I’m going to show you a bunch of free and low cost services that can make video creation really fun!

Creating Videos

There are a variety of tools to help you make YouTube videos that are unique, professional, and interesting. Rather than simply recording your own video using your video camera, you can use one of the following tools to create a more customized video.

1. Animoto.com Just upload your images, and Animoto creates video slideshows with music.
   2. Xtranormal.com   You can choose an animated actor or character and a background for your video. When you enter your video text, the actor lip-syncs the text in an animated video.
   3. Stupeflix.com   Upload images, text, maps, video clips, and audio. Once everything is uploaded, you can create a video that you can share on YouTube directly from your Stupeflix account.
   4. GoAnimate.com    Create animated videos by choosing a theme, dragging and dropping characters, and recording lines for the characters to say.
   5. WebsiteTalkingHeads.com    Need a video with a professional spokesperson to deliver the lines? It’s easy and affordable. 
   6. TechSmith.com/Camtasia  or CamStudio.com   Create screencast video content to publish on YouTube.
   7. eCamm.com   Want to conduct video interviews and upload them to your YouTube channel? It’s easy with Call Recorder for Skype. You can download a free demo and upgrade to a paid version when you’re ready.

Editing Videos

Once you’ve recorded a video, you need a tool to edit it. An unedited video looks cheap, and that’s probably not how you want people to view your brand and business. Check out the video editors below to cut and move content within your videos, and to add sound, transitions, images, text, and more.

8. iMovie: Unless you’re a video editing expert, you’ll probably be quite happy with the features offered in iMovie, which is the free video editing program that comes pre-installed on all Macs.
   9. Windows Movie Maker: For Windows users, the free Windows Movie Maker software that comes on new PCs is a great video editing choice.

Enhancing Videos

You can easily enhance your videos by adding music, images, and even video content published by other people. For example, to create a highly professional business video, you should have an introduction and closing clip with music, text, and an image that provides your business name, website URL, and other important brand identity information. The following services provide royalty-free music, images, and video that you can legally use in your video content.

10. RoyaltyFreeMusic.com Here you can find affordable music tracks and clips. Individual tracks can be licensed for under $10.
    11. Live.FreeplayMusic.com  This is another great option for finding affordable music for your videos. This service offers a wide variety of music at various price points and licensing options.
    12. Audacity.SourceForge.net   If you need to record and edit sounds for your videos, then this free open source audio editor and recorder is an excellent option.
    13. iStockPhoto.com   Here you can find affordable and professional images, photos, animated clips, illustrations, and video clips.

Converting Videos

What if your video is saved in a format that your video editing program or YouTube doesn’t accept? Fortunately, there are a variety of free and affordable video conversion tools that enable you to convert your video to the format you need in seconds.

14. iSkySoft.com This is affordable video conversion and video download software for Mac and Windows users.
    15. HandBrake.fr/downloads.php   For a free open source video conversion tool, try HandBrake for Mac or Windows.

The post Making YouTube Videos for your Business appeared first on Websites by Robyn.

According to www.contentfac.com, here are 8 reasons why it’s imperative you get on the Social Media bandwagon:

1. You get to see your target market, up close and personal. Part of what makes marketing with Facebook and Twitter so cool is the interaction you get to have with your customer base – you can read their tweets and status updates to get insights into their daily lives (and maybe adjust your marketing strategy as a result).
2. You can respond to problems immediately. If there’s a problem with your product or service, you want to know about it immediately. With the feedback you get in the process of social media marketing, you’ll be the first to know when there are issues – and you can take steps to resolve them right away.
3. Your competition is Tweeting and Facebooking like crazy. The early bird gets the worm, and the sooner you start up Facebook and Twitter pages, the sooner you can start amassing a ton of fans and followers. This isn’t something you want to fall behind the competition on, because it’s much harder (and more expensive) to play catch up than it is to get in on the game early. Truth be told, your competition is probably already marketing with Facebook, and maybe even Twitter and LinkedIn, too.
4. People are receptive to your messages. People view Twitter and Facebook as social networks, not marketing machines. As a result, they’re less likely to see what you post as an advertisement and will be more likely to hear what you have to say.
5. It will get you more sales. Not surprisingly, when you stay in front of your customer base, they’re more likely to buy from you when they need the products you sell. Social media marketing doesn’t just keep your company’s name in front of potential buyers, but it also gives you the opportunity to constantly give them incentives to buy. Try Tweeting or posting coupon codes, good only to those who are your Facebook fans or Twitter followers. You’ll be surprised at how many people make purchases using the code!
6. You will find customers you didn’t know existed. If you follow specific keywords in Twitter, you can find people who are looking for the products you sell (and then direct them to your site).  In the process of marketing with Facebook, you’ll probably join a ton of groups related to your products, industry and customer base. By posting links in these groups, you’ll help influence customers to check out your site.
7. It’s free. How can you argue with that? If you handle your own social media management, running a social networking campaign is as cheap as it gets. If you hire a social media management or online PR agency, it will cost around $3,000-$7,000 per month, but it’ll be an investment that you’ll be likely to see a return on.
8. The social media marketing arena is a fairly level playing field. Unlike the brick and mortar world where you need to have millions of dollars to run traditional ad campaigns, all companies start off on pretty equal footing when it comes to social media marketing. The people who thrive and go viral in cyberspace are the people with the most clever, attention grabbing tactics and the most useful, link worthy content.

The post 8 Reasons To Use Social Media to Market Your Business appeared first on Websites by Robyn.