YouTube Scares Me!

October 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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The second largest search tool on the internet is YouTube and yet most businesses don’t even have a YouTube Channel. When asked why, people say things like “YouTube scares me – or – I don’t want to be on a video – YouTube isn’t for serious businesses!”

The truth of the matter is that as businesses we need to get past things like this and embrace the possibilities that video offers. Getting found online involves making use of every avenue available. With a computer, a video camera, and a free YouTube account (along with a relatively short learning curve) you can make yourself known in this area of the internet world as well.

Let me try and help you with five thoughts about using YouTube to make your online presence soar:

  1. YouTube makes it easy to create, upload, and promote your videos. The process is very simple and if you are at all creative it can be fun as well! I have a friend online who says that he does all his videos in one take and no editing. It can certainly be that simple and should be (at least in the beginning.)
  2. Do a search on YouTube for the name of your industry (Real Estate, Insurance, Speakers, Car Sales, etc.) See what shows up and watch these videos. You will notice that most of the are not professionally done and that they are getting views anyway. You will also find that nearly every industry has people making videos. People searching online for your industry will likely find these folks before they find you.
  3. Study the videos that are industry specific and find out what is being said, what is being taught, what is being done badly and then improve upon them or create innovations that will set yourself apart from them.
  4. Don’t be discouraged. Just like everything in social media, it takes time to be recognized. Stay at it, set a schedule and make videos. As people begin to watch, your message will be heard and you will gain position in your industry.
  5. Make your first video!

 

Don’t let “YouTube scares me!” be your excuse to keep you from one of the most powerful tools available to you?

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Baby Boom Entrepreneur – Saturday Update #5

October 1, 2011 by 2 Comments

This has been a wonderful week. I hope you had a great week as well. Enjoy the video and please let me know what you think and/or how I can help you!

Let’s all have a great weekend and an awesome week! Keep looking for ways to live your dreams.

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Social Media and Baby Boom Business – 6

July 22, 2011 by 2 Comments
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Well so far in this series, “Social Media and Baby Boom Business” we have looked at three of the five most important aspects of building a strong and sustainable social media strategy for your business. We have looked at the importance of your base camp (blog) and the two most prevalent outposts (Twitter and Facebook). Today we want to look at another outpost that can bring you significant credibility, traffic, and in the end sales to your business.

This outpost for your business is YouTube. Adding video to your arsenal of marketing tools will mark you as one of the most innovative people in your niche. To put yourself into this arena is neither costly or difficult to do, but statistics reveal it to be one of the best options on the net.

That said, videos probably need the most planning and thought for them to produce the kind of results that will bring you the power results that they are capable of. Think about these five things:

  1. You need to be sure of what you are going to say, before you get “on camera.” Very few people can just turn on a camera and begin speaking. You may not want to write a script, but you need to at least know the direction of the video from the opening remarks through the story/body of the video to the conclusion and call to action.
  2. You need to understand about how to produce the best sound possible for your videos. There is nothing worse than to try to listen to a video with such bad sound quality that you become incomprehensible. Find the right equipment and learn how to use it!
  3. You need to have fun while producing your videos. No one wants to watch a video of you being “scared out of your mind” in front of the camera. You will get better at it the more videos you make, but remember to be yourself.
  4. You need to talk to the person watching the video. Don’t lecture, don’t condescend, just talk. More people will watch your videos and respond to you the more you talk to them rather than at them!
  5. You need to be creative with your videos. While there are benefits to having a studio set up, don’t get stuck in the studio all the time. Get outside, video from your car, make those watching believe that your life is just like theirs.  They will pay more attention to you if you do.

In the end, video is a really powerful content tool. Use it wisely and you will gain extra strength in your marketing strategy!

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