Qualification for a YouTube Branded Channel

Since its inception in 2005 YouTube has grown from an obscure video sharing site to the go-to for companies, individuals and other groups to show off their best video content. As of 2011 the site offers a number of different options for video creators, including the Partner Channel where popular users can get paid through advertising, and the Brand Channel which serves as the "YouTube home" for companies and their brands. But as you'll see the question may not be whether you qualify but whether you can pay for it.

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1. So Who Qualifies?

   • If you have a company, business, organization or brand and want to promote it on YouTube, then chances are you qualify to have a YouTube Brand Channel. The only way to know, though, is to ask. Before you can begin to set up a YouTube Brand Channel you'll need to contact a YouTube representative and let them know a bit about your business and what your goals are for your Channel.

   The Application

   • The first step in contacting YouTube is filling out the application that's available on YouTube's "Advertising" page. Fill in the required fields including your name, company name, website and phone numbers. The form also asks you to give them some idea of your advertising goals, so give this some thought before you fill out the form. If need be check in with the other marketing people at your place of business or have a look at your business plan to get a reminder of your business' core values and marketing approach. The more professional and organized you present yourself the better. Once you've filled out your form it's a waiting game. Someone from YouTube should contact you within a week.

   The Costs

   • Extra exposure for your business with a professional look is not free. If you want to create a Brand Channel prepare to pay. While YouTube does not publicly post a price sheet for Brand Channels know that they're not cheap. The Brand Channel itself may be free but according to other bloggers who have been there you have to buy advertising on the site in order to have the Brand Channel which could be several thousand dollars or much more. The only way to know for sure what it will cost your business is to talk with a YouTube representative by following the steps detailed above.

   Other Options

   • So you've talked to a YouTube representative and perhaps determined that a Brand Channel is out of your scope or price range. Before you despair know that you do have other options which still could lead to increased profits for your business. A good way to start is with a regular YouTube Channel which is free and open to anyone. By posting regular videos and promoting them on your social media sites, your company newsletters and in any other marketing chains you currently have, you could slowly develop a following. Once you've created a body of work and have a collection of subscribers you can apply for YouTube's Partner Program which allows you to get paid when users view ads alongside your videos. Over time all of this could lead to enough revenue to allow you to afford a Brand Channel for your business.

Courtesy : Nicole Vulcan

Business Benefits for Having a YouTube Channel Read more

YouTube is not only a popular website for individuals to share their favorite videos; it has also emerged as a marketing tool for businesses. Many businesses actively promote their products or services by creating a YouTube channel that includes a company's branding, video advertisements and interviews with executives and employees and ways for customers to interact with them. A YouTube channel, effectively used, can help a business improve its search engine rankings and increase awareness of its products.

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2. YouTube's Reach

   • One of the major business benefits of creating a branded YouTube channel is that YouTube can help generate traffic to a company's website, which can help increase sales. According to Alexa, a Web analysis company, YouTube is the third most popular website in the world (following only Google and Facebook), with about 490 million people globally visiting each month, watching about 2.9 billion hours of video monthly. Businesses that create effective, compelling videos and upload them to their YouTube channel, including links to their business' website, can drive traffic from YouTube to their site.
   

   Search Rankings

   • Building an effective YouTube channel, frequently updated with fresh and interesting video content, can also help a business improve its search rankings, according to a July 2011 article by Search Engine Journal. Specifically, video content that uses the right keywords and tags that are relevant to that company and its products can help a company's "organic" search rankings, which are the results that appear in a search engine because they are the most relevant to the terms a person is searching for, not because of paid advertising. In addition, YouTube is the Web's second largest search engine -- trailing only Google. Companies with YouTube channels can pay to have their videos ranked higher in the rankings when a person searches for videos using specific keywords.

Courtesy : Erik Arvidson

5 Ways to Promote Your YouTube Videos

You can make the most informative and entertaining video on YouTube, but that alone won't guarantee you an audience of potential customers. You'll still need to promote your video in as many ways as possible to help spread the word about your startup.

Here are some of the most successful tactics for promoting a new YouTube video:

1. Promote it on your company blog.
Your company blog is the perfect place to promote your video to your loyal customer base. Talk up each new video in its own blog post, linking to it or even embedding it in the post.

2. Tell your email list.
When you upload a new video to YouTube, send a message and link to your entire email list. If you send out a periodic email newsletter, mention your new videos in it, too.

3. Connect to social media.
Mention your new videos in your tweets and status updates, and link to or embed them in the messages. Facebook, for instance, lets you embed YouTube videos in your status updates. Just paste the URL into the status update and Facebook will put the video in your News feed. Twitter doesn't let you embed videos, but you can link to them from your tweets. And on Pinterest, you can "pin" YouTube videos to your virtual pinboards.

You also can promote your videos on social bookmarking and news sites such as Reddit and StumbleUpon. When you post a link to your video on these sites, you can broaden the viewership beyond your existing customers and social media followers. Note, however, that self-promotion is often frowned upon on many of these sites, so do so as sparingly and subtly as you can.

4. Do some old-fashioned public relations.
While most companies focus their promotional efforts on the web, you shouldn't neglect traditional public relations. This means issuing a press release when you've uploaded a new or particularly important video, and also picking up the phone or sending emails to target specific news outlets, such as your industry's trade groups, publications and blogs. Make sure you include a video link in your press release to help online news sources link directly from their coverage to your video on YouTube.

5. Advertise on YouTube.

If you can afford it, you can advertise your videos on YouTube, using parent company Google's AdWords for Video program. Called TrueView ads, they appear on the YouTube site, targeting potential viewers and linking back to the selected video or your YouTube channel page. TrueView ads are pay-per-click (PPC) ads, just like traditional AdWords text ads. So, you pay only when someone clicks your ad.

Start by logging into your Google AdWords account and linking it to your YouTube account. Set a daily budget for the maximum you're willing to spend. Then, select a video to display in your ad and choose the type of ad you want to run.

Google offers four types of TrueView ads. In-search ads appear at the top of the search results page when users search for the keywords you select. In-display ads appear in the related videos section on the viewing pages for similar videos. In-stream ads are short video messages that play at the beginning or end of other videos. And in-slate ads are commercials that play before or in the middle of longer videos.

In-search ads are the best choice for many companies because most YouTube videos are found through searches. So, just like your website, you want your video showing up on search results pages.

The next step requires you to set a maximum cost per view (CPV). This is the maximum amount you're willing to pay for each click. You can start with just $1 per day but what you spend is really dependent on your budget. You then choose how to target your ad -- through demographics and interests or via keywords. Keyword targeting is often best for in-search ads.

Once your campaign is up and running, you can use the AdWords Dashboard to measure the performance of your ads -- including but not limited to number of views. Depending on the results, you may need to tweak your strategy and possibly create new ads.

Video Marketing Goes Beyond YouTube. Have You Explored These 3 Options?

I love YouTube. When it comes down to it, YouTube is still the most heavily trafficked video site online today. And with an estimated 72 hours of content being added every minute, it should certainly remain the cornerstone of any good video-based content marketing campaign.

But what if you want to take things further? Sayyou’ve already maximized your brand’s presence on YouTube and are looking for new opportunities to reach different consumers or experiment with alternative types of video content. Depending on your specific use case, any of the following three YouTube alternatives could give you the campaign growth you’re looking for:

1. Reach higher-quality audiences with Vimeo. Although Vimeo’s basic structure is similar to Youtube’s, it differs in a number of key ways. Not only was Vimeo the first to support consumers' uploading high-definition pieces, the video-sharing site prevents post-viewing “related videos” from displaying your competitors’ clips. And it's is totally ad-free. For these reasons, Vimeo tends to attract a smaller but what many advertisers consider a much higher-quality audience (meaning a viewership including lots of employed professionals). 

Get started by creating some epic video content: Vimeo filters out most commercial, gaming and nonuser-generated content, so you’ll want to invest in creating quality videos before branching out onto this site.  

Consider a paid account. As a paying producer (plans start at $59.95 a year), you’ll be able to customize your video player, add your logo to the top of your videos and take advantage of other premium features.  

Focus on community building: Vimeo users are seriously loyal about their platform. So don’t look at the site as just another dumping ground for your video content. Instead, get to know the site’s users by interacting with them before sharing your work.

Related: Why Short Videos Are Wildly Popular Over Social Media

2. Use Vine when you want to experiment with more viral-style short-form video content. Vine isn’t a video-sharing site; it’s a mobile and desktop app associated with Twitter that allows users to share looping videos of 6 seconds or less in length. The videos' limited duration means that Vine isn’t right for every brand, but it’s definitely worth considering; Ogilvy vice president Heather Taylor estimates that “brand vines are shared four times more than other online videos.”

Think personality. Six seconds doesn’t give you enough time to do a full product demonstration or sales pitch, but it does give you an opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality. Have fun with your clips and leave people wanting more.

Post regularly.The number of Vines being created and shared means that regular posting to this network is a must. Don’t stop after releasing a single Vine video. Keep your channel full and your followers engaged with regular releases.

Learn from the big boys.The learning curve for Vine can be steep. Help your brand's Vine profile pick up traction (scoring followers and interaction) by checking out how big companies like GE and Lowes use the service.

3. Tap Wistia when you need more analytics data and features than YouTube provides. Unlike YouTube, Wistia is a paid video platform (the price for a plan starts at $25 a month) that delivers clips to websites and mobile devices. Where Wistia really shines is with its conversion and analytics features, which help users capture leads and learn more about how viewers are interacting with each video.  

Amp up your production quality; if you’re going to invest in a video platform, you’ll want to use it to deliver quality content. Wistia’s video-production page offers tips on improving clip quality on a budget.

Think about your core audience; Wistia isn’t about driving view counts; it’s about the chance to engage with your brand’s ambassadors. Use analytics to be sure your videos are striking the right chord.

Pay attention: Having access to advanced analytics is only helpful if you use this data. Tap the information you generate to drive campaign changes across all your brand’s marketing channels.

These three Youtube alternatives should help you expand your video-marketing campaigns, but if you have another recommendation to share, leave a note in the comments section below.

Courtesy : SUJAN PATEL  VP of Marketing at When I Work

25 Actionable Items for Successful Video Marketing

Successful video marketing may seem overwhelming. Especially if you have the thought in your head that you have to hire a full video crew and have all the expensive equipment to go with it in order to produce videos.

The good news is that there are several affordably priced HD camcorders on the market, and your phone may even be able to shoot HD as well.

Combine that with affordable or free video editing tools, and you have what it takes to start promoting your business and its products or services on YouTube, Vimeo, and beyond. Below are actionable tips you can start implementing right away to get you started.

How to Perform Successful Video Marketing

Cross Post

Cross post on Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, Google+. Google+ and YouTube are connected, but be sure to promote that you have a new video on all social networks as soon as it’s out.

Share Snippets

Share snippets of video on Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine, as you are recording your full-length video as teasers.

Embed Your Videos Into Blog Posts

Embed videos into blog posts with a quick explanation for more visibility and extra content (which can help drive more traffic to your website and blog).

Create Product Videos

Create product videos for products to show how big an item is compared to a person (this is especially good for clothing or accessories), or how easy it is to use.

Videotape Company Events

Take videos of company events with employees to increase familiarity and the feeling that users know you personally.

Create a Series of Videos

Let one person or team from each department in your company have a “Day in the Life” video that explains what they do all day. Splice different segments together from throughout the day.

Create Video Testimonials

Shoot video testimonials instead of having clients or customers write them down. It personalizes the testimonial and makes it more authentic.

Provide Incentives

Give incentives (products, gift cards, drawings) for user-generated videos that promote your products or services. Share these videos on your video channels.

Host a Contest

Hold a contest to create an infomercial for your company, product, or services for employees and/or your customers. Make it fun and promote cheesiness!

Use Google Adsense

Look into Google AdSense for your YouTube videos to make a little more income for your efforts.

Provide Employees With Cameras

Give employees GoPro cameras to record company events or their experiences during their work day.

Invest in an HD Camera

If you need a high quality camera anyway, consider buying one that shoots HD video as well. Superzoom cameras are in between point-and-shoots and DSLRs and are an affordable option.

Invest in Simple Accessories

Buy a portable tabletop tripod for interviews and testimonials. There’s several affordable options on Amazon or eBay that can fit in your camera bag.

Record Interviews

Conduct interviews with people from your industry at conferences and networking events. Have an interviewer with a wireless mic and someone to hold the camera (or a full-length tripod).

Display Product Durability

Make videos that show your product’s durability. “Will it Blend” from Blendtec and Otterbox’s community-generated YouTube videos are good examples:

Create Explainer Videos

If you specialize in accessories or complements to a main product (like iPad cases), buy the latest main product and do an explainer video about it with your review.

Poll People

Poll Twitter, Facebook, and your website for questions from your audience and create an Ask the Expert video series with their answers.

Create Video Podcasts

Create a podcast with audio and video versions so users can view or listen, however they’d prefer.

Create Playlists

Create Playlists on YouTube of related videos or series so they are easier to find.

Optimize Your Videos

Be sure to implement correct video SEO for your videos’ titles, descriptions, categories, and keywords. Be sure to always include a link to your home page or the most accurate interior page, as well as your phone number, in the description.

Answer Customer Questions in Video

If your customer service or support team keeps getting the same questions repeatedly, answer each one in a separate video, making the title the optimized version of the question they get asked.

Create Video Roundups

Include of roundup of that month’s new videos in a monthly newsletter or email blast, or as an addition to your existing scheduled emails.

Use Freelance Services

Use Fiverr or another freelance service to get a custom intro for all your videos to make them more professional.

Use Video Editing Software

Utilize free or affordable video editing software (such as Windows Movie Maker) and scale up according to your needs.

Record in Front of a Backdrop

Use a white sheet and PVC pipe to make an easy backdrop if you don’t have a blank wall to shoot your videos in front of.

In addition, before actually shooting your videos, it might help to do some reading on basic video principles and how to use your current technology to the best of your abilities. Things such as interviewers should always look at the camera occasionally when interviewing, and you should never shoot in front of a window where sunlight is coming it to reduce glare.

It’s easier than ever before to start creating video content for your business. And this can lead to more visibility, credibility, and easy-to-digest information for your audience.

courtesy : by Sujan Patel In Marketing Tips