Creating Your Online Videos

You know video is huge for 2010 and you want to execute a video strategy for your business. Where do you start?

To begin, determine your video campaign goals. Will you create videos tagged with a call to action asking your audience to go to a landing page or social network? Are you putting products or services in motion to dispel inaccuracies or to comfort your audience?

Once you determine the goal, set a budget. If you have a larger budget, you can create a series with professional lighting, sound and potentially actors. If your budget is more of a “do-it-yourself” budget, then find equipment such as a Nikon D3000 or even better, a Flip HD camera. Make sure you can film in a properly lighted area (if you don’t have a light source) and a place with decent acoustics if you are sans a microphone. f you have the ability, set up two cameras for a multi-camera angle so you can switch between views and add elements such as black and white for different views.

Once you determined your budget and resources, create your plot. You can either write the plot line yourself and implement an extemporaneous feel, or hire a writer who will provide a script and direction. Most likely, these decisions will be dependent upon your determined budget.

When creating your plot, think about the ability for the video to “have legs.” This means you should consider making your video two-tiered with an overarching concept, which can be replicated. For instance, featuring a repeat correspondent or keeping the videos in a familiar format will lend itself to being reproduced with minor content changes. This will help you create a series, which can serve as stand alone videos or part of a bigger campaign.

If you want your video campaign to have viral potential, make it humorous and entertaining. Funny videos or those with an influence are the ones which make it into thousands of views and create a buzz. All videos also depend on decent promotion so be sure to factor that into the budget and implement a promotion strategy the minute the videos are launched.

These tips will help you get your video campaign started…or at least get you thinking that you just might need one!

Jen Cohen is a social media and marketing maven knocked down many times in 26 yrs. Something Creative http://somethingcreativemarketing.com