Using video to promote your enterprise

YouTube somehow manages to store the 200,000 videos that are uploaded daily. That's an awful lot of data and it seems obvious that video is now a central part of any current enterprise.

Businesses can use YouTube as an advertising stream and anyone who uses Google Ads now has the option of including YouTube in its arsenal of possible advertising streams.

Almost incomprehensively, to me, there are video bloggers out there who are reputed to earn a living from posting YouTube clips.

Some businesses produce videos for other businesses and then post them on the client's web site. And very nice they are too.

The great thing about the 21st century it's now feasible to do lot's of digital tasks that once required mountains of expensive equipment and loads of skill. Producing videos is one task that is now within the reach of anyone who wants to give it a go. It only requires a small mountain of equipment and skill! Start simple and improve with practise...

TV presenters are skilled at smiling, speaking clearly and fluently and improvising when things go wrong. I lack most of those skills. Using a script is a possibility but video bloggers seem to wing it all the time. So, some notes in big writing would probably help.

I use a mobile phone for 'filming'. (don't forget to keep the phone in landscape mode). Phones work fine but obviously lack the quality of proper cameras. Adding a stand of some sort helps. It keeps the picture steady. I have tried improvising with Bluetak and stuff but it's not the best.
Sound is more important than video. It's passible to watch a faulty video but very annoying listening to faulty sound. Viewers sensitivity to sound is reflected in the comments people make about annoying accompanying music tracks. So, I use a separate microphone. Serious video bloggers usually buy a posh microphone. The cheapest effective blogger microphone seems to be the Blue Yeti costing about £60+.

Lighting is usually supplied by studio lamps and an appropriate backdrop is needed. Bright lighting is important, so, an outdoor set may work well. Artificial lights would cost about £100 for the whole kit with stands, diffusers and backdrops.

Having saved all your files the next step is: post production. Another time consuming task.
YouTube's inhouse software is improving so that is one option. Microsoft included an App with Windows but the last version I tried didn't seem quite up to the task. I use an obsolete App called Serif Movie Plus. Obsolete, because it is no longer supported and stopped being developed a few years ago. It's got a moderate learning curve. It allows video clips to be edited, sound edited and captions added.
A good video format to use is MP4, it is easily exchanged between different platforms.
The last step is uploading the video file to YouTube. YouTube is high resolution nowadays; you need to remember this when preparing, make sure the format you work with will look OK, without the black bars that YouTube automatically inserts, padding out your video.
Two other options are 'Live Streaming'. Currently this is done using a separate App that is linked to YouTube. Live streaming is best left to the pros who can confidently gabble on and simultaneously stare into the camera. And can cope with the advanced levels of geekiness required.
The other option is capturing a video of your computer screen. I've only just started on this option; it seems a good way of demonstrating how to use a piece of software. I'm putting together a video about using MS Word to draw a business card. On the plus side no one can see you so you don't have to look photogenic. The main issue I am working with currently is getting the OBS Studio software to record the screen at the right resolution.

I guess another week may see my production ready for upload.