Here are some common mistakes I see people committing when they start local video marketing, and I share them, so that you can avoid them.

Don’t buy a professional camrecorder

Use cameras which are small and easy to take with you, and stay away from big and expensive traditional camrecorders. Iphone 4 and Iphone 4s take great quality videos and you can even do the editing of the videos on the go with apps like Imovie or Splice.

Don’t hire an actor

Most of the time that will only make your video look unnatural and not authentic. Don’t worry if a person says something like, “Ahh, ahh” or something like that, that he is not communicating well – it’s not a big thing because that will make the video more natural and more transparent. So, small mistakes will make the video perfect for local companies because we want to highlight the fact that they are there to serve. They are not professional video creators.

Don’t get stuck on the editing video too long

Keep your videos really short and simple. If you need to shoot the video several times do it. That is normally better than to spend hours editing the video. It’s best to use the editing features inside YouTube. For example, YouTube annotations and YouTube’s new WeVideo editor.

Don’t overcomplicate things

Some of my social media manager training students can get stuck with old beliefs that video marketing is a hard and complicated process that takes a great deal of your time. Due to modern technology and the wide variety of tools available now, you can produce good-quality material fairly quickly, and the main focus is on creating a large quantity of short videos.

Good luck with your video marketing, and if you need any help you can always contact me.

I highly recommend spending 30 to 45 minutes to configure your privacy settings on Facebook and also your Facebook security setting. In this video you will discover how to set the security features the right way on Facebook and it will only take you few minutes.

If we are not friends on Facebook yet, you can friend me visiting my profile here.

“how can I quickly start doing effective video marketing to my client“?

My answer is always the same – focus on creating a large quantity of short videos instead of very long videos.

The majority of small and medium-sized companies which have successfully used YouTube have filmed videos lasting a minute, a minute-and-a-half, or even less. Plus, you will save a lot of time when you keep your videos short.

The following graphic represents the power of short videos.

Source: Wistia

Some reasons why short videos are more appropriate are as follows:

• Consumers have a short attention span and they often do not watch YouTube videos to the end, especially with long videos.
• From point of view of a Social Media Manager, it is quicker and easier to create a large number of videos when they do not last long.
• There are more and more people who view videos on their mobile phones, and short videos open faster when viewed on a mobile phone.
• Creating a large quantity of short videos gives you a chance to rank these videos well on YouTube, and even on Google.
• If you decide to edit the videos, the editing phase of short videos is easier and more simple than longer duration videos.

Once they are on YouTube, short videos usually spread in a quicker manner than long videos. Nowadays many consumers use mobile phones to access videos, and they need to be able to access short videos which load more quickly and hold their attention for a longer time.

Here is another sample of this what this slow motion camera – Phantom 1,000 FPS ski shoot

this is

• Video presentation of the product/service

The use of videos has revolutionized the way of presenting a company’s products and services due to the fact that it enables them to offer a more detailed and more efficient service than was available before through the use of catalogues or leaflets. Because of this, it is necessary to create videos which have presentations about the main products and the company in a way that allows the client to think in detail about what the product is, what it might be useful for and how he would use it. Video presentations can help to speed up the final purchase decision, given that we have offered the client a very direct and visual way of getting as close to reality as possible.

A video presentation about a product can be done about any tangible item but also for intangible items such as services offered by a business. In this type of video it is possible to produce a presentation in which what is included in the video is explained.

This example is from John Deere. You can see more videos from John Deere’s YouTube channel

Note: With the simple use of call to action (showing the url or phone number on the video) this video could be much more powerful and produce more leads to the company.

• Case study videos

For certain products or services it is appropriate to create presentation videos of case studies, where the client can see exactly what the final result was and the development of the project. This type of video reinforces the position of businesses when it comes to selling their products, given that it improves the communication with the client showing in a direct manner the benefit or results obtained by using the company’s product or service.
The American company All Granite and Marble Corporation has on its website more than 50 case study videos. By watching them clients can see the different range or granite and work surfaces and can see the completed result.

Note: Like the previous example this video is not perfect, but its much better than not having video at all.

According to some statistics, the use of video can increase by up to 400% the conversion of a web page, that is to say it can facilitate the conversion of visitors to a web page into clients, as long as the use of video is appropriate and the content is interesting for users.

As far as the content of videos that should be inserted to achieve an effective web page is concerned, there are various options. If we concentrate on the point of view of the client, the main themes that users mention are:

 
• Video presentation about the page or the company: Create an explanatory video which welcomes the client or web page user, tells them about the information that they can find and also highlights where and how they can ask for more information and how they can contact the business. Normally these videos feature people employed by the business and they often show the face of the person giving the message with the aim of increasing the credibility of the message.

• Help video: The majority of websites which have booking engines (for example hotels) or shopping baskets (such as online retailers) can benefit greatly by having explanatory videos showing step by step how to make a purchase, make a reservation or send a query about using the website. In general, web users and consumers have some degree of uncertainty when buying or making reservations over the internet, and an explanatory video can help greatly in decreasing these uncertainties from the first moment and thus improve sales through the website.
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• Video presentation about the employees: the use of these types of videos offer a good opportunity to show the human side of the business and create a climate of confidence and closeness between the client and the business., When creating videos for a web page it is important to always bear in mind what the user objective of the page is, and always talk about themes which are interesting from the point of view of the user.

Great example of a company that uses videos on their website is www.listenupespanol.com, on the main site you have links to see three different videos.

Most companies are now using Flash technology to present their videos on their web page. However, even today, the most recommended method is to upload videos to YouTube and then embed them into the company’s own web page. This is a simple method, given that YouTube videos can be seen by all types of users and from different types of hardware such as the iPhone or the iPad.

This detail is important because the percentage of people who are using mobile devices or an iPad to access information is growing in an exponential manner, and in the next few years it is calculated that this figure will reach an important market share.

Thanks to Joantxo Llantada Social Media expert in the travel industry for sending me this video

Some of the topics covered:

• Make sure your website is easy to navigate from Smart phones, like Iphone and tablets like Ipad
• Familiarize yourself with mobile marketing and learn how to record videos and use social networks like Facebook and Twitter from your mobile phone.
• Learn how to use social networks and video marketing to communicate with your target audience and keep in mind that you should communicate in the emotional level so that people will remember your message.

You can see the video (in Spanish) interview where I talk about the main points order amoxil of my seminar.

Thanks to Promo-Turismo for the video

I have talked a lot about Facebook pages on this blog, like for example how do you make a Fanpage on Facebook and How to improve your business page on Facebook.

In this tutorial you will see the new Facebook Look and how Facebook pages will look like in the future. It is very interesting to see the emphasis they put on Facebook Places as mobile marketing will be huge amoxil generic on 2011. This is a great news for many small businesses like restaurants, cafeterias, hotels etc..

Most of these changes have been done to compete better with the new social network (or social layer) that Google will launch on 2011 called GoogleMe which will focus a lot on the use of mobile.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and let me know which other Facebook tutorials you would like to see on the future.