Posting business-related videos on YouTube
Dianna Huff asked the question whether or not businesses should be using YouTube for video. If you read through the comments, you'll see the opinion is mixed.
For situations where you can point people directly to your video (e.g. when you already have people on your website and you want to show them a clip), embedding the YouTube code on your page (or Google Video would work just as well here) seems to be the way to go...as mentioned by a few people in the comments of Dianna's post. That way you're not taking people to the YouTube site where there might be links to objectionable content appearing alongside yours. The other no-brainer way to post video on your own site is of course to put it on your own server, but because of the technical setup that's required, this might not be the best option for many people.
Of course, two of the major benefits of posting a video on YouTube are the viral component and the universality of its platform. These are benefits you won't get by keeping a video confined to your own website.
I would post a business-related video on YouTube if I thought it would help the clip gain a wider distribution and popularity among my target audience, even with the chance it might have links to not-so-wonderful content alongside it. It's not like business users have never used YouTube before and don't know what kind of content is posted there...and that they'll be shocked if they see a link to a stupid or objectionable video. I'd be willing to bet more than 90% of business users have been on YouTube before. They know that YouTube is like a soup with lots of ingredients floating in there -- some good and others not so good (lima beans!). They will choose to pick out the good bits and ignore the undesirable bits floating in there, without changing their perception of your brand.
Here's an example of good execution of business video on YouTube. Cap Gemini seems to understand the medium. The company is posting video regularly (when I checked, they had several videos that were posted within the last week, some last month, others two months old, etc.) so they're consistent. They also have a few formats of video -- interviews, case studies, etc.
The use of business video on social sites like YouTube is still in its infancy. I think you're going to see a lot of companies trying different things -- some succeeding, others failing miserably. The potential is there, especially within markets where visuals are important (e.g. construction equipment). But in the long run, once a set of best practices has been established for business video on social sites -- whether it's a business channel within YouTube or it's another website that gains traction and fills this market need -- you'll see a much clearer path for business video. Until then, it's the wild, wild West!
For situations where you can point people directly to your video (e.g. when you already have people on your website and you want to show them a clip), embedding the YouTube code on your page (or Google Video would work just as well here) seems to be the way to go...as mentioned by a few people in the comments of Dianna's post. That way you're not taking people to the YouTube site where there might be links to objectionable content appearing alongside yours. The other no-brainer way to post video on your own site is of course to put it on your own server, but because of the technical setup that's required, this might not be the best option for many people.
Of course, two of the major benefits of posting a video on YouTube are the viral component and the universality of its platform. These are benefits you won't get by keeping a video confined to your own website.
I would post a business-related video on YouTube if I thought it would help the clip gain a wider distribution and popularity among my target audience, even with the chance it might have links to not-so-wonderful content alongside it. It's not like business users have never used YouTube before and don't know what kind of content is posted there...and that they'll be shocked if they see a link to a stupid or objectionable video. I'd be willing to bet more than 90% of business users have been on YouTube before. They know that YouTube is like a soup with lots of ingredients floating in there -- some good and others not so good (lima beans!). They will choose to pick out the good bits and ignore the undesirable bits floating in there, without changing their perception of your brand.
Here's an example of good execution of business video on YouTube. Cap Gemini seems to understand the medium. The company is posting video regularly (when I checked, they had several videos that were posted within the last week, some last month, others two months old, etc.) so they're consistent. They also have a few formats of video -- interviews, case studies, etc.
The use of business video on social sites like YouTube is still in its infancy. I think you're going to see a lot of companies trying different things -- some succeeding, others failing miserably. The potential is there, especially within markets where visuals are important (e.g. construction equipment). But in the long run, once a set of best practices has been established for business video on social sites -- whether it's a business channel within YouTube or it's another website that gains traction and fills this market need -- you'll see a much clearer path for business video. Until then, it's the wild, wild West!
1 comments:
Michael,
Thanks for the plug. You summed it up pretty well -- YouTube and B2B video is still in its infancy and as this method of marketing matures, we'll start seeing changes that make it better -- plus "rules" on how to do it successfully.
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