Are you using video to connect with customers and prospects? Videos will enhance client communication and collaboration, and help support and drive new business.

In this post we’ll cover 26 ways you can engage and interact with your customers by using video in several different forms.

Like its predecessors in the five A-Z guides published here on Social Media Examiner—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and Lead Generation—we’ll cover a lot of territory and introduce solutions to give you ideas about where you may want to spend time exploring video options for your business.

A to Z Guide to Using Video

#1: Apple’s FaceTime
Apple’s FaceTime has created an important new option for video calls. You can use FaceTime on a Mac, iPhone and iPad2. Companies such as Salesforce.com have plans to use FaceTime as a way to provide face-to-face customer support.

Sameer Patel of the Sovos Group says, “Whether it’s for customer or employee communication… voice, video, conferencing and virtual meetings are front and center to how organizations look at collaboration.”

#2: Behind the Scenes
Ann Handley suggests in her book Content Rules to use video to show behind the scenes at your company. “Businesses can show what goes on in their day-to-day world that people don’t see but might be interested in. What about showing, for example, how a popular product goes from concept to rolling off the assembly line? Something that seems completely everyday to you could be exciting and fresh to your fans.”

#3: Case Studies
Want to engage your audience with your case studies? Think about making a short video. Niall Harbison rounded up 10 of the Best Social Media Campaign Video Case Studies.

What you’ll notice is that videos don’t have to be long to be effective. In fact, sometimes the shorter the better. Sample lengths here include 1:14, 1:37, 1:35, 0:59, 2:30, 1:11, 4:43, 1:06 and 2:21.

#4: Diary-style Videos
This is another great idea from Ann Handley who suggests that a diary-style video of people or groups of people talking to the camera can be a short and insightful approach. “They might offer tips or tricks for using your product, answer a common support question, or simply give an update on how your business is helping its customers.”

#5: Email
Email seems like a worthy destination for a video clip. I don’t know about you, but I’d be curious to click on it.

There is one important caveat—the kind of email program you’re using. Email programs that use HTML formats such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird will allow you to embed a video clip but other web-based programs like Gmail or Yahoo won’t let you. Here’s a workaround worth trying.

#6: Facebook
By now you’ve probably heard that Facebook is a good place to upload a company video. However, what shows up in a user’s news feed is dependent on a number of news feed optimization factors referred to as EdgeRank. The good news is that video is one area that ranks higher and is more likely to bring a post onto someone’s news feed.

Video consumption on Facebook is growing. The blog All Facebook recently reported, “Nearly 47 million people in the U.S. watched videos on Facebook in February 2011. That puts the site in fourth place on the comScore Video Metrix ranking, two spots higher than it ranked in January.”

#7: Get Seen
Perhaps one of the best resources out there on video is Steve Garfield’s book, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business Online.

Steve covers topics such as choosing a camera, lighting and sound, making videos without a video camera, recording and shooting, uploading, broadcasting live and video blogging.

There are far too many valuable insights in his book to cover here, but consider this one that he states later in the book: “The revolution of recording video is the ability to share from the device you record with.” That’s pretty revolutionary when you stop and think about it.

#8: Have a Good Time
Here’s a unique idea from Insite Motion Media: “A video featuring a creative performance by your own staff is a great way to showcase your company’s culture and promote your business without having viewers feel like they’re being advertised to.” You may need company consensus on this one. What do you do if your boss really can’t sing and tap dance as good as he thinks he can!

#9: Interviews
Social Media Examiner’s founder Michael Stelzner interviews social media experts every week. Interviews are a great way to introduce a person and a topic to your blog or website.

In addition to the fact that people love to watch video clips, there’s a whole SEO factor too which makes it extremely worthwhile. Forrester Research reported that “A website with a video is 53 times more likely to come up on the first page result on Google than the exact same page without video.”

# 10: Jing
There are times when you may want to do a screen cast to demonstrate a point to someone in another location. Personally I’ve been very happy with Jing.
Jing records 5 minutes of what you see on your computer screen. You can share it via the web, email, IM, Twitter or your blog.

There’s a great free version but if you need more features such as saving as an MPEG-4 video, getting unbranded videos (without the Jing logo, etc.), sharing instantly to YouTube and recording from a webcam, you can purchase Jing Pro for $14.95 per year.

#11: Key Influencers
Who are some of the key influencers in your industry? Can you do an interview with them? Reaching out to a key influencer to do a video interview is a great way to connect with someone well-known and respected in your field.

If they’re not available for an interview, you could consider taking a video that you’ve found online and embedding it into a blog post to help substantiate a point. Associating a key influencer with your company brand may help you come up the ranks in SEO and good, old-fashioned impressions.

#12: LinkedIn
LinkedIn’s company pages make it possible for companies to add a video for each product and service. Being able to show a short clip right on the company page is an incredibly dynamic option and can give you a nice competitive advantage.

#13: Mini Documentary
Thomas Clifford introduces 5 main ingredients from TedTalks and suggests that by using these ingredients in your videos, you too can develop something as compelling. The ingredients are as follows: music, interviews, live event: before, during and after.

#14: News and Commentary
Insite Motion Media suggests using video to offer commentary on relevant news and posting them on your company blog and social networking sites. This helps showcase your company’s responsiveness and industry awareness.

#15: Outreach
A lot of companies post outreach videos. This type of video shows something outside of everyday marketing. It demonstrates a brand’s values. Here are two good examples from Starbucks: What if we all cared enough to vote? and Starbucks Love Project Global Sing Along

#16: Product Tours
Product tours are an excellent way to tell customers about your company’s products and services. If your product is web-based, it won’t cost a lot to create a video that explains the key features. Done well, product tours can be extremely influential.

#17: Qik
Qik is a mobile live video streaming and two-way video conferencing application that allows users to stream live video from their cell phones to the Internet. Users can upload videos to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.

#18: Regular Voice
Wondering how you sound on video? Jenny Lemmons Magic suggests talking to your audience in a regular voice and to try not to imitate your favorite NPR radio announcers. (I know, I was a tad disappointed, too. I was just nailing my best Terry Gross impersonation!) Just make sure you have a good microphone so your voice sounds its best.

#19: Skype
Skype offers video calling which can be done on your computer, iPhones and other compatible mobile phones, iPod Touches and iPads. Group video calls are also possible. Another useful feature for businesses is screen sharing where you can share your screen with clients and colleagues in other locations.

#20: Training
Videos have become second nature for training. You can do distance-learning videos or record live sessions which can be uploaded for attendees to view once they’re back at their desks. As with all training, it’s best to try to edit them into shorter sections.

#21: Ustream
Ustream is an interactive broadcast platform that can be used with an Internet connection and a camera. Ustream states, “Notable Ustream broadcasts include major political events, concerts, conferences, movie premieres, talk shows, sporting events, interactive games, and personal milestones.” Ustream can also be used in conjunction with your Facebook page. You can learn more about Ustream on Facebook.

#22: Vimeo
Not sure where to post your video? Vimeo? YouTube or others? Set’s All Set writes about the pros and cons of both Vimeo and YouTube. He says the pros of Vimeo are “good quality, very clean look, and keeps visitors on your page better.” (See comments about YouTube below.)

#23: Web TV
Social Media Examiner launched Social Media Examiner TV with host Mari Smith on August 7, 2010. The segments generally run 7 to 8.5 minutes. The audience can ask questions by posting a video response. Videos add a personal touch and are a great way to engage your audience.

#24: External Communication
Insite Motion Media suggests using video for external communications:

Event participation when your company is presenting at a marketing-related event
Thank-you’s for client appreciation, or as an award or acknowledgement to vendors who go out of their way to make certain your needs are met

Announcements to show what’s coming up on your calendar that people should know about
Video blogging by embedding your video in your blog around related text content

#25: YouTube
The pros of YouTube as described by Set’s All Set: “Unlimited HD uploading, 1 GB file size, bigger community and more potential exposure.”

He also posted two side-by-side demonstrations of a video on Vimeo and YouTube for comparison.

#26: Zappos-style Video Review
It’s true that Zappos, the online shoe retailer, is known for their video reviews and that it’s a great example to try to replicate. It’s also true that their name conveniently begins with a Z, which made it two for two for me.

As Mark Robertson writes, Zappos uses video to “…drive sales. They use the video to describe, use and demonstrate the products with real Zappos employees and not models or actors. Those videos are said to have a sales impact of 6 to 30%.”

FORTUNE — Fired up about your company’s strategic plan? Great, but before you commit the rest of the year to executing it, make sure you pass these five litmus tests. If not, head back to the drawing board with your management team.

Remember: You’re betting your company’s future on your strategic plan. If you haven’t gotten the details right or shaped it from the proper perspective, those two days you spent at your offsite will ultimately hurt your company. There’s still time to polish it so that you can make the most of 2011.

1. Play to win
Worried that profits were declining, Randy Cohen, founder of Ticket City, an Austin-based ticket broker, laid off workers and cut managers’ pay in 2008. Then Cohen came across an old article about his once-growth-oriented company titled “Don’t Be Afraid.” He realized he’d slipped into playing defense. So he changed his mindset, hiring 10 new people, investing more in marketing — and driving revenue from $30 million to $40 million in 2010. Profits rose as well. And he’s raised the ante further, sponsoring a new nationally televised college bowl game, the Ticket City Bowl. That’s playing offense!

2. Ask customers for ideas…
Coastal Contacts, one of the largest online contact-lens retailers in North America, came out of its two-day planning session at a loss for how to rev up growth. So over the next six months CEO Roger Hardy and his senior team called customers each week to see whether they had any ideas. To the company’s surprise, one recurring theme emerged — customers wanted lenses the next day. “We started overnighting everything,” he reports. Sales in the U.S., where he recently made the change, were up 41% for 2010, bringing company sales to $155 million.

3 …but know which to ignore
If you act on every suggestion your customers make, they can “want” you into bankruptcy. At customers’ request, Hardy, who also sells eyeglasses at Coastal Contacts, started letting them choose and try on four frames at home, then place an order and return the testers. Data soon showed that shoppers who tried on multiple frames were just as likely to return purchases as those who ordered just one pair. Hardy canceled the program because the added shipping costs weren’t offset by additional sales.

4. Involve middle management
Doug Schukar was thrilled when USA Mortgage, his residential mortgage bank in St. Louis, increased the loans it funded from $113 million in January 2009 to $1.2 billion by the end of the year. While other lenders struggled, he ramped up his sales efforts. Yet by failing to keep key middle managers informed of growth plans such as acquisition, he let them get blindsided by the work that came from the company’s rapid expansion. Result: Almost all resigned, and he hired replacements. Today he includes middle managers in annual and quarterly planning sessions.

5. Set fewer priorities
A few years back CEO Tony Petrucciani and his team at Single Source Systems, a software firm in Fishers, Ind., set 15 annual goals, such as automating some of its software functions. But the company, which got distracted by having so many items on its goal list, missed its $8.1 million revenue benchmark by 11%. “Nobody focused on any one thing,” he says. Going forward, Petrucciani decided to set just a few key priorities. Last year the company met its goal of $10 million in sales. How many priorities do you have for 2011? Less is more!

In this article, you’ll learn…
• How to maintain cultural relevancy when reaching global markets
• Six tips to consider before you go global

Before taking your brand into the global market, make sure you’ve done the proper market research, hired the right staff, and implemented the necessary cultural checks needed to succeed. Here are six steps all brands must consider before going global.

1. Look for fertile ground
The world is a big place. Decide which markets are ripe with low-hanging fruit, and start there. Research your target audience in your target country. Solid market research will provide the foundation for your new empire.
What channels are your target markets paying attention to? Does the demand exist for what you have to offer? Understand that breaking into new markets takes seed capital, and cultivate the patience to let that seed grow.

2. Plan before you dig
Tailor your marketing strategy to each new market. Blanket strategies can be effective if resources are limited, but we all know that segmentation rules.
Will you be implementing a support team for your new markets? What training programs will you need to keep your brand’s level of service consistent across all borders?
Will your expansion into new markets include an online integration, TV spots, a sales team, and billboards? Know the scope of your project before you begin. Develop a solid market strategy and budget, and stick to them.

3. Plant indigenous varieties
Choose the languages you will use in your campaigns based on your market research and your region. Many companies get this step wrong with their use of Spanish, for example.
The cultural terminology and mannerisms of Spanish are very different in Spain than they are in Mexico, for example. Even within South America, many variations of Spanish exist that you must consider.

If you’re targeting India, for example, you should consider that the 22 official languages spoken there can be broken down both by region and by education level.

4. Use better food
The best gardeners always have an ace up their sleeve—a special way to nourish their plants with nutrients. Just like them, identify ways to best your competition in foreign markets. What language solution is your competition using? Translation? One-up them by using transcreation. Use transcreation effectively, and understand it better than the people who sell it.

Transcreation is the process of breaking down a brand into its basic parts, and recreating the brand in a new culture. The translation industry tends to be a bit behind the times. Transcreation has been a buzzword picked up by many. Companies are popping up everywhere touting their offering of marketing translation.

Be smart, and ask those companies who will do the work. Translators and linguists are not marketers. They should be perfectly capable of creating culturally relevant, and, possibly, creative copy… but you can’t expect them to understand the psychology of click paths, lead forms, calls to action, and so on.
When developing marketing materials, you don’t need a linguist; you need a marketer. One marketer overseeing your project throughout multiple target countries just isn’t enough. You need at least one marketer for each target country on board.

5. Keep your weeds in check
All marketing materials should pass a rigorous cultural-relevance check. That can include evaluating informal language, metaphors, taboos, and even color symbolism and imagery.

In China, for example, it’s considered disrespectful to raise your glass above the glass of an elder while toasting. So the beautifully selected multicultural stock photo that Company X just picked out to project its celebration of 25 years in business is a dud because the youngest guy in the crowd has his glass raised high above the rest.

Now, the company looks disrespectful and inconsiderate. Even though its website is translated into perfect Mandarin, the photos haven’t been cleared by anyone from China who can offer a cultural perspective.

6. Cultivate wisdom from your neighbor’s wilted vegetation
Corporate marketing teams have run into trouble in the past. The list of examples is never-ending.
For example, Gerber, which sells baby food, kept the image of the famous smiling Gerber Baby on its jars and packages. When the brand entered the African market, some people were disturbed. Only after launch did the company realize that as a result of the low literacy rate across Africa, many companies in Africa use pictures on labels to denote what’s inside. Gerber also met resistance in other markets; it found out that “gerber” is French slang for “to vomit.”

Pepsi had its share of blunders with global marketing when it made changes to campaigns in Asia. Pepsi’s tagline “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life” translated to “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave” in Chinese. Pepsi also lost market share in Southeast Asia when it changed the color of its vending machines from deep blue to light blue. Light blue symbolizes death and mourning in Southeast Asia.
* * *
Don’t translate marketing materials. Translation is completely adequate for technical copy that is void of innuendo, slang, or inflection. I sincerely hope that does not include your marketing copy. In general, anything designed to sell needs a bit of panache, and even very good translation will make it sound awkward.
Marketing is all about relevancy. If you translate your campaign, the intended message could become slanted because of cultural disparity.

Transcreation is the key to foreign expansion, but, surprisingly, few have heard of it. Transcreation is that magical place where translation merges with marketing to make your dreams of global growth come true.