Creating an online video can take an extremely long time to put together.
Achieving video marketing success is sometimes seen as expensive and hard to do. Content creators are often disappointed with the amount of effort it takes to produce an online video versus the online exposure and visibility that it actually receives. What if your video could appear extremely high in the search engines and thousands of views could be obtained for an extremely low price point?
Follow these 10 unforgettable but easy to implement video marketing success tips and you’ll be bragging about the exposure that this rich form of media is providing for you!
1. Upload your video to YouTube
YouTube is second largest search engine in the world. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month and over 6 billion hours of video are watched every 30 days. Uploading your video to YouTube will instantly get your online video content seen by the masses.
2. Create compelling content
Before creating a video, think of what the online community will be interested in. Making a video that is compelling to a niche audience will result in great organic growth.
As a tennis player, I’m always looking for tips to improve my serve. That’s why when working with a tennis club; we decided to make a video on “How To Hit a Faster Tennis Serve.” The video now has over 112,000 views and is constantly one of the highest referral sources for the tennis clubs website.
“How To” videos are very informative and receive great exposure.
3. Optimize your content
After you have completed your video; strategize as to what keywords you want your video to rank high for. Since Google owns YouTube, the search engine giant gives a lot of authority to YouTube videos in their organic search results.
I wanted to rank high for the keyword “Digital Marketing Company Columbus.” The content in my video was geared around this keyword. I made sure that the keyword in which I was targeting was included in the title, description and tags. Within 30 days, I was able to get this specific video ranked #2 in the organic search results.
The process for getting a video ranked higher in Google search results can be faster than a website since there are less videos out there.
4. Create a strong call-to-action
During the video editing process; create a lower third graphic that is unobtrusive to the video content. Including the website URL that you’d like to promote as well as the phone number and logo is ideal for driving traffic from the video to the website that you’re looking to endorse.
Additionally, include a link to your website in the video description on YouTube so people can get to your site by simply clicking on this link.
Another good idea is to create an end screen for the video that has a call-to-action. This will be the last memory the viewer takes away from your video so give them a reason to visit your website!
5. Run a small advertising campaign
The average cost per view for one of my YouTube advertising campaigns is between $0.02-$0.04. Compared to other areas of online advertising, this is very cheap for branding purposes.
For a real estate company, for a $100 budget, I was able to successfully drive over 2,400 views for one of their 30-second commercials. Additionally, with YouTube advertising you can include a lower third message with clickable links. They also received over 158 views to their website directly from the commercial.
You can simply set-up a YouTube advertising campaign through your Google adwords account.
6. Share, share, share!
Share your video across numerous blogs and social media channels.
The more often your video is shared, the more visibility it will receive. Similar to link building, if your video is picked up on numerous websites, the search engines will view this content as more powerful which can improve your organic ranking for the video.
Additionally, more people will see the video, the more viral it will become which will result in more publicity.
7. The more interaction, the better
The more “likes” you receive on your video and the more comments you obtain, the better. Just like a social media post, the more buzz that your video receives will result in greater exposure.
Typically, if one of my videos receives over 20 combined comments and “Likes” and also generates over 100 views, the more likely I am to see the video spike in the YouTube and organic search results.
8.Add a transcript to your YouTube videos
Most people are not aware that through YouTube, you can actually upload a transcript.
Create a word document based off of what the subject featured in the video is saying. Since major keywords that you want to rank high for will likely be included in the script, this will provide SEO juice for your video.
If you are unfamiliar with creating a YouTube transcript, HERE is a great article that outlines the proper steps.
9. Obtain subscribers
Did you know that when someone subscribes to your YouTube channel, your most recent video will appear on the homepage of their account!
If you subscribe to other channels that are interesting and actively participate in comment discussions, you can easily build your subscriber base. The more subscribers you have, the easier it will be for you to gain publicity for a new video that has been uploaded.
10. Upload your videos to other networks
YouTube is certainly the best bet to receive optimal online exposure for your video. That being said, uploading your video to sites like DailyMotion, Vimeo and Break will be beneficial for added exposure. Sites like Vimeo cost money to sign-up for but depending on your wants and needs for your video, it could very well be worth it.
If you haven’t thought of video marketing, now is a great time to get started. With affordable advertising and tremendous search engine exposure, this rich form of media will help you obtain more publicity. Follow the ten steps above and you’ll see your video skyrocket in the search engine rankings in no time!
Guest Author: Jason Parks is the Owner of The Media Captain. A Digital Video and Social Media Marketing Agency.