Publishing Online Video For Small Businesses: The Basics [ Part 1 ]

Quick, grab the camera and let’s get this recorded! Is it recording yet? Aha, the dilemma. At its most basic beginnings, trying to publish online video for small businesses can start to raise many questions and in specific cases, even some worthy concerns. Before getting into the meat of this discussion, we first need to address a few of the immediate concerns that are undoubtedly going to arise in the above situation.

Strictly from a marketing perspective, you need to know your message and you should have some form of respect for how that message is going to be delivered, interpreted, and monetized. Is it quality over quantity or quantity over quality? Do your consumers expect a professional service/product or do they expect to see your business video messages on a routine basis? From an analytics perspective, it definitely matters. If your target market consists of going after unique visitors instead of returning visitors, you should probably lean more towards quality over quantity. If the opposite is the case, go ahead and get viral with it! However, for the remainder of this post and the posts to come, we’re going to imagine you’re after quality online video marketing, not quantity.

Produced, shot, edited, and distributed correctly, your video has the ability to do the following:

• Increase time spent on site: In my own SEO (search engine optimization) empire, the time a viewer spends on your website is one of the most important determinants for spawning a rep through the serps.
• Engage your consumers: Capture those emotions! This is actually where you recapture and increase your return on investment. Providing a 24/7 salesperson boosts conversion, increases online awareness of your company/brand, and establishes a forward thinking notion of success.
• True Viral Inspiration: Gone are the days of cut outs and coupons in the local newspaper, unless of course your intentions are to drive that audience to your online video. According to our own analytics here at VideoAFX, viewers are more likely to “socially share” your video than they are any other form of marketing.

Now with some of the basics out of the way, let’s discuss for a minute, the message delivery and quality. Online video viewership and audio go hand in hand. If for instance you decide to skimp on the quality of the audio, your viewer will know it and won’t be as emotionally attached to your video as they normally would with professional sounding audio. No internal camera microphones! As crazy as the internet is these days, your message needs to stand out and more or less, set the bar for your competitors. While planning your message, VideoAFX can provide professional pre-production talent to produce your video from the get-go. This is an imperative step, especially when considering the different design diversities your message could possibly have. Once verified and approved or once you feel comfortable with your script, it’s time to dive into the actual video production. For that, you’re going to need to look at the various video production equipment needed to get the job done. If you’re still looking for more advice, stick around and check out some of the recommended production equipment. I’ll even chime in with a few potentially interesting shortcuts.