Creating video for your business without having a clear purpose for the video or a way to accurately measure its success is a common issue. Before you call a video professional or pick up a camera yourself, here are a few questions you should be asking:
- What is the goal you’re trying to achieve with the video? Lead generation, sales conversion or branding enhancement?
- What is the value-add your video will bring to your clients?
- How does this video integrate into your overall marketing strategy?
- What key performance indicators are you going to use to determine its effectiveness?
- How can the content be used to enhance the client experience?
CONSIDER THE VIDEO TYPE
There are many options when considering video, but which will provide the best results? You should consider:
- Which type of video; a branding video, client testimonial video, a how-to video or a video blog?
- Should it be live action, animation or motion graphics?
- Should you use spokesperson or do it yourself?
- Should it be scripted or not?
- Shot professionally or with a smartphone?
- How much should you invest?
These are just some of the questions that need to be answered when thinking about video. The important thing is to determine what kind of video content will meet your business and financial objectives.
NOW YOU HAVE A BUSINESS VIDEO. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
Unfortunately most businesses overlook the many ways video content can be shared to leverage their investment and produce results.
Before you share it, though, make sure to upload your video on a video hosting platform like YouTube or Vimeo. Never upload it to your server. Now let’s get to some ideas on how to leverage it:
Your website. Sounds obvious, but many people don’t do that. Just by adding a video to your website you will increase significantly the time visitors stay on it. Furthermore, it may be the reason why they will be doing business with you. But please… make sure your video content is the first thing a visitor sees when they go to your website. Don’t hide it on the bottom of a forgotten page!
Social media. Video is the #1 kind of content shared and consumed on social media. You should be sharing every video you create in all your media channels: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc.
Email Marketing. By adding a video to your email blasts, you can increase their open rate by at least 19%, so don’t miss this opportunity. Since you can’t add the actual video to the email without making it huge, add a link to it. Just make sure to create an attractive thumbnail that will prompt people to click on it.
Blogs and Press Releases. Videos can and should be added to blogs and press releases as links. The more, the merrier.
When properly optimized for specific keywords, videos can be used to increase traffic to your website and generate more business. This will not replace the SEO you’re doing for your website (hopefully you are), but it will help it immensely.