Boating Industry

February 2015

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34 | Boating Industry | February 2015 [ Social media that sells ] www.BoatingIndustry.com Selling via video Video has been an action item for many dealers for years, but new tools and a growing audience has the medium poised for major growth in the recreational boating industry. A large body of evidence also shows that video provides a great ROI, which has many business owners thinking seriously about a video strategy. "One thing that I think a lot of people are starting to realize in the ma- rine industry is that YouTube actually drives more sales than any other platform," said DeVlaming. The sheer numbers of people using YouTube are astounding and it's not just teens and tweens anymore. According to YouTube's internal statistics, the site reaches more than 1 billion people each month. According to Neilson, the site reaches more people aged 18-34 than any cable network. While that skews younger than the industry's typical boat-buying demographic, the numbers are astounding. And within the recreational boating world, video is hugely popular. "There are over 2 million boat searches on YouTube every month," said DeVlam- ming. "That's quite a large number. It's actually the sec- ond largest search engine be- hind Google." By now, most businesses know the value of search rankings. So shying away from YouTube is akin to ignoring SEO altogether: not wise. Boating is an incredibly visual pastime so it's no won- der that there are that many searches each month. YouTube is especially valuable for new boats. "It leads in new product introduction, so if you sell new boats that's a great place for you to be. It also leads in converting consumers to pur- chase," said DeVlaming. "In the last six months to a year I've seen people in marine start to realize this." Finklestine said that they have done some video work in the past but will be ramping up those efforts in 2015. "We're going to do a lot more with YouTube this year," said Finklestine. Because of Complete Marine's wide customer base, video can also help make sales to far-fl ung customers who might not be able to make the trip for an in-person test drive. He said their success with private videos fueled their drive to make public videos on YouTube. "We do a lot of exporting, so the clients like to see a live video of the boat rather than pictures," said Finklestine. "We send them videos now via email, but we're going to be uploading those to YouTube so everyone can see them." Businesses who are already on YouTube are reporting some great results. "We had a story from a while back from a customer who had paid $250 to get a videographer out to his dealership and do video of all his boats," said DeVlaming. "He got 35 videos out of that and ended up CREATING GREAT VIDEOS ON THE CHEAP You don't need an expensive video camera and a production crew to make some great videos. If you have a decent smart phone and a com- puter, you are already a video powerhouse. Here is one fantastic tool to start creating enthralling videos to help your brand thrive on social media. YOUTUBE VIDEO EDITOR Google has turned the painstaking, expensive and confusing process of editing a video into an extremely easy endeavor. With the free online application, you can do everything you need. While it's not as function-rich as iMovie, Final Cut or Adobe Premiere, the editing tool is more than powerful enough for the small screen. It's easy to get going with a little time and creativity. WITH THE EDITOR YOU CAN: Combine footage you've uploaded to create a new video complete with cuts, image enhancement and fi ltering and slow motion. You can also choose from the creative common for rights-free footage. Trim and split clips to choose from professional-looking wipes and transitions. Rearranging clips and inserting footage is as easy as drag- and-drop. Customize clips with special effects including slow motion. Adding titles and text is a great way to add information to your video. It can be especially useful if nobody on staff is eager to speak on camera. You can even add rights-free music from Google's library of hundreds of songs. A few things to remember when creating a video using the YouTube editor include: » Be sure you set the videos you plan stitch together as "private" so they don't show up in your public channel feed. » Avoid your own music unless you made it. YouTube is quick to block videos that infringe on copyrights. But don't be afraid to feature the dealer band's new single. » Use good keywords for your tags. Follow the keyword strategy you use for the website. If you don't have a strategy, be sure to list the make, model and your dealership name as well as your city at the very least. » Always be sure to clean before shooting. That smudge might not look like much in person, but everything seems to show up on video, so give your boats a good detailing before fi ring up the camera. » Keep it short and simple. Most people watching online videos tune out after about a minute, so be concise. Boating "One thing that I think a lot of people are starting to realize in the marine industry is that YouTube actually drives more sales than any other platform." — Lauren DeVlaming

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