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Customers are getting busier by the day. At the same time, businesses as well as individuals are publishing more content daily, making every social newsfeed packed with information. With less time to waste and more content to consume, people are pickier with what they will or won’t click on and what captures their attention.
Although written content will always have a relevant place in every digital strategy, and it complements every other part of your branding and positioning pursuits, video has become the medium all customers prefer. It’s visually enticing, rich in content, appeals to more than one sense (you watch and often listen to videos), and it grabs attention immediately.
Now, as wonderful as videos are, they won’t make any difference if you don’t have a strong strategy to support your video creation efforts. Here, we’ll list a few of the most outstanding tips to help you build a killer video strategy, so that every video you publish makes an impact and generates engagement.
Know which channels to choose
Where do your customers spend their time the most, and where are they most likely to click, view, and engage with your content? These are the places you should research and learn about the possibility of publishing videos there, so as to reach the right people and publish your content at the right times for the greatest exposure.
Make sure to publish instructional videos on your own website, especially if you sell various products that come with manuals – giving your customers a glimpse of their use will help nudge them in the right direction. Use YouTube for longer videos where people go specifically to learn. Don’t forget social channels such as Instagram where video stories are all the rage.
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Create a powerful intro
Just like the first several sentences and the title of your article are crucial in gaining your reader’s undivided attention, the intro of your video should achieve the same effect. To simplify the process, you can use a video intro maker that gives you access to a template database for creating effective intros without any hassle. You can add creative details such as stickers and play with the overlays, so that each intro tells a unique story specific to that video that you’re publishing.
The intro is also a brilliant spot for you to ensure brand consistency and weave your brand’s core values. Adding the logo or the key tagline of your business during the intro helps boost brand recognition, but it also attaches your own authority to the content.
Optimize your videos for SEO
Every marketer knows that content creation is the core pillar of optimizing your entire online presence to appease the search engines such as Google. This is where the importance of video in marketing truly shines, as well, since you need to make sure that your video content and the attached descriptions are all SEO-worthy. The more you optimize your videos, the better your chances are for search engines to reward you with higher ranking.
Write a title that is both well-optimized with keywords, but that also speaks volumes of what your video is about. The video description shouldn’t be too long, but you need it to rank higher and to introduce the most relevant keywords for the video content itself.
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Always end on a strong CTA
Like those awe-inspiring, branded intros, CTAs are necessary for your video marketing to guide customers on the right path. What’s more, adding relevant CTAs helps you utilize videos to achieve specific marketing goals every time. Typically placed towards the end of every content piece, CTAs can find their place anywhere you need them depending on how many actions you want your customers to take – the fewer, the better.
The CTA itself isn’t enough. Be sure to simplify the process of actually taking the right step, so that it doesn’t involve anything more than one or two clicks. Whether you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, buy a product, or write a review, make it clear and simple. Only then can you expect people to go beyond the video and follow your lead.
Keep it relevant to your audience
Like with any other piece of content, videos need to speak to your customers from a place of understanding and knowledge. If you post just anything, your customers won’t know what to expect from your future video campaigns, let alone your entire marketing output. To make your videos relevant, start by doing audience research.
Get to know your viewers, learn about their interests, and make your videos as enticing and audience-specific as possible. Follow the impact of your videos to learn how well they are performing, and use that data to improve over time.
Videos on their own can’t do much for your business. With the right strategy, on the other hand, videos can help your brand stand out in this crowded digital world, and gain much more visibility in front of the right audience. Be sure to set up your video marketing strategy from day one, and you’ll have a much stronger chance to beat the competition and get customers interested.