It’s not surprising how long it took for video’s potential for online marketing to be recognized. With smart phones and tablets making it easier for everyone to become a videographer, apps, and plug-ins making it easier to edit and manipulate footage, online video marketing strategies have definitely become easier to implement. But do you know how to use video to improve your SEO?
The Benefits Of Video
The biggest benefit of having this much access to video—it allows you to reach a younger and bigger audience.
Think about it—today’s generation has not known a life without the Internet and YouTube, so what better way to speak to a group of tech-savvy individuals with notably short attention spans, than by using a dynamic and mobile content platform like video? (And all those videos are links back to your site!)
This idea is so simple that even the behemoth video-sharing platform, YouTube, predicted “…that very soon, 90% of all web traffic will be video” back in 2012.
Basically, what I’m saying is that you should not put off your video marketing strategies any longer. So with that said, here are some ideas to get started.
1. Diversify Your Content Using Video
A video doesn’t necessarily have to be a person in front of the camera. Review your blog posts and see what you can repurpose and make into a video blog. Keep in mind that a video should draw attention to the compelling aspects of your content and add a little bit more of your voice and personality into it.
TED Talks are a great example of how, what are essentially boardroom presentations, can become engaging and interesting through great editing and visuals.
2. Consider Your Audience’s Attention Span
Generally, audience interest and engagement goes down after 30 seconds. This means you have a half a minute window to capture your audience’s attention, engage them with your content and propose your intended call to action before your audience loses interest in what you have to say.
I’m not saying your video has to be 30 seconds long, but at least keep the most interesting bits in the beginning, while you still have their attention. So a good rule of thumb to follow is—keep it short but go for maximum impact.
3. Avoid Going For Too Much Too Soon
Technology may have simplified the process of shooting and editing videos, but just because your phone can do so doesn’t mean that you should not make the effort to produce professionally made content.
These 3 things are essential:
- Good audio quality
- Great lighting
- Clean editing
Garbled audio, dim lighting, and jumpy editing is so easy to avoid nowadays. There are plenty of YouTube videos that have some great tips on how.
4. Be Clear About Your Call To Action
This is especially true for marketing blogs. Your audience has already dedicated a few minutes of their attention and time to watching your video—now what? Make sure you’re really clear about your call to action. Is your video a way to drive people to your site? Is it a way to further engage your blog readers? Is it an invitation to support or pledge for a specific campaign?
Be clear and direct. Strategically, I would mention my call to action in the beginning (somewhere in the first 30 seconds) and of course, end the video with it as well.
5. Align Your Video Content With Your Marketing Strategy
Remember, your video content is still meant to supplement the message that your overall marketing strategy wants to drive across. Once you familiarize yourself with the process of shooting and editing, it’s easy to get carried away and create more off-beat, music or animation heavy productions.
As long as they are aligned with your overall strategy, are kept within the intended time frame and still deliver a clear message while being interesting, then go ahead. Otherwise, trim it down and keep in mind your brand or product’s style and tone.
I'm always asked what tools I use for our videos. We use PowerPoint for the slides, then record them using Camstudio (which we also use to edit them). The only other equipment I use is a good USB headset with mic. That's it!
If you have other questions, just leave a comment below!
– Mercer
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