According to 2016 data from Statista Research, “...it was found that 93% of online users aged 16 to 24 years had accessed an online video clip in the preceding month.” Let those numbers sink in for a moment. That’s a heck of a lot of eyeballs you could be attracting to your business if you were using video. And projections for mobile are even more impressive: According to Cisco’s Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, “75% of mobile traffic will be video by 2020.”
Building your business’ reputation and boosting revenues is all made possible through video outreach.
But where do you begin when you’re just starting to dip your toes into video marketing? How do you know which factors will supercharge your video ROI and which components are critical for a stellar video marketing strategy? In reviewing the video marketing landscape, there are 10 truths you need to know. Understanding the potential of video and discovering ways to use video to grow your company will allow you to stand out from competitors who are still relying on text-based marketing for audience outreach.
While long-form text-based content is awesome for SEO, don’t assume long-form content works best for video too. When’s the last time you sat through a long video that wasn’t a performance by your favorite singer or band? Probably quite a while ago. Short-form video is likely to garner more views (especially from younger audiences) and might even be shared more on social media. Think 10-15 seconds or less and you’ll have hit the sweet spot for video engagement. You don’t need to worry about creating long-winded videos needing extensive editing; create mini-moments using tools like Instagram’s Boomerang, Coub or Anthem. Sure you can create longer videos when needed, but don’t presume that video marketing equals full-length video content.
Just as you shouldn’t assume long-form video is necessary for audience engagement, don’t think pre-recorded video is your only option. Live streamed video is extremely popular. From Periscope and Facebook Live to YouTube Live and Livestream, today’s video marketer has an array of awesome tools at their disposal. You can even live stream from your Snap Spectacles. Live streaming can be used for anything from behind-the-scenes broadcasts at your company to sneak peaks of soon-to-be-released products. As with any other type of video outreach, be sure to have a well-honed live streaming strategy. Know the types of video content you want to stream, who will be responsible for creating your live streams and where your content will be shared/repurposed.
Where you use your video content matters. Creating a video and uploading it to YouTube won’t cut it nowadays. Have you tried to find fresh content on YouTube lately? Talk about content overload. For maximum video marketing ROI, you need to post your video content in multiple locations. Embed videos within blog posts on your own site, pin videos to Pinterest, add your video content to StumbleUpon and share your new videos on your business’ LinkedIn profile, Facebook and Twitter. The more touch points you create, the better your chances are of seeing increased video return on investment.
SEO is crucial for video marketing success. It’s not enough to create engaging video content; you need to optimize your content for success. Make sure your target keyword phrase is in your video’s title and in your video’s description. Use relevant tags to help your videos be found. Links to the appropriate page on your website should be added to your video’s description (don’t just send visitors to your homepage). The more you optimize your videos for search engine discovery (don’t forget voice searchers), the better your content will perform. Make all that effort really count.
Video marketing + email marketing is a match made in conversion heaven. Sharing your videos online is not your only option. While social sharing sites are fabulous, you’ll enjoy even more success if you use your video content in your email outreach. Embed video content in your email newsletters on a consistent basis and watch your open rates climb. Your email subscribers will come to expect awesome video content from your brand and will look forward to the missives you send. Mention your embedded video content when you promote your email newsletters on social media and you’re likely to see your subscriber list grow too. Once you realize just how many ways you can use video content, you’ll understand why this form of visual content marketing is exploding in popularity.
If you want to increase sales this year, product/service videos are essential. Regardless of whether you are in B2C or B2B sales, video may have a massive impact on your conversion rates. Both consumers and business decision-makers are far more likely to make a purchasing decision after viewing product/service videos. Add video to your product pages and enjoy increased conversion rates (your increased time-on-site rate is awesome for SEO too).
Video is terrific for audience recall. Blog posts come and go; video sticks in a consumer’s mind. The more engaging your video content, the more likely your videos will be remembered. From your title overlays to your background music, each element of your videos is another opportunity to be memorable.
Regardless of where video content is hosted, make sure embed codes are offered to your audience. Native advertising is exploding in popularity; if you allow others to embed your video content, the reach of your brand messaging is extended. Make sure your videos are watermarked with your logo for an added boost of brand awareness.
Don’t forget to repurpose your video content into multiple formats. Create a Slideshare presentation, build a blog post around your latest video or offer polls on social media based upon your videos. Create a series of video snippets and images with text based on the content. The more ways you repurpose video, the better your return on investment. Make repurposing part of your content marketing strategy; detail in advance the numerous ways you plan to reuse your videos.
Load time is absolutely critical for increased video ROI. Make sure your video is compressed for speed and in a format that will load quickly regardless of a viewer’s device. With ready-to-use livestreaming platforms you needn’t worry about compression rates, but any embedded video content should always be optimized for speed/load times.
Most of all…have fun! Relax and enjoy expressing yourself this way.
Andrea Kalli provides video editing services at Virtualassist.net.