How to create a YouTube video to promote yourself

Often, when people are asked to develop a YouTube video, the first question is usually centered on what kind of video to produce. Erin Blaskie gave the following suggestions:

"How to" videos or live demonstrations (using charts and other visual aids) that promote your thought leadership.
A short (two minutes or less) tip video that shows your expertise and/or helps to solve a problem.
Interviewing another business person about trending topics in your field.
Conducting a live Question & Answer series.

Erin suggested the following strategies for driving traffic to your video:

Promote your video on other social media platforms. Update your status by posting the URL of the video on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networks where you belong.
Improve your SEO by including the key words in your title that people might be searching for to solve a problem.

She highly recommends uploading the video to YouTube. According to the Press Release facts on the YouTube website, people are watching hundreds of millions of videos per day and ten hours of video are being uploaded every minute to the YouTube website.

On ways to produce a good quality video, Erin shared the following tips and resources:

She recommends a Flip camera - she uses the Flip Mini HD camera. You can either have someone hold it or place it on a tripod. You can also use a built-in camera on your computer.
If you are doing screen recordings of your computer, I recommend Camstasia Studio for lengthy projects, and Jing Project for less than five minute projects. Both Camstasia Studio and Jing Project work on Windows and Mac operating systems.
Erin suggested that if you are recording yourself, you need to make sure you are in a well-lit room and that the lighting is not casting a shadow on your face. Do a trial take first and review to ensure that the lighting is adequate.
She shared a great tip for doing a presentation - buy a large Post-It Flip Chart that you can tape on a wall directly in front of you that lists the main points of your presentation. The key is not to read the entire presentation, but to know the material well enough so that the chart just facilitates what you are going to say.
She recommends editing your videos with either iMovie with a Mac or with Windows MovieMaker.

Videos are a great way to promote your thought leadership and expertise, so you may consider this as one of your communication strategies with your target audience. The tips and resources Erin Blaskie provided should serve as a great way for you to get started and delve into the video social networking platform.

An emerging trend is video biographies for web for everyone from job seekers to executives to small business owners. videoBIO is based in Toronto and New York with plans to rollout videoBIO studios in major cities across North America over the next year. The videoBIO process starts with a script. They will have you complete a "Know Your Character" quick online assessment to measure five areas: personality, motivational style, relational style, communication style, and leadership style. The results become a basis for formulating your script outline, which also takes into account your target market, overall key messages and highlights from other supporting documents (such as résumé, cover letter, and career highlights). The end product is a three-minute video biography edited from a thirty-minute on-camera interview.

videoBIO is an excellent way to managing your professional reputation online and convey your personal brand story in a consistent, personalized way. It can help you to stand apart from your competition. It's also an innovative way to reach potential employers as a career marketing tool in communicating your unique value.

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How to create a YouTube video to promote yourself

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