A native of Colorado, Mrs. Yolanda M. Johnson-Bryant, currently resides in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, with her husband. Mrs. Bryant is a published author, freelance writer, novelist, editor, ghostwriter and a literary and entrepreneurial advocate. She is the founder and owner of YolandaMJohnson, Literary Wonders! and Bryant Consulting. She is a columnist for Examiner.com, RAW Sistaz Literary Services and other literary venues. Mrs. Johnson-Bryant is a member of The Nussbaum Entrepreneurial Center, Women of Leadership and Learning (WELL Women) and Toastmasters. She also conducts workshops and classes on writing and entrepreneurship and is also a member of several reading and writing groups.

Websites, social media, e-mail marketing, and mobile marketing are great ways for authors to promote their work. An even better way is by using the power of video. If you had the option either to listen to an audio of your favorite author, singer, or motivational speaker, or read text or watch them on video, which would you choose? I’m willing to bet that most of you chose the video over text or audio.

There is something to be said about being able to see who you’re listening to. Videos are an excellent visual aid and are a bit more personal.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of using video for marketing.

PROS:

1. Advantage over your competitors. Anyone can set up a blog and write. Although it doesn’t take a whole lot of skill to make basic videos, your audience will watch your video before they will read a blog post. Depending on how advanced your video capture and editing skills are, you can go beyond the basic and do some really cool things with video. You can’t do that with a basic text blog post. Remember, most people are visual in nature.

2. Video can boast the “I can show you better than I can tell you” factor. A user finds it much easier to see something being done, say, in an instructional video than reading the text of a blog post.

3. Using video shows your more personal side to your audience. It is a strong way to interact with your audience because they have the added benefit of seeing your facial expressions, hand gestures, and so on. Need I even mention the value a video will add to your branding strategy? It’s easier to associate a name or brand with a face than it is with text or audio.

4. By cross-referencing your video in various social media venues, you expand your audience and your audience possibilities. When your viewers can see you, they are more likely to share the video. We all know about viral video. I don’t recall hearing anything about viral audio or viral text, unless of course you’re referring to a New York Times Best Seller.

5. Although videos are not SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly, video sharing sites such as YouTube and GodTube are. Also, by tagging your blog post properly, viewers can get to your videos.

CONS:

1. If you are not experienced in capturing and editing video, it can be a daunting task. A poorly captured or edited video can be a turn-off and hurt your brand rather than help it.

2. It may take only a few moments to write a blog post or even an audio post, but it takes time to produce a video.

3. One size does not fit all. When making a video, consider issues such as videos that automatically start when a person clicks on a page. This may be distracting and may possibly get a few people in trouble because they might be at work and are not to be on the Internet. It may scare a sleeping child or take your viewer off-guard. Also consider various Internet speeds and software

that your audience may be utilizing. If you use an Apple only program from your Mac to upload your site, without the proper plug-ins it is possible that viewers who don’t have Mac capabilities may not be able to watch your video.

4. In most cases, you will have to pay for some type of software to create your videos; however, you may be able to download Windows Live Movie Maker via the Microsoft Website. It is part of the Live Essentials Software.

5. Videos tend to take up more disk space on your computer than audio and text. Some video sharing sites may charge for hosting videos over a certain size and bandwidth.

These are only a few pros and cons of using videos to promote your work. But as you can tell, there are more pros than cons and the possibilities are endless. I believe that the more you practice a skill, the more honed and experienced you become. So create your video today. It doesn’t have to be fancy or long. Perhaps you can start by announcing where your books are sold, the release of your new book, or a summary of your book. If you’re like many “starving artists,” you may freelance, in which case you can explain your services. If you need help creating videos, social media video sharing sites, such as YouTube, have a plethora of how-to videos. Also, if you visit the home page of your software or product, you should be able to find videos to help with your product.

Last, here’s a few tips on creating your video:

• Less is more. If you’re not used to the frillies, bypass them until you become more experienced.
• Creativity excites the senses.
• Smile. No one wants to look at a video of someone who looks unhappy.
• Check your appearance.
• Check your audio. There is nothing worse than looking at a great video and not being able to hear a word.
• Keep your videos between two and five minutes. Unless your video is super exciting and actual movie or concert production, no one wants to sit through an hour of your talk about whatever. Even if you are creating a how-to video, break the session into multiple versions. This allows viewers to take a break, and they can go directly to the part of the video they actually need.

Lights. Action. Camera!

Resources
YouTube   
GodTube
Yahoo Video
CyberLink Power Director
Corel Visual Studio
Windows Movie Maker
Music for Video
Free Sound Affects
Media College