Video Marketing Best Practices

Video is one of the hottest categories of marketing content today and a fast-growing online advertising channel as well. Maximize the effectiveness of your video content by following some simple best practices for video content development and distribution.

Like all forms of marketing content, the goal of video is to entertain, educate and inform your target audience in order to engage them with your brand and view you as a trusted resource. The most effective marketing videos don’t push a product, but, rather, tell a story that is of relevance to solving issues faced by the viewer. Below are some rules of thumb for getting the most out of your video content:

Start With a Great Script

When writing or reviewing a video script, put yourself in the shoes of the viewer, not of the company distributing the content. Too often, the company wants to tell a product story with a “buy me” message while the viewer is researching a category and looking for more general ideas about how to solve a business issue. Write the script for your primary persona, not your boss. If you keep this in mind, you will be more apt to entertain and educate than sell.

In addition to telling an interesting story, a great script will be highly focused. You may have nine things you think the audience needs to know about your company or product, but they are only going to have the attention span to learn about the top three. Don’t try to do too much in your video – this medium is best for attracting viewer attention vs. providing all the details they need to know to make a purchase decision.  Consider this one of the tools in your content arsenal, not the full discourse. Remain focused on a few key messages to help you keep your video length down. Online videos should be 60-180 seconds, ideally around 90 seconds depending on the complexity of the message. Like all content, make sure you include a clear call to action to dictate desired viewer next steps.

Create a Visual Hook

There’s no single production format that works relative to all others, but with the abundance of quality content available these days, you can’t get away with blurry talking-head videos or poor sound quality.  Whether you’re using motion graphics or live video production, make sure it’s engaging to look at and listen to with solid pacing, varied visuals and music that enhances but does not distract from the message, and credible voice-overs.

Maximize Video Viewership

There’s no use going through the trouble of creating videos that don’t get viewed. We all dream of our content going viral, and there are some key steps you can take to maximize the possibility of that happening.

Once your video is final, you will want to promote it via all your standard online channels. If appropriate, post the video on your website home page and other suitable spots across your website. Incorporate the content into one or more blog posts, post repeatedly onto your various social media properties and distribute to your audience via email. To make sure these efforts are highly impactful, make sure your video is tagged with keywords and phrases, optimized for sharing and has clear calls to action incorporated both into the content of the video and on any pages where the video content will be viewed. You may want to consider more advanced optimization by uploading keywords into the closed caption capabilities on YouTube or whatever video sharing service you are using.

Next, you will want to look for external distribution opportunities via interested online communities, bloggers and media outlets where your content could be of use. Remember, external distribution is not really a possibility for sales pitch videos, a third party will post your video only if they feel it’s entertaining and informative, but not blatantly selling.

Measure and Improve

You may not hit a home run on your first video, but if you measure your effectiveness, you can continue to improve over time. A good video measurement program will include overall views, average viewing duration, percent dropoff before completion, percent click thru and sharing. Many people post a video and then forget about it. For a successful video content marketing program, you need to have a clear picture of the purpose of each video you produce, the target audience and the calls to action to gauge overall program effectiveness.

How to Use This Information

Video is a fantastic way to get your message in front of your target audience in informative and engaging ways. If you haven’t yet figured out how video fits into your overall marketing plan or need help executing your video content marketing plans, Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency can help. Call us today at 303-300-2640 to discuss how we’ve helped clients create compelling and impactful video content and how we can help your business do the same.