Best Ways to Promote Business Through Videos
Business Video Marketing
Videos are one of the most powerful marketing media today. It allows you to state your point quickly, show emotion, garner engagement with your prospective client. We have compiled these articles to assist you in your video marketing efforts. All of the reference article links may be found at the bottom of this article.
[1]It’s hard to believe that just 20 years ago, people didn’t have hand-held, multi-media devices that can connect to the internet and stream high-volume content. But today, people listen to music, take pictures, shoot videos, and view all kinds of content on their phones without even thinking about it.
And the ability to create videos, photos and then distribute them globally is also much easier to do than ever before. People no longer need to buy film, develop it at labs, work in costly editing bays, and physically deliver their media to a broadcast station or movie theatre.
That has had both good and bad effects on the digital landscape. On the one hand, people now have an almost incomprehensibly vast amount of content that they can consume, and much of it is free. On the other hand, that choice also means that people are far pickier about what they watch and read.
Video Marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach out to customers because the video is so engaging and now affordable. But it’s hard to compete because so many more people are taking advantage of video, and you can get lost in “the flood.” But there are things you can practice to help your videos get seen!
1. Optimize Your Content
Do you already know where your video is most likely to be viewed? If you’re targeting a younger, more mobile crowd, are you already confident that the video will most likely be seen on the phone? If so, are you prepared to maximize your video marketing for mobile consumption?
Viewing video on a smartphone platform is a very different experience: watching something on television or even at a desk, with a full-sized computer and monitor. Under different lighting and noise conditions, smaller displays will have different requirements to be easily and enjoyably consumed. Take the type of technology platform into account when creating your videos. If people can tell that your video is more “phone-friendly,” for example, you’re more likely to get viewed while on the go than videos that require a more elaborate, theatrical experience.
[2]2: Run a Video Campaign on Facebook or Twitter
What better way to drive people to your video than offering something for free? The best place to do this is on social networks where people are more likely to share and spread the word about your giveaway, in turn leading more people to your landing page and ultimately driving more people to play your video. Check out this example below from the company Dockwa.
After clicking on this giveaway offer, I’m then directed to a nice landing page with a video explaining the boating service they offer.
3. Optimize Your Video Thumbnail with a Smile
The video thumbnail is by far the most important component to drive a visitor to play or not play your video. The reality is, we do judge books by their cover, which is why you need to dress your video for the occasion by giving it a compelling, play-worthy thumbnail image.
The greatest way to ensure people play your video is by using an image of a smiling human, making direct eye contact. Why? People relate to other people. Would you rather open a book with a bunch of boring text on the cover or one with an image of Prince William smiling at the camera? The latter is more compelling, and the same theory applies to video thumbnails.
“Smiling is the outward manifestation of happiness and serves to begin to connect us to others,” says Dr. Adrian Furnham, an organizational and applied psychologist.
So smack a smile on your video’s thumbnail, and you’ll likely see a much higher number of plays.
3. [3]Write engaging, must-see titles
YouTube marketing is all about presentation.
Like, literally.
Titles are make-or-break when it comes to your video’s performance. Ask yourself: are you presenting your content as “must-see” or “meh?”
The key to crafting killer titles is grabbing your audience’s attention without resorting to clickbait headlines. People crave entertaining content, and they likewise want to know what your video is about from the word “go.”
For example, you can take a page out of the playbooks of YouTube giants like BuzzFeed and WhatCulture. Such videos often rely on listicles, question-based titles, or hyperbole (“insane,” “…of all time”) to rack up the views.
Athlean X’s fitness-based videos are another good example. The channel’s content manages to sneak in relevant keywords in its titles while also coming across as conversational.
The takeaway here is that you should definitely spend time mulling over engaging titles rather than sticking with the first idea that pops into your head.
An oft-cited study from Tubular Insights notes that YouTube video titles should stick between 41 and 70 characters in terms of specifics. Meanwhile, tools such as CoSchedule’s headline analyzer recommend 55 characters for an engaging headline. CoSchedule’s tool isn’t specifically meant for video titles but is awesome for brainstorming YouTube-friendly titles to promote your YouTube channel.
4. Engage with the YouTube community
Although you might not think of YouTube as a social network per se, the platform does represent a thriving community where users are engaging via content via profiles, “likes,” and comments.
It sounds pretty “social” if you ask us.
As noted earlier, any interaction with your viewers is seen as a positive signal to YouTube. If nothing else, engaging with your subscribers can help you foster a stronger connection with your audience. “Liking” comments only takes a few seconds, as does pinning a top comment as a sort of personal note to your subscribers.
For example, music channel Artzie Musik regularly “likes” and responds to comments on its recent uploads. The channel’s creator regularly goes back-and-forth with subscribers to show appreciation and answer questions, too.
To increase your chances of showing up, you’ll want to follow some of the best practices for YouTube SEO:
- Titles and description: Include target keywords in your titles and descriptions. You can use a tool like Keywordtool.io to help you find keyword ideas.
- Mention keywords in your video: According to Brian Dean of Backlinko, saying your target keywords in your video can help YouTube better understand what your video is about.
- Engagement: YouTube uses engagement (likes, comments, views) to determine where videos rank in its search results.
- Categories: Use categories to help YouTube get a better understanding of who to show your videos to.
- Tags: In addition to categories, you can also add tags to your videos to give YouTube more context about your content. You can use quite a few tags, so add as many as you can think of.
Just like with SEO for your website, don’t keyword stuff. Use keywords when it makes sense, not just for the sake of having them.
5. Figure out what your audience wants
With any content you produce, you want to make sure it’s aligned with what your audience wants. Whether you’re writing a blog post or creating a video, start by getting to know your audience and what type of content they want to see from you.
If you’re starting to promote your YouTube channel, take a look at your competitors or other video creators in your industry. Look at which of their videos get the most views and engagement. This will give you an idea of what topics your audience wants to learn about and what style of videos they prefer.
Another solution is to look at your YouTube Analytics if you’ve already uploaded videos. YouTube gives you detailed information on audience demographics, location, engagement, and other helpful stats.
Want to understand your YouTube metrics better? Download our video metrics cheat sheet to learn the most important metrics to track and get ideas for video content tailored to your marketing goals.
6. Target Google search results
As noted, YouTube is totally killing it when it comes to SEO.
And while you shouldn’t totally create content for search engines versus people, you should promote your YouTube channel with SEO in mind.
Specifically, product reviews, how-to’s, and long-form (10+ minutes) videos covering keyword-specific topics tend to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). If you’re strapped for content ideas or want to capitalize on a trending buzzword in your industry, consider how you can do so through your YouTube channel marketing.
7. Run a contest or giveaway
If there’s one thing YouTube users love, it’s a giveaway. Host a YouTube contest or giveaway to encourage people to subscribe to your channel and engage.
To keep your contests simple, have people like your video, leave a comment and subscribe to your channel to enter.
Follow some of our best practices for running any social media contest:
- Make sure you’re following YouTube’s policies.
- Give away a gift related to your brand: you want to attract more than just freebie-seekers.
- Get creative by incorporating user-generated content and other non-traditional entry requirements.
Be careful with hosting frequent YouTube contests, though. You want to make sure you’re getting results from your efforts: otherwise, you’ll end up wasting time, money, and resources. After doing one contest, wait a while and look at your subscriber drop-off rate and engagement numbers. If you aren’t bringing in engaged subscribers, you could just be attracting people who want free prizes.
[4]8. Publish Your Video Natively
Great video content is meant to be shared. And the best way to do this is to make sure your video is hosted online. You can start by choosing from these popular platforms: Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, Vine, and Instagram.
Youtube is by far the largest of these options. It is also the second-largest search engine on the web, so it offers more opportunities to reach your target viewers.
But it’s not enough to host your videos online. It would be best if you also determined how they perform so you can decide your next steps. You can either cross-promote or run some paid ads behind your high-performing videos.
Now here’s where the real video seeding takes place. To ensure your videos are seen, you can frugally advertise on social media platforms with controlled budgets and targeted audiences.
9. Use promotion tools and services
If you want your videos to reach more audiences, then take advantage of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, or even Linked In video promotion.
More and more people are hanging around social media sites almost every day. In fact, 80% of internet users are on Facebook. This means you can reach out to more audiences by utilizing social media ads.
You can leverage your advertising by targeting your audience based on hundreds of factors. This way, you are gaining access to a more specific group of markets that could benefit from watching your videos.
[5]10. Link to video landing pages in email signatures
It feels silly writing out this tip because it’s simple and seems obvious, but it’s also one that marketers tend to overlook. Clearly, linking to a page in an email signature won’t cost you a dime. The effect will have on increasing views, depending on how many people you interact with leads and customers. Most sales, marketing, and support teams have tons of conversations every day, and you should promote your video content during these interactions.
We do this at Wistia all the time! For example, last year, we held a virtual conference called CouchCon, and one of our goals was to ramp up attendance. So, most of our customer-facing teams updated their email signatures to encourage people to click through to register. Here’s an example from Keara, a member of our Customer Success team.
11. Pin your video to the top of your Twitter feed
Pinning a tweet ensures that your content stays front and center of your account and gets the highest exposure level. Twitter comedians pin their best jokes, politicians post their responses to recent events, and celebrities plug their projects or charitable causes. When you’re proud of your creations, please give them the top placement on your feed, so people know where to look.
Buffer found that pinned tweets lead to a 10X increase in conversions. This is a free and easy way to drive more video views, pin it, and watch the plays flood in! We recently pinned our year-end “rap-up” to the top of our Twitter page, so head over there to watch the video fully.
[6]Why choose video marketing?
Video marketing presents your brand with a fantastic opportunity to stand out from the crowd. They’re a visual feast for your audience. A video communicates a lot more information in far less time. In fact, a study from Responsive Inbound Marketing found that social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined! Moreover, video is a medium that can help you to tell some irresistible brand stories. It helps you make use of thought-provoking visuals, graphics, sound, and narration to get your audience hooked.
In Conclusion:
You do not have to spend a lot of money creating powerful videos. If you have a smartphone, you are half the way there. Should you get stuck or need someone to talk to, call hughesagency.ca today.
Reference Links:
- https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/6-successful-tips-to-promote-your-video-content ↑
- https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/08/03/video-marketing-ideas ↑
- https://sproutsocial.com/insights/how-to-promote-your-youtube-channel/ ↑
- https://medium.com/slonmedia/top-ways-how-to-promote-your-videos-cbb144db3e4f ↑
- https://wistia.com/learn/marketing/promote-videos-on-a-budget ↑
- https://www.sendible.com/insights/video-types-to-promote-business ↑
