How To Make The Most Of Video Marketing

How To Make The Most Of Video Marketing

By Dave GrendzynskiJul 3 /2018

Few will question the importance of video marketing. Video is fast becoming king on many platforms (if it’s not there already). But when you’re putting your video marketing strategy together, it’s important to remember great video content can go a long way—often farther than most marketers realize.

By creating a video and publishing it on YouTube, it will live on the No. 2 search engine in the world. And the presence of video itself affects the most important SEO ranking factor: content. There are lots of video marketing best practices you can implement, but just having a YouTube video linked to your site is valuable. It sends a message to search engines that you’re providing content relevant to media search requests. You can also reinforce your message and differentiate it from your competitors with unique text and graphics.

Let's set the scene: To capitalize on the benefits above, you start piecing together a video marketing strategy and looking up video marketing services that can help. You’re also thinking about digital marketing opportunities and other marketing campaigns. But during the process, your team starts weighing the costs and the time it’s going to take to put your video together. That’s when someone blurts out “Is this really worth it?” The answer is a resounding “YES!” Here's why. 

Video Marketing is Critical to Your Strategy

Why is video marketing critical to your overall digital marketing strategy?

  • 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video.
  • Online video maker Moovly found you are 53 times more likely to show up on Page 1 of Google search results if a video is embedded on your website. (Google owns YouTube, so videos can have a significant impact on your search engine ranking. )
  • It also positively impacts click-through rates on emails—sometimes as much as 200 to 300 percent. 

A video may cost a little more, or take a little more time to put together, but it will greatly enhance your potential for views and conversions. And that will improve your ROI.

Why?  Check out these stats from G2 Crowd:

  • Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.
  • Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined.
  • 75% of all mobile data traffic worldwide will be video by 2021.

Your efforts typically pay off in a big way. 

Where Your Video Can Live

You may be surprised at how much mileage you can get out of a video. Just think about all the different ways you can use a video as part of your strategy, including:

  1. On your website—A video on your website will live there forever. It’s a great way to engage prospects because you can upload videos geared toward a certain topic, explain something about your company, or create testimonials that promote customer success. And Vidyard statistics show 86 percent of business-related videos take place on a desktop browser, which means you have a captive audience.

  2. In emails—By placing video in your emails, you’re giving the person you’re sending it to an additional chance to engage. Video is fast becoming the preferred content choice for more and more people, and statistics show video email marketing can increase someone’s purchase intent.

  3. In blog posts—In much the same way a video can enhance an email, it can also enhance your blog. You can embed a video that provides more information on the topic you’re writing about or provides a demo to further the buyer's experience.

  4. YouTube—Did I mention YouTube is the second most popular social network? The potential for views and the start of a path back to your website is enormous.

  5. Facebook advertising/posts—The way the Facebook algorithm works, using video will increase the chances of your post or ad being seen. It will be more engaging because it’s a moving message. Facebook will even help you design a great ad. The site offers tips in its Ads Manager.

  6. Instagram ads/posts—For many of the same reasons Facebook should be part of your social media video marketing plan, Instagram should be part of it, too. We agree with Forbes researchers who say it’s a great way to gain momentum and reach new audiences.

  7. In presentations to potential clients—This works especially well if you’re trying to win a company over that doesn’t know a lot about you. You can promote a product or service. You can also customize the video to your audience.

  8. At trade shows—The video can play on a monitor at your booth. You’ll never know whose eye it may catch.

Click here to view some of our favorite video creations—all of which have been used on several different channels.

Inbound-Marketing-Videos

Optimizing Your Video Marketing Strategy

Your video strategy must include optimization. This is a great way to boost your ROI. Before you publish, make sure to check things like:

  • Keywords—Just as with a blog, you want to be able to tell Google what your content is about. Start by doing keyword research.
  • Title—Your title should be catchy but should also include the keywords you identified in Step 1.
  • Description—This is the spot where you add the most text. It, too, should contain your keywords. While YouTube gives you 5,000 characters to play with in the Description field, it’s best to keep the first line of your description relatively brief, as no more than the first 157 characters will appear as a snippet in search. After that point, viewers have to click “show more” to see the full description. Therefore, ensure the key messages are at the beginning of your description with a link back to your website.
  • Tags—Think about what your target audience might search for, and use those terms as tags for your video.
  • Category—Choosing a category is another way to group your video with similar content on YouTube.
  • Thumbnail—Along with the video's title, that thumbnail sends a signal to the viewer about the video's content, so choosing a good one can impact the number of clicks and views your video receives.
  • Subtitles and Closed Captions—Don't underestimate these. They can boost YouTube search optimization by highlighting important keywords.

Creating a great marketing video with strong graphics and optimizing it for SEO isn’t easy. And it may take your entire marketing team to get the job done. If you don’t have the time or the expertise, you may benefit by outsourcing your video production to your digital marketing agency. If you’d like to learn more about using video, or making it a part of your inbound marketing strategy, visit our Video Marketing Services page.

Video Marketing

The Author

Dave Grendzynski

Dave uses the skills that won him three Emmy Awards as a television news producer to create compelling content for our clients. Dave honed his email, blog and social media writing skills in the Corporate Communications Department at Cleveland Clinic.
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