YouTube for Your Small Business – Part II: Getting Started
Posted by | Tommy Liu | November 20, 2009 | Join the Conversation
In Part I we covered the benefits of YouTube. Here’s how to get started.
Setup
Sign up for free at YouTube.com. Set up your channel profile including profile photo, color design, layout and preferences. You can also go with preset or default options until you are more comfortable with the platform. Upload your video(s) that you want to share with the world. You can share your video by embedding it on web pages or posting it on other networks.
Beneath your profile pic and video description on the video page are two boxes with “URL” and “EMBED.” Here, you’ll find the link (URL) to share with people via email, IM or Facebook and etc. as well as the embed code to “embed” the video in a page on your website or blog. Simply click on the code inside each box and when it turns blue “copy” it. and paste it where you want it to show. Customize your embedded video: Click the gear icon to the right of the embed code to reveal customization options including video border. color, size and an HD option.
Terminology
Channel – A page, which is viewable by the general public and contains a user’s profile information, videos, favorites, etc. To view your own Channel, log in and click on your username, displayed at the top-right of any page. The Account link, which is located to the right of your username, will take you to a page, which allows you to manage your account and channel. To view another user’s Channel, simply click on their username anywhere you may find it on the site.
Comment – This is a section of text for users to provide information related to a video, profile or another user’s comment. Comments which address a particular video can be posted on the video’s watch page whereas comments which address particular users, can either be posted on a particular video or on the user’s channel page.
Embedding / Embeddable Player – You can have YouTube videos appear inside other web pages and blogs. If the video owner has enabled embedding, simply copy the code in the field marked “Embed”, located to the right of the video (Note: If the video owner has disabled embedding, the “Embed” field will not be displayed and you will not be allowed to embed their video). You may also customize your own embeddable player by clicking on the Account link located at the top-right of every page, and clicking the Custom Video Players link within the “More” section. After filling out your player information, picking a theme, selecting a layout, choosing your content, and finally, generating the embed code, you can then use the code to display your YouTube videos on your own site or blog.
Favorites, favoriting, favorited – Your “favorites” are your favorite videos which you can add to a list and keep track of from within your own account and channel. To add a video to your list of favorites, visit the watch page of the video you’d like to favorite and click the link below the video labeled “Favorite”. To keep track of all your favorites, simply visit your Account page (via the Account link located at the top-right of any page) and click on the link labeled Favorites from within the “My Videos” section. There you will be able to view and manage your list of favorite videos.
Friends, Friend Invites – A contact list named “Friends” is automatically included with every YouTube account. To see your contact list, visit your account page by clicking the Account link located at the top-right of any page. Then click Contacts, under the “My Network” section. Select any of your Contacts that you would like to put on your “Friends” list, then click the “Add to Friends” button to confirm.
Groups – Joining groups allows you to share videos and have discussions on a common theme. You can find groups the quickest by visiting the Community tab located near the top of every page. You can create your own group (with you as the owner/moderator of the group) by clicking the Account link, located at the top-right of any page, and then clicking the Groups link located within the “More” section.
Invite – To send a “Friend” invite to another YouTube user, click the “Add as Friend” link located in the “Connect With…” section of their channel page. After the other person accepts your invite, their channel will display in the “Friends” list on your Contacts list.
Rating, Ratings, Rated – While watching a video, you can see the overall rating which other users have given the video and also add your own rating. The rating information is located to the bottom-left of the video. You can click on one of the stars next to “Rate” (5 being the highest/best rating, 1 being the worst). The average number of stars which users have given the video will be displayed.
Responses or Video Responses – A video which is posted in response to another video. If the owner of a video has allowed video responses, you can post a video response by clicking the “Post a Video Response” button, located under the video on its watch page.
Seeding, seeded – Seeding is the process of identifying and “planting” a video on relevant blogs, forums, social bookmarking, social networking and video sharing sites in addition to contacting direct and tangential influencers online.
Subscribe, Subscribers – When you subscribe to a user’s videos or favorites, you will receive email notifications whenever they’ve posted new content on their channel. This allows you to keep up-to-date on that channel without having to check it all the time. To manage your subscriptions, visit your account page (via the Account link located at the top-right of every page) and click the Subscriptions link from within the “My Videos” section.
Tags – Keywords used to classify content.
Views – The number of times the video has been seen.
Viral Marketing – Marketing that involves the spread of videos, pictures, ideas and messages from one person or group to another.
You know the drill. Part III is in the works, so subscribe to get it.
Supercool Creative is an ad agency specializing in online video creative & production, video seeding and integrated social media campaigns. Supercool Creative provides superior production quality, targeted viral marketing and relevant social media campaigns. Contact us: Supercool@Supercoolcreative.com.
Tags: getting started with youtube > linkedin > local business > small business > smb > spotzero > tommy liu > youtube > youtube for business > youtube terminology
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November 21st, 2009 @ 9:48 am
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