My son received a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker for Christmas and for New Year’s Eve dinner he made the most delicious brisket for the family. Even though he had never smoked meat before, he did it with such confidence, because first he watched about five different YouTube videos of people doing the same thing, offering their advice and cautioning about the pitfalls. Once my son found someone who was using the same type of smoker he had, he began following this guy’s channel for more detailed information such as which wood chips produce the best taste in beef, pork or sausage, how to maintain consistent temperature over a long period of time, and the like.

No matter what you want to learn about — including security — you can almost always find it on YouTube. And not just how-to information, either; YouTube videos are equally watched for entertainment. SDM’s Marketing Madmen, David Morgan and Alex Chavez, address video marketing in their column on page 32 of this issue. They tell us that YouTube has more than 500 million hours of video watched daily, and by 2021, a million minutes (17,000 hours) of video content will cross global IP networks every single second — those stats are staggering.

According to WordStream, one-third of online activity is spent watching video. The 25 to 34 (millennial) age group watches the most online videos; and men spend 40 percent more time watching videos on the internet than women do. What’s more, 51 percent of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI; and 59 percent of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video, according to WordStream.

More and more videos are showing up in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds, so it’s time security companies stop bypassing the opportunity to brand their companies and market their products and services through video.

A quick search of “alarm systems” on YouTube brings up results that include the likes of Ring, Nest, SimpliSafe, and other DIY products. But where are the traditional alarm guys telling the world about how great a professionally installed security system is because it’s designed for their home or business and installed by trained technicians? Where are the videos explaining how professional monitoring works and its advantages over self-monitoring? Who is talking about UL-listed smoke and CO detection — a component not always included in a DIY security bundle? 

There are a few companies and individuals posting videos regularly, including:

• ADT (https://www.youtube.com/user/ADT/videos);
• Brinks Home Security (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUlSzKbNaZPWzLRAMZjoNg/videos); 
• Security/Sonitrol of Lexington, SDM’s 2018 Dealer of the Year (https://www.youtube.com/user/batessecuritylex/channels); and
• Joe Klochan’s channel on fire alarm systems, which got some nice compliments (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU6G3_8kDy3n0GtIcYj5wBA).

You can get some good ideas from these about creating your video channel and the types of videos that would get noticed, as well as tips from the Marketing Madmen about what type of video equipment to use, how to add captions and music, and more. Remember, raw is real, the madmen describe. Today’s video style is informal, airy, non-commercial, always informative and shareable. 

If I missed any good security company video channels, please email me at stepanekl@bnpmedia.com and I would be happy to post the links in our SDM LinkedIn Group so others can benefit from your ideas. Happy filming.