Radio/TV/Film (R/T/F) majors are encouraged by professors to post their work on Youtube for the world to see. I thought about this as I read an article by Dan Schawbel, a frequent Mashable poster, about using YouTube to market yourself.
Schawbel recommends YouTube because of the effectiveness of video. He explains that you can get a great sense of who a person is by watching their videos. I agree completely. I think the same way you can tell a lot about a person from their writing, you can tell a lot about them from videos that they make.
Schawbel’s post served as inspiration for me when I decided to ask some R/T/F majors how they feel about posting their work on YouTube and if they received any recognition or feedback from posting.
Chris Sandas of Pompton Plains, graduated from Rowan last year. He has been posting his work to YouTube since high school. Sandas agrees that branding yourself is a vital step in getting started.”There are a handful of video and photo sites where people can show their work, and while a lot of them seem to be getting more and more popular, YouTube still seems to be one of the largest and most recognizable.”
Sandas has received some attention for his YouTube, and explained that it’s all about promoting what you’ve done. He recommends using Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media communication to promote your videos.”Every time you work on something new you’ll already have a relatively large fan base that will grow with each new project.”
Sandas also recommends deciding the purpose for your YouTube posts ahead of time. “If you’d like to mix your professional works with funny personal videos or home movies, stick to one or the other.” “I would recommend students push themselves to attempt more and more quality videos,” said Sandas, “Consistency with the amount of work you’ve done online will be looked highly by potential employers.
Charles Ackerman of Paramus, is also Rowan Alumnus, and he said that while YouTube is a good place to start students should be careful that their work isn’t overlooked because of the quantity of videos on the site. “If you make a short film about a man who slips on a banana peel,” said Ackerman, “the only people who will find your video when first upload it are those who are either looking specifically for the video you made or are are the 190th page of search results when they do a keyword search for ‘banana’.” Ackerman explained, the more views you get will boost your video to higher on the search list, but you have to figure out how to get more views in the first place.
“YouTube has become the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” of the internet,” said Ackerman, “While everyone can enjoy a cheap laugh with ‘Tourettes Guy’ or a certain Rick Astley song, it may not be the most vibrant community for high quality, original content.” Ackerman argued that websites like Hulu.com or Vimeo.com are better for attracting the a filmmaker-oriented community because of they allow the user to upload videos in higher quality, and have more original content.
Ackerman agreed that YouTube is good for a beginner looking to distribute their work, but he recommended also using vimeo.com as well as marketing your work using social networking sites.
Kevin McTigue is a Junior at Rowan who is currently producing his own show for the Rowan Television Network called Squirrel Man. Most episodes of Squirrel Man run under 10 minutes and will air on the network. McTigue has also chosen to put them on YouTube. “We wanted a quick, easy way for us to send the episodes to our friends and family,” said McTigue,”We want them to be seen by as many people as possible as easily as possible.”
McTigue’s post views average around 100 for each Squirrel Man episode, and all of his feedback has been positive. McTigue likes putting his work on YouTube because it becomes easily accessible. “There’s the chance that the show will develop a fanbase outside of just people we know.”
