YouTube is fast becoming a useful business tool
YouTube, the Web site that hosts videos of just about every kind, has in a very short time become a pop culture institution.
But outside of politics and entertainment, the story about YouTube is that businesses are also starting to use it.
In Hawaii, YouTube hasn't gotten the traction for business users that it has on the mainland, but it's catching on. It seems the largest business users locally have been real estate agents who shoot videos of their properties.
Some Hawaii hotels and other tourism related entities such as tour operators have also found the site useful. However, there haven't been as many local tourism industry postings as I'd expect. This is a shame because I can't think of a better way to showcase a hotel or bed-and-breakfast.
And what other businesses in Hawaii might find this useful?
Just about anyone who needs to market their goods and services. That is, just about anyone who already has a Web site. This includes everyone from lawyers, such as Honolulu attorney Ed Magauran, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3r5DkEWe5c) to Manoa Yoga studio owners Ray Madigan and Shelley Choy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuzrYbf5JE).
Our own company, Time Warner Telecom, recently filmed a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QVjWQSTpvw as a tool to market our company in Hawaii.
In addition to marketing your goods and services, what other functions could a YouTube video serve? Here are a few that come to mind:
» Executive presentations: Company execs can post videos for the benefit of employees or other interested parties who may not be able to attend.
» Training videos: An excellent way to instruct workers on anything from making a great sales pitch to using software.
» Events: YouTube is ideal for publicizing an event. For example, if you have a big-time speaker coming to town, you can feature video clips that show him or her in action.
» "Help" or an FAQ videos: FAQs pages are a staple of the Internet. Sales people get the same questions day in and day out. Anticipating this, you're doing your customers a service with a FAQ video that can be used to brief them before you even meet with them.
One last thing: It's easy to place your YouTube video on your own Web site. All you do is add a bit of "embedded" HTML code that YouTube provides. Cut and paste it on your page and -- voila! -- you've got a video player ready to run.
