I’ve had the opportunity to watch a lot of really good videos done by airports.

Many of you are doing some really great things in the world of video.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this particular topic because I’ll be speaking on airport video techniques in September at the Airport Social Media Summit.

I’m really excited about the event because I think airports and video go together like chocolate and peanut butter. They are just made for each other.

I’ll probably be writing more about this between now and then as I collect my thoughts about exactly what I want to talk about. That said, if you have specific interests please feel free to leave your comments below or use the contact link in the top navigation.

Today I wanted to talk about five more advanced airport online video marketing tips and techniques that maybe you haven’t thought of. This post is geared towards airports that are already doing video. It’s meant to inspire you to think about ways to make your videos more dynamic.

That said, if you are new to video for your airport I don’t want you to think that in order for your videos to be good you have to do these things. Any video in any format using any video capturing device can be very good. Shoot the video and put it on YouTube. Don’t worry about other video platforms. And don’t worry about being perfect. Just do it.

Airport Online Video Marketing Tip #1:
Google Hangouts On Air

You simply have to try this. This is the most innovative thing to come to video since YouTube itself.

You can have up to nine people join you for a Hangout on Air. Then anyone can watch the broadcast of you and your nine friends. A live player of your Hangout will be posted to your Google+ Home page and YouTube channel.

The potential conversations you could have are endless. You and selected people from your staff could talk about what’s new at your airport. You could have a conversation with people at the TSA. You could have a conversation with people at the FAA. You could have a conversation with people at different airlines. And then you could make it really interesting by having a Hangout mashing some of those people altogether.

All of that will automatically be archived on your YouTube channel, if you want.

My recommendation is to start small or get an expert in the room with you initially. I had some glitches with the first Hangout I did. You want to get comfortable with the tools before you dive right into a big-time show.

Airport Online Video Marketing Tip #2:
Optimize Your YouTube Titles, Descriptions and Tags.

YouTube titles can be up to 100 characters. YouTube descriptions can be up to 5000 characters. And YouTube tags can be up to 120 characters. The more you utilize all those characters the more likely it is that you are going to appear for a wider variety of key phrases people are searching. Very few people fill these areas out to the best of our ability. And we’re all losing potential traffic because of it.

YouTube also has a keyword tool to give you ideas about what key phrases you should be making videos on and writing in your titles, descriptions and tags. Starting with this keyword tool will instantly give you a leg up on understanding what people are searching for in YouTube for your airport and travelers in your region. You can find the YouTube keyword tool here https://ads.youtube.com/keyword_tool

Some example airport video key phrases I’ve found are:
airport security checkpoint
denver airport video
colorado airport conspiracy
denver airport
airport arrival video
airport flash mob
phoenix airport video
jetblue safety video
airport time lapse
singapore airlines

While I was at it also checked out the standard Google AdWords keyword tool and found these as well:
airport live video
airport streaming video
airport video seattle
airport webcam

People are definitely interested in airport videos.

Airport Online Video Marketing Tip #3:
Use the YouTube Annotations tool.

YouTube video annotations allow you to do things such as:

• Add background information about the video
• Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)
• Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video

Annotations appear on standard YouTube players and embedded players.
Annotations do not appear on mobile (m.youtube.com, Android or iPhone)
Annotations do not appear on custom YouTube chromeless players.

You can create things like speech bubbles, notes, spotlights over specific areas in the video. You can pause the video. They are a great way of asking people to like your video or to subscribe to your channel or to leave a comment.

Interaction in your videos will significantly help them become more popular. Annotations allow you to encourage that kind of interaction.

Here is the Getting Started Guide to Annotations:
http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=14354&answer=92710

Airport Online Video Marketing Tip #4:
Try Google AdWords for video.

With these promoted videos you simply take one of your existing videos, write some promotional text, and then insert which key phrases you want your video to appear for.

These are incredibly affordable and can instantly put you in front of the exact people you want to reach. On top of that, promoted videos allow you the opportunity to link outside of YouTube. So you can create an overlay link to your website. This is not possible with a non-promoted video in YouTube.

This is a huge opportunity at a very affordable cost.

You can learn more about Google AdWords for video here:
http://www.youtube.com/t/advertising_promoted_videos

Airport Online Video Marketing Tip #5:
Live Stream from your phone.

You very likely have events at your airport that people might want to watch live.

This is now very possible with today’s smartphones and video technology. I’m a fan of USTREAM.

You can put their app on your phone and instantly set up a mobile video studio.

You can receive incoming comments and see how many live viewers you have. This could run off of your airport’s wi-fi or 3G or 4G.

You can embed these live streams onto a page at your website. Or you can point people to your USTREAM channel.

If you’re going to do a live stream for anything more than 10 minutes I would probably suggest investing in a backup battery. I use a NewTrent battery that I really like. It’s small and gives me a ton of extra battery life.

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Online video is one of the most forward moving aspects of the marketing world today. If you try any of these or other experimental techniques I recommend going in with the mindset that they are just that: experimental. It’s very likely you will have technical issues and setbacks along the way. People in this space are in newly charted territory pushing technology to its limits.

The more experimentation you do the more likely it is that you will fail sometimes. That’s okay. The failures are some of your best learning opportunities. Don’t let them get you down. Apologize when setbacks happen and keep moving forward. Being in this space will position you as an innovative leader in the airport industry. Ultimately your audience will respect you and appreciate you for your efforts in reaching out to them in connecting with them.

The people formerly known as the audience get this stuff. But most of their service and product suppliers don’t. When they do, it is a unique way of deeply connecting with them. Online video in all its formats gives you in your airport an opportunity to be more transparent, more accessible, and more appreciative of your passengers. Give it a try. I think you’re going to really like it.