Six Power Tactics to Tap Into YouTube by Gihan Perera

When Google first bought YouTube a few years ago, some experts were worried that it would quickly wither and die. Not because Google would kill it, but because there was so much copyright infringement on it and Google had so much money, that some people feared that it would be swamped with lawsuits.

Fortunately, it survived. And thrived. YouTube has just turned five, and it's now getting 5 billion views a day.

That makes it worth paying attention to!

For a long time, we didn't have widespread broadband access, easy tools for creating video and easy tools for watching video. But that has now changed.

If you're a business owner - and especially if you're a speaker, trainer, consultant, coach or other thought leader - you can't afford to ignore YouTube as a marketing tool for your business.

Don't think you have to create the same slick sort of video you see on a DVD. You don't need to use fancy green screen technology. And you don't even need to do "video" at all - in the traditional sense.

Here are six ways to create video for YouTube easily and cost-effectively.

1. Do a book review.

An easy way to get started with YouTube is to do a book review by video. It doesn't require much of a "presentation", it requires just one prop (the book, of course!), and it's a great way to leverage your reading into a promotional opportunity.

2. Explain a concept with a diagram.

If you're using YouTube to teach something, use a diagram to explain your concept. You don't have to do this with slick PowerPoint or Keynote slides, nor with green screen technology. You've probably seen some people do it in front of a whiteboard or a flip chart. It's the message that matters much more than the presentation tool.

3. Explain a concept with a metaphor.

The next option requires a bit more creativity, but it's very effective. Because YouTube is a visual medium, if you can create a visual metaphor for your message, it's far more effective than a talking head, or even a talking head with a good diagram.

Can you do a magic trick? Or play a musical instrument? Or do some origami? Or show an optical illusion?

If you can do any of these things and connect them to your business message, you can create an engaging YouTube video. Even better, because it's a bit quirky, it's more likely that people will recommend it to others.

4. Do a screen tutorial.

If you can demonstrate something on your computer screen, you can use screen capture software to record it. You might be doing this already for your private e-learning products, but have you thought of publishing a few of them to YouTube for promotional purposes?

5. Create a slide presentation.

Of course, you can use screen capture software to capture entire PowerPoint or Keynote presentations, along with your narration. You can do the same thing without the screen capture software (for example, Keynote can save a presentation directly as a movie file), but if you don't know how to do that, just use the screen capture software.

6. Create an animated slide show.

There is now a variety of photo publishing software, originally designed for creating animated photo albums, that you can use even for educational or marketing messages. For example, you could create a series of PowerPoint or Keynote slides with a message and string them together into a beautiful, professional-looking promotion - complete with music.

Even if you don't have the software or creative skills to build the animation, there are a number of services available - such as Animoto.com - that can do this for you.

So what can YOU do?

I hope these six ideas have sparked some ideas for you. You don't have to use them all - but choose at least one and give it a go. Remember: YouTube matters!


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