Benjamin Kepner is the CEO of Global Social Media Marketing, where he helps businesses and schools use social media for marketing, education, training, and more. Benjamin is passionate about using video in particular as an educational tool, and now he’s ready to share his One Big Tip for incorporating Youtube into your own business.
Youtube as a Training Tool
Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world right now, second only to Google itself. People naturally gravitate towards the platform when they want to know how to do something– in fact, how-to videos are the second most popular category on Youtube, and educational videos come in at number 9. That’s why Benjamin’’s one big tip is to use Youtube to train your employees and customers. He says it’s a great tool that can empower your team to get the skills they need. It’s the easiest way to train them on the new ever-changing technology that can be used in the workplace. It’s a great tool for educating clients too;
Benjamin uses Youtube to train his employees at Global Social Media Marketing on how to help clients, and he also uses it to teach clients about the work the company does for them. Jeff points out that how-to videos can be a great way to alleviate the gap between how customers use products and how they should actually be used. However, making videos can be intimidating at first. It makes many people nervous, but Benjamin offers some reassuring words: everything is editable! Even professional actors can do 30+ takes before getting something right. A video you record can always be improved through editing.
You also may be intimidated by the amount of equipment you think you need or the money you think you need to spend on it. But Benjamin says professional videographer equipment isn’t necessary. While you’re welcome to invest in the expensive stuff if you want to, there are tons of affordable tools available, including the one you probably already have: a smartphone. If being in front of a camera is what gives you the jitters, here’s some more good news: you don’t even have to be on screen in any of your videos if you don’t want to. There are tons of other ways to film a video that doesn’t involve putting yourself in front of the camera. You can record your computer screen, for example. Lastly, you don’t even have to share these videos with the public. They can remain unlisted and internal, just to be seen by people in your company as training tools.
The Benefits of Teaching Through Youtube
Benjamin says one great thing to keep in mind when you’re considering making Youtube videos to use as training tools is that this could greatly improve your operations and reduce your costs. When you take the time to film a video, you’re creating accessible training materials for employees. These videos can be accessed whenever an employee chooses to watch them, on their own time and on their own prerogative. They’ll be able to train from anywhere at their own pace, with the option to go backward, forwards, and repeat sections at their own pace and as often as they need to in order to soak the information in.
Another huge opportunity that Youtube offers is the idea that your employees could teach each other. Everyone in the company can make videos and become teachers of sorts. Benjamin says this concept is called “jigsaw methodology,” in which employees work together to educate one another.
To learn more about what Benjamin does, you can find him on Youtube by searching Benjamin Kepner or check out his company’s channel called Global Social Media Marketing. You can also visit their website, globalsocialmediamarketing.com.
