From the 2010 .eduGuru Summit, this presentation outlined a high level look at how higher education institutions could approach video production in a way that will help create meaningful, relevant content that grows over time.
1. Head First Video Strategy
.eduGuru Summit 2010
presented by michael fienen
@fienen «» michael@doteduguru.com
2. Just who do you think you are?
□
Hi, I'm Michael
◊ Director of Web Marketing
Pittsburg State University
◊ Chief Technology Officer
nuCloud, LLC
◊ Dude that writes stuff
.eduGuru
◊ Author of “dotCMS from
the Ground Up”
□
Find me
◊ http://fienen.com/
3. I gotta get this outta the way
□
I'm really sorry.
□
I hate plain old slide decks.
□
So here's a picture of why Canada is occasionally
awesome.
3
4. Video, I haz it
□
See, here's the thing... it's sort of a big deal
Source: “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet,” Chris Anderson and Mike Wolff, Wired Magazine, August 17, 2010
4
6. What does it mean to us?
□
Noel-Levitz Rocks the E-Expectations Data
□
2010
◊ 52% of students watched video about schools
◊ 81% of those watched the videos on your sites
(as opposed to at YouTube)
◊ 59% of students have accounts on YouTube
□
2008
◊ 20% of parents watched videos about schools –
38% more wanted to
Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, http://www.noellevitz.com/expectations
6
7. We thought this might be important
At the end of
2010, .eduGuru
surveyed 98
institutions about
their video usage 7
8. Here's What We Learned
(I promise to get through the boring numbers quickly)
8
10. Are Schools Making Videos?
97%
Yes
If your school isn't, you are not #winning. Better get busy.
10
11. What quality are they using?
80% are doing at
least SOME HD video
1/3rd are working in
both formats
11
12. No excuses
$177 on
Amazon
(that's for the newest, coolest, shiniest
version - older ones are even cheaper)
12
13. Boring Stats (but still important)
□
Marketing, PR, or Communications make up 74% of
primary “control”
◊ But offices all over campus are creating it
□
27% of schools budget over $5000/yr for video
□
28% don't budget anything
□
Only 14% had multiple full and/or part-time
dedicated video people
◊ But 34% have at least one
□
31% are doing some level of HTML5 implementation
□
65% ARE NOT CAPTIONING ANYTHING
13
16. Plan accordingly
□
Consider the
information
□
Is it relevant?
□
Is it unique?
□
Is it evergreen?
□
Is it important?
◊ Remember, video is “costly” content, use it
wisely
□
Have a plan for its lifespan
◊ Video ages badly
16
17. Context matters
□
How would you treat the editorial cycle
of video for:
◊ PR
◊ News
◊ Promotions (programs, events...)
◊ Campus Life
◊ Internal Audiences
17
18. Understand your audience!
□
76% of prospective students found videos about
student life and academics/classes to be the
most important!
□
Only 5% cared about faculty/program details
□
67% wanted videos made by both the college and
its students...
◊ …but only 7% wanted just “our” video
□
Ex: your students aren't going to care about your
PR video, they're already living the experience.
Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, http://www.noellevitz.com/expectations
18
19. It drives traffic
□
Well marked up video has huge SEO
implications
□
YouTube is changing search*:
◊ 2nd largest search engine
◊ ~3.9 BILLION searches a month
◊ 28% of Google search volume
◊ 50% more than Yahoo
◊ 180% more than Bing
Source: comScore Releases December 2009 U.S. Search Engine Rankings;
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/1/comScore_Releases_December_2009_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings
19
22. Equipment Checklist
□
A computer – something with some
horsepower
□
An external hard drive – the biggest you can
get
□
A camera – ideally something flash memory
based, with a card slot, that does HD, and
has USB and/or Firewire
□
A mic – the more the merrier, but try to get at
least one handheld and a lav
22
23. But... what should I get?
□
I don't care what you use
□
Use what you are comfortable with
□
Realistically, you may be unpleasantly burdened
by the budget
□
Focus on buying fewer
nice items
□
Make friends with your
broadcasting department
□
You aren't a professional
TV studio
23
24. OMG the formats...
□
Containers - You may think of video files as “AVI files” or “MP4 files.”
In reality, “AVI” and “MP4″ are just container formats. Just like a ZIP
file can contain any sort of file within it, video container formats only
define how to store things within them, not what kinds of data are
stored.*
◊ FLV
◊ OGV
◊ MP4
◊ WebM
□
NOTHING works in everything.
Source: Dive Into HTML5 – Video on the Web; Max Pilgrim;
http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html
24
26. Elephant in the room
□
Can't count out Flash
□
Sure, no iProduct support, but nearly ubiquitous
otherwise
□
But have an escape plan
26
27. I got yer bitrate right here
□
Guess and check
□
Varies on container and video stream
format – they are not created equal
□
Consider your visitor demographics – do
you still have a lot of dialup users?
Mobile users?
□
There is no silver bullet video profile
27
29. The YouTube Equation
□
Let's play follow the leader
□
YouTube encodes at several levels
depending on the source
◊ 37 – 1080p
◊ 22 – 720p
◊ 35 - 480p
Source: Approximate YouTube Bitrates; Ad Terras Per Aspera; May 24th, 2010;
http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2010/05/24/approximate-youtube-bitrates
29
30. On DIY
□
Ultimately, this is a rough road beyond
the occasional one-off
□
Requires server resources
□
[Trans/En]coding is time consuming
□
Embed tools
□
Doesn't get your stuff “out there”
30
31. Save some sanity
□
91% of schools are using 3rd party video
solutions in some capacity
31
32. Why it's nice
□
YouTube can spend more than you on
doing one thing really well. Like, better
than you could ever, EVER hope.
□
It's convenient and easy
□
It's cheap
□
Your videos make it into search results
□
They handle the storage
□
They handle compatibility
32
33. The Players
□
YouTube wins big (94% are using it)
◊ Branded pages
◊ Promoted videos
◊ YouTube EDU
□
Vimeo is a decent second (46%)
◊ Nice player
◊ Limited accounts
◊
Accessibility issues
(http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student_affairs_and_technology/vimeo_still_not_a_viab
le_web_video_solution_for_higher_education)
□
Facebook third (40%)
◊ Reach your audience
33
34. Get creative
□
Just because you use YouTube, doesn't mean you
have to be tied to their site...
34
35. Regardless of how you film it, how you create it, or where you
store it, people need it to be easy to watch – don't get caught
up in the technical details.
35
39. So... about those players
□
You should be able to trust:
◊ YouTube
◊ SublimeVideo
◊ JW Player*
◊ Flowplayer*
* with some additional work
□
On Santa's naughty list:
◊ VideoJS (no keyboard controls)
◊ Vimeo/Facebook (no captioning)
39
40. The truth about captioning
□
It's not just an accessibility issue, it's a
usability issue. It's just a good feature
to have.
□
You're gonna hate it.
□
Excuses won't cut it once you're in a
courtroom.
40
41. Dump it on someone else
□
Half of our survey respondents who are captioning are
using third parties, like:
◊ YouTube Machine Transcription (eww, but free)
}
◊ CastingWords
◊ Transcribr Gonna need some dollars set aside.
◊ AutomaticSync
41
42. Good planning goes a long way
□
Remember that good time we had a
while back we talked about how video
was content?
□
SCRIPT YOUR WORK
□
Not only does it make the video better,
but it gives you a solid basis to create
captions from.
“Well, what you plan and what takes
place ain't ever exactly been similar.”
~Jayne Cobb
42
43. YouTube♥Transcripts
□
Script your video
□
Edit in the interviews, etc
□
Go to YouTube
□
Upload
transcript
□
MAGIC!
43
46. All the other work
□
Analytics matter
◊ Don't put out video no one wants to watch
□
Communicate internally
◊ Everyone's making video, help them
understand why doing it right matters
□
Video isn't a weapon
◊ Keep it digestible
◊ People want to enjoy video
◊ Don't be a jerk (I'm talking to you)
46
47. Set up for success
□
Don't underestimate students and GAs
□
Invest in the same equipment and software
you're using for broadcasting classes
□
Give your team some creative freedom
□
Keep B-Roll
□
Create a series of stock animations and lower-
thirds
□
Grab some After Effects templates
□
ARCHIVE EVERYTHING
47
50. Recap
□
Video is content, just like text. It must
be planned and maintained.
□
Set up some quality standards, both in
shooting and encoding.
□
Plan for accessibility always.
□
Pay attention to what people are
watching.
50