Being the third most visited website in the world, YouTube shows just how popular streaming video content has become, and with faster and more versatile Internet connections becoming more commonplace, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that video marketing is on the rise as well.
Video marketing using the YouTube as well as other platforms allows you to tap into an enormous audience, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Once your video content has been published, it’s there for good as well, unless you choose to take it down. Additionally, video marketing is heavily intertwined with social media, another crucial area of online marketing. In this article, we’ll take a look at four sure-fire tips to help you use this medium to its fullest potential.
1. Create Compelling Content
Easily the most challenging part of building a successful video marketing campaign is deciding which type of content to publish. Publishing promotional material similar to that which you find in television commercials is not going to get you very far in the world of online video marketing, and instead you need to focus on delivering value to your audience. After all, no one is going to take the time to look at a purely promotional video out of their own volition.
Try creating content which answers questions, reviews products, educates your viewers, tells a story or simply entertains people. As with any kind of content marketing, you should publish content which helps your viewers get more out of your products and services.
2. Don’t Neglect Search Engine Optimisation
SEO should be taken into account in every aspect of your online marketing strategy, and video marketing is no exception. Once you’ve recorded your video, you should take some additional steps to make sure that it reaches as many people as possible and stands a chance to appear in the search results. In addition to providing excellent and unique content, be certain to give your video titles plenty of thought, and include a targeted key word or phrase where possible.
Other ways to optimise your video content includes adding a URL in a text box to your video and using YouTube’s video branding tools for displaying your company logo on the screen. Finally, don’t forget to embed your YouTube video on your own website.
3. Use a Strong Call to Action
You don’t necessarily need to include a call to action in all of your videos, but it is a good idea to inspire people to take the next step, particularly when your goal is to get a sale or generate a lead. Video marketing can be highly effective as a tool for lead generation, giving you the opportunity to encourage people to follow you on Facebook and other social media sites, sign up to your email newsletter or simply visit your website.
If your video content is good enough that people want to watch it from start to finish, then you should take advantage of the fact that you already have their full attention. At the same time, don’t use the medium to make a sales pitch, and instead use it to entertain or discuss solutions to problems.
4. Encourage Engagement
No video marketing campaign would be complete without its social element, and for any video to become successful, or even better, go viral, it needs to be shared again and again. While great content will generate a lot of shares and attention all by itself, there are some steps you can take to improve its exposure in the social networks. As soon as you’ve published your video, share it on your own social media profiles, and embed it on your website.
Within YouTube itself, social interaction largely revolves around likes and comments, and in order to garner some invaluable insights into your target audience and find out what makes them tick, you should always enable comments on your videos. Be sure to read any comments on a regular basis, and get into the habit of replying on occasion, even if only to thank someone for commenting.
Main takeaways
As you will learn from the points covered above, video marketing must become a fully integrated part of your greater online marketing strategy, incorporating social and search engine elements. Finally, don’t forget, that while YouTube is by far the most important video marketing platform, you should also consider uploading your content to other networks, such as Vimeo and Daily Motion, for even more exposure.
