VIDEO CONTENT IS THE FUTURE
Marketing content is constantly evolving as the Internet evolves. From social marketing, to email marketing, to what we know as marketing content today, it’s important for brands and businesses to stay up on current platforms.
The numbers certainly back up the increased popularity of video content. They predict that consumer video on demand will double by 2018 (to the equivalent of 6 billion DVDs), and that 67% of content videos will be delivered on sharing platforms.
So can you make effective video content?
MAKE IT SHAREABLE
Making your content easily shareable isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s the overall goal for any piece of effective online content.
While you want to make the content in the video shareable, video requires different technical requirements that a blog post or an image. Make sure you are properly embedding codes from YouTube, Vimeo, or any video uploader you choose onto your website. A platform like Wistia can make your video content easily shareable with one click.
CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORM
Speaking on YouTube and Vimeo, these are only two examples of video publishing platforms. Others include Instagram, Vine, and SnapChat.
They each have their own strengths as a video publisher, determined by limitations. Vine videos last six seconds and Instagram places 15 second limits. SnapChat videos disappear, but that doesn’t make it any less engaging.
YouTube is the largest publisher of online content, and effective videos can last 2 or 3 minutes long. And Vimeo has the highest quality of video.
YouTube is the easiest, and most obvious choice as a video publishing platform. But depending on your audience (i.e. youth), learning how to create stories on SnapChat may be key.
AUDIO IS ESSENTIAL
It’s estimated that audio quality makes up 60% of your video quality. Some argue that clearness of audio is actually more important than video quality when it comes to content.
Investing in a good microphone doesn’t cost a lot. In fact, one of the most popular mics, the Shure SM58, costs less than $100.
META TAGS AND DESCRIPTIONS
Like WordPress, using descriptions, keywords, and tags on YouTube videos is a big part of optimizing your video in searches and getting it seen.
To start, you have 5000 characters to get your point across, so use them all – and use them wisely. Other best practices include linking out from the video to your website, having a call to action, and saving 200-500 words for the actual synopsis itself.
TRACK YOUR VIDEO CONTENT STATS
Like any piece of online content or campaign, you want to track your video content to improve on the future.
Google Analytics is always a good choice for measurement, although other platforms like Vimeo offer their own version of Advanced Statistics allowing you track weekly and monthly traffic.
EMBED CALL TO ACTIONS
We’ve previously discussed the ins and outs of an effective call to action, and many of those same lessons apply to video content. But video offers an interesting twist that lets you embed your call to action directly onto the screen.
From free trials to entering contests, there’s many types of call to actions you can put at the end of your video. Learn how to subtly place them into your content so they don’t adversely affect the experience of the user.
