Incorporating video in your marketing strategy may seem difficult especially when you feel like everyone’s asking the same questions. In today’s FAQ Friday, we’re providing solutions to the most common questions in order to help you plan your inbound video marketing campaign.
Do I really need videos for my marketing strategy?
If you’re not using video for your business, you’re truly missing out. Video creates a visual engagement that other forms of content simply can’t compete with. Especially with increased innovations, use and spread of mobile devices, your audience is on the go, and with video, you can educate and entertain them wherever they are in the world.
In face, see for yourself exactly what you are missing out on and how video creates a truly unique visual experience for your audience with the following infographic:
SOURCEIf the average user watches 32 videos in a month, isn’t it time to start investing in a video marketing strategy? As you start creating your strategy, a key tip is to review your buyer personas and the type of topics that interest them the most. Your videos are for your audience. So if you’re creating content that they are currently searching for solutions for, your video marketing strategy will be that much easier. Review the resources below and learn how to start implementing video in your marketing strategy:
- FAQ Friday: Video Marketing in 2016
- How to Develop a Vision with Video Marketing
- Thought Hive: Stop Your Fear of Video using These Video Marketing Tips
- Marketing Video Trends: 7 Reasons Why Startups Need Online Video
Stop thinking of ‘video marketing’ as this separate entity that is optional for your business. Video is an effective form of communication that needs to be integrated into each and every aspect of your existing marketing efforts.—James Wedmore
Are your viewers really your customers?
Not all of them. For example, in the buyer’s journey, there’s the attract, convert, close and delight stages. And in your marketing strategy especially as you try to create a unique user experience for your audience, you can reflect each stage of the buyer’s journey in your video content. Meaning, if you are only creating videos that are used just to attract people to your brand, only a few of those viewers will probably convert into leads and customers later on.
That’s why, you need to minimize your surface viewers and nurture growth towards a more targeted and invested audience. Because the more your video content can reflect each stage of the buyer’s journey, you can increase your conversion rates.
Key Takeaway: Link relevant videos so that your audience can binge on your content. For example, if you create a how to video as a way to attract your audience, link other videos that are relevant to the topic especially those that reflect the other stages of the buyer’s journey.
Places to link relevant videos
- YouTube: With YouTube, there’s an increased focus on watch time. you can use the ICard or interactive card feature to link videos and other resources like playlists, your website, or content offer landing page throughout your video. You can also link videos at the end so that you don’t take away from the video that they are watching. Also the video description section is another great place to host links to other videos, your website, social media, and other relevant content.
- Your Website: Engage your audience right away by hosting trust building content on your home page. For example, including content like an explainer video, a content offer, and even a video testimonial can be great ways to attract and convert your website visitors. You can embed or link videos in your blog posts—seamlessly building a cohesive user experience through your content.
For more helpful information to video link building and more targeted viewer engagement, check out the following resources provided below:
- Become a Thought Leader with Streaming Online Video
- 5 Top Video Blogs using Thought Leadership Marketing
- Engage Your Audience with These Video SEO Best Practices
Isn’t video marketing expensive?
It depends. For instance, the following questions will affect the overall cost of video production within your marketing budget:
- Who is creating the video? Will it be an in house team or Outsourced to a video production company?
- What type of video format are you creating?
- For example, an animation is more expensive than a webinar or a live stream using Periscope or live.ly.
Ultimately, the long term benefits of video marketing should outweigh the cost of video production. For example if you’re struggling with a small budget, use your in house team to create videos using affordable resources like Periscope and even Snapchat. For more information about the cost of online video, explore the following resources below like this quick video:
- FAQ Friday: The Cost of Online Video
- FAQ Friday: All of your Video Marketing Questions Answered Here
One video is enough right?
Of course not! One video may perform better than the rest. But, you wouldn’t even have that benchmark unless you have multiple videos in your portfolio.
Being good at creating video doesn’t come overnight. And especially if you are trying to increase your influence and thought leadership with video, there is no way you can create one video that is the end all be all of that topic. AND with other people in your industry that create similar content, you have to be consistently creating content to not only stay relevant in your industry but to ultimately stay relevant for your audience.
No matter what you do, your job is to tell your story.—Gary Vaynerchuk
Where should I upload my videos?
YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Brightcove, and even your website are just a few places to host your videos. The best way to figure out where you should distribute your video is your end goal. For example, if your end goal is to attract more website visitors, use social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to host your videos. If you are trying to convert viewers into leads, use YouTube to both bring people to your website by linking your unique and relevant content offers in the ICard or video description section.
Another way to know where to distribute your video is to know where your audience is online. If your viewers mainly congregate on Twitter and Facebook, focus your efforts on hosting Periscope broadcasts or even Facebook video and Facebook live chats. Knowing where your audience is will eliminate the guesswork when it comes to video distribution. For further insight on video distribution best practices, dive into these articles:
- SEO Best Practices for Successful Video Distribution
- A Streamlined Process for Video Production to Video Distribution
If you have questions you would like to see featured in our weekly FAQ Friday, please submit them in the comments below or mention us @DirectImages on Twitter. Until next FAQ Friday, keep your communication lines open. Don’t know the answer—just ASK.
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