There’s a reason that Nike slogan has resonated with people: There’s something to be said for diving in and seeing where the experience takes you. For me, learning about online video and how to create content has been an experience worth doing. Sure, it’s not the easiest or cheapest venture, but it’s fulfilling and eventually you have unique content that can be shared and hopefully, monetized. In my book, that’s a win-win situation. So, how do you get started?
The first step is deciding to do it. You can get out your spreadsheets and try to figure out what it will cost to create online video content yourself, but it’s not really going to be easy to quantify. On the other hand, you can easily quantify how much it’s going to cost if you outsource the entire project and that number, let me tell you, depending on what you want to accomplish might not be pretty. Lighting, production, editing and distribution costs have the potential to add up quickly. Let’s not forget the hours you put in doing research to find sources that can help with your video project. Of course, there are services that can help with that such as TurnHere and for your first video it’s not a bad idea to try such a service to see firsthand what goes into making a video for online distribution. The good news is the end product will look great. If you only want to do a few videos a year definitely take that route. It’s easier, faster, and less painful. However, if you want to create online video regularly consider doing it yourself. You’ll definitely save money in the long run and even learn a few things along the way. Plus, you’ll have everything you need at your fingertips in a moments notice, so you’ll never miss an opportunity to showcase something using video.
How do you know if you want to create a constant stream of video to distribute online? Well, think about what you hope to achieve? Do you want to cultivate an audience or is there just one specific thing (such as a product demo or live stream of a speaking event) a couple times a year? Do you have in-house talent that can help create the content regularly or do you have to outsource that, too? Would it benefit you more to have fewer videos that are finally polished or more videos that only improve in time? Only you can answer those questions and once you do you’ll easily be able to tell which is the right solution for you: outsource or do-it-yourself.
Since I do it myself, I’ll be sharing all the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way… as well as a few frustrations. Hey, without some hiccups along the way, how do you really learn anything? I’d like to learn from you, too. Please post tips, tricks, and even questions. I’m happy to entertain them all.
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