The world has been taken over by cat videos, epic fails and various entertaining challenge videos, but how has this epidemic happened? Well, with the creation of YouTube in 2005 it introduced the population to a whole new universe of entertainment and opportunities. This site gave users a chance to upload their own videos and watch other members. Today YouTube has over 1 billion users and over 300 hours of video footage is uploaded to YouTube every minute. With this major success many businesses have taken to YouTube to market their products, especially event organisers.
This video is an example of how event companies can use YouTube and other online streaming sites to market their experience. The Fringe Festival does this very well by uploading videos about shows, new additions to the festival and even videos on how to get involved and volunteer at the festival itself. This success is shown by the subscribers on their channel, the followers on their social media and the sheer mass of people that turn up to the festival every year.
For organisers to successfully market online it takes a lot of time and thought. Even though it is a free way of publish the media it could be costly making the videos themselves. Iv’e put together a small step by step guide to which I feel is the best way to market your event through online streaming.
1. Dressing Room
- Making sure you have a decent quality camera and editing equipment/software is key. No one likes to see poor quality and badly put together film.
- ALWAYS make a plan. Decide whether your videos are going to be information about your event, a video to hype up the event, footage to include the people who couldn’t attend, if you are going to have a dedicated series or even interviews. If you are brave, what about all of them? The attention span of online views is less than a gold fish so make the plan eye catching!
2. Lights, Camera, Action
- Location of where you film is very important, and it all depends on what you video is about. Make sure there is a clear link, you don’t want to confuse viewers.
- Who features in the film has to be relevant and make sure there is a clear script or idea what is going to be said. Organisers, feedback from attendees and celebrities who are in connection with the event is always an idea.
3. That’s a Wrap
- After the masterpiece has been planned, filmed, edited and publish that isn’t your work done. Sharing the video on all the social media websites connected with your orgnaisation so it reaches all the followers and the wider public.
- After these efforts the outcome of creating a buzz for the experience and gaining new customers should be one of an achievable one.
Another example of an events company who have done this is the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 2014 who kept up a good streak of videos to build a buzz for the public. The video below is one of many and shows the success of the games as a whole and the video series. It demonstrates the steps above to create a successful video marketing campaign and how it all came together, giving a sense of inclusion and memorabilia to attendees and the company.
REFERENCES
COMMONWEALTH GAMES., 2014. Best Games Ever -2014. [online video]. 5 August. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N67X8moAZis [Accessed 20 April 2015].
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE., 2015. Get ready for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!. [online video]. 10 February. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbT2gpN3KMQ [Accessed 20 April 2015].
YOUTUBE., 2015. Statistics. [online]. London: YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en-GB/statistics.html [Accessed 20 April 2015].
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