Do you use YouTube? Article by Rachel Wheeler at https://www.morningtrans.com/

How to Translate Video Marketing Content for Global Audiences

Video content is king: 55% of people consume video thoroughly – the highest amount of all content types. A far greater four times as many people prefer videos about products to written content. Finally, consider that 40% of people say they are more likely to purchase a product from their phones after watching a video and it is clear that video is fast becoming the most influential form of content marketing.

On YouTube, more than a billion viewers consume millions of hours of video content each day. This reflects a larger trend of 78% of people watching videos online each week and 55% watching them every day. On Facebook, Periscope, Vine, and many other platforms, videos of all kinds are reaching more people and converting more customers.

Done right, video is the ultimate weapon in a marketer’s arsenal. To reach large audiences, video should be engaging, entertaining, and informative. With the help of professional translators, videos can help you reach a larger global audience than any other medium. The question is how to make them cost effective while resonating with an international audience.

What’s so Great About Video?

According to Google, searches for ‘how to’ on YouTube grew by 70% between 2014 and 2015. Videos allow consumers to learn something new and engage with your brand easily.

Imagine that you want to find out how easy it is to open and close a stroller that you are considering for your first child. A video demonstrates this in seconds, allowing consumers to compare products easily and quickly.

Videos demonstrate, engage, and provide more information per second than any other medium because it employs more than one of our senses. There are benefits to businesses, too:

• Sending an email with the word “video” in the subject line increases open rates by 19% and click-throughs by 65%.
• Including video on your landing pages can increase conversions by 80%. This rate will improve further by translating website and landing pages to appeal to a range of audiences.
• Adding video to websites increases the amount of time users spend on your site and thus your SEO ratings increase. Search engines track user’s times on sites before returning to results pages. The more time spent by a user translates to a higher ranking by search engines as they deem the relevancy higher.

Also, people are much more likely to share video content over other mediums. The quality of the filming isn’t even a main priority for viewers – it’s the content that counts.

Increasing Video ROI

Video can be expensive to produce, so maximizing your ROI by localizing content for international audiences is one way of getting your money to go further. However, rather than go viral because of an embarrassing faux pas, using professional translation and localization services is a wise step in this process.

Working with a language service provider (LSP) from the beginning will enable you to identify the message that will reach the largest audience regardless of language and cultural barriers.

How to Localize Video Content

Creating customized video content for each target region can be expensive and time consuming. A single video for a range of audiences will cost less, but it will require a little more thought in the initial stages to be effective.

A few options to consider are:

1. Ditch the dialogue: Creating a video that doesn’t rely on dialogue can still be engaging. You can then provide any additional, necessary information in a voice over. For this, the narrator can speak in any language without the need to change your on-screen content.
2. Dubbing: If dialogue is integral to your video, you may wish to consider dubbing. Voiceovers in target languages replace the original actors easily, providing a great way to localize content for a range of audiences. However, depending on how many actors need dubbing this can get expensive.
3. Subtitles: Localized subtitles are great for videos with or without actors, and even those without dialogue. They are less expensive than dubbing and relatively easy to add to existing video. However, be aware that viewers may find it difficult to watch a video with subtitles if there is a lot of action, or if there are a lot of actors speaking together at one time.

Videos Engage

Regardless of the type of video you choose to create, if it resonates with your audience it is likely to be shared. Ensure you cover areas that are of interest to your customers and use cultural references that will appeal to them.

An LSP with video translation experience can help localize content and also help to optimize your online videos with details such as video title, tags and descriptive keywords. These are vital when uploading any video to YouTube or other video-sharing websites. Follow the right steps and you’ll reap the reward of a higher ROI and more engaged audience of loyal customers with your video content marketing.

8 Powerful Reasons You Need to Use Video Marketing!

More reasons to use Video for marketing... plus some tips and links to how to get started!

Best Books About Substance Abuse, thought-provoking article by Helen Mason

Please welcome Helen Mason to Colorimetry with the following article:

The Best Books About Substance Abuse

From harrowing memoirs to glamourous novels, substance has long functioned as a motivation for authors, with readers keen to lap up tales of a world that is impossible for those not involved to really understand. These narratives, fictional or otherwise, show us the dangers, tragedies, and - in some cases - the fun that surrounds drug use.

One of the most appealing aspects of books that deal with drugs is that they submerge the reader in a world that is often totally outrageous, far removed from the clean and cut rhythms that define so many of our lives. In many cases, it is the memoirs that are the most outlandish, even more so than their fictional counterparts.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best books about substance abuse, from absurd takes on a hedonistic society to tales of drug addiction and helplessness. Dive in, and discover a side of life you may never have experienced before.

 

Trainspotting

The 1996 movie adaptation of Trainspotting, the 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh, brought the trials and tribulations of being a heroin addict in working class Edinburgh to the big screen, but it is Welsh’s novel that really captures the life of a heroin addict. Following the lives of a gang of heroin addicts, we stay with the characters as they follow the trajectory of many young drug takers: using, addiction, health and crime problems, and how it affects their friends and family.

 

Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man

Bill Clegg’s memoir Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man initially roused interest because of the profession of the author. A successful member of New York’s literati royalty, Clegg’s memoir about his crack cocaine addiction should not have been written: people like this do not become drug addicts. But then, of course they do. Clegg details the hows and whys of how it happened and the desperation that followed. Clegg’s excellent writing brings to life the murky world he created and the struggle to get clean again.

 

The Basketball Diaries

It’s said that keeping a journal is an important part of beating addiction. Jim Carroll, a musician, author, and poet, took this idea and ended up with one of the most acclaimed drug texts ever written. The Basketball Diaries, a collection of diary entries from Carroll’s time as a heroin addict in New York City, is a thrilling read. Released in 1978, this book, along with tails of drug abuse and attempted recovery, also captures a moment of time through the eyes of an adolescent who was coming of age in the 1960’s.

 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Reading Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is akin to riding on a rollercoaster. We travel with protagonist Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo as they drive to and then explore Las Vegas under the influence of a cocktail of drugs, chiefly marijuana, LSD, and alcohol. Influenced by Thompson’s real life adventures, the reader is treated to a close up look at the strange world drug users inhabit while under the influence of narcotics, which is chiefly built around hallucinations and paranoia. This book doesn’t deal with drugs in a moralistic, tragic manner; if anything, it highlights some of the reasons why people take drugs in the first place. But look beneath the surface and you’ll see there’s plenty of trouble brewing.

 

Scar Tissue

Scar Tissue, an autobiography by Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis isn’t strictly a drug abuse memoir, but Kiedis’ long experiences with drug abuse means large section of it are. This is a glimpse into a world that is blocked off from all but a handful of people on earth: one of a super famous, super wealthy, super everything man who also has a serious drug addiction. The ghostwritten memoir details just how low some people, even those who seemingly have it all, will sink to get their next fix, as well as a look into how the death of a friend through drugs doesn't necessarily stop an addict from using. It’s the tale of a man with absolutely no barriers to stop him doing what he wants, and the result is a jaw-dropping, highly entertaining read - mostly in part because Kiedis was able to beat his addictions.