Last weekend I went to the first annual VloggerFair – a festival to celebrate everything to do with vlogging. If you’re not really sure what vlogging is, it’s basically the video version of writing a blog post. Typically vloggers are known as the people who go out and document their lives (often on a daily basis) on video, which they post to YouTube. Some of them manage to build up huge followings of people who get to see a glimpse into what their lives are like.

VloggerFair wasn’t a conference like VidCon or Playlist Live, but rather a festival – or you might even call it a glorified gathering. In most major cities YouTubers find a time every now and then to get together and just hang out, but this took it up a notch to having a rented space with vendors, YouTube celebrity vloggers in attendance, and Q & A sessions on a stage (which I got to do with Samantha Mack on the second day).

Keeping with tradition from my VidCon and Playlist Live videos, I asked my viewers to suggest things for me to ask/do/say to the YouTube stars in attendance, which included people like Shay Carl, iJustine, Joey Graceffa, Carlie Stylez, and more! Check out the results in my VloggerFair 2013 video below and stay tuned for more of the same when I go to VidCon 2013 in a couple months!

I really enjoyed VloggerFair and it reminded me a lot of the first VidCon and Playlist Live – I was able to actually talk to all of the bigger YouTubers that I wanted to and it was a good mix of both content creators and fans. Remember that I upload a new video every week so make sure you subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss my next one!

You can get this song now on iTunes (and find my previous song parodies there as well)! We had a lot of fun making the music video for this song and you can see some of the silliness we got up to in the Behind The Scenes video:

Next week I’ll have a Q&A video with Monica and I’m sure we’ll have a lot more laughs then so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Last year I was the closing keynote speaker at the TGC conference in Victoria, BC.  It’s an annual event put on by Canada’s LGBT Tourism Industry Association.  One of the people in attendance was the owner of FunMaps, a company that’s been creating paper maps of gay friendly travel destinations for many years.  They were about to launch a new web presence called Gayosphere and having web videos done by a YouTube personality seemed to be the perfect fit.  Fast forward a few months and I present to you the new LGBT travel series on the Gayosphere YouTube channel!

Our first video is an introduction shot in various locations covering everything from a beach to a ski hill.   Check out all the different locations in the video below and see if you can tell where most of them are:

Following that, our first destination to showcase is where the whole idea for this series was conceived: Victoria, BC!  I could list a number of reasons for you to consider visiting, but I’ll let the video speak for itself:

Coming up we’ll have more cities in the West and then hopefully expand from there! I took care of everything involved in these videos from concept to completion. That made it very easy for my client (Gayosphere) and allowed me to really put my YouTube marketing skills and knowledge to use. I was able to work within a tight budget and still produce high quality content that should result in a good amount of views and engagement!

Be sure to subscribe so you can see each new video as it goes up! And if you have an idea of places I should visit in future episodes, let me know in the comments below here on the blog or under the videos on YouTube!

2012 was a great year for me in a lot of ways, but especially with managing to achieve one of my goals of being a public speaker.  Who knew that this goofy comedian would actually be someone that people in the business community wanted to listen to?  I managed to book myself more than a dozen speaking engagements in Vancouver last year and then finished it off by being flown to BC’s captial (Victoria) to be the closing keynote speaker at a national conference.  Huh? Me? How did this happen… either I must have some pretty darn good stuff to share about YouTube marketing or I just entertain them enough during my presentation that they don’t notice.  Either way works for me!

This Friday I’m having another “is this really my life” moment as I’m being flown to Kamloops, BC to speak to a crowd of about 200 people at Thompson Rivers University.  Admittedly, it’s not the most exotic location, but I’ve never been there so at least I can check that one off the bucket list! (Isn’t visiting Kamloops on everyone’s list?)  While I’m in town I’ll be doing interviews with Daybreak Kamloops on CBC Radio and the Jim Harrison Show on NL Radio.  Considering I’ll only be there for about 24 hours, it’s going to be a busy day!

The Tourism Management Department made up a cool flat sheet / poster which has an extra sexy photo of me in it… one of the few where I’m not smiling like a dork with my mouth wide open.  I even have some stubble… this is a whole new Josh Rimer people.  Don’t get used it.

If you’d like to have me come speak to your organization or business,  or at an upcoming event that you’re organizing, get in touch with me and we’ll make it happen!  I have a ton of useful knowledge to share about YouTube marketing… or I’m really entertaining.  Or I am as sexy in real life as I appear to be in that photo… only one way for you to find out I guess!

Advertising a product through videos on YouTube is one of the most effective forms of marketing to reach potential customers, to share knowledge, and connect with users. Here are some ways to use YouTube as an effective marketing tool:

1. Create a YouTube channel. Having a YouTube channel exclusively dedicated to your videos can help your business to gain exposure. The channel is also an innovative means for the company to keep followers updated with new products and offers.

2. Tag videos with relevant keywords.
It is necessary and almost mandatory to label the videos that are uploaded to the channel of the company with relevant keywords. Incurring a huge expenditure on creating videos would pay little dividends if they do not appear in the search results on YouTube, so it is important to choose the keywords specific to the business, products and services offered by the company.
3. Use an attractive thumbnail. Put a preview image that sells. The more suggestive and attractive preview image that a video has, the greater the number of viewings there will be.
4. Organize Contests and Video Promotions. Conducting promotional campaigns and video contests is a great way to earn business. You can encourage participation by your Facebook fans and Twitter followers in these competitions and reward them by offering discounts and gifts to increase user loyalty to the brand.
5. Create Playlists. Lists are a great way to organize collections of videos. You can create separate lists for each product and highlight the related offers. The lists are useful and convenient for users as they can watch all the videos with one click instead of having to find and play each video individually.
6. Write Comments. Another way to promote the videos and channels is by visiting other users with a similar content. You can leave a comment that is interesting and effective with a link to the video of your company to attract traffic to the channel.
7. Connect with the Customer.YouTube can serve as a tool to answer user queries about the services offered by the company. You can alsocreate videos to help customers use the products in an easy and simple way.

How to get more hits on YouTube:
Always remember that YouTube can work as an effective marketing tool only if you get customers to view your videos. If you get a sufficient number of views, votes and comments, in no time you can be ranked as the most viewed video of the day or week, which will increase the visibility of your video progressively.If the above tips are not successful in getting YouTube views for your company’s videos, do not worry because there is another way. There are online services that sell views for your YouTube videos so that they appear before others in the rankings of search results services. You can purchase YouTube views through packages which may also include comments on video, the inclusion of video as a favorite, the “I Like” (rating) and subscription to your channel. The more you pay, the faster you will get the views you need. Once you get enough views and the video is good, it continues to run on its own.

In the recent years, Facebook and Twitter have gained popularity as the major social networks for marketing a business, but YouTube continues to safeguard its position as a valuable tool that can have a positive influence on the marketing strategy of businesses of all sizes.

Gayani Silva is a Junior Outreach Specialist at Frozzo Social Media Marketing Company where you can buy YouTube views and promote your business. Gayani blogs and writes about Social Media. She is aware of all ins and outs of Social Media Marketing.

The Music video has long been an art form that also serves as an effective marketing tool. Even today, music videos are still a dominant medium that musicians use to deliver their content to music fans throughout the world. But the vehicle for how the music video has typically been delivered has undergone a change. Where once MTV was the go-to outlet for everything music and imagery, it’s now YouTube. And this is great news for those struggling local bands just starting out on the scene.

Once a band becomes famous, record companies have no problem opening their giant wallets and funding expensive, slick-looking music videos. New groups don’t have such limitless monetary resources at their disposal. Therefore new acts should utilize the services of Internet devices of mass communications such as YouTube. In fact, NBC recently reported that the ever-popular clip site was one of the best ways for new bands to market themselves.

Making the YouTube video

As mentioned above, most new bands are operating on limited budgets. Therefore it’s not practical to try and compete with videos that have been shot for millions of dollars. One effective alternative for new acts is to focus on shooting their lives shows, as this markets their energy as well as their sound. The band’s lack of resources will also work when shooting a live performance, as it’s appropriate for live videos to have a less refined or “raw” look.

That said, new bands will certainly want to polish the final product as much as possible. This can be achieved by using professional video-editing computer software, such as Final Cut Pro. Even the stock editing programs found on most new computer models have the capabilities necessary to professionally edit a video.

Marketing with YouTube

The first thing the band needs to do once they have their content ready is to create a profile for their group. After that they can upload the content. Of course the real question every new band has is “how do I get people to view my profile and videos?” The best way to reach as many people as possible on YouTube is to use automated marketing software like Tube Toolbox. But with the advent of cloud computing and the increasing popularity of streaming, there are a number of newer programs that take advantage of this technology. Either way, once the marketing process is automated, it frees up quite a bit of time so the band can focus on other aspects of their game.

But installing automation software isn’t the only step to successful marketing; it needs to be properly utilized. Some other tips to using bots to spread the word about a band’s hot new clip include:

• Keyword searches. There’s no better way to reach a target audience than through looking at popular keywords in order to understand what they are searching for. The automation software will provide the user IDs that come up in searches.
• Send friend requests with messages. Once the list of IDs has been compiled, send mass friend requests with an introductory message. Keep the message succinct, explaining only the relevant facts about the clip and why the user might enjoy the video.
• Return the favor. These days, YouTube is as much a social media site as it is a clip-aggregating site. That means new bands looking to promote their content should join the community and post comments on other videos. An interesting and popular post on one video could end up lead people back to the band’s video. To this end, it’s also crucial for bands to link their videos to other popular videos on the site.

These are just a few things to consider when approaching how best to utilize YouTube as a marketing tool for bands. The site has launched a lot of careers in its day, and new acts should know that – as long as YouTube is used effectively – the sky is the limit.

Justin Miller is a professional blogger that writes on a variety of topics including guitar lessons. He writes for JamPlay.com, a leading online music educator offering 2,000+ video guitar lessons in HD.

This Monday was Project for Awesome (or P4A for short), the time every year (since 2007) when YouTube content creators come together to promote a charity or cause and try to get the rest of the community on the website involved in raising money and making a difference.

Last year I focused my video on Africa Relief, and this year I decided to go with a specific organization that helps the lgbt community in countries where their rights are in danger. I’m not only making the video in hopes that people will sign up for the AllOut.org newsletter, but also because I want to donate some more money to their organization, and I’ve decided to let YOU determine how much I give. For every “Like” that the video receives on YouTube this week, I’ll donate 10 cents – up to $100 total.

So go ahead and watch the video below, but then make sure you go to it on YouTube so you can click that thumbs up button!

These days, recording a professional-looking Web video interview is becoming easier and cheaper. However, it is still easy to get things like lighting, studio set up and the background wrong. At Software Advice, we shoot a lot of Web video, and we wanted to share tips we’ve learned from trial and error along the way. Here are three key areas to focus on to help you create great Web videos.

1. Pick a Quality Webcam

While it may be tempting to stick with your computer’s built-in webcam, chances are that your webcam will shoot low quality video. Since most people out on the Web are starting to expect high definition video, it’s a good idea to go out and get a webcam that can shoot in HD.

If you don’t have a built-in webcam that can shoot in HD, we recommend checking out Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 for Windows and Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 for Mac. One advantage of these webcams is that they also record decent audio.

2. Get the Right Sound

There are several options available for getting a decent sound for your Web videos. The first is to use a good HD webcam (like the Logitech models recommended above) that can record audio. If you want to go with this approach, pic on that has dual microphones as it will capture the audio better.

Your second option is to pic a USB microphone (see below) that can connect to your computer to improve the sound. We like Blue Microphone’s Snowball ($68) as it offers great sound for price, or you can upgrade to their Yeti ($106) for even higher quality sound. If that’s not your style, you can always go the route of a headset or lapel mic. One thing to note, however, is that these will likely be visible in your video.

3. Lighting

Lighting is a big area of focus when trying to get your video to appear professional. If you don’t have the right lighting, colors will dull and there will be shadows in your face. Neither is desirable.

At Software Advice, we rely on two small desk lamps that cost $23 each and use copy paper diffusers to light our foreground. We also use a three-piece lighting kit to light our backdrop (see figure in step 5). One side note about lighting: dim your computer screen as much as possible to avoid getting lighting from your monitor into the shot. Below you can see examples of good lighting versus poor lighting.

There you have three areas that you can focus on to create great, professional-looking Web videos without breaking our bank. Do you have any tips you’d like to provide? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Guest post by Derek Singleton who is a CRM software analyst at Software Advice, an online resource that reports on technologies, topics and trends in B2B marketing.

This year I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a number of groups in Vancouver, BC about YouTube marketing. They’ve all been based around how entrepreneurs, small business owners & marketers can better use YouTube (the second largest search engine) to get their companies / brands / clients exposure and turn viewers into customers. This month I’ll be continuing along those lines, but also doing a talk on how entertainers, performers, filmmakers & actors can use YouTube to also get exposure and make a living from the advertising revenue, as well as being a part of a panel that will be looking at how YouTube is changing the entertainment industry.

If you’re in the area and would like to come see one of my presentations, I actually have three coming up over the next few days, thanks in part to it being Social Media Week!

Tuesday, September 24: YouTube Marketing For Your Business

Wednesday, September 25: Social Media & Entertainment – The New Game Changer

Thursday, September 26: The Secrets to Getting Exposure and Earning an Income on YouTube

The first two events have no entry fee (they both say they’re sold out, but I’ve been told there will be extra room for last minute walk-ins) and the third one is only $5 in advance.  So if you’re in the Vancouver area this week, come spend an hour with me to learn more about the amazing marketing tool that is YouTube!  And if you’re located somewhere else, but have a group who would be interested in having me do a presentation for them, please contact me!

If you’re like me, you have an iPhone… and love it. You probably also watch YouTube videos on it.  Well, today Apple released their new operating system (update) iOS 6, and one of the changes that comes along with it is the removal of their native YouTube app.  The relationship between Google and Apple has been changing now that they’re pretty much in direct competition in the smart phone market with the iPhone and Android phones, so Apple is moving away from including Google apps like Google maps and YouTube, and Google has said that they feel the only ones who can make the best YouTube app are YouTube themselves anyway.

The new app is great for content creators like myself because it allows for ads to be shown.  With about 30% of my video views being on mobile, that means a good increase in the revenue I make from my YouTube videos.  It may (hopefully) also mean that music videos through Vevo will soon be allowed to be shown on mobile devices too (since they’re all currently being blocked because the record labels couldn’t monetize them).

I also think the new app offers a better user experience with the ability to do more while watching a video like comment, subscribe, and rate.  For some reason you still can’t click on links within the video description though, which seems bizarre to me… I’m not sure why they don’t enable that, unless it’s just because they don’t want people to navigate away from the app.

I just saw a couple of good reviews of the app from people I watch on YouTube that you might be interested to check out:

Richard G. Reynolds did this one on his BusterSenshi channel that’s a shorter opinionated review:

And Tim Schmoyer did this one on the reelseo channel that’s more of an in-depth overview:

Do you like the new YouTube app better than the previous one? Anything that especially stands out to you that was included (or not included) in it?  Let me know in the comments below!