Creating great video content can seem a daunting prospect for any small business owner. Abby Gowing, Marketing Executive at Kendlebell answering service recently put YouTube Director to the test to see if it delivers on its promise to make video content creation accessible for all.
YouTube Director is a free app aimed at businesses who want to make a video promoting their product or services, but possibly find the process a bit daunting. Through a range of easy to use templates, professional looking videos can be made in under 20 minutes. The app offers a variety of styles to choose from and step by step guidance to take the fear out of self-producing a video with scary technology. Videos made can then be used for promotional purposes and sponsored advertising.
Features
The app is easy to set up and use, all you need to start with is a Gmail account. Some of the features include:
- Range of templates
- Voice-over recording
- Selection of license free background music
- Editable titles and captions
- Easy editing and cropping tools
- Examples of published videos using the templates
- Publish direct to YouTube
Here what Abby says about her experience with YouTube Director:
Testing
To see how this app worked I tried making 2 different kinds of videos in different styles. The first was a shorter ‘watch me cook’ style video where I attempted to make a lasagna. I chose the template from the ‘Overview’ range, it consisted of 8 different shots each of which had a guide of what should be included and how long it should last. However, it is easy to vary from these suggestions should you have a better idea of what you’re after. This video was a fun taster (no pun intended) to get familiar with the app’s features; however, after finishing my recordings I encountered a big problem as the video wouldn’t publish to YouTube. I tried everything from restarting my phone to reinstalling the app with no success. This was a really disappointing glitch in the app which left me with nothing to show for my work.
So I tried again, eager to see how it would look if I was presenting myself as a small business (and if another video would upload). Having recently moved to the other end of the country and making the most of the tourist hotspots available in Glasgow, I wanted to showcase these in a ‘Welcome to Scotland’ tourism way. I chose a different template from the ‘How-to’ range that meant my video would be a bit longer. See below the different shots it suggested and the timeline in which I should do them. The extended length of the video did mean that it took me significantly longer than 20 minutes to create, but the outcome is alright for just pressing a few buttons. The app decided it liked this video better and uploaded it within 10 minutes – you can view it here.
Positives
The main positive for this app is that it is just so easy to use. The design is sleek and simple and it really does simplify the complicated process you anticipate in making a video. Businesses of any size can readily make a professional video in no time and the pointers and advice the app suggests certainly creates a solid structure to work with. There are also examples of finished videos from other businesses, so you can explore how the template transitions to reality which is a really useful feature for those inexperienced in video editing.
Negatives
Not all the videos you try to produce are eventually uploaded on YouTube. For some unknown reason, the problem encounters when you want to upload certain videos. Moreover, the captions of some videos are cut off in the corners and the end shot, so they video end rather abruptly.
Although you are able to view examples of work using the templates, you can’t fully preview the templates themselves before committing to downloading them. This means that you’re not fully sure of the amount of shots or detail required. You will probably need to check all templates until you find an appropriate one. The other annoying thing about this is that you can’t delete said templates off your feed once you’ve decided they’re not for you. In terms of technical features, once you take a shot, you couldn’t shuffle the structure around. For example, say the opening shot would have been better than the closing clip, there would be no way to do this once you hit record.
In conclusion YouTube Director is a really useful app and a great tool to make the most of – especially as it’s free! The range of different styles and templates available mean that businesses can easily make several videos to showcase each element of their company. For example, client testimonials, how-to tutorials, general overviews and product descriptions. The app is so easy to use which is great for allowing all kinds of businesses to expand into a digital world they may not have previously thought of.
This article is written by Abby. Abby is a Marketing Executive at Kendlebell. She writes on a whole host of subjects including Marketing, Customer Services, technology, apps and small business support.
