photo by *spo0ky*

Video isn’t the future its the now and there are a number of ways to get involved implementing video into your business, marketing plan or social media profiles. The reasons to add video to your business are plentiful as well from

• Showcasing your brand in a new light
• Engaging multiple senses of your fans and prospects
• Distribution (there is more than just YouTube)
• To fit the attention span of your audience
• To continue to re-purpose content
• Put a face and a person to the typical cardboard company image
• To capitalize on the over billion video views online everyday (that’s just YouTube)
• To increase visibility in search engines due to Universal Search
• To stand out from your competition
• And so much more!

Hopefully something on that list resonated with you and your business. Now that you know the why, let’s talk about the how. Some companies and individuals are not ready to be put in front of a camera, and that is cool, because there are many other options to consider when looking at video for your company. Here are just a few that we use when working with companies.

The Talking Head Video

If you have something great to say the “talking head” video is now more affordable and easier to produce than ever. With cameras like the Flip or the Zi8 and editing software like Windows Movie Maker and iMovie (depending on your operating system) you can shoot a video, edit in seconds and have it streaming on YouTube in literal minutes.

The idea behind the talking head video is just that – a camer pointing at a person talking. This can include videos in front of a white board, in the office, at your workstation, in front of a background or anywhere else that you feel comfortable talking in front of. Be sure to talk clear and deliver a strong call to action at the end of the video. Remember if you are looking for conversions, new fans or (gasp) a sale, be sure to tell the viewer what to do.

On Location Videos

These videos are the most intense to produce but offer the best opportunity to show the vision of your company. An on location can be in your office, at a client’s site or at a set made specifically for your video. These videos can be interviews, segments, rehearsed versions of the talking head or completely scripted action shots.

The Screencast

If you are a little less comfortable in front of the camera, and you have something to show off online, a screencast may be the ideal video. With a screencast you are going to record your voice while recording your screen. This is great for a software demo, a case study or explaining how to do something online or on your desktop.

Some free options for screen recording include Screen Toaster and Jing.

The Power Point Video

Much like the screencast, the Power Point Video is a great solution for people that want to stay away from the camera. The idea here is to create a Power Point (or Keynote) and then talk over the slides as if you were giving the presentation. These are great for repurposing as you can upload the slides to a site like Slideshare and then the completed video to your favorite video sharing sites.

Some great software that is built for this type of recording is Camtasia Studio. They integrate directly within PowerPoint. All you need to provide is a microphone (many laptops have internal mics that will work great for this).

The Slideshow

The last video type we are going to talk about today is for the person or business that wants nothing to do with being in front of the camera or use their voice. In this video you will use pictures or slides and use music as the background. Thus creating a slide show.

While you can certainly use traditional video editing software to make these videos, there is a service that makes this experience really cool for your audience. The service is Animoto which turns your videos and photos into “pure amazing.” The service will mask up your pictures and edit them to give a moving feel that is animated to the beat and rythm of the music.

How Are You Going To Use Video?

Now that you know some easy ways to get videos online, what ideas are popping into your head? How can video help get your message across? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

This post was written by Greg Rollett, a music marketing coach from Orlando, FL.

Tags: Social Media, video marketing