A picture may speak a thousand words, but a video attracts and engages users even better. One study found that visitors spend 88% more time on a website with video.
As a marketer, this is a statistic you cannot afford to ignore.
Video is one of the most effective tools for marketing because it allows businesses to show their personality, highlight the people behind the brand, and create a real connection.
It’s an opportunity to promote a product by explaining its features and how it works in a quick, visual, and easy-to-understand way.
Video content marketing is a type of marketing that includes videos that are entertaining and promote a product or service. This type of marketing is convenient, valuable, and fun.
Although you might be familiar with the concept of video creation, you might not be aware of how to connect those videos to a larger lead-generating strategy.
Many brands post a lot of videos, but don’t know how to make them more impactful on search engines and social media.
What Is Video Content Marketing?
Anyone who creates and distributes video content with the aim of raising awareness or converting leads is using video content marketing.
Video content marketing is a way of marketing that is similar to traditional content marketing. It tries to answer customer questions and needs so that more business is generated.
The point is to figure out how to include video in every stage of the purchasing process, and to make sure that your brand is active on every channel. The content you produce must be useful, valuable, and entertaining so that your audience will engage with you again and take the next step.
To be successful in video content marketing, you need to do more than just publish videos on different channels sporadically. You need to be strategic in your approach, which includes planning and optimizing your videos.
But Why Video?
Video is a unique medium that lends itself fantastically to established content marketing strategies. Here are some of the stand-out features of video that make it relevant to today’s consumer:
- Video is easy to digest. Most of us scroll through our phones for, on average, 3.3 hours a day. Video stands out because it’s quick and requires no effort to consume.
- Video is entertaining. Watching someone demonstrate how a manual coffee grinder works, for example, provides greater entertainment value than, say, a text-based step-by-step guide or manual.
- Video is engaging. There’s a reason why more than half of people watch video online on a daily basis – it’s valuable and fun, two traits that lead to impressive engagement levels.
- Video is highly accessible. It can be published across all social media platforms, as well as embedded into web pages.
How to Create Videos that Convert
There is no definitive approach that will guarantee that your video content will be successful in terms of attracting and engaging an audience, and ultimately converting them. This will differ depending on the specifics of your business and what your customers’ individual needs and aspirations are.
You will want to set a specific goal before beginning the creation process. Keep the following in mind when goal setting:
- Be specific. Determine whether you want to generate awareness, gather new leads, or convert qualified leads into customers, as examples.
- Define the measurables. How will you determine the success of your campaign? Identify key metrics, such as views, engagements, or conversion rate.
- Consider the timing. Establishing a realistic deadline is critical to your marketing efforts. Keep possible obstacles and risks in mind and be sure to pivot your expectations accordingly.
- Identify your audience. Use demographic, behavioral, and customer journey metrics to identify the target audience of your campaign.
- Complementary assets. Will you need blog posts and social media updates to go alongside your video? Be sure to include these in your plan of action.
With goals established, you can determine the types of videos that’ll best assist you in achieving those goals. Video types include:
- Product videos that showcase features and functionalities
- Animations that are short, engaging, and playful
- Educational videos that highlight your industry expertise and authority
- Video emails that add a new dimension to your eDMs
- Testimonial videos that provide all-important social proof
- Slideshow-style videos that are quick to put together, cost-effective, and ideal for educational content
Goals are set. Video type is identified. Here are a few tips to guide you toward excellent video content:
- Prioritize quality. Poor-quality video doesn’t send the right message. Instead, invest in proper camera equipment and editing software (or hire someone).
- Show your personality (if it matches your brand). If you or a team member is getting in front of the camera, let your quirks show. People want to connect with people – not businesses.
- Speak slowly and add captions. If you talk too fast, it’s likely that your message will get lost. Also, keep in mind that many people watch video with the sound off – captions are essential.
- Brand your videos. Be sure the look and feel of your video content aligns with your brand.
- Add a call to action. If a viewer wants to learn more or take the next step, make it easy for them with a clear, visual CTA.
The Top Video Content Marketing Platforms
It’s not just the videos you create and the strategy behind them that’s important, but also where you publish them.
When comparing video hosting sites, keep an eye out for the following features:
- An intuitive interface
- Compatibility with mobile devices
- Compatibility with all types of players and browsers
- Analytics tools to measure the performance of your videos
- The ability to embed your videos on websites
- Search engine optimization tools
Where to post a video to attract more visitors
Since Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same company, posting videos on either of these platforms will usually engage and nurture those who already follow you. However, since advertising on these platforms is such an effective way to reach new audiences, posting your video on both of these sites is also crucial in attracting more viewers. Between the two of them, Facebook and Instagram are the first and third most popular social media sites in the world.
While Tumblr and Twitter are not related in the same way as Instagram and Facebook, they have similar functionality when it comes to attracting new visitors using hashtags. Try turning your video content into short GIFs and memes and tagging it with popular tags to promote your video in a unique way.
If you’re looking to attract new customers, Yelp is a great tool to use. Your Yelp business listing is one of the first places new visitors will look when they’re trying to find more information about you or related businesses in your area. Having professionally produced video content on your listing will help you stand out and attract more visitors.
Reddit has millions of users and almost as many subreddits. The basic video subreddit can be a good place to submit your video. You can also find industry-specific subreddits that relate to your video topic. Just remember to join the community and contribute to it regularly. Do not just post a video and expect the views to come in.
If you want to get more tourists or customers for your business, you should post a video on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is especially good for businesses that are based in one specific location, like restaurants, bars, and other attractions. It’s always a good idea to have a wider reach for your business, and TripAdvisor can help you with that.
If you’re looking for a way to broaden your audience and get more leads, consider posting your video content on Dailymotion. Dailymotion is a video sharing website based in France that lets users find videos by searching tags, categories, channels, or user-created groups. It’s a great way to get exposure to a different group of people than you would on YouTube or other social media sites.
LiveLeak is a video sharing website where users can post videos about politics, war, and other world events. You can use this site to reach new audiences with your video content.
Mix is a new platform from the people that built StumbleUpon. Content is organized by interests and users can create their own collections. This format combines elements of other popular platforms and has a built-in user base of die-hard StumbleUpon fans. To take advantage, create public-facing collections where you can post links to your videos.
Where to post a video to engage more followers
YouTube is a great way to post your video content as it is the second largest search engine and one of the most popular social media platforms. However, it is not enough to just post one video and wait for viewers to come to you. You need to be engaging and consistent with your uploads in order to attract new viewers and create a community around your channel. Try posting your videos on a schedule and using the tag features to attract new viewers.
LinkedIn has become a great professional social networking tool and since they have begun to prioritize videos, posting videos on your account has become a key way to show that your profile is active. If you embed your content natively within the LinkedIn platform instead of using external links to YouTube, your video will be seen by more of your contacts.
Using LinkedIn Groups to post videos is a great way to take advantage of the new video features on LinkedIn. In particular, using LinkedIn Groups to build a network of potential customers or brand partnerships by nurturing relationships over time is a great way to find new leads. You have to contribute something meaningful to the groups, so make sure you’re commenting and interacting with the group as a whole, and that any video you post is providing value to the community instead of being overly promotional.
Vimeo is one of the most popular and user-friendly video hosting platforms on the internet. It differs from YouTube in some pretty big ways. Vimeo’s brand emphasizes creativity and higher caliber productions. You can engage with other user-creators on the platform who might be more interested in your content’s artistic merits over its promotional aspects.
Where to post a video to nurture more potential prospects
Email marketing is still a powerful driver of sales conversions because you’re marketing to people who are already interested in what you’re selling. These people are more likely to convert because they’re already considering your product and just need a little push to say yes. You can provide that push by using your video content in your email marketing, which will help convince your customers to buy your product.
Instagram Stories work differently than a post on your main Instagram feed. They are more for maintaining relationships with your current followers instead of attracting new viewers. You can share previews of videos or quick snippets as well as behind-the-scenes footage or quick tips and tricks on Instagram Stories.
If you have a product or brand that would be of interest to people who use Pinterest regularly, then posting a video on the site can be a good way to reach and engage with your potential customers. You can encourage followers to share your video on their own boards if they like it.
If you’re looking to broaden your audience and get more engagement on your video content, consider republishing your videos on Medium. You can reach new readers who might be inclined to become customers, and embedding video in your content can help get both your blog and video seen by more people.
Instructables is a website that focuses on DIY projects and content. If your video is a tutorial or how-to guide, it may be appropriate to share it on Instructables. The site has a specific type of content that it focuses on, but if your video fits that description, it can be a great place to show your work to a interested audience. The content on Instructables is exactly the type of video content that can help you turn potential customers into actual customers.
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