Online Video as a Marketing and Sales Tool

For the last six weeks, I’ve been working on a course for American Express OPEN Forum’s new Crash Course series. While I don’t claim to be an online video marketing guru, I learned a lot in helping them build this course on YouTube Marketing.  Here is a bit of what I shared there:Always title your video properlyThat is, edit the actual filename with keywords and the name of your company or brand. Don’t leave it as those random numbers and letters that your video camera assigns to each video, such as, Blah123Yada456Yada.mp4. You’re missing a small search engine optimization (SEO) opportunity if you do not change the filename.Use the description block effectivelySince YouTube is the dominant video hosting spot (and if you haven’t heard it is the world’s #2 search engine), make sure your description is complete. That’s the little box right below the video. The big thing? Always put the full URL to your site: http://www.techbiztalk.com in the first 20 or 30 characters of that description block. Why? Because it only shows about a sentence or two and if you leave your website until the end, as most beginners and advanced marketers do, it won’t get seen, or clicked. If you leave off the http:// then it won’t become a clickable hyperlink. Buy some advertising for your own videoYes, you read that heading correctly. Buy an advertisement for your own video. There is only one easy way to have a clickable hyperlink from within a video that gets hosted on YouTube. You have to buy a pay-per-click ad, but the great thing is they are very inexpensive. Pennies on the dollar, as the saying goes. This allows you to create a post-roll ad as your video ends that basically says, “Click Here” to get to my website.Build a branded channelYouTube will let you create a custom background for your channel. This allows you to have brand images or product images on the left and right sides of the main videos. You can often have a banner across the top as well. The goal of this branding wrapper is to help people realize exactly what you offer or sell even if the video doesn’t make that clear immediately. Plus, you can have calls to action, such as, “Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.” ParticipateThe last pointer is one I rarely see mentioned: Participate in the community. We don’t tend to think of YouTube as interactive or as engaging as Facebook or Twitter. However, you get points, so to speak, from YouTube for watching other people’s videos (make sure you’re logged in) and they track all that data. As you participate and spend time on other channels, when you subscribe, when you comment, all of that helps your own channel, too.Let me know what YouTube strategies are working for you in the comments below. And, if you want to  test your own knowledge of online video marketing, visit my OPEN Forum Crash Course page. * * * * *TJ McCue runs TechBizTalk, a site to help business owners find useful and profitable apps.