Digital marketing is effective when it captures a customer’s attention and video marketing, with a combination of flashy graphics, sound and moving media, can capture an audience’s attention like no other form of media. The ease with which video marketing can engage an audience across multiple platforms – your website, your socials – makes it an increasingly essential element of any digital campaign.
The barriers to video marketing are falling by the wayside as increased internet speeds are coming to cellphones and as broadband gets faster than ever. As mobile users connect to 4G and 5G netwrks across the globe, video buffering is becoming a thing of the past, meaning videos can be seamlessly embedded in web content. Video marketing is here to stay. In this article we’ll explore why video marketing is essential to attracting a larger audience for your business, and how you can optimize your digital strategy with video marketing at the heart of it.
Video Power
Video content is growing across the internet, with estimates appearing that in 2021 the average web user will spend over an hour and half each day consuming video content. As video becomes the dominant way that users engage with the web, marketers and businesses need to tap into it. Otherwise, they’ll be left in the dust. Web users are coming to expect content that’s delivered to them in video form.
Video is also proving to be the most engaging form of content. Social media video content can generate 12 times the shares as text or image content, meaning you get more exposure and reach bigger audiences than ever before.
“It’s so quick to get started with video marketing that there’s really nothing stopping you,” says Alberto Sanders, business writer at 1Day2Write and Write My X. “All you need is a smartphone with a camera attached. Digital marketing can start with snippet-style updates of what’s going on in your business — even 5-10 seconds of video can engage web users more profoundly than still images or text.”
Diversity in Video
Video marketing is an incredibly flexible format. Great video content can be a few flashy seconds or stretch to long-format instructional material. Every business can benefit from leveraging video marketing in one form or another. Because of its inherant flexibility, video is suitable for any number of locations and platforms: you can share short videos on your social channels that grab attention and those all-important likes and shares.
You can simultaneously run long-format instructional videos that tell the audience more about your brand’s story on a YouTube channel or embedded in your website. And you can link these two strategies with short-form teasers, bringing an audience to your in-depth product and service reviews. This cohesive strategy will expand your reach and help your business grow.
The Secret Sauce of Video Marketing
It’s easy to get started with video marketing, but there’s so much more you can do! Optimize your video content by following our secret recipe for the best video content. Grab your smartphone, download an app for those flashy edits, and follow these tips to share your message and boost your brand.
1. It Starts with the Title
Once you’ve created a video experience for your customers, invest a little time in coming up with a headline title that does justice to your incredible content. Journalists and bloggers know the power of an attention-grabbing headline to bring views to text content across the web, and video content follows this golden rule. Don’t forget that the purpose of a great title isn’t solely to bring readers’ attention to the video —using optimized keywords in your video’s title will help you garner better reach by bumping it up in search engines. Google owns YouTube, after all, so video and search engines are closer connected than you might think.
2. Great Content Means Great Connections
Before you create any video content, take a moment to imagine who your audience is. It can help to come up with a mental picture of your ideal viewer. For video content to be at its most effective, you want to create an instant connection with your audience so that your video is shared far and wide. This means your content needs to be valuable to your audience. So begin with an idea of what your audience finds value in.
In video marketing, “How-To” videos that showcase your brand along with the unique skills that you have can be incredibly popular. By teaching your audience, you not only generate the best engagement, you build a strong, enduring connection with your customers.
3. Length Matters
In video marketing, the length of your video matters. Make it too short and it won’t leave a lasting impression on your audience. But if your video is too long, you’ll lose your audience as they switch off. It’s important to remember that the type of content you’re releasing and the platform you’re sharing it on, can go some way towards determining the optimal length.
Videos shared to social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram need to be shorter so that they fit into people’s scrolling habits. For YouTube and your informative how-to videos you can stretch them a little longer, as long as they’re packed with valuable content.
4. Keep your URL in your Video
“Having your website featured prominently in your video content means that it’s more likely to make an impact on your viewer,” says Rebecca Dunholm, career writer at Brit Student and Next Coursework. “That means your brand awareness will be maximized and your audience will know exactly where to go.”
Most app editors allow you to add a text box to your video. It makes sense to utilize this feature to place your web address on screen. Encourage engagement by prompting feedback or questions from your audience that brings them right to your website
5. Drive Traffic in your Description
On YouTube or social channels you’ll always have an option of providing a description for your video. Once you’ve gone to the effort of creating hugely engaging content for your video, don’t neglect the power of the description to drive traffic to your website.
Wherever it’s possible, include an HTML link for your audience to follow and you’ll see traffic soar. Make your HTML link the first thing your audience sees in the description, so it’s easy for them to visit.
6. YouTube and Beyond
YouTube can be incredibly valuable for spreading the word about your brand, sharing engaging content, and driving traffic back to your website. The more subscribers you can attract to your YouTube channel the better. But don’t rely solely on YouTube as a platform for your digital marketing videos. Embedding the videos that you create on your website is an effective strategy for a variety of reasons, even if it seems counterintuitive to market videos on your own website.
Embedding your videos in your website will grab people’s attention when they visit your site. By holding people’s attention, you’ll strengthen your connection with your audience as well as boost your site’s rankings among search engines. Views for your videos will still be counted by YouTube, and these increased views will bring your videos up Google’s search results, further increasing your reach with new audiences.
7. Content Tips and Tricks
Optimizing everything around your video marketing, from your HTML links to the platforms you use, won’t mean anything without the best video content to inspire your audience in the first place. It can be a challenge to come up with creative content so here are a few ideas to get you started.
The best thing you can do to engage your audience is to teach them something. That’s why how-to videos can be incredibly popular and get shared far and wide. Question-and-answer videos can also fit into this niche. By focussing on common questions that are asked by your customers, you can create content that customers find instantly valuable. A short video that quickly covers the five most common questions will be a big draw to anyone who is wondering about what those questions cover.
Another great way to engage your audience is to tell a story. Where you find that story is up to you – it could be the journey that you have been on in creating your brand identity or a story that follows how a customer has used your product in a profound and affecting way. These stories are everywhere, you only have to look.
Conclusion
Thanks to the digital revolution and exponential growth in internet bandwidth, video content is more important for businesses than ever. Video marketing can take so many forms, from six second snippets to long-form instructional videos. Leverage video strategically to grow your audience and bring new customers into the fold. Engaging video content can build a loyal following that strengthens your brand in the marketplace. Revolutionize your digital marketing strategy with great video content and take your brand to the next level.
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