Are you using online video to attract customers to your website and your business? If not, you could be missing out. Online video is one of the fastest-growing types of content around. According to studies, 92.7 percent of global web users worldwide watch online videos each week.
This refers to any kind of video – from tutorials and influencer videos to music videos. The most popular videos on the internet are music videos. Almost half (49.9 percent) of all web users watch music videos every week.
The growth in mobile devices combined with greater availability of broadband and Wi-Fi has made it easier for consumers to view video anytime, anywhere.
No wonder more than half (55 percent) of companies say they are creating video content for marketing purposes.
How can your business get in on the video trend? It’s easier than you think.
1. Have a plan
What do you want your videos to accomplish? Do you want to educate customers about your products or services, promote yourself as an expert in your industry, or highlight your happy customers through case studies or testimonials?
Don’t just throw video up on the Web willy-nilly—set goals for what you want to do and how you will measure it (through “likes”? shares? Leads? Sales?) and then figure out what type of video will best accomplish these goals.
Keyword research is a great way to plan your video strategy to align with your audience needs. SE Ranking keyword generator allows you to limit keyword suggestions to those queries that trigger video carousels:
2. Keep it short
Viewers don’t want to sit through long videos—under 3 minutes is best. If you have a topic that needs more time to cover, consider breaking it up into a series of shorter videos.
This keeps viewers from losing interest, and also encourages them to come back to your website.
3. Post and promote
Post your videos on your own website, of course, but it’s also smart to create a YouTube channel for your business and post them there.
Post your videos on your Facebook page and promote them through other social media channels and marketing emails. Invest into social media ads to generate some initial views.
Make sure everything links back to your business website—you want to drive traffic there. Announce your video in your email newsletter.
Optimize your video page because Google can actually drive lots of clicks. Use Text Optimizer to create a highly optimized video description:
4. Keep your brand in mind
Don’t get so caught up in attracting viewers that you lose sight of your brand. It’s important that your videos enhance, rather than conflict with, your brand.
For instance, if you sell B2B and your brand is very businesslike, a funny video might attract attention in the short run, but will ultimately detract from your brand and cause viewers to think you don’t take them seriously.
On the other hand, if your target customer is teenagers, a funny video is probably a great way to reach them.
Brand your videos well. Add your brand name as your Youtube handle as well as a watermark, use your logo and color scheme when creating your video thumbnail.
5. Go Beyond Youtube
if you’re only posting your company’s videos on YouTube, you’re selling yourself short, and you’re probably not getting the ROI you could get from your online videos.
Sure, video sites such as YouTube and Vimeo have made it super-easy to post and share online videos, especially using WordPress video gallery plugins – so easy that more than 40 percent of companies in the survey admit they only post their videos on third-party sites. Just 11 percent of companies put their videos only on their own websites.
But the best results, apparently, come from a combination of the two approaches. Forty-six percent of marketers surveyed post their online videos on their company website as well as on third-party websites—and those companies saw the best ROI from their online videos.
Whatever you do, don’t put your videos only on an external website without putting them on your own site. It may be a bit more complex to post videos on your site than on YouTube, the results make it worthwhile. Some 60 percent of survey respondents say it’s important for a business to have its own branded location for hosting online videos that it controls.
Why does this matter? Well, what if you invest a lot of money in online video, then YouTube changes its terms of service or starts charging for previously free services? What if YouTube becomes the next “MySpace” in a few years?
If you’ve only got your videos on an external site, you’re at their mercy as to what happens to them. In contrast, when videos are hosted on your site, you control them. Just as important, you can learn from what video viewers do. Marketers in the study said having access to analytics and other information about video viewers was the biggest payoff of hosting videos on their own websites. To make the most of this data, integrate it into your CRM system so you can fully use the information.
Keep in mind, videos are still somewhat of a novelty as a marketing tool, but as they become more “old hat” in the coming years, maximizing results from them will take more time, effort and thoughtfulness.
6. Add your CTAs
Every page is a beginning of a sales journey: Help your viewers to find their way to your brand when watching your video
Add your business email address to your Youtube channel, include your business phone number at the end of the video, make your description clickable, etc.
7. Get help
For many small business owners, it’s simple to create your own videos with a handheld video camera, the camera built into your desktop or laptop or even your smartphone.
But if you and your staff lack the requisite technology skills, it can be worthwhile to hire a video company to create videos for you. Local videographers can make sure you look professional and that the sound and picture are clear. They can also edit videos for maximum impact.
(Psst, Venngage has a new Video Editor you can try!)