The benefits of video marketing cannot be understated. According to recent studies, digital consumers spend 88% more time on videos than reading content online. Additionally:
• Consumers are four times more likely to make a purchase after viewing a video
• Up to 95% of digital consumers watch an explainer video
• Local businesses that use videos make 65% more sales
For these reasons, every smart small and medium sized business must prioritize video marketing in some fashion going forward. If you’re understanding the need but wanting tips on what to do you’ll find some here. Below we look at several local video marketing tips and tricks to amplify your Return on Investment (ROI).
Before we begin …
We want to make sure that you’ve chosen the right video sharing platforms. The majority of social media networks currently accept videos. From Facebook to Instagram and even Twitter, you’re encouraged to post and share your videos on all these platforms. However, never forget about YouTube. Currently the second most popular search engine after Google, YouTube is the biggest video platform in the world. Facebook and Instagram videos work well for social sharing but not for search engines, so be aware of that. Those videos can have value on those social platforms but remember to also create videos specifically for YouTube as well, keeping in mind that YouTube videos can rank in searches on Google. 1-2 minute videos work well on Facebook, and Instagram’s limit is 1 minute, while on YouTube longer videos in the 2-5 minute realm work best.
Now, the video marketing tips …
KEYWORD SEARCH
Most marketers still don’t understand that like Google, YouTube is a search engine. Don’t make that mistake. YouTube is a search engine and must be treated as such. For this reason, keyword optimization is a must. This is critical for the title and the description. The term you want to be found for should be included naturally in both.
The best place to begin your keyword search is the YouTube search suggest section. Simply go to YouTube and enter one of your keywords and the search suggest tool will generate tons of related keywords that you could use. Other keyword tools worth considering are Google Trends and Google Ads Keyword Planner.
Like with other search engines, some YouTube keywords are very competitive. What this means is that many other marketers are using the same keywords, making it difficult to rank highly for the keywords. The solution to this problem is determining the level of competition for each target keyword or keyword phrase and going with low-competition options.
To quickly determine the competitiveness of your keyword, install the TubeBuddy extension for Chrome. This extension displays the search volume and competition for any keyword and tells you whether the keyword promises value.
OPTIMIZE YOUR VIDEOS
This is something that many video marketers overlook. Very often, you’ll find a marketer posting videos without optimizing the titles, tags, and descriptions. Such videos perform poorly because they’re not optimized for search. It can be a great video but if not enough people can find it and see it, it’s missing its potential.
To avoid such a situation, ensure that all your video titles contain your keywords. Also, make sure to provide a description and alt-text for each video. These should also contain your keywords. Finally, for purposes of local marketing, don’t forget to mention the name of your neighborhood, town or city.
TRANSCRIBE YOUR VIDEOS
Transcription helps people stay longer and watch more of the video. Don’t always simply post a video and publish it without an accompanying transcript. Doing this shuts the door on people who, for various reasons, might not be able to listen to the video with audio, or those who might not clearly understand the message in your videos.
Not all people use smartphones for instance. And, in some cases, consumers may be unable to watch a video because of being in a public area. Using tools such as Temi and Rev to transcribe your important videos and add captions makes your message accessible to the fullest range of people.
CONSIDER VIDEO ADS
While organic marketing is great, its high time marketers understood that organic alone can’t cut it. The competition you’re up against is significant, and most of these competitors already use paid campaigns. Limiting yourself to organic videos would can hold you back.
To this end, you should consider paid video ads. Whether you opt for skippable, non-skippable, or bumper ads, investing in paid videos can boost your overall ROI.
Most Importantly …
Don’t just stick to one type of video. Instead, create different types of videos and load them across all the major social media platforms for maximum reach. From explainer videos, to behind-the-scenes, and training videos, the options are many! You’ll gain more views and leads, and ultimately, make more sales with a diverse array of targeted videos!
Mike Gingerich is President of Digital Hill Multimedia (www.DigitalHill.com), a Goshen web design and marketing agency. He is also a co-founder of TabSite.com and Waftio.com, leading software tools for contests and lead capture, and author of the book Game Plan for Social Media Lead Generation. Find out more at www.MikeGingerich.com/book.