Professionally scripted and shot video to promote products and services has traditionally been the preserve of larger organisations, with big marketing budgets.
But now thanks to prosumer video cameras and smartphones, almost any organisation can now make low-cost videos for use in their organisation; to promote, to explain and to interview.
There has never been a better time to put video on the web, particularly the testimonial interview with a satisfied client, but how do prospects find it?
Maxine Park, co-founder of DictateNow, the UK’s leading digital dictation and transcription services provider explains: “The challenge for those creating videos for the web is not just to make engaging content people want to watch, but making it easy for others to find this content.
Clearly, the title and even YouTube’s often inaccurate transcription can help, but taking the words spoken within the video and adding them as a transcript can really help drive search engine optimisation.
This is often fresh, relevant content that contains things like brand names, services and products, described in users own words, which is usually unique – this can help reduce the chance of incurring a duplicate content penalty from Google, if you believe one exists!
Of course, working from a script makes it easy to include the words spoken on the video as searchable content for the video tab in Google searches, but when you don’t know what’s been said, accurate transcription is the key.
YouTube does its best, offering automated transcription, but it’s inaccurate and the results can often be hilarious – nothing beats the results of an experienced transcription professional.
Capture and send
Having decided what the video will be used for and where it will be hosted, the next decision after capturing the content is what you want to do with the words spoken.
If it is as simple as adding your own accurate transcription to a video to be hosted on YouTube, then all you have to do is choose the right transcription partner and explain the style of transcription you want.
There are two main styles of transcription for video content:
Verbatim – contains all the ums, errs, pauses, coughs and laughs, which can be important for serious interviews where a hesitation to answer might convey a different message than what might appear an immediate response.
Standard – relies on the experience of the transcriber to remove all the extraneous sounds that typically do not add much to the overall experience in less critical video content that makes up the majority of the work hosted publicly.
If you have a series of short interviews or testimonials, you may decide just to send the audio file for transcription, as the time at which the words in the video are spoken rarely matters, although files can be time-stamped, much like the YouTube automated transcriptions.
In some instances, it may be far easier to just upload the content to your hosting site of choice, keeping it private and then simply send the link to the transcription service provider.
Experienced transcription typists are skilled listeners and will decipher even the strongest of accents, to deliver accurate, punctuated and formatted text files in popular formats.
Think security and confidentiality
For content to be hosted and viewed publicly, there is little that is likely to be confidential. But the timing of any release of sensitive material, like a new product announcement, review or interview with a new board director, might require careful handling.
The best transcription service providers should have achieved the internationally acclaimed standard for information security management, ISO 27001:2013. Continuing certification demonstrates the importance the business places on keeping client data secure at every step of the process and marks it out as a supplier to trust.
Uses for the words
It is also worth giving thought to other uses for the spoken content you have captured – it does not have to be just about on-page SEO for your website. Once you have the transcription, you could use passages as ‘pull-quotes’ in marketing material, or as the basis for a written review of your products or services, the uses are almost endless.
Transcription is not just confined to digital dictation or video, but can prove extremely useful when used in conjunction with webinars or podcasts. Far better to search the transcript for important information than to have to keep listening over and over, whilst trying to write your own notes.
Video is great but words matter
There is growing acceptance of the power of video to convey marketing messages to more mobile, time-poor audiences, who want to view content on websites or find it on hosting sites.
But the additional benefits of transcribing content for search engines to index and humans to read, should not be underestimated, particularly when it is so easy to achieve. And with many providers offering transcription rates around £1-1.50 per minute (of the original file, not the transcription), it is unlikely to break the bank too.
In summary, transcribed content:
- is great for Search Engine Optimisation
- helps organisations reach new audiences
- ensures people seeking specific content will find your videos
- means relevant keywords should be spoken in your video
- can be used in marketing material, for reviews, blogs etc.
