Videos, while not new in the content marketing arena, continue to rise in popularity among online consumers worldwide.
It only makes sense, then, to create a video content marketing strategy to make the most of your videos.
A video marketing strategy will positively impact marketing efforts, putting your brand in front of more potential customers, boosting engagement, and increasing conversion rates.
Ready to know more about it?
What Exactly is Video Content Marketing?
Video content marketing involves the strategic creation, production, and distribution of videos to provide your targeted audiences with information that in some way relates to your brand, products, or services, with the goal of converting them into customers.
Ultimately, you are creating video-based content while keeping your marketing objectives forefront in mind and distributing that video-based content in strategic places to reach your audience.
Why Does Video Content Marketing Matter?
Video content marketing matters because video is the most preferred form of media these days.
Consumers are not only receptive to it but rely on it more and more and even expect it from brands. Here are more reasons why video content marketing matters.
Beneficial to your SEO
Search engine algorithms increasingly identify and prioritize videos today, improving your rankings on SERPs.
In addition, videos generate backlinks, reduce bounce rates, increase click-through rates, and boost conversions to further contribute to your SEO strategy.
Increases brand awareness
Video marketing reaches audiences unfamiliar with your brand and introduces what you have to offer. Your brand awareness grows, and audiences will recognize you in the future as you build your presence.
Builds trust and credibility
Videos can display information in a way that doesn’t scream sales tactics or stuffy business practices.
By evoking emotions with a compelling narrative or story in your video, you can connect with your targeted audience and humanize your company or brand, which can build trust and credibility with viewers.
Increases engagement with your brand
As audiences become more familiar with your brand through videos, engagement increases. This engagement may be in the form of likes, shares, comments, or mentions.
Boosts conversions
When you provide informative and engaging video content, your audience is more likely to develop trust and convert to being a customer.
What You Need to Do Before Crafting Your Video Content Marketing Strategy
While you may be anxious and ready to jump right into producing videos and creating a strategy, there are a few things you need to do first before getting started.
#1: Establish Goals for Your Video Marketing
Define all the things you want to accomplish with your video content marketing strategy by establishing goals. You can start with one or two, then go from there.
Goals not only steer your video strategy but also provide you with ways to measure your success.
To help you determine these goals, answer the following questions:
- What is your purpose behind creating videos?
- Who are you creating videos for?
Broad video marketing goal examples include:
Build brand awareness
You can narrow this goal down into driving more traffic to your website or building a better email list. Ways to measure such a goal include the number of views, quality and frequency of mentions, and brand recognition.
Increase viewer engagement with your brand
This is a measurable goal in that you can observe viewer interactions with shares, comments, or likes.
Advertise your product or service (such as with short and relatable how-to videos)
Measure the success of this goal by looking at click-through rates, requests for more information, and sales.
#2: Research and Select Your Platforms
Before committing to the production of your videos, decide which platform or platforms will be most beneficial to reach your marketing objectives.
Video formats differ across the various channels and platforms, so you need to be aware of what each offers and what guidelines they have in place.
Learn video specifications such as landscape or portrait feed video, long-form or short-form content, and if the platform has the capability for live streaming videos. Look for additional features such as playlist or series building capabilities.
Examples of platforms for your videos include:
- Pages on your website (landing page, product or service page, blog, etc.)
- YouTube
- Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest
- Embedded email
Consider where you can more effectively reach your target audience and which platform fits with the purpose and goals of your videos.
#3: Determine a video budget
Discern what part of your marketing budget can be allocated for your video content marketing strategy.
To create a video budget, or break an already established marketing budget down into the most beneficial distribution, determine the following:
What types of videos will you create?
Identifying the types of videos to create for maximum effect will show you the investment required. Examples include explainer videos, interviews, testimonials, product videos, commercials, and interactive videos.
How many videos will you need to create?
Determine if you will need a series of videos or a set of one-offs.
Will you create videos internally or externally?
If creating internally, consider staff requirements, including allotted time for each video creation and production.
Will you need to hire or train staff? Also, determine what equipment you’ll need, including video marketing software.
If going external, choose vendors and compare price quotes. You’ll also want to factor in any video distribution costs, such as paid ads on the various social media platforms.
How to Build a Video Marketing Strategy
Once you have your content planned and in production, you need to build your video marketing strategy.
1. Schedule and Promote the Videos
Your video can be amazing and still not see the light of day when it comes to your targeted audience.
That is why scheduling and promoting the videos are crucial to your success.
Research the best time to schedule the posting of videos on the various platforms to have the maximum impact and reach more prospects and customers, then post consistently.
You’ll also need to promote your videos.
Use various video clips for promotion separately or splice them all together to give an overview to your audience, enticing them to check out each one.
You may also choose to use a video management platform that utilizes various methods to promote your videos, such as playlists, tags, and categories.
2. Optimize Videos for Conversions
While the goal of your video may be to educate, inform, or entertain your audience, ultimately, you want to convert them to paying customers.
To help achieve this, you can optimize your videos for conversion:
- Insert a call to action (CTA) by adding a link to your landing page or asking them to share to their social media.
- Offer immediate incentives, such as a giveaway, if viewers watch and engage with that particular video.
- Add an interactive element to your video to attract and keep the attention of viewers.
- Use an empathetic approach in your video to help viewers identify with your product or service on a personal level.
3. Manage Video Content
Determine how you will manage your video content.
Will it all be on your YouTube channel? Do you have a video content hub on your website?
Keep in mind that one video can lead your prospects to others if managed effectively.
For example, say you share a video on social media, inviting consumers to view the full video on your website, and provide a link.
Let that link take them to a video hub on your website where they can watch several of your videos and learn more about your brand, products, services, causes, or even a look behind-the-scenes of your organization.
4. Measure Your Performance
No video content marketing strategy can be successful without the ability to measure performance.
This step should tie in with your measurable goals or key performance indicators (KPIs) set at the beginning of your strategy development.
Important measures to include are:
- View counts
- Impressions
- Watch times
- View-through rate
- Engagement (likes, shares, comments)
To find these, you can use each platform’s native analytics, such as YouTube Analytics.
Google Analytics is helpful in tracking the performance of your videos as well, providing information on traffic sources, the popularity of videos, the number of views, and so forth.
By measuring the performance of your video marketing strategy, you can determine ROI and also know when and where to make improvements.
These analytics are the key to ensuring your strategy is the best it can be.
Wrap Up: Create a Video Content Marketing Strategy
Videos are here to stay and will help you succeed in reaching a wider audience and increasing conversions.
To be competitive, though, you’ll need to create the best video content marketing strategy possible for your business.
One way to help you stay competitive is to include a variety of video types for your audience. Create and share the ones that represent your brand the most and bring in the results you desire.
And if you need help writing your video script, you can find the best content writers on WriterAccess! Try it for 14 days free of change and take the first step into creating a video that will truly make an impact.
