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SMMC Member Video Program

SMMC Member Video Program

The Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber wants your videos to promote you better! 
Overview
Simply create a 3 minute (or less) video, preferably but not exclusively a ‘how to’ style, and send it to executivedirector@midcoastmaine.com through www.WeTransfer.com or get us a thumb drive. We will highlight one video per week in our e-newsletter.  Do not worry about production value as much as having engaging content.  Some event videos will be accepted dependent on content but primarily we are looking for business profiles or more specifically, ‘how to’ business profiles. The SMMC has the right to refuse any video that doesn’t meet the standards outlined below. 

Details
YouTube: The SMMC has built a YouTube channel which we will be adding videos to weekly once you submit yours.  The SMMC has produced it’s own videos which will be added weekly.

SMMC Website: The videos will also live on our website at www.midcoastmaine.com Each member has a member profile and the videos will be kept there.  This way when people are searching out our members they can see your videos on your profile.  We are working on building page which will list all videos and their redirect links once we get a big enough inventory. 

Midcoast Member Minutes: The Midcoast Member Minutes is a member profile series the SMMC created with Watson Hill Solutions (Ross Cunningham).  The series of six videos will be rolled out over a number of weeks and they are ‘How to’ videos.  We selected the participants specifically because we wanted to show the breadth of businesses in our chamber and how any business can be a ‘How to’ business.  

Submitting Your Videos (content): In researching the best way to have a profile series we have some tips and suggestions:
- We will accept all styles of business profiles, but only videos produced by the chamber with have the Midcoast Member Minutes intro and outro
- We will highlight one video per week in our SMMC News & Notes e-newsletter
- Though you can choose your style, we prefer the ‘How to’ videos and they get much better viewership then a generic piece.  Why?  Because you are giving the viewer specific information on a particular subject, as well as having a business profile. 
- If, of course, you have a professionally created video about your business, that isn’t a ‘How to’, still send it for our inventory.  It’s still a great way to promote you and we’d love to have it to show you off. 
- The shorter the better. Though the Midcoast Member Minutes videos are 3-4 minutes, once you cut out the intro and outro, the content itself is less than three minutes.  Try to keep that in mind.  Most research says people tune out after 1:45 if it’s not engaging (though describing a ‘how to’ in less than 2 minutes is tricky).  Take as much time as you need, but try to only include the necessary info.
- Practice first; rehearse it at least once. 
- Please get permission from everyone in the video, to be in the video.
- Not all submitted videos will be accepted and posted- some for obvious reasons and some for specific chamber reasons.  Please see the Right of Refusal below for more info. 
- Lastly, the Midcoast Member Minute videos were specifically created to feel like ‘Man on the Street’ videos, so that other videos you submitted would look of the same quality or better.  We filmed them on iPhones.  Don’t be afraid to interview someone on a phone about something.  Try to keep out the background noise if you can, and get the best lighting you can, but mostly just have fun with it and be engaging! 

Submitting Your Videos (technical logistics):
YouTube is the home for our videos, and even the chamber page postings and social media postings will simply be redirects back to the YouTube site.  Therefore we are using their file format restrictions.  Primarily people should format in: MP4 or WMV.  Other formats are accepted outlined here: https://support.google.com/youtube/troubleshooter/2888402?hl=en (shout out to Natalie K. for finding this link for us).   

Our two preferred methods of receiving videos are as follows:
Thumb Drive: The simplest and easiest way it to save your video on a thumb drive and get the thumb drive to us by dropping it off, handing it off, or mailing it to us.  Once we download your video onto our servers we will return the thumb drive to you.  To mail: PO Box 33, Brunswick, ME 04011.  Note: we are not located in Topsham anymore and their mail no longer gets forwarded to us. If you are mailing the Priority Group Building, you have the wrong address.  Please send to our Brunswick PO box

WeTransfer:   www.wetransfer.com is the easiest site we could find.  If your video is under 2GB it’s free to use.  Simply send the video to executivedirector@midcoastmaine.com For reference, our largest video (which runs just over four minutes with production) was 449MB or less than 25% of the max amount.  If your video is larger than 2GB we suggest breaking it into two parts. 

Other Formats: The two formats listed above are preferred because we get notified by mail, in person or directly in our e-mail of new submissions.  Other platforms offer the service but we don’t want to have to check multiple locations for new videos.
If you are a marketing pro and have other ways to deliver video to us, please let us know and give us detailed instructions so we can follow through with it.  If a new format is as easy to use as those above we will add that to our offerings, but for now please use the preferred formats.  Note: We struggled with our Gmail drive- the size of the file wouldn’t allow them to be scanned for viruses- not sure why- which is why that is not a current option. 

Help Creating Your Own Videos: We have several companies in our chamber that are capable of helping with video marketing, depending on their bandwidth and availability and all of them may be willing to help you create your own videos.  As part of our agreement with Watson Hill Solutions for creating our six videos and helping with the launch, we did agree to share their link to their video capabilities http://www.watsonhill.com/audio-video-production.html . 
PLEASE any other members who want to let businesses know of your video capabilities and availability please e-mail us that you are interested in this work and we can promote you in coming updates.  Specifically listed under Advertising & Marketing in the Eat, Play, Stay are: bCreative Advertising & Design, Briggs Advertising, High Point Graphics Printing, MacMillan Associates, LLC, ML Marketing Solutions LLC and Whitney Campbell & Co. Advertising.  Watson Hill Solutions is listed under Consulting. 
This is not to say they are available for the scope of work, but those are our listed members in those categories.  Also, other members may have capabilities too who are listed under other categories.

Promotion of Videos: We will post the videos on our YouTube page as the come in and are approved for our platforms.  Please keep in mind a turnaround of 2-3 business days.  For the Midcoast Member Minutes, we will be adding those over the first five weeks of this program.  A different video will be highlighted as our video of the week in our SMMC News & Notes e-newsletter.  We will also being posting the videos on our Sothern Midcoast Maine Chamber Facebook Page.  As stated above, your videos will live on your member profile at www.midcoastmaine.com – each member has their own listing that they can manage. 

Right of Refusal: The SMMC reserves the right to refuse to post any submitted video for any reason.  Some reasons are obvious, whether it is deemed to contain inappropriate language, images, etc., or if there is good reason to believe permissions to film were not gained for those appearing in the video.  Because of that, we will be very cautious with posting videos from live events- though not completely.  A ribbon cutting, for instance, is a very acceptable video to post, but again, get permission of those in the video to post it.  This is also a good example of a video we would love that isn’t a profile necessarily.   
Additionally, the SMMC may refuse to post a video that has any negative content.  Our chamber mission is to support businesses, and we will not post any video on our channels that speaks negatively about another business, or that denigrates another company’s products, services or images.  Please use these videos to promote yourself, not to disparage other businesses. Comparisons to other businesses in your industry will be highly scrutinized and likely be a reason not to post certain videos.  There is a way to promote yourself without being negative to others and we hope that people will submit videos in that positive spirit. 

Our First Video of the Week!: With all of that, check out our first video of the week featuring Chris Leen of the Coast Bar & Bistro, and learn how to make the Perfect Dirty Martini!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXHCI6obkYk