[thelist] YouTube and CEO video

[Joel D Canfield]

> Since YouTube has good potential for making a video go 
> "viral", 

'potential' being the operative word, methinks; it's an opportunity to
take advantage of, requiring a balance of effort vs. return potential

> it seems prudent to consider

hard to argue with that ;) well, hard for me, at least

some things to consider: 

1) how much effort and expense is involved? a large corporation might
have so many layers of red tape that you'd have to show a guaranteed ROI
to ever get sign-off. too small, and the equipment costs ('cause, video
without a camera of some kind is tough) can be an issue. [and then,
Goldilocks tried the baby bear's chair and it was juuuust right]

2) what's the potential for actual ROI, and are you measuring that in
dollars/yen/rubles, or goodwill, exposure, personal satisfaction, what?

3) what's the potential for inappropriate exposure? you're releasing
this into the wild, and if you say or show something you change your
mind about later, it's probably not revocable

a real-life example: a friend (the real estate broker I'm licensed
under) is going to create a buyer/seller resource site. he's a great
instructor, and he works well in front of a camera. he's going to create
little video tips for the site, and chuck 'em onto YouTube. now, he can
send prospects, other agents, and folks considering hiring him as a
trainer/speaker, to see what he really does and how he does it, and
maybe learn a little something about real estate here in NorCal.

he already has the equipment, has years of experience saying what he
should say, and *not* saying what he shouldn't, and will be satisfied
simply to have done something high-tech in an arena where 61% of his
competition doesn't even have a website [according to a recent National
Association of Realtors study].

of course, if it's instrumental in even a single commission on one of
these half-million-dollar homes we've got plenty of out here, he's
covered his costs, hard and soft, for a long, long time.

joel