Video link

Are you looking to get into making YouTube videos for your company or to build your brand?

Check out this video interview, my friend Amani Channel, co-founder of WebVideoChefs, interviews Mark Watson, the man behind the wildly successful YouTube technology channel SoldierKnowsBest on how he has amassed over a quarter of a million subscribers to his channel.

YouTube video training in San Francisco
How To Create YouTube Videos That Sell!  September 20th, 2011 from 6pm – 8pm –  Learn how to create effective, value based videos that get results!  I’m teaching a live class at the PariSoma co-working space next week so register today!

SoldierKnowsBest YouTube Breakdown

Channel http://youtube.com/soldierknowsbest

Description The latest news, reviews, and demos of the best tech hardware, software and everything else.   My videos have appeared on CNET.com, Good Morning America, G4TV, and Thisis50.com.

Topics Technology reviews, gadgets, demos, geek news

Joined YouTube April 2008

Number of videos 840

Number of subscribers 257,853

Total upload views 61,010,298

Equipment: Logitech c910 webcam plus Canon 60D with 50mm lens.

Lighting: PBL

Microphone: Samsung C03U.

Video editing software:  Screenflow

Channel Thoughts

I enjoy Mark’s channel and find his reviews to be authentic, timely and to the point.  While at first he mainly covered Apple products, he now has expanded to cameras, tablets, games and technology news.  Earlier this year he began syndicating his show with Revision3, one of the largest tech focused web/tv show companies on the web today.

One of his early videos that went viral was his prediction of the first iPad which he released December 28th, 2009, making it a full month before the actual iPad announcement in late January.  This video has over 5 million views to date.  It highlights Mark’s strength in gathering and presenting accurate and relevant information on technology products.

His channel success has certainly been an inspiration to me and after I became a partner in February, began publish more videos I saw an increase in subscribers.  While my focus is more on how to use technology vs reviewing tech gadgets, I learned quite a bit from watching this video including that Screenflow can be used to edit live video.  I’ve used it since early last year but only for screencasts and recording webinars.  My first video edit with Screenflow is the one I did on the mobile Google+ app for android where there are two shots of myself and my Nexus S.  Thanks for the shout out guys!

Interview Questions

Amani interviews Mark with a split screen view and asks the following questions:

How did you come up with the name, “SoldierKnowsBest”?

How did you get into video?

When did you realize this was something that would gain traction?  

How did viewers respond to your initial videos?  

Did you have experience creating videos?

Do you pay attention to your stats and analytics?

What new opportunities have come out of creating YouTube videos for you?

What monetization opportunities are there for YouTube content creators?

Creating YouTube videos: a hobby or your full time job?

What kind of equipment do you use?

Advice for people new to creating videos

Do you have video editing software on your phone?

What’s hot in technology right now?

Do companies send you products?  Do you buy your own products?

Summary

Advice from Mark: Pick something you’re going to be able to talk about a lot.  Find something you truly love and are truly interested in.  Keep making videos.  The more videos you make, the more likely someone is to come across one of your videos.  Listen to the feedback from your viewers.  Sign up for the YouTube Partner Program.

Where is he now? Mark recently returned from Berlin, Germany where he covered the IFA conference which is an international consumer electronics show.  You can catch highlights from his IFA trip on his channel!