Online video marketing represents an opportunity for businesses looking to either gain an edge over less tech-savvy competitors or maintain an edge they’ve already established. Comscore, a source of digital business analytics, tracked 181 million American internet users and found that, on average, each of them spent nearly 22 hours watching video each month. What’s more, websites featuring videos are 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than traditional text pages, according to Forrester Research, a global research and advisory firm.
If you aren’t using videos to reach customers, you are failing to capitalize on an enormous opportunity. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should quickly cobble together a few videos and bombard YouTube with them. To ensure your videos are successful – and don’t end up as additions to the many millions of videos that are languishing in obscurity – you need to keep in mind a few key considerations when you are producing and marketing them.
Be Informative
Viewers don’t react well to content that looks and sounds like it is trying to sell them something. You do not want to create video content that looks like a commercial; rather, you should aim to create video that is informative, conversational and personal.
BBQguys.com went online in 2001 and have been using online videos to forge connections with its customers and to reach new ones. They started small – in 2006, they began posting YouTube videos that featured their grills and other products; these were narrated by their customer service manager and chief executive. Their channel grew quickly, and they eventually had to hire a local chef to serve as their on-camera personality.
BBQguys.com has grown considerably since its inception and now has almost 400 videos on YouTube. All together, these videos have been viewed 1.4 million times.
The reason why BBQguys.com has been such a success in the video realm is because their videos are informative. If you want insights about barbecuing brisket or frying a turkey, they can provide you with them – and all without making any overt sales pitches.
The lesson here is that you should use videos to convince viewers that you are trustworthy authority in your market segment. This will entice them to visit your website and, potentially, become customers.
Turn Viewers into Participants
YouTube allows businesses to build “channels,” which can include your videos, links, playlists, contact information, and even videos from other YouTube users – like your customers. Videos submitted by customers have an air of authenticity that other, self-produced videos can sometimes lack. They also communicate to prospective customers that your brand already possesses loyal and enthusiastic partisans. Your prospective customers may think you must have done something right to have earned such devoted fans.
GoPro.com, a manufacturer of high-def cameras, has built its online presence exclusively using videos submitted to its channel by its customers. In fact, its YouTube channel has more than 100 customer-submitted videos. Collectively, these videos have been viewed more than 24 million times. According to The New York Times, Nick Woodman, GoPro.com’s founder and chief executive, attributes his business’ successes to their online video marketing efforts, saying ,“Viral word-of-mouth marketing for GoPro is massive. Video is really the conduit.”
Give Your Viewers Instructions
Videos are an ideal means of transmitting difficult and/or dry information to viewers. The old, black-and-white instructional manuals and how-to guides of yore have been replaced by instructional videos that are better able to assist customers and meet their needs.
Directfix.com sells replacement parts for smartphones, as well as other electronic devices. The company initially provided its customers with text instructions but the inevitable questions that these instructions prompted left the company with an expensive and over-burdened customer service department. So, in 2007, it began posting instructional videos on YouTube. In the summer of that year, Directfix released a video showing how someone could disassemble an iPhone; it has been viewed more than 2 million times.
Directfix’s experience suggests that viewers are looking for something beyond entertaining content when they are using online video. Even dry content, if delivered using video, is more compelling than its text equivalent.
Include Essential Information with Your Video
We’ve focused on general strategies for making a video that viewers will want to watch, but we also need to address some basic – but essential – tactics to make your video as beneficial to your business as it can be.
The most effective video in the world isn’t worth much if nobody watches it. Your video needs to be accompanied by the kind of evocative title can generate web traffic. When writing the title for your video, make sure that you write a punchy, succinct one that can get a viewer’s attention. In addition, you should write your title in such a way that it includes a sprinkling of critical keywords. This will make your video more likely to show up in search engine results when people are searching for your company and/or for information on a specific subject or product.
In addition to accompanying your video with a title, you need to include a URL in your video. The ultimate aim of your video is not to attract viewers; that’s the proximate aim. Ultimately, you want those who watch your video to visit your website. Make sure that, when designing your video, your website’s URL is prominently displayed.
The final item you should include with any video is an HTML link. When posting on YouTube, you can type any text you would like viewers to see in a small text box below your video. Take advantage of this feature to herd viewers where you want them to go by including your URL.
Conclusion
You need to create online video content to bolster your marketing efforts. But it’s more important that you design high-quality, compelling content that is useful to your viewers. Follow a simple maxim when creating online video content: design it with your viewers’ wants and needs in mind. If you remember this – and surprisingly few marketers do – you will make video content that will expose your brand to new audiences and enhance your business.