Video promotion can obviously be a very effective medium, as the success of television commercials over time has shown. But businesses often struggle to harness the power of digital video shared on the web, even though they know there’s a huge market there. Here are answers to the most important questions businesses ask about online video marketing:
- What Makes a Video Effective?
Video marketing effectiveness should rest on the same basic principles as all marketing. That means that starting with a clearly defined target audience is the most important part of any video promotion process. You need to ask yourself what problems your audience has and how your products or services can be an answer to those problems. This might result in an informational video, or you might determine that a simple product demonstration is the best route. No matter what type of video you make though, quality will always be a factor in effectiveness. It’s important to work with a digital video production agency that has a proven track record and can give you a well-made product — even if your budget is limited.
- How Can Videos Help With SEO?
Many people have heard that video marketing content can help with search engine optimization efforts, but don’t quite understand why. Essentially, video content can be used in content marketing just like blogs or infographics; when you make a video that people want to share, perhaps because it’s helpful or amusing, then this will create links all over the web that point back to your website. Since search engine ranking algorithms heavily factor inbound links into their results, this can help with your SEO. Keep in mind, however, that content created with SEO in mind might differ slightly from videos made to directly market your services. The content that gets shared the most won’t be pitching your business specifically, but rather offering something to a wide group of viewers with your business positioned as an industry expert.
- Can I Make My Video Search-Friendly?
In order to use your videos as strong content in your overall marketing and SEO efforts, you’ll need to do some basic video optimization SEO. That’s right, in order to use videos for SEO, you have to do initial SEO work on the videos. Techniques may vary slightly depending on what video platform you’re using, but some generally applicable tips are to do keyword research just like you would for any other kind of content, to make good use of descriptions and tags (using the right keywords), and to create a sitemap so that your content will be indexed quickly for search purposes.
What other questions do you have about video promotion or promoting your videos? Join the discussion in the comments below.