No, it's not just for videos of surprised kitties or bizarre music videos. YouTube has become the world's television set - why isn't your indie film on it? Here's a few steps/ideas on how to best utilize this free service.
1. Create a YouTube account if you don't have one, and make a Channel. Call this channel thenameofyourfilm. People visiting your channel page will see your latest video and will be able to subscribe to updates from there.
2. Put up previews and clips, using keywords associated with your content. You might put up an extended scene, or music video related to the film. Try out different trailers and get people's opinion. YouTube has a built-in insights page that is pretty informative as to who is watching your videos, what links or keywords they are following, and even how long their attention span lasts on your video.
3. Do you already have earlier, more popular videos on Youtube? Use the Annotation feature to create your own free ad! Click on the Edit Annotations button at the top of your video's page. Be sure to place the annotation across the entire length of the movie by sliding the blue slider so it makes a solid line across the timeline, and give a quick pitch for your film by typing in the box on the right. You can link to a channel or playlist by clicking the link button and pasting in the video url. My video Satan Lend Me a Dollar has over 130,000 views on YouTube. You can see how I use it to try and pump up views on my movie The Great Intervention.
4. Of course, share these videos on Facebook, and you can even use new flash-based widgets to embed them into your Facebook page. (More on that in a later post.)
5. Finally, create a weekly podcast and upload it to YouTube as well as to your blog. You could have it relate specifically to your film, if you think there's enough material to do something every week. Or, you might want to expand a little, maybe make it a podcast about your film company, maybe do bios of some of the actors.
6. Create your OWN demographic with your show. The key is volume and regularity (that's what my doctor said too!) The more videos you put up, the more views you get, especially if they're all linked via the previously mentioned feature. I decided to create a weekly pop culture/politics-type program called The National Toilet. Every Friday, I create a short, five-minute podcast lampooning the worst of society as reflected in the headlines. This keeps my videos relevant and tied to popular keywords. So far, I am only on my second episode and I have more than doubled my viewership from the first! And with my annotation, I place a link to my promo for The Great Intervention, hoping that people who enjoy the podcast may be of like mind to enjoy the movie.
Give some of these a try and leave your own suggestions as well.
1. Create a YouTube account if you don't have one, and make a Channel. Call this channel thenameofyourfilm. People visiting your channel page will see your latest video and will be able to subscribe to updates from there.
2. Put up previews and clips, using keywords associated with your content. You might put up an extended scene, or music video related to the film. Try out different trailers and get people's opinion. YouTube has a built-in insights page that is pretty informative as to who is watching your videos, what links or keywords they are following, and even how long their attention span lasts on your video.
3. Do you already have earlier, more popular videos on Youtube? Use the Annotation feature to create your own free ad! Click on the Edit Annotations button at the top of your video's page. Be sure to place the annotation across the entire length of the movie by sliding the blue slider so it makes a solid line across the timeline, and give a quick pitch for your film by typing in the box on the right. You can link to a channel or playlist by clicking the link button and pasting in the video url. My video Satan Lend Me a Dollar has over 130,000 views on YouTube. You can see how I use it to try and pump up views on my movie The Great Intervention.
4. Of course, share these videos on Facebook, and you can even use new flash-based widgets to embed them into your Facebook page. (More on that in a later post.)
5. Finally, create a weekly podcast and upload it to YouTube as well as to your blog. You could have it relate specifically to your film, if you think there's enough material to do something every week. Or, you might want to expand a little, maybe make it a podcast about your film company, maybe do bios of some of the actors.
6. Create your OWN demographic with your show. The key is volume and regularity (that's what my doctor said too!) The more videos you put up, the more views you get, especially if they're all linked via the previously mentioned feature. I decided to create a weekly pop culture/politics-type program called The National Toilet. Every Friday, I create a short, five-minute podcast lampooning the worst of society as reflected in the headlines. This keeps my videos relevant and tied to popular keywords. So far, I am only on my second episode and I have more than doubled my viewership from the first! And with my annotation, I place a link to my promo for The Great Intervention, hoping that people who enjoy the podcast may be of like mind to enjoy the movie.
Give some of these a try and leave your own suggestions as well.
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