10 TIPS TO MAXIMIZE YOURVIDEO CONTENT

INVESTMENT+BONUS VIDEO

C onsidering video’s high costs and competitive playing field, brands need to be smart in how they plan, produce, position, and promote their video content if they want to

see reliable returns on their investment.

Here are some tips for making sure your offerings are as relevant, memorable, strategic, and purposeful as possible – no matter what your budget may be.

And for more expert insights on making this powerful technique work for your brand, stick around to watch our latest video on the subject: What You Need to Know About Video in 2018, at the end of this presentation.

TIP 1:INVEST IN THE PROCESS, NOT JUST THE PRODUCTYour video strategy should be considered part and parcel to your content marketing strategy – not an adjunct feature. Before you pick up that camera, think about the role you want video to play in your brand’s story and what steps it will take to plot out, produce, position, and measure the performance of this content. Doing this legwork ahead of time will help you make smarter decisions about the video projects that will be most worthy of your available resources.

TIP 2:KEEP YOUR END GOAL IN MIND – AND DETERMINE HOW YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU’VE REACHED ITWhether it’s awareness, leads, or another goal, every video should have a purpose and a means of fulfilling it.

Too often, video success is equated with lots of views rather than with the actions taken by the right consumers after they’ve watched. You can avoid falling into this trap by including a call to action that directs viewers to take the next step on your designated path, as well as by creating a landing page that will guide their journey toward conversion.

TIP 3:CREATE A NARRATIVE YOUR AUDIENCE WILL WANT TO FOLLOWVideo content runs the risk of getting bogged down by overly complex ideas, heavy jargon, or too many things happening all at once. If you want your video to communicate simply and brilliantly, remember these scripting guidelines:

n Use a conversational tone – it will make the video sound more natural, rather than stuffy or forced. n Use short, concise sentences to emphasize key points and make them easier for the audience to grasp.n Avoid jargon like “optimum” or “accomplish” when simpler words like “best” or “do” will work just as well.n Read it out loud (or have someone else read it to you) before you hit “record.” This can give you a sense of any words or phrases the speaker might stumble on, as well as how long the finished project is likely to run.

TIP 4:KNOW WHEN TO HOST AND WHEN TO POST

CONTENT GOALS/PRIORITIES RECOMMENDED DISTRIBUTION WHY IT WORKS

• Building a subscribed audience

• Increasing website visits and duration

Host videos on your owned channels, using a video platform like Vimeo, Brightcove, or Wistia.

• Greater customization• Enables gated access to valuable assets• Video playlists can encourage visitors to spend more

time on your site

• Broadening the reach of your video content

• Multi-channel re-use of assets

Post your videos on a third-party hosting site like YouTube.

• Basic use of these services is free• Their video players require little configuration• Simplifies the process for sharing videos across channels

and embedding them in your other content efforts.

• Engaging your social communities

• Promoting live events

Deliver videos on-the-fly using live-streaming platforms/apps like Facebook Live, Instagram, or Snapchat

• Helps build and increase audience participation• Can capture and share spontaneous moments as

they unfold

TIP 5:SET THE RIGHT STAGE FOR SOCIAL PLAYSShould you share your videos everywhere and anywhere, or only on certain social channels? Will it benefit your brand to get your video uploaded and running immediately on new social networks that emerge, or would it be wiser to wait until others have tested the waters?

The answers to questions like these (and most other distribution channel decisions you need to make) lie within your buyer personas. Knowing who your audience is, how and where they like to spend their online time, and which channels they prefer for what tasks will help you choose the social networks that offer the best potential for engaging them with your video content. Of course, once you’ve made your decisions, don’t forget to document them in your social media channel plan.

TIP 6:OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT FOR SEARCHSearch engines aren’t as adept at indexing video content as they are with text. But there are some ways to make up for this SEO shortfall. For example:

n Create a full transcript of the audio narrative and include it in your video description copy, or publish it as a blog post along with the video itself. n Add relevant tags, titles, and descriptions to the meta data of your video content. This will help your videos be associated with your target keywords and get them indexed to rank for relevant content searches.

TIP 7:MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE TO ALL Though video can deliver a feast for both the eyes and the ears, remember that it will be a less satisfying experience for people with visual or hearing impairments.

Providing richly descriptive alt tags, written transcripts, and detailed audio explanations of the action taking place can partially simulate a sensory experience, closing a small part of the creative gap. And by also including captioning in your videos, you can make your content more broadly accessible to those with special needs – as well as for those who simply prefer to follow the narrative without sounds that could disturb those around them.

TIP 8:PUSH VIDEOS TO INFLUENCERS, SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, AND FOLLOWERSA screen capture of your videos (along with a link) can be featured in an email sent to the members of your mailing list. This will alert your audience that you have new video content for them to check out, while giving you a forum for requesting their feedback and soliciting their help in spreading the word.

TIP 9:TRACK ATTENTION SPAN TO IDENTIFY OPTIMIZATION OPPORTUNITIESEngagement data and other key performance indicators can provide important insights on your audience’s preferences and behaviors, which you can use to refine and customize your video strategy. For example, if you notice that prospects are dropping off 10 seconds into your videos, your intros might need to be trimmed.

TIP 10:MONITOR VIEWER REACTIONS TO GAIN ADDITIONAL CONSUMER INSIGHTSBeyond performance statistics, you can also mine the emotional response to your videos – including platform-specific responses – to gauge the value consumers are receiving from this content. For example, in his post on live-streaming video, Josh Brown suggests analyzing the sentiment behind viewers’ use of the expanded reaction buttons introduced by Facebook in 2016: Noting whether they “like,” “love,” or felt “sad” or “angry” after viewing your video can help you determine if your content is moving the needle in the right direction.

THAT’S A WRAP!It takes a lot of work to position video as the high-performing centerpiece of a successful content marketing strategy. But with the right plan, a little creativity, and some smart decision-making, just about any business can benefit from its powerful potential to tell engaging stories and inspire audiences to act.

Need more inspiration to start putting the value of video content to work for your business? Check out our latest spot: What You Need to Know About Video in 2018.

Want more detailed insights on how to harness video’s tremendous content marketing power – along with some killer brand examples? Check out our full post on the topic: 10 Tips (and a Ton of Tricks) to Maximize Your Video Content Investment.

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