Embed On Website

Embed some of your videos on your website.  Make sure your home page has video content on it but beware of embedding too many videos on one page (increased page load times).  If you have a video on each of your main top navigation pages you’re doing great.  Additionally, make sure the Youtube icon is present in the Footer or navigation of your site so that visitors can get to it in 1 click from wherever they are on your site.

E-Newsletter

Feature one of your videos in every email newsletter you send; sort of like a feature column in a newspaper.  Write a sentence or two about it and then either embed or link to the video.  Also make sure you have your Youtube icon link in every newsletter along with your other social media icons and channels.

Email Directly To Strategic People

Nothing beats a direct and personal communication.  Personal emails written from one person to another get read. Period.  Take an hour and send personal emails to some of your most important partners and connections and insert the link to a relevant video in each email.  This goes a long way and is well worth the time it takes to make it personal.

Before And After Presentations

If your company has a staff meeting, leadership retreat, pitch, presentation, board report or other in-house or outward focused presentation then make sure you start or end every presentation with your video content. If people are nodding off after 10 minutes of your PowerPoint show I guarantee you they’ll perk up when you say, “And now let’s watch this short video.”  It works every time.

Events And Fundraisers

Video is a powerful force when it comes to fundraising and mobilization.  If your organization is sponsoring an event or is somehow part of a fundraising effort make sure you incorporate your video content into every aspect of the ask.  Video is able to make the emotional connection (to people’s hearts and wallets) that a simple speech or presentation can’t.

Loop In The Hallways

Make a DVD loop of your video content and have it playing continuously in your office lobby or reception area.  If you’re hosting an event have that DVD loop playing at your booth, display or in the hallway or lobby of the facility you’re in.  Flat screen TV’s with built-in DVD or USB drives are fairly cheap and you don’t need a gigantic screen.

Press Releases

Create press releases for some of your most interesting video pieces and share the stories and personalities that surround them.  Write some quality press releases and, if you’re using a PR software tool like Vocus or PRsafe, embed or link your Youtube content right into the post.  Don’t forget to contact local news people directly and share this content with them as well.

Blog About Each Video

Write a blog post about each of your video pieces. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, just embed the video and write a paragraph or two about the back-story surrounding that video.  What led up to this video?  What happened as a result?  How have you seen people respond to the video?  Don’t get technical with dates and details but try to capture the ongoing story that surrounds that one moment in time in your video.

Connect With Other Organizations

If you have video content that features notable business leaders, celebrities or politicians then make sure you deliver that content to the respective offices of the noteworthy people that appear in your video.  If you have a brief interview or feature spot with a congressman or community leader then make sure you send a link to their staff or PR person so that they can glean benefit from that content as well.  Additionally, if you have partner organizations or parent companies make sure you deliberately connect your relevant video content with the right people in those organizations for double yield.

1. Buy your name as a domain name and create a personal blog there.  Purchase and then forward all the .org, .net, etc. versions to that blog. If you’re not going to blog then forward the domains to your main company website.

2. Create social media channels and fully populate them with bio, links, information, etc.. Make sure you use your search keywords in the titles and About Us fields.

3. Get a strategy in place to create new digital content. Press releases, video, blog posts, articles, white papers, etc… If you’re not going to create/write anything then don’t expect to score high in your search engine results.

4. One short talking head video of you is better than no video content at all, plus video gets good returns on SEO.  Create a YouTube channel, upload your video and make sure you correctly SEO/tag your content.  If you can create a video each month you’ll be ahead of the crowd.

5. Login to your main website and add new content as often as possible. This is one of the main factors in Google’s ranking of your site.

6. Make sure in all your content that you use your search keywords in both the title and the content of the post/blog. (See our YouTube SEO blog post for more on this).

7. Use a PR posting tool like PRsafe to post your press releases.

8. Have a press kit posted and ready that includes: Approved headshot of yourself, your bio, experience, a few quotes and links to any pertinent sites or videos.  Create this as a PDF document or upload to PRwebsite.

If you were at our seminar last night in Lanham thanks for coming!  We appreciated each and every one of you in attendance.  We’d like to keep the conversation going and provide some links and resources to benefit you.  Here is some good stuff:

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SEMINAR NOTES: Download a PDF of our main points from last night’s presentation.

Sermonspice.com Teaching videos and illustrations for churches

B&H Photo: Great place to review audio and video gear and see demos

Sermonaudio.com Hosting place for your sermon audio MP3s

WordPress.com A free and easy way to make a blog right now (easy/fast)

WordPress.org When you’re ready to really take your blog to the next level (moderate/a little more time)

CreativeCMYK: Free images, wallpapers and graphics for churches to use

Flip Camera:  Here’s their website where you can see all the things Flip has to offer.

Article: Why the older generation is doing great at social media!

Article: 10 Ways to know if you have a horrible website

Article: How to use video for specific goals (for businesses but lots to learn)

Article: The basics of promoting your site online and some SEO

Article: How to involve teenagers in your church’s video and tech goals

Follow us on Twitter we’ll follow you back!  www.twitter.com/help4churches

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1. Make sure you a following new people often.  You can follow new people by doing a search on the top menu of your Twitter and typing in someone’s name, or you can use the topic search on the right sidebar and follow people who are tweeting about topics connected to your interests or business.

2. Have some kind of content that you are in the habit of linking back to.  A blog is best… post a new blog post then tweet about it.  Using Youtube or Flickr?  Then put up some new content and then spread the word via Twitter about all the cool stuff you just posted.

3.  TELL PEOPLE!  Make sure people know your business is on Twitter!  Advertise it wherever you can including:

- On your webpage

- In your email signature block

- In your printed ads or online videos

- On your business card

- In person when you’re talking to others