6
AUGUST 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Balls2 Marketing’s Communications Director Sarah Ball talks about video and what role YouTube
has to play in marketing in her series of advice columns on social media for Pro Installer.
Watch
and
learn
I’ve just got off the
phone from speaking
to my brother. He was
talking about how much
he loves YouTube.
When the element went
in his oven for the second
time in a couple of months,
he Googled the problem
and found a post about a
faulty fan that was causing
the element to overheat. He
then watched a YouTube
clip of how to replace the
fan and there was a warning
on the video to be wary of a
particular left hand threaded
screw. He reckons that without it he’d have knackered
the oven and he would have
had to buy a new one – so
YouTube saved him £500.
He went on to tell me
all the other useful things
he looks at on YouTube.
Whether its technical stuff
for his work (he’s a heating
engineer) finding obscure
tracks by Frank Zappa, or
checking stuff out about
his Microlight, he says it’s
easy to find what he wants.
He’s not the only one, every
month more and more
people find what they’re
searching for on YouTube.
Pick up the
PRO Installer,
FREE, from
one of over
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counters.
Keep it short
It’s so easy to watch video. Shorter is better – we
want information fast and
two minutes is more than
long enough. Forrester
Research claims that one
minute of video was worth
1.8 million words, which
puts the phrase, a picture
is worth a 1,000 words,
into perspective.
Having video is good
for your Google rankings.
Because it values footage,
you’ll often find YouTube
content comes high up on
searches. But you don’t
have to create professional
videos to get views. There
are loads of videos you
can make with a smart
phone.
Do it yourself
If you’ve installed a
houseful of windows it’s
difficult to get a photo that
shows them up close as
well as the whole house.
But with video you could
walk round the house, or
start off with a wide shot
and come in for a close
up. Even with something
this simple it’s likely to get
more views than a photo.
For a new door show it
opening and closing, how
the lock works or a close
up of the threshold.
Installation videos
demonstrating how you do
a particular detailing can
show prospective customers the level of workmanship and care you take.
If it closes an extra deal
for you, it’s worth taking
10 minutes to film and
upload.
Check the
soundtrack
Raw video is fine – but
check the sound before
posting – and get your
brand into the film if you
can. There are several
video editing software
programmes that are easy
to use, and a quick internet search for royalty free
music means you can add
a soundtrack.
Sometimes you don’t
even have to make the
videos yourself. Ask your
suppliers for videos you
can use on your website.
Some will even personalise
them for you.
Adding video to your
social media makes it
stand out better from text
only or photo posts, and
attracts the attention of
people looking.
It’s easy to get started.
Just pick up your phone
and press record.
Next month I’ll be talking
about getting the most
from Google+ in the last
of my Social Media articles
YouTube in
numbers
columns for ProInstaller.
Every month 6 billion
hours of video is viewed
1 billion users
40% of views are on mobile devices
Website visitors are 64% more
likely to buy on an online retail
site after watching a video
64% of marketers expect
video to dominate - Neilson
Video will account for 69% of all
consumer internet traffic by 2017–
Cisco Visual Networking Index
ADF PLASTICS LTD