Are you thinking about using videos in your marketing efforts?
Whether it is located in your website or a branded YouTube channel of related presentations, discussions and events, video is fast becoming a necessity for every successful website. However, it takes more than simply posting content; there are some essential steps that will ensure your successfully optimized and branded video channel can attract viewers and grow your business. Here are some steps to assure these you get the desired results from your video creations.
High Quality
Before posting or even sharing your video, make sure your video has the best possible audio and visual quality. One slight glitch can result in your prospect base either ending the video early or even giving it the dreaded YouTube “thumbs down.” Make sure you test its quality and playability on every internet browser and device such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, since so much video viewing today is happening on mobile devices.
Great Content
Your videos must be of value to your audience and engage them—whether it’s really funny or a meaningful tutorial. The more meaningful it is, the more it educates or entertains, the more it will be shared—and the better your search engine rankings. Higher search results reach more people and drive traffic to your website.
Make Sure It Is Optimized
Keywords in the titles, the tags, and the video description are, well, keys to video success. These are essential factors in your video SEO. If you are posting your video to YouTube (the world’s second largest search engine behind its parent, Google), include your keywords in the following fields: Title Tag, Video Description, Category Listing, Keyword Tags, Subtitles, and Captions.
Video Title
In addition to being catchy and attention getting, make sure your titles are relevant and relate to your brand and the needs of your prospects. Use search terms to connect prospects to you and make your videos easy to find and share.
Video Tags
This is where you can drill down into search terms. Include as many topics, categories, and terms you possibly can think of. Also, make sure you include any involved or connected individuals, especially if their name has its own high search ranking. For instance, if you are posting a video on how you would handle the recent Paula Deen crisis, or have something that mentions perennial bad boy Charlie Sheen, make sure you add their names as a tag.
Video Description
Write a short, succinct description that reflects your brand’s tone or message and incorporate (but don’t stuff!) keywords. Since about 22 words are visible in the description box, try to get relevant key phrases in there early. You may include a link to other content or a website in the description.
Include a Call-To-Action
Whether it is liking your Facebook page, subscribing to a series of how-to videos, or sending a related personal story, make sure you provide some action agenda that invites your viewers to follow up somehow, somewhere. At the very least, your video should welcome questions and comments which you should religiously check on and respond to. All of this will both help you measure the success of your video as well as assure what the video was created to make: brand evolution and success.
Share and Re-share
Share your video with a custom link and thumbnail that has been tested and has a small enough link to be re-tweeted and re-shared without a problem. Don’t forget to use hash tags when you share, especially now that Facebook allows them. If done correctly, this share can have multiple stages and many viewers.
After its debut, think about the other times this particular video can be shared again. Keep an eye on the news and be ready to re-post your video when the next celebrity issue occurs, if that’s relevant, or connect it to a holiday and re-share the video at that time. You can also do so after a period of time if you change the title and thumbnail, which should also be done when the next related event occurs.
Don’t Stop at Just One Video
Plan your channel’s “editorial calendar” before you even post the first video, to make sure that your channel is consistently populated with other great videos that people will come back to watch and share. This helps your brand create a strong reputation (among search engines and humans), multiple views, gain more subscribers and comments (also good for SEO). Remember, you want to create brand loyalty with your channel but in order for viewers to be loyal to you, you have to provide them with great, watchable content first.