It's hard to imagine anything more popular than YouTube. Every month, more than 1 billion people visit the site and watch over 6 billion hours of video. There are many benefits to hosting videos on YouTube that have led to its overwhelming popularity. Most notably, it's free to upload videos; has a massive audience; and requires very little technical expertise. As a result, YouTube has been embraced as a promotional tool by corporations, charities, associations, and even governments. But how can your association leverage YouTube to its advantage? In this article, we’ll look at how two of Euclid’s clients, The Health Care Compliance Association and the National Council of University Research Administrators, are getting the most out of YouTube, and share some helpful tips for those associations just getting started.
Health Care Compliance Association
The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) serves compliance professionals throughout the healthcare field. HCCA has over 200 videos on their YouTube channel and Gary Devaan, IT and Graphics Manager at HCCA explains that they serve 2 general puposes, "First of course for promotion and marketing of conferences and services, but also for education. We have an Experts Videos playlist that we feature on our website with 1 to 3 min video explanations for new members who are just starting in compliance."
While HCCA puts out multiple videos each week, there's one that Gary says stands out among the rest, "By far the biggest success was the Compliance Babies video". As you'll see, HCCA isn't afraid to have some fun with their videos, and it's paid off with over 36,000 views.
HCCA uses a variety of methods to create their video content such as editing pre-produced video, hiring outside production companies, and producing in-house using Cannon XA25 cameras and Adobe production tools.
Gary says one of HCCA's motivations for producing video content is to be everywhere their customers might be. When asked what advice he had for other associations considering using YouTube, he said "Organize [your videos]. Don't start with everything in one pile." We might also add that including babies in your videos is never a bad idea!
National Council of University Research Administrators
NCURA serves its members and advances the field of research administration through education and professional development programs, the sharing of knowledge and experience, and by fostering a professional, collegial, and respected community. Associate Executive Director, Tara Bishop, explains that the hundreds of videos on NCURA's YouTube page provide valuable information to its members, "Using the 'Content is King' theory, we give needed information to our members on topics that span the profession of research administration... The sharing of knowlege is part of our mission, and by giving it to all for free, it goes to build our brand and entice people to check out other programs and member services."
NCURA's YouTube content really took off in 2011 when they started "NCURA's YouTube Tuesdays". Tara Bishop elaborates, "...Our board was discussing disseminating information quickly in smaller manageable pieces and our then President, Judy Fredenberg from University of Montana, asked what can we do NOW. I said I had a video camera with me as I was trying to get some membership testimonials, and I could go to the sessions, note good standalone sound bites, and then ask the presenter to repeat it for me after the session to put out some educational videos. So we did! When we got back to the office we had 8 small videos (3 minutes or under) on topics of interest to our members. I put them all on our then near empty YouTube Channel. I prepared an email blast to the members noting all 8 videos. Our Executive Director, Kathleen Larmett, said we should space them out. Then we were brainstorming if we sent one a week to the members which day would we send them... the "T" in "YouTube" sounded good with the "T" in "Tuesday", so NCURA YouTube Tuesday was born!"
The initiative was a success. NCURA's videos have received over 200k views in the three years since YouTube Tuesday was created. NCURA produces all of their videos in-house using a Nikon camera and iMovie editing software. Their most popular video focused on email communication tips and has over 4,000 views to date.
Tara's advice for other associations interested in developing their own YouTube content, "Focus in on what information your members need the most and make that the video, and ensure each piece has a strong deliverable. We shoot videos anywhere we are that there is a member who has content to share... hotel hallways, lobbies, outside a building, in an office, at a desk, during a session... wherever the member is to share the content, that is where we are with the camera and our members know every Tuesday we will be in their inbox with a new educational piece! I believe that there always time for what is important (and on the flip side there is really no time for what is not important)... so I always make time for this deliverable for our members."
5 Tips for Great YouTube Content
Now that you've seen how HCCA and NCURA utilize YouTube, here are 5 tips to make your videos even more effective:
1. Pay Attention to your Analytics
YouTube Analytics lets users see views, minutes watched and "likes" for individual videos as well as a wealth of more in-depth data. Pay attention to which of your videos drives the most engagement and focus on creating similar content. The analytics page can be accessed near the top right corner of the YouTube screen next to the upload button.
2. Brand your YouTube Page Appropriately
YouTube allows users to create their own branded page. Make sure your banner image referred to as "channel art" and your "channel icon" accurately reflect your brand. YouTube also allows you to add a description of your association to your page as well as links to your website and other social networking sites.
3. Include Links in your Videos
Users can add hyperlinks or "annotations" directly into their videos. Make sure the end of your videos includes a link to your website or some other "call to action" link. It's also useful to add a link to your website in your video descriptions.
4. Titles, Tags and Descriptions Matter
Search engines have a limited ability to decipher video content so the descriptive information you provide is very important. Make sure to have a catchy title, description, and accurate tags. You may also want to add captions/subtitles to your videos.
5. Know When to Embed
There are times when embedding a video on your website, event page or blog can have major advantages. For one, they allow your viewers to watch video without ever leaving your website. Another advantage is that they don't display "suggested videos" after they're finished playing. YouTube has complete control over what videos are suggested, and in some cases they could be your competitor's. Lastly, embedding video can help your search rank. Search engines like webpages with rich and diverse media. Having a page with text, video and images can improve its rank.
Is your association using YouTube? Do you have some other tips and tricks that weren't covered here? Share them with us in the comments below.