Can you believe YouTube is 10 years old already? It’s true. YouTube was officially launched on February 14th, 2005 by three former PayPal employees. As verified by Wikipedia, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim “activated the Internet domain name “YouTube.com” and started to create a video-sharing website on which users could upload, share, and view videos.”
YouTube’s concept of uploading and sharing videos online not only took off – it exploded! Savvy marketers and business owners soon realized the potential power of using video marketing for boosting sales.
And they continue creating and sharing video content because it really does have an impact on their marketing efforts:
- Videos Increase People’s Understanding Of Your Product or Service by 74%
- 75% Of Users Visit The Marketer’s Website After Viewing A Video
- 75% Of Executives Watch Work-Related Videos On Business Websites At Least Once A Week
- Subscriber To Lead Conversation Rates Increase 51% When Video Is Included In Email Marketing Campaign
- Your Website Is 50 Times More Likely To Appear On The First Page Of A Search Engine Results Page If It Includes Video
- 90% Of User Say That Seeing A Video About A Product Is Helpful In The Decision Process
Source: DigitalSherpa (2014)
These stats sound convincing, don’t you think? However, whether your business needs video marketing is completely up to you.
Here are a few pointers for maximizing your branding and exposure through video marketing:
Getting started with video marketing
Business owners and marketers should first realize they can easily create videos for little or no cost. What a relief, right? Sure, there are benefits associated with hiring a costly production crew or renting a studio. However, businesses that spend a lot of money on well-polished, edited video have no increased guarantees of ROI (return on investment) from their expensive video marketing. In fact, many businesses produce and publish far more popular videos every day that employees film from their own mobile devices.
There is one primary factor which marketers must keep in mind when adding videos into their marketing mix: their target audience. Just like with all successful content marketing, marketers must know who their target market is and understand what type of content matters to them.
Whether the videos are introductory videos, instructional videos, product demos, client testimonials, employee interviews, office tours, etc, they help businesses drive their messages home and create brand awareness like nothing else.
Maximize your video marketing by sharing your videos on multiple platforms
YouTube: This is probably THE first place you want to add your video(s) online – other than your own website of course. Adding your video(s) to YouTube is an integral part of a successful video marketing strategy. Since Google owns YouTube, having an optimized video improves your website’s SEO and impacts your search rankings.
A best practice for business YouTube videos is including your site’s URL in the description. This helps guide the viewer back to your website.
Here’s an excellent example of including your company’s URL – along with a clever CTA (call to action) – in this video’s description via Delta Dental Insurance Company:
“The Avenging Molar Chooses Greatness”
Description:
“Published on Oct 28, 2014
He never wins just by the skin of his teeth — this fighter wins with a great dental plan. And you can, too. Choose greatness! http://choosegreatdental.com”
Video marketing through social media
Facebook: Drive engagement and traffic to your website by creating Facebook posts which include your video’s link. Facebook allows you to either upload a video directly from your computer (if you have downloaded a file), or by copying/pasting the video’s URL. Create a catchy headline for the video which both entices your viewers and encourages them to share.
Twitter: Since you only have 140 characters to work with for a “tweet,” you want be brief and to-the-point with your message. Just like with Facebook, you should include a brief lede along with your video’s link. Consider a link-shortener, such as bit.ly, so you have more room your headline. You may also want to implement strategic and relevant hashtags, since these often help further attract your target audience.
Pinterest: This visual site is no longer just a “fluffy” site for wedding planning and recipe sharing. Instead, Pinterest has evolved over the past few years into a powerful marketing tool.
Per Carla Marshall in her 2013 ReelSEO article about using Pinterest for video marketing:
Pinterest is now the fourth largest source of traffic after Google, direct traffic and the ubiquitous Facebook and is continuing to grow exponentially. In fact, it drives more referral traffic than YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+ put together…It’s time to start taking this site very seriously.
Indeed.
If you have a Pinterest account for your business, consider creating a Board specifically for your organization’s videos. Each time you publish videos, you can create separate Pins for your videos’ links, then add them to your Board.
A few final tips for video marketing
- Be relevant and make sure your content and tone match the social media platforms you are using to share your video(s).
- Don’t rule out humor in your videos – but always remember that your content represents your brand.
- “Behind-the-scenes” videos are often well received by your audience. Once again, be mindful of your company image and your audience.
Are you creating and publishing online videos for your business? If so, you are already one step ahead of your “camera-shy” competitors. You already already understand how including online videos for your website positively impacts your Google rankings and SERP (search engines results page) position.
Going back to the original question: Do you need video marketing? If you have not tried video marketing yet, then now is a great time to start – don’t be shy!
Image attribution: http://rgpacific.com/video-online-marketing/
Also published on Medium.
Jennifer Hanford
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