixel, Falls Church, Virginia.
Related articles
- How to Get More Readers for Your Blog (fletcher-prince.com)
Take it down before you embarrass yourselves: knowing when to kiss a YouTube video goodbye
Image via CrunchBase
It was fun, in the moment, wasn’t it? But now that it’s over, and you look back at it, your realize there wasn’t any substance in it.
No, I’m not talking about some long-ago romantic fling. I’m talking about YouTube video. As more and more advertising and public relations agencies move into the YouTube space, they’re putting up all kinds of video — some good, and frankly, lots and lots of bad. Expert communicators who can tell you what comprises good communication in their sleep are putting up video that conveys neither message nor brand nor value for their clients and prospective clients.
I’m seeing PR and advertising agencies put more care into the message in tweets that have life spans of seconds than the message in evergreen YouTube videos with superlative search engine potential.
Don’t Be Goofy on YouTube if You’re Not a Goofy Brand, It Doesn’t Work For You
This week, a well-heeled agency with national accounts put up a video of their staff doing a physical activity for a full minute. This video irritated me just as much as the cheesecake-eating video another PR agency produced that I talked about last month. So this agency is big time. They only have five videos on their YouTube Channel. And this is the topic they chose for their fourth upload. On the third most popular Internet site in the world.
Let’s examine that. There is no other message associated with this video than the fact that they are trying to break some unspecified world record. There is no description. There are no tags. There is just a group of laughing staff, jumping up and down.
Do they have a health client, by any chance? Would that justify a seemingly completely-unrelated-to-PR activity? No one knows, because there is no context or explanation. A video without context is just noise.
The video should never have been made, or if it was made, it should never have been uploaded, because it’s pointless and about 55 seconds too long. Try watching the full minute. I’m going to tell you, I’m easily entertained. I watch all kinds of stuff. And this got VERY old after 10 seconds. Very good videos with lots of substance are lucky to get 1 minute of views. No one is going to watch people they don’t know do jumping jacks for 1 minute because it’s not novel, cute, funny, interesting, or englightening.
Let’s just review the basics, shall we? All communications, including video, has to have a point. A message. A big idea. It should be clear. No one should have to work to get it or even guess at it. The intended audience should be fairly obvious, if not out and out obvious. A call to action should be in there, even for informative videos. They should resonate with your audience. Add value for your clients. Otherwise, they have no reason for being.
I get it. It’s fun to get the staff together and do something crazy or off-beat. It’s fun to create a video that involves almost no effort. It’s easy to convince yourselves: our clients will LOVE this! They will look at this video and think we are fun and creative.
Well, you are deluding yourselves if you believe any of that. Go ahead and record it. Look at it as a group and have a good laugh. Then delete it.
Just don’t put it on YouTube. Or if you do, look at it again in a week and ask yourself: if I didn’t work here, would I ever watch a video like this? Then take it down. Because you know, honestly, you wouldn’t.
The Unbearable Conference SME Videos
Okay, second example. A lot of agencies do this. They go to a conference and they record interviews with their staff and speakers. They put up the name and title of the speaker, and the conference. But they don’t say what the VIDEO IS ABOUT.
One agency put up more than 20 of these in a row. I subscribe to them, so, yeah, I’m resentful that they did this. They’re wasting my time, frankly. I would like to learn from them and their subject matter experts. They’re making it too hard to do that.
If you don’t say in the video and the text description what is the main point, the central value of each and every video, you give the person no reason to watch it. Pure and simple. You have to put some freaking effort into it.
I can tell these videos cost them some money to make, by the production value. My worst videos get more views than these. Because why? Because…the YouTube viewer has absolutely no reason to watch them. You have to motivate people to watch.
Video is a Form of Communications, and Communications Has a Point
One video: one point. If you’re going to record a conference speaker in a hallway, for heaven’s sake, give them a question and ONE question only to answer that you know is burning on people’s minds, and then record JUST that. I don’t care if they are the CEO; don’t let them ramble on for more than 5 minutes and just put up the video. With no description associated with it. Watching people talk (without a point) IS NOT interesting. The viewer experience is: you’re watching this video and there’s no context and you’re not sure what the main point is and you’re waiting for some real nugget of value to be delivered and it just ends up being frustrating, from a subscriber’s point of view, and I can imagine, completely underwhelming from a client’s point of view.
These videos are communications failures and these are from smart people who should know better. With their resources, experience, and brain power, they should be doing much better video than I could dream of, and yet, they don’t. From the numbers of views, it is transparently obvious that not even the agency’s EMPLOYEES are watching it. Now that’s bad. Video like this is not good communication.
These agencies already have a great reputations. Why mess that up with pointless communications? They need to ask themselves for every video they put up: what will our clients get out of this video? What do they need and want to know? What value are we providing? How are we making their jobs and lives easier and better with our communications, including video communications? Honestly, it is that simple.
These videos are not about you and how CUTE you are or HOW MANY conferences you speak at, because no one cares about that. They are about your clients and your subscribers. Tell their story.
PR is Not a Comedy Club, and You Don’t Have a Funny Brand, Capisce?
Would you mail riddles at random to your clients? Would you call them up just to tell them a joke you heard on the radio that morning? No, you would not, because that would be pointless and unprofessional. So don’t do this kind of video.
There’s nothing wrong with entertaining content for video for B-to-B brands — but it is VERY hard to pull off. It takes real effort. Even then, it’s hard to do. It’s not for the inexperienced. We do it at Fletcher Prince because it’s right for our friendly and accessible brand. It’s NOT right for these buttoned-up, conservative brands! And when we try to pull off humor, we put hours and hours of effort into it: planning, writing, directing, acting, and recording, and even then, I wouldn’t say, yes, we do gangbusters PR humor. So when an agency tries to pull it off in one take is just unrealistic.
For Heaven’s Sake, Break Down and Write A Text Description, Would it Kill You?
And as I have mentioned ad infinitum, in 2011, there is no excuse for any professional communicator to neglect text descriptions. That is SO basic, it’s just pathetic when it’s not done. PR professionals know how to write press releases, annual reports, and white papers. Writing YouTube video descriptions is a cake walk compared to that — but it’s REALLY important. It is one of the only ways you will get views for your videos. Everyone seems to understand that on YouTube EXCEPT people who work in public relations. Even the local chapter of the PRSA is neglecting to include text descriptions on their videos. Why, why, why? It takes 10 minutes to do. Not writing it looks like whomever uploaded it is incredibly lazy, and that is NOT a good look for a PR or advertising agency, trust me.
Related articles
- A YouTube Video Description is a Terrible Thing to Waste (fletcher-prince.com)
- 12 YouTube Video Ideas for Businesses (fletcher-prince.com)
- What was THAT? YouTube Hall of Lame Entrant #4 (fletcher-prince.com)
- Agencies are not getting the YouTube video views they could (fletcher-prince.com)
- Get More Views for Your YouTube Videos With This Checklist (fletcher-prince.com)
Are you using customer testimonial videos on your website?
I’m curious to know — what do you think of when you see a video testimonial on a website or on YouTube?
What kind of business or nonprofit organization was it?
Do you find these kinds of statements made on video convincing? What elements of the video make the testimonial credible for you?
Are you using customer or client testimonials for your business? Why or why not?
Do you think testimonials are difficult or “too much” to ask for from your customers or clients, or do you believe clients may be reluctant to appear on camera and vouch for your company?
What other obstacles have you pondered, or encountered?
If you have used customer or client video testimonials yourself, did that video lead to new business for you? Or in the case of nonprofit organizations, more financial support or volunteers?
Thanks for your feedback on customer video testimonials!
Related articles
- 7 Creative Ways to Get Customer Testimonials (kissmetrics.com)
- The Power of Testimonials [Patricia Wilson] (ecademy.com)
How does the quality of your video reflect on your brand?
Image via CrunchBase
Imagine this scenario. You are an executive at one of the most successful public relations or advertising agencies in the country.
You have an employee that you thought would show great promise. At first. But now that employee shows up to work in sloppy, wrinkled clothes and dirty hair. Bad breath. The employee uses inappropriate language and behavior in the office and at client meetings. The employee doesn’t seem to understand what your agency represents and what you are trying to do, and makes irrelevant comments that embarrass you in front of prospective clients. The employee is so unsteady, you sometimes wonder if he/she is drunk, anyway he/she wavers a lot, and it’s hard to understand what the employee is saying. You are starting to suspect that you may be losing the interest of prospective clients because of him/her, after all, she is at nearly every client meeting.
It’s just awful, but you don’t want to fire this employee because you are still hoping he or she will start working hard and show some results for your company.
That would be insane, wouldn’t it?
Yet, 64% of the leading public relations and advertising agencies on YouTube I examined this month have uploaded video that is of such poor quality, I feel it detracts from their reputation and image. But YouTube video, even bad video, gets prominently featured in search results. So, that “sloppy” video is what your potential clients see, just like that “sloppy” employee in the make-believe scenario.
Incredibly, these agencies do not take down these videos. It’s as if they think the video will somehow start working for them, or delivering benefits to their clients, when all the evidence is to the contrary.
To make this judgment call as I reviewed these YouTube Channels and videos, I took into account the agency’s revenues and resources (these were all top-billing, high-reputation firms with major clients).
I considered these questions
- Would the agency probably upload video of a similar quality for a client? Does it seem apparent that they did the best they could do, given their resources and claims of digital expertise?
- Was the content of the video on message, interesting, informative, useful, and relevant? Did it enhance the agency brand, or detract from it?
- Did the video have at least minimally acceptable levels of production value: informed and articulate participants, audio you could hear, titles you could read, lighting on the subject, steady camera work, evidence of basic-level video editing.
- Were the agency’s uploaded videos in compliance with YouTube’s terms of service, importantly copyright guidelines?
I was generous in my subjective assessment, and yet, only 36% of agencies were uploading what I would describe as acceptable quality video, and that is not to say, excellent quality video.
In this group of acceptable quality video producers, there were a few excellent videos here and there, but they were the exception rather than the rule.
My point is that public relations and advertising agencies do have the resources to better represent themselves and their expertise on YouTube, but choose not to. I would be curious to know the reason why.
Come see Mary Fletcher Jones at Digital East
I’m really looking forward to my presentation on YouTube video at Digital East on September 29. I put a secret code in this video that will get you a $50 discount when you register 
See you there!
PR and Advertising Agencies on YouTube, By the Numbers
According to my analysis of 100 leading public relations and advertising firms, many professional communicators do not know how to maximize the potential marketing opportunities presented by YouTube.
Basis of Findings
I compiled a group of 100 top-billing public relations and advertising agencies. To assemble this list, I used O’Dwyer’s top 50 independent public relations firms (by billings), and I added some major public relations agencies not included in the ranking.
To this group, I added the top 23 advertising agencies in the Washington, DC metro area (by 2009 billings), ranked by Washington Business Journal in the 2011 Washington Business Journal Book of Lists, as well as the top 24 privately owned public relations agencies in the Washington, DC metro area (same publication).
With this information in hand, I assembled a sample of 100 influential public relations and advertising agencies with ample resources and major clients.
The best of the best. Our industry leaders. The kinds of agencies we would expect to deliver superlative results in all aspects of their business dealings.
Summary of Findings: Agencies are Not Maximizing the Potential of YouTube
While many claim digital expertise, in practice, the majority of top-billing public relations agencies and advertising agencies do not take advantage of the branding opportunities and search potential associated with YouTube.
Thirty percent (30%) of the agencies I analyzed have not yet established a presence on YouTube. As for the remaining 70%, most (or nearly all) agencies on YouTube made elementary mistakes in the organization of their YouTube Channel and videos.
These additional findings apply to the 70% of agencies who had a presence on YouTube.
- 95% of these agencies did not have a video player on their website’s home page.
- 67% of the agencies on YouTube had not placed a YouTube button on the home page of their company website linking to their YouTube Channel.
- 66% had uploaded video that either definitely or probably violated copyright restrictions.
- 65% had uploaded fewer than 25 videos on their corporate Channel.
- 64% had uploaded video that was of an unacceptable level of viewing quality.
- 58% had achieved less than 4,500 total views for their videos.
- 43% failed to upload an image of their corporate logo to their YouTube Channel.
- 29% failed to add any text description at all to their videos.
If You Want to Know How Your Agency Ranks…
Please contact me to meet with you if you are interested to know if your agency was included in my analysis, what I discovered about your agency’s activities on YouTube, and how your agency stacks up to the competition.
Learn More: Come See Me Present on YouTube Optimization
I’ll be talking about how to get more views for your YouTube videos at Digital East on September 29, and I sincerely hope there will be some employees from DC area public relations and advertising agencies in the room, because, apparently, I have my work cut out for me. Register today!
We’re Here to Help
Fletcher Prince can help you establish or makeover your YouTube Channel, optimize your videos for search, and develop a plan for creating meaningful and engaging YouTube videos that will truly reflect the reputation and expertise of your company, and be a helpful online resource to your existing and potential clients. Call (571) 269-7559 to learn more.
Related articles
- Get More Views for Your YouTube Videos With This Checklist (fletcher-prince.com)
- Harness the Power of YouTube, Professional Communicators (fletcher-prince.com)
- Run a YouTube Channel Diagnostic (fletcher-prince.com)
Three out of ten leading agencies are not on YouTube
While many public relations and advertising agencies claim digital expertise, YouTube is not an expertise area for many leading agencies in the DC area.
To examine the participation of agencies on YouTube, I compiled a group of 100 top-billing public relations and advertising agencies. To assemble this list, I used O’Dwyer’s top 50 independent public relations firms (by billings), and I added some major public relations agencies who would not be included in the ranking because they are not independent, but are major players. To this group, I added the top 23 advertising agencies in the Washington, DC metro area (by 2009 billings), ranked by Washington Business Journal in the 2011 Washington Business Journal Book of Lists, as well as the top 24 privately owned public relations agencies in the Washington, DC metro area (same publication).
With this information in hand, I discovered multiple findings, which are reported in this blog.
Who’s on YouTube and Who Isn’t
Of the group of 100 agencies I reviewed, 70% had a YouTube Channel. 30 agencies have not uploaded their own YouTube videos.
30 do not have Channels, and that should be a goal for those agencies for 2012.
Agencies fail to optimize their YouTube videos for search
Image via CrunchBase
There are about 18 ways to organize a YouTube Channel and its associated videos for branding and search engine optimization.
To achieve organic search results, deliberate optimization is the only way your videos will receive any meaningful number of views.
Do leading public relations and advertising agencies apply these principles when organizing their corporate Channels on YouTube? Are they getting the search engine results and video views they could? Or are they missing opportunities?
1. Place a YouTube icon on the home page of the company website linking to the company YouTube Channel I found that 67% of these agencies had not. The agencies that did naturally had higher views for their Channels and videos. Little details can yield big results.
2. Add detailed text descriptions to videos, including description of content, call to action, hyperlink(s), cast names, and keywords As I mentioned before in this blog, not adding text descriptions to videos impacts the search potential. It also makes it more difficult for the viewer, so videos without text descriptions tend to be viewed less.
Tags are even more important because it’s how YouTube will group your with related to appear on YouTube watch pages. 75% of my video views come from watch pages and 5% of the views come from my Channel. So if you’re just counting on your Channel to get you views and not tagging and describing, you will get lower views. I have seen views as low as 18 and even 1 and 2 for PR content videos from major agencies.
Fortunately, most leading agencies (71%) did add text descriptions to their video, all of which, however, could be improved with better composition and inclusion of details and keywords.
The ones that did not even try (29%) missed an opportunity, which, again, reveals a lack of attention to detail.
