Video marketing is no longer the expensive, time and resource-intensive process it once was.
Because video is projected to account for 80 percent of all internet traffic by 2019, we’ve seen many easy video marketing tools emerge.
Even your cellphone is a viable recording platform these days!
So marketers have no excuse not to try video marketing.
Here are some pointers that can help boost your ROI using video marketing campaigns.
YouTube is Not Your Only Option
We tend to think of YouTube as the go-to video hosting platform.
But if you’re looking for maximum video exposure, try uploading to multiple platforms.
Different platforms will prioritize native videos over videos linked from YouTube.
Erik Fritts, Multimedia Specialist and writer for VideoMaker.com, says:
Traditionally, people uploaded to YouTube, then linked to Facebook. However, a video uploaded directly to Facebook auto-plays, and the thumbnail is now twice as large on the news feed compared to material linked from other sites.
Similar to Facebook, platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn optimize their natively-hosted videos over those videos linked from YouTube.
But, this isn’t to say YouTube is unimportant.
It is still considered the second largest search engine and has its benefits.
For example, Google quickly ranks YouTube videos and can direct more targeted traffic to them if you include captions.
YouTube automatically attempts to create a transcript of your video when you first upload it and requires running through your video to make sure the translations are correct.
And unlike social media platforms, YouTube videos aren’t “pushed down” in a news feed the day after being posted.
They reside in a very searchable, online video library that increases the video’s viewing lifetime.
Video Marketing in Unexpected Places
Video is unique in that it can convey critical information in an “informal” way.
The very nature of video is based on entertainment; the goal is to keep you engaged, not necessarily to educate you.
But that’s exactly what makes it such an effective educational tool; people are entertained, and therefore remember what they learn.
Here are a few creative places to include video.
- News Releases: News releases can be boring. But, they are a critical element of any marketing strategy because they keep the world informed of an organization’s latest news. What better way to drive people to click on your news release than using video bait? “Videos have proven to increase news release views by almost three times,” according to PRNewswire. They bring your news release to life and provide shareable content for influencers to post on social media.
- Blogs: Try recording a two to four minute blog summary and embed the video within your blog post. If viewers don’t want to read your post, they can quickly check out the video instead. Similar to press releases, this provides a more entertaining content piece to share on social media. It brings your brand to life and further develops your organization’s “personality” by letting viewers hear from the employees.
- Highly Visited Pages on Your Site: As part of a tech startup marketing team, we found email marketing to be our top marketing revenue channel. But, the most viewed page was our “email unsubscribe” page. We thought about how we could leverage such a large audience visiting one page – and we came up with video. We made a 30-second “breakup” video which showed our employees mourning the loss of those newly-unsubscribed visitors. The result? Besides positive email responses, we decreased unsubscribers and drove an extra $44K in revenue per year(read the full case study here).
Look at your most highly visited site pages and think of ways to incorporate video.
“Pricing” pages usually receive lots of traffic; try adding a brief video that walks through your pricing model.
Or maybe your “Solutions” page gets a lot of traffic – embed a short video featuring high-level demos of your products.
Video Marketing On Social
Thankfully, we don’t have to worry much about the specs of our video production because social sites optimize videos for us.
Our biggest concern would be viewers without a high-speed internet connection – because nothing is worse than waiting for a video to load.
But there are a few things you can do to get in front of new audiences.
- Tag Influencers and Use Hashtags: Always tag industry influencers in social media posts if you’re quoting or referencing them! They’ll be notified and are more likely to share your post with their audience. And always tag others who you think will share your content. For Twitter and Facebook posts, include hashtags that relate to your target audience.
- Turn Videos into GIFs: Like a movie trailer, sometimes people need a sneak peek. Use Adobe Photoshop (or even your smartphone) to make GIFs out of your videos! This is an easy way to preview your video in social posts.
- Promote Multiple Times: Too often, marketers work hard on their content piece and then don’t promote it enough. If it isn’t successful, they blame it on the content and not the promotional strategy. You should be promoting every piece of content via social media, using the following schedule:
- Twitter: Share three times a week during the first two weeks. Share twice a week during the third week. Share once a week during weeks four through eight.
- Facebook and LinkedIn: Share once a week for first two weeks. Share bi-weekly for the next eight weeks.
It’s senseless to work hard on your video piece and then not bear the fruits of your labor!
Don’t be bashful with promotion—this applies to more than just video content.
Which of these trips are you already leveraging? Which ones will you try out?
In any case, create your epic video marketing plan!
