15 lessons learned from a video newbie

I thought I’d planned everything. I wrote a script and borrowed a camera from work.

But I accidentally muted the mic while filming my first YouTube video, leaving me with lots of silent footage.

My goal was the same as a lot of corporate videos: promotion. My agent is repping my novel about an 18-year-old Russian who encounters his father’s killer at a Chicago deli. I hoped to demonstrate reader interest to publishers.

I tried to apply lessons I learned covering Coca-Cola’s Happiness Project and other video communications. But I discovered that it’s harder than it looks, even if you dragoon your family into playing roles.

Using today’s user friendly, affordable technology just about any business can do video, says Brian D. Olson of Conversation Starters Public Relations. “The only limit is creativity,” he says.

(He also advised me to shorten my video to less than two minutes.)

Here are some more tips:

1. Have fun.