So, you want to add video to your content repertoire but are intimidated by the technical savvy and equipment required to get started. Creating videos for your YouTube channel is actually easier — and less expensive — than you might think. You just need a camera, some editing software, and, of course, some content.
If you need some guidance on those three elements, then this post is for you. Read on for some recommendations on user-friendly tools for creating YouTube videos for your business. I’ll also offer ideas for content along the way.
What about a camera?
You don’t need a professional-grade camera to produce quality YouTube videos for your business. In fact, your smartphone is equipped to take HD video and can suit perfectly well for short clips or on-the-go shots. But if you’re planning on creating regular video content, purchasing equipment exclusively for this purpose is probably a wise idea.
The good news is that decent video equipment is pretty inexpensive these days — not to mention, easy to use. Here are some favorite budget options.
1) Webcams
Webcams like the Logitech HD offer great 1080p (full HD) footage for well under $100. These are easy to use and ideal for static shots, such as interviews, Q&As, or presentations. The main disadvantage to a webcam is that you will have to carry your laptop with you to film. But for the price, this option is hard to beat.
2) GoPro and other action cameras
GoPro cameras are designed for extreme action sports, but their durability and take-anywhere functionality make them perfect for creating YouTube content for business. Pack in your briefcase to film at a tradeshow; take a product for a test drive to give customers a new perspective; or mount in an advantageous location to showcase your operations. Keep in mind that you don’t need the most expensive, high-tech model to get great footage — some of the older versions go for under $200. Downsides include compromised sound quality and the fixed, wide-angle lens.
3) Point-and-shoot
Point-and-shoots are probably the most convenient and versatile option — you can use them for just about any kind of content. They are easy to mount on a tripod, and offer excellent sound quality (especially if you use the microphone input). Most are small and easy to transport, and many offer an articulating screen, which is key for ensuring you’re getting the shot you want. They vary widely in price and quality, so proper research is necessary to find a camera that will hold up to the kind of content you plan to create.
4) Micro four thirds system (MFT)
Pushing the limits of being budget-friendly, MFT system cameras offer the most professional look for your videos. Swap out different lenses for a variety of angles and shots, and know you’ll have high-quality images all along. Some models have articulating screens, too. If a micro four thirds camera is within your budget, you’ll be able to make beautiful, professional-looking videos, regardless of their content.
For specific camera recommendations, YouTube is the perfect place to search, as many vloggers (video bloggers) take to this channel to offer their informed opinions. For example, this breakdown of six budget cameras demonstrates the difference in image quality while providing excellent, product-specific information on different camera models.
More than video
Video content is not excluded to what you can capture with a camera. Things like slideshows of still images and original animation offer the same visual appeal without having to stage and record live action. Try some of these ideas for engaging video content.
Slideshows
String together some images, add some music, and voilà! Slideshows are an out-of-the-box way to produce video content with minimal time and effort. Here are some examples of content that would work well in a slideshow format:
Photos from an event or milestone celebration
Product launches or teasers
Customer testimonials (photos and short quotes)
Openings or groundbreakings of new facilities
Screencasts/slide-deck videos
Record your screencasts and preserve your PowerPoint presentations for posterity with a slide-deck video. Slide decks are perfect for any content that lends itself to a narrative format, and the fact that they allow for multimedia means they can be highly visual. Mix charts and graphs and videos into your deck to create the most engaging presentation possible. Try some of these:
Presentations
Webinars
Product tutorials and how-tos
Business or product history
Customer FAQs
Explain the problem your product or service answers
Animation
Professional animation programs like PowToon or Moovly make creating multimedia content simple. They are also ideal for illustrating concepts that would be difficult to capture on film in real life — e.g., data security breaches, weather-resistant technology, large-scale logistics operations, chemical products that function on a cellular level, etc. Imagine animated representations of this content:
While you may get that raw footage that is perfect and ready for uploading to YouTube, most likely almost everything you film will need some TLC. Here are seven cheap (or free!) and easy tools that will help you cut, brand, and produce your videos.
If you have a Mac, this is a no-brainer. iMovie is a user-friendly application that allows you to upload and cut video, import still images, and add music from your iTunes library. When you’re done, upload directly to YouTube. iMovie is included in the iLife suite for both OS X and iOS.
One of the most popular video-editing tools around, Movie Maker comes free with the Windows Essential package. Drag and drop photos and video clips into the editor; add music and captions; and upload directly to YouTube.
This free video editing and compositor software for Mac and PC offers professional features but is still accessible to the amateur video editor with limited experience. Trim, color-correct, add visual effects, and more. If the free features aren’t enough for you, reasonably priced pro add-ons really up the ante. Best of all, perhaps, are the extensive video tutorials available to users.
If you plan to upload only a few minutes of video a month, WeVideo is for you. This cloud-based collaborative video-creation platform allows you to publish 5 minutes/month to YouTube (and seven other channels) for free. Upgrade on the cheap for more publishing time and features. The main perks include intuitive design — great for beginners — and the ability to work on your video from different devices. You can also add a call to action or watermark.
Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows. For $34/month (for a year), you can produce quality content marketing pieces, like this video from City Girl Flowers.
This screen-recording and video-editing software is available for Mac for $99. Though on the pricier side of this list, it’s totally worth it if you’re looking to make more sophisticated screencasts with little to no hassle. The intuitive editing interface allows you to slice your video; add still images, text, sound, and transitions; and upload directly to YouTube, as well as other platforms.
This lightweight screen recording program, available for around $60, allows you to choose which area of the screen you’d like to capture, adjust sound, and set a timer. It’s perfect for recording a slide deck presentation or a Skype call — a great feature if you’d like to record an interview or Q&A with someone who works in a different location. Movavi also offers a program specifically for converting PowerPoint presentations into video (~$60), or you can upgrade to the Screen Capture Studio (~$100) for more advanced features and a full video editor.
What tools and programs do you use to create YouTube videos for your business?
Take a moment to let that sink in. After Google, people are searching YouTube for content. Strike that: Over one billion people are searching YouTube for content.
This has raised the eyebrows of content marketers across many industries, including B2B businesses, who recognize the enormous potential for reaching customers through this medium.
If you haven’t considered distributing content through YouTube, you may soon find yourself scrambling to catch up with your competitors who are. For those who don’t know much about YouTube or are clueless about how it can work for business, here are a few basics to get you started.
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a free video-sharing website and social media platform that allows users to view, upload, share, rate, and comment on content. It was launched in 2005 by three former Paypal employees and purchased by Google in 2006. It now operates as a subsidiary of Google.
You do not have to be a registered user to view content, but you must be registered to upload content. Registered users can also subscribe to content providers’ channels to receive updates when something new is available, and can create playlists of favorite videos to view at any time.
In addition to being available on the YouTube website, YouTube videos can be embedded, shared, or uploaded to other sites (such as Facebook).
Why is it good for business?
YouTube has massive potential for businesses. Here are just five reasons to participate.
Users watch around 3.25 billion hours of video every month.
Videos with over 1 billion views: 10,113
80% of views are from outside the U.S.
More than half of views are from mobile devices.
You can navigate YouTube in 76 different languages.
2) Improved search rankings
YouTube videos are included in Google’s search results, ranking above web pages in certain searches. Potential customers searching for products and services like yours will be more likely to find you in such instances.
3) User experience
Video has become so popular for a reason: People like consuming it. By producing content in this medium, you are offering a user experience that is in high demand.
4) Build your brand
Video is the ideal storytelling platform, and it’s also perfect for how-tos, product demonstrations, and other content that demonstrates your company’s expertise. Show your brand personality and engage your audience while building your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.
5) Track performance metrics
YouTube Analytics makes it easy to see who is watching your videos and how they are engaging with them. Run reports on audience demographics, revenue, engagement, traffic sources, and more.
How do I get started?
There are two avenues for businesses who are looking to reach YouTube’s more-than-3-billion users.
For one, businesses can buy ads that run before other videos, beside playing videos, and in search results. Video ads are not covered in this post, but you can learn more about them here.
Secondly, businesses can create their own YouTube channel and upload original content as part of their inbound marketing programs. To get started, you will need to sign into your business’ Google account or create one. Find the sign in button at the top-right corner of the YouTube homepage.
With your account, you will own your very own “channel,” on which you will post your content. Branding your channel is an important step, as this will be the face of your company on this platform. Below are some tips.
Anatomy of a branded YouTube channel
Coyote Logistics, a 3PL provider, has done an excellent job of branding its YouTube channel.
Company Logo
Upload your company’s logo by hovering over the channel icon and clicking the pencil icon when it appears.
Branded Banner
Upload an image that represents your brand and what users will find on your channel. Hover over the channel art, click the “Add channel art” button or the pencil icon in the upper-right corner and select “Edit channel art.” Coyote Logistics makes a bold statement (very representative of its brand personality) here. For the best results on all devices, YouTube recommends uploading a single 2560 x 1440 px image.
Social Icons
Provide links to your other social channels by hovering over the channel art, clicking the pencil icon in the upper-right corner, and selecting “Edit links.” Add the URLs for each of your channels under “Custom links.”
Customize Layout
Click the customize button to create a layout for your channel. You can add up to 10 “sections,” which allow you to group videos in a particular way. For example, you could add sections of recent uploads, popular uploads, playlists, etc.This helps visitors to decide what to watch — and lets you promote content you wish for visitors to see.
About
Navigate to the About section to add a channel description, business email address, country, and social links (if you haven’t already).
Uploading videos
Once you have your channel set, you’re ready to start adding your original content. YouTube Help has a wealth of resources to help you get started, problem-solve, and learn more. The below video offers an introduction to uploading videos in just a few quick steps.
Other terms to know
Playlist: Playlists let you organize your videos into different categories, like interviews, tips, product demonstrations, etc. Learn more.
Channel trailer: A short video, like a movie trailer, that gives visitors an idea of the kinds of videos they’ll find on your channel. Learn more.
YouTube Red: This is the premium subscription option that allows you to view videos without ads, watch videos offline, and more.
Facebook Live offers businesses a new, creative platform for engaging customers — here’s how to use it.
You may have noticed a sudden flurry of notifications on your Facebook account, alerting you to a new feature called Facebook Live. Facebook has slowly been rolling out Live since August 2015, making it available to all pages and profiles in December. And while it may be reminiscent of platforms like Snapchat and Periscope, which are popular social tools among America’s youngest users, this feature offers invaluable opportunities for businesses to reach customers in new and exciting ways.
Here is what B2B marketers need to know about Facebook Live.
What is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live lets you broadcast in real time for up to 90 minutes at a time. People who have recently engaged (or who frequently engage) with your page will receive a notification that you are streaming live, and they can go to your page to view the video. Viewers can comment and react during the course of your broadcast, allowing you to read their remarks and respond immediately.
After the broadcast ends, the video will post on your timeline so those who missed it can watch it in full at a later time. You can edit or remove it, just like any other post, at any time.
Why is this good for business?
Video content is wildly popular. The number of videos uploaded to Facebook has increased by 94% over the last year, with more than 50% of Americans who use Facebook daily viewing at least one video per day. B2B businesses have caught on to this trend and have leveraged video quite successfully in their marketing efforts in the last year or two.
Facebook is an excellent forum for businesses to engage with customers, and Live can enhance this experience — or, at least, provide another avenue for doing so. There is something about being on air and uncensored that promotes transparency and offers the opportunity to connect with people in a very real way. Your business can showcase its brand personality, as well as its products and services, and offer high-value content to a wide audience through this channel.
Additionally, Live gets higher organic reach than non-live video, giving you a prominent spot in your followers’ feeds (without having to pay for it).
How does it work?
Tap “What’s on your mind” at the top of your News Feed.
Select “Live Video” from the drop-down menu.
Add a description and choose your audience before hitting “Go Live.” You’ll see a three-second countdown before your broadcast begins.
Note: Live is only available for iOS, Android, and Facebook Mentions.
Cool features
Target a very specific audience by choosing location, language, gender or age.
Choose where you broadcast live (other than your timeline) by posting to event pages and Facebook groups.
A very prominent “Follow” button at the bottom of your broadcast allows your viewers to opt in to receive notifications when you go live in the future. Viewers can also invite friends to watch live videos with them.
Edit your video after it posts to your timeline. You can select a thumbnail, select a category, include a URL, and add a call to action (such as Shop Now, Learn More, or Sign Up).
Filters allow you to adjust the quality and color of your video, and soon a drawing tool will allow you to doodle over it.
During your broadcast, you’ll see the number of live viewers, which friends are tuning in, and their comments in real time.
Increase your reach by boosting the post after you’ve concluded your broadcast, or by creating a video ad from your broadcast by using the Ads Manager.
The Live Map shows you where people are broadcasting around the world.
What kinds of content could B2B companies stream live?
Businesses have an incredible opportunity to engage with customers and partners with Facebook Live. Here are some ideas for the kinds of content your company could broadcast using this tool.
1) Behind-the-scenes glances
Show your audience your eco-friendly facilities, your impressive tradeshow set-up, your whiteboard after a strategic planning meeting, the inside of a fully packed delivery truck, a community service event, etc. There are a million creative ways to say something substantial about your business by offering a small glimpse into your day-to-day operations.
2) Q&As and Interviews
Live is an ideal platform for a Q&A-style broadcast. Invite customers to bring their questions or requests to a Live stream with one of your executives. Or, have a top-of-their-field expert offer insight on a particular topic or event.
3) Customer testimonials
Do you have any particularly happy customers who would be willing to speak about their experience working with your business? Or could someone on your team interview them? Not only is this great advertising for your company, it offers exposure for theirs as well.
4) How-tos, product demos, and sneak peeks
Build excitement for a product launch with previews, or demonstrate how to best use your product or service. Share your knowledge on best practices, tutorials, and processes related to your business.
5) Presentations, annual reports, celebrations, special events
Facebook Live offers a fresh way to present information or to share a special occasion with your online audience. Imagine announcing quarterly results this way, or honoring milestone employee anniversaries. This platform gives you a new format for marking such moments.
A cross-departmental social media team will improve your company’s social presence.
At a former job, I was part of a team pushing for expanding access to our company’s social media pages. The accounts were administered by a handful of marketing managers, who did not want to relinquish control. After all, weren’t we using social media for marketing purposes? Why would the content or sales teams need access? Wouldn’t that cause chaos and anarchy?
No. In fact, giving access to key people in various departments could actually help your company get more out of social media.
Businesses can use social media for everything from generating leads to gaining market intelligence. And today’s customers expect a brand’s social media accounts to answer all sorts of different needs, from product inquiries to problems with their orders. If only one team is responsible for operating your pages, they need to be able to perform multiple functions, to liaise effectively between customers and internal stakeholders, or to forego some of the valuable benefits of social media.
For example, say your customer does not receive part of a shipment and posts on your Facebook feed to say as much. The marketing person managing your social media either has to 1) also be trained in customer service, 2) reach out to someone on your customer service team (or someone who can locate the shipment) and act as a go-between with the customer, 3) ask the customer to contact someone else in your company, or 4) ignore the post. Any way you slice it, it’s not efficient or a good use of anyone’s time.
That scenario is more common than you might think. Research shows that the number of customers who expect a response through social media has doubled in the last three years, and that seven of eight messages to companies go unanswered for 72 hours. Imagine if your customer service department didn’t respond to emails or pick up the phone for three days!
My former company suffered enormously from problems like these. The marketing managers administering our social accounts were spending hours each week tracking down various employees in other departments to help them problem-solve. They didn’t have time to strategize about content distribution. And even the best communicators were so overloaded with other tasks that leads were going cold before being handed to the sales teams.
If each department identified an employee responsible for overseeing social media, we could have functioned so much more efficiently and effectively. The marketing manager would be responsible for marketing messaging; the content person for generating and distributing content; the sales team for identifying leads and building relationships; and customer service for handling customer inquiries and problems.
Develop a social care team that can address all areas of social information efficiently and effectively. Identify policies and software systems needed for implementation.
Organize departmental responsibilities in the social care team. Clearly define roles and responsibilities among marketing, customer service, public relations, sales, corporate communication, human resources, etc.
Assign specific employees from each department to social media tasks. Set up social media accounts and give employees access to social media systems.
Create brand guidelines for standards, tone, and style of social media communication. Ask legal and human resources to provide a list of do’s and don’ts for real-time consumer engagement.
Define specific goals based on key performance indicators such as response time, sentiment analysis, engagement, views and shares, and other important metrics.
With the right planning and people in place, a cross-departmental social media team is better suited to interact with customers and business partners on these platforms, and it can help your business get the most out of its social media accounts.
Here are three of the top benefits of social media for businesses in the supply chain and logistics industries.
We know that the majority of businesses participate in social media — in fact, a dominant 88% of B2B marketers report using these platforms as part of their marketing programs. Large corporations, small businesses, and those in between are promoting their brand and engaging with customers online. Even companies within the logistics and supply chain industries are joining the bandwagon and reaping the benefits of social media marketing.
The truth is, if your company is not participating in social media, you are at a disadvantage. Your customers, your employees, and your competitors are taking advantage of these technologies to conduct business in new, more efficient ways.
Why are so many companies using these tools?
Here are just three of the top benefits of social media for business:
1) Communicate and engage
By participating in social media, your business has at its fingertips a highly efficient, sophisticated platform for engaging customers, employees, potential hires, industry peers, and the general public. You can announce a new product launch; share small or sweeping changes in service, supplies, practices, locations, etc.; respond to questions or complaints; weigh in on industry discussions happening on online forums; and celebrate employee milestones and accomplishments.
2) Generate and nurture leads
Social prospecting is the process of using social technologies to identify and pursue potential customers that may be interested in your company but that don’t yet know about it. Your business can prospect from the 2.3 billion worldwide social media users, engage them with relevant content, and form and build relationships that you otherwise would have never encountered were it not for the World Wide Web.
3) Reduce marketing expenses
It’s free to set up social media accounts for your business. The real cost comes with dedicating resources to maintain and monitor the content on each channel, and those needs will vary from business to business. Even if you do chose to upgrade and pay for premium benefits and services, like ads, the cost is significantly lower than using many traditional mediums. One recent study suggests that the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) could be as low as $2.50, while traditional tactics, like direct mail ($57 CPM) and TV ads ($28 CPM), remain significantly higher.
Learn more about social media for business in Fronetics’ new white paper, Social Media and the Logistics and Supply Chain Industries. The paper defines social media and social technologies, identifies users and usage patterns, and describes more benefits companies within the logistics and supply chain industries can realize through participation.
In today’s digital world, it is amazing that many businesses, particularly those in the supply chain and logistic industries, are still questioning whether they should be on social media. The simple answer is yes — social media channels are the ideal place to brand, market, and grow your business.
Here are five reasons why your company should be on social media.
1. Lead generation.
Sales teams can also use social media as a lead-generation tool. Social media takes the old marketing billboard and makes it a conversation, which is a huge benefit to businesses who use it well.
2. Trust and thought leadership.
Though the results are not instant, the amount of time and marketing dollars you spend on social media pays off. How long will it take? That varies depending on your business and your sales cycle. But by distributing quality content and engaging customers through these channels, you eventually will establish your company as a knowledgeable, thought-leader in your industry. This creates a level of trust with potential customers, which is invaluable to securing the sale down the road.
3. Brand awareness.
Social media not only builds your brand but can expand your content’s reach. Those who follow you and enjoy your content will “like” and share it, meaning their followers will see it, thus expanding your audience. This makes your reach virtually limitless, providing that your content is compelling, engaging, and worthy of sharing.
Content needs to be fresh, engaging, informative and sometimes entertaining. You need to post consistently and respond to questions that are posted by your readers. (You are creating a relationship, after all.) All of this may seem daunting, but the reward is a highly visible, respected, presence within the social media community. Your business can strategically reach a myriad of potential customers online, which as you know, can be a game-changer in its potential for growth.
What is Facebook Live?
