With the popularity of YouTube and video podcasts available all over the internet, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know the best use of video on your web site, and this will be in no particular order.
Firstly, I think a good use of video is to present yourself. If you are an expert, not just a professional, a video can tell your audience much more than words typed on a website or pictures of your work. Video is a magical medium. Let’s call it the Oprah factor. How many millions of women watch Oprah on a daily basis? According to one website I visited, the number is 8 million every day. How many of those millions feel like they are Oprah’s best friend? Probably more than would admit.
If Oprah can create the feeling of being best friends with everyone that watches her show, isn’t it reasonable to suspect that you can do the same thing, on a more basic level, with some of the people that visit your website, if you have video to support it?
One of our Utah clients owns referral/networking groups. We designed a web site for him and maintain it, but one of the solutions we had for his business was to produce a weekly video message to his members. His problem was that he was just one man versus eight groups of ten or more business owners all wanting face time with him every week. One man in too many places equals chaos and no new revenue being generated. We thought that a weekly video message available on his site would help those that needed some face time feel better without it, he would retain more members, and have a few less problems do deal with. I am proud to announce that one year later, more or less, these video messages are doing just that. His clients feel like they talk to him weekly, even if they don’t.
Now let’s consider another angle of this video idea…
An expert is the source. Experts are those people you do business with, but they are also the source of knowledge you need concerning particular industries. I consult regularly with experts on many of the projects I undertake. Then there are professionals. Professionals are people you would trust to do right by you in their industry, but not necessarily the source for all of your answers. Experts garner not just business, but followings. Professionals garner business, but not followings. Experts make millions. Professionals may make good money, but they rarely sell themselves or have packages of information that establish them as experts.
Consider that a well placed, well produced video can establish you as an expert more than anything you can do on your website. The imagery of a good video will imprint your message in to the brains of your clients much more effectively than all of the writing or still photos you can create.
Let’s take this one step further and consider that a video series on your industry not only produces good will and traffic for your site, but also further entrenches the idea that you are an expert on your subject, not just a professional. We do a weekly podcast on this site about things I like to talk about, and shortly we will be doing a bi-weekly video podcast called the Good, the Bad, and Ugly of the web. We need to practice what we preach here at They Research. On it we will show you the secrets that good sites use, what not to do, and what to avoid completely.
Lastly, consider the value of viral marketing. If you have a great video, it can market your products or services thousands of times over with little or no work. My favorite example of this is the video series put out on YouTube by BlendTec. They are a Utah based commercial blender company who used their CEO as the spokesperson for a video series called Will It Blend. From the cheesy music to the outrageous things they blend, these videos are perfect for the web. They demonstrate every strength of their product in a fun and wild way. They are short and to the point. The editing is basic but well done. They use two cameras to mix up the view. Each of their videos on YouTube have seen hundreds of thousands of views and some of them have been played upwards of 7 million times. Here is a sample of Will It Blend.
How would you like your message played 7 million times?
A good friend of mine just called and had an idea for short, web-style videos that we are going to put on his site. I think the idea is amazing and we are going to partner on the project…as soon as we have something, we’ll be sure to present it to you. In the mean time, what are you doing to make sure your web site has the ability to present YOU as an EXPERT and not just a professional?
