Ask not what YouTube can do for you….
A short blog folks, but thought you might like to know about one of YouTube's lesser known secrets and how it can help you build your profile and extend your marketing outside of your website. Sounds a little like marketing speak I know, so I'll stop, but seriously this could be really useful.
You probably know how easy it is to embed videos on your website and how you can draw in content from right across YouTube. What you might not know is there's a pretty decent incentive for you to look into doing this more regularly.
YouTube's a video sharing platform and users get recommendations from other users within the group - telling them what's good and ignoring the stuff that's scraped 2 views in a month. But for website owners embedding YouTube can give you a free marketing tool - the 'as seen on' option. Basically the top referral site for a particular video gets the 'as seen on link' like the one below.
An example of this is our American Football highlights we produce for The Nottingham Caesars. Our videos get embedded regularly on Dbl Coverage, a seriously good blog and website for all American Football related news in the UK and the NFL. Because they refer so many people to the video, simply by embedding it on their site - they get the honour of being the one named 'as seen on...'
Basically, if you start embedding videos that suit your business and enough people follow the link, YouTube will put up your link and start sending people round to yours - cost? It's free. Not the be all and end all of video marketing, but bloody useful to know.
Happy embedding.
Read MoreThe Queen and American Football – busy week at InkSpot Media Towers
Thought I'd update you on what we've been up to recently. Plenty of videos to work on, including the Breivik Trial, the Pro-Rugby Academy, Her Majesty the Queen and week 1 highlights of The Nottingham Caesars campaign. Right here's a couple of videos to enjoy - I'm off back to work! Read More
Do what you love and love what you do
The saying goes, (as if you haven’t already guessed from the title) do what you love and love what you do. It’s a nice slogan and looks good on a poster, T-Shirt or mug.
But it’s only recently that I’ve had pause to think about what that actually means, and it struck me that that is precisely how I am now living my life.
Leaving full time employment to pursue my own video production company has opened my eyes to so much and has led me back to things I was once very passionate about.
Among them is American Football. I remember clearly getting excited about the sport when it was introduced to the UK on Channel 4 in the late Eighties (despite the now obviously horrendous graphics).
I chose to follow (as they were then) the LA Raiders, chiefly because as a life-long Man City fan, they’d dominated in the late 60s/early 70s, but had slipped into mid-table mediocrity. Too many parallels to mention.
It so happens that both teams now look like they’re coming good again, but that’s by the by.
I was so taken by the game that I convinced myself that I could play and tried out for the Manchester Heroes youth team, but that didn’t work out due to a combination of things; ability (or lack thereof), and mum objecting to picking me and my brother up every Sunday morning caked in mud. Our family car was a Yugo for crying out loud – a bit of mud may have actually increased its value!
The Yugo - the mere thought is making me feel funny
Since leaving the University of Nottingham and striking out on my own, I was almost immediately drawn back to the game that so captured my imagination when I was a kid. I now work with the Nottingham Caesars, documenting their season and firing up my passion for the game once again after so many years. And I think that makes me a lucky guy! (with better graphics).
It’s of course not the only area I cover. As I write this, I’m downloading 20 videos-worth of footage from a week-long shoot for the University of Nottingham’s PG Prospectus team. It’s not American Football, but looking at the raw footage spilling from the tapes, I can already see a change in the way I’m shooting. There’s creativity in there and the space to stamp my creative mark on them.
Do what you love and love what you do?
Yes I do. Yes, I most definitely do.
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Sports videos
In our latest video we're once again behind-the-scenes with the Nottingham Caesars American Football team. The season's fast approaching and the team is making great progress in getting ready for it.
In this video I'm trying to stoke up the rivalry between defence and offense (as if they need it.)
These videos, which I'll keep adding as the season wears on (and which will then include game highlights) will hopefully be of use to the players as well as providing some entertainment to those who know the sport and those that are new to it.
Enjoy!
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The big society?
I want to start this vaguely political blog by stating that this isn't a political blog, even though this post....you get the point.
Do you remember the Conservative Party's line on the 'Big Society'? How they were going to empower groups and communities to basically do the government's job? That was in the 2010 manifesto, but how much have you heard about it since then?
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6 steps to choosing a videographer
If you’re reading this, the chances are good you’re considering having a video done for yourself, your business or organisation. Nice one! But with so many people out there, how do you make the right choice?
It’s not as difficult as you may think, but there are some things you should bear in mind.
Read More
More music videos we like
Following on from the last post on music videos - here's a band who have cleverly created an identity for themselves with some simple but very effective video techniques.
They're pretty busy, but if you're around check out their tour schedule.
They're tipped for big things this year.
Read MoreHit the right note – the music video
Once upon a time you could promote your band’s music with a small investment from reluctant loved ones and the help of a gifted (and massively well connected) producer.
The 80s and MTV changed that and suddenly to succeed you needed a music video.
Whether it was Bauhaus brooding about a dead Hollywood vampiric actor, or Simon Le Bon dangling precariously off the edge of a very fast moving yacht, banging on about some woman called Rio, everyone recognised the importance of a good music video.
Read MoreTired of turkey
Don't know about you, but the thought of turkey leaves me cold, all that dry white meat doesn't really compare to a succulent rare fillet steak.
But changing the Christmas menu is controversial. Seems most people are happy to observe the traditional meal and keep quiet about this quite tasteless bird.
This was driven home to me recently when I edited up a film on one alternative Christmas meal - Pounded yam and spinach soup.
What's on your Christmas menu?
Merry Christmas all!
Read MoreDIY video?
Look around your school, your office, your filing cabinets. Chances are you have a few videotapes knocking about.
Many small businesses gather footage in one way or another. Whether it's an intern project, video from a school fete or other event, it's gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.
It's easy enough to capture a moment on video, but then what do you do with it?
Read MoreRefreshing academics
You hear it often: what difference do academics make to society? Sometimes you might be forgiven for thinking that's fair comment.
New company under the InkSpot banner
We're proud to announce that our video production has gathered such support through InkSpot Social Media for Vets that we have created InkSpot Media as a stand alone company in order to offer video production services to all.
We look forward to bringing you more great video content that shows our clients' personality and absolute best features!
Andrew & Ali
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