Welcome to YouTube

If you’re thinking of putting video content onto your social media, don’t forget to upload it to YouTube.?

YouTube is often used like a search engine – if you need to know something people are quite likely to search YouTube directly rather than use their search engine.?There is a ton of learning, how tos, archive video that’s been digitalised from pre-internet times and so much more.

Also, because YouTube is owned by Google, content from YouTube usually ranks well on Google too.

What to post

Not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera, but you don’t have to appear in your videos.?You can use a myriad of different tools:

• PowerPoint slides – and you can narrate these and record an MP4 directly from PowerPoint
• Cartoon software like Doodly or Doodlemaker
• A platform like InVideo or Wave to create professional level video – with either backing music or narration
• Selfie video taken on your phone with a quick update

There’s no rule that says videos have to be any particular length.?Some people say keep it short – a couple of minutes – others say it has to be at least 8 minutes, but I think it needs to be as long as you need to get your point across. ?I’ve watched some how to tutorials that are an hour or more – but packed with great content.

Do your preparation

You know the cliché

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

Guess what??It’s true!

Time spent planning your content is worthwhile – even if it’s a few bullet points on a scrap of paper.

You should have a beginning or introduction, a middle and an end, ideally with a call to action.?

• Don’t let your intro become dry, use active language and signpost the big benefits your video will deliver.?
• Ensure there’s some value for the viewer in the middle
• Know what you want people to do when they’ve got to the end and ask them to do that.

Before you upload your video make sure you know what key words you want it to be found for.?Check out answerthepublic.com for your keywords to find out what people are currently searching for around that.?It’s a good strategy to name your video with that key phrase that people are searching for.

You’ll also want to add your key phrase to the file details (right click the file and check out Properties or Details) and ensure your title and key phrase are entered.

This key phrase also needs to be entered in the description when you upload the file to YouTube.

Professionally produced videos are great, but they also cane your marketing budget.?If you’ve got a big launch or something really important then it’s worth the investment, but for everyday video content, play with some of the tools and you’ll soon be able to create good quality videos yourself.