Saturday, February 5, 2011

Making YouTube Video Work

A recent video Warehouse Media produced is having a solid first 24 hours on YouTube - 340 views after day one. As is often the case with successful YouTube videos, the strong early view count was no accident. Yes, cats on keyboards and crazy dance moves can make for amazingly popular YouTube videos, but relying on a cute video leading to viral success is to YouTube strategies what relying on the lottery is to investment strategies. This video is working, because of a well-thought out team approach that included excellent work from Kelly Sayre (@SportKelly) and Ryan Ott (@IamMNnice).

Kelly works with the St. Cloud Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and wanted a couple YouTube videos that would promote everything there is to do in Central Minnesota. She worked with Warehouse Media to produce the videos and together (Kelly, Ryan and myself) worked out a strategy to get those videos watched. Here are the key components...

Involve people in the video who will help get it seen
  • The woman interviewed for the cross-country skiing section will be sending the link to her friends and members of her ski club
  • Those who had venues featured and contributed media (photographs) shared the video with friends
Work with your friends
  • Local radio station WJON had a strong existing relationship with Kelly. As a result, the station posted the video on their website.
  • WJON also allowed us access to their sound-proof booth for recording the audio (thanks!)
Help those who help you
  • As part of the total package, Warehouse Media provided a half-day video training session to the St. Cloud CVB. Kelly invited friends and colleagues as a way to say "thank you" for their help throughout the year and with the video.
The video below is the finished product. Hopefully, the strong early showing is just a start. Either way, it serves as a great example of how YouTube is one of the most "social" sites of them all ...and is a reminder of what it takes to have success in the medium (other than being extremely lucky:)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Skiing Blackcomb Mountain

Took out the Flip™ cam and grabbed some video on top of Blackcomb Mountain on a recent trip to Whistler. Which got me wondering ...would a ski hill be willing to trade a free trip for some significantly-reduced (or free) video work? (Much higher quality than what is shown below, of course).

If you are a ski hill and want to add some video to your marketing, click here. If you just like looking at pretty footage from on top of a mountain, check out the video below!