Video Optimization Tips for Marketers to Consider
You know video is a powerful and valuable marketing tool, but are you using it to its fullest potential in your content marketing strategy?
Do not expect every video you create to go viral. That is why you need to have an effective content amplification strategy. Amplifying video content means effectively distributing your video and increasing the reach and impact of your content.
In fact, at Simple Story, we recommend adding a distribution plan to your strategy to effectively promote your video content so that your target audiences see it. Doing so will help you achieve your business goals, boost your return on investment on your videos, maximize video viewership, and open up more business opportunities to connect with target customers.
Here is what we will go over in this guide:
- Design videos with goals in mind
- Optimize videos for maximum visibility
- Use lead generation tools
- Marry video to email marketing
- Customize thumbnail images
- Use video marketing on social media
- Add closed captions and transcriptions for accessibility
- Measure your results
To effectively deliver and amplify your video content, from video optimization to evoking emotion within your audience, read on!
Design Videos With Goals in Mind
Marketing teams use numerous video optimization tips to make their videos more engaging and effective. However, one of the most important things to keep in mind is designing videos with specific marketing goals. Not all video content needs to be sales-oriented, but all videos should have a purpose and work towards a defined goal, whether a brand video or an explainer video.
Another important thing to think about during this step is evoking emotions within your viewers. What do you want your viewers to walk away with after watching this video? Did you successfully tie your story to your viewers’ emotional response?
The clearer you define these goals during the pre-production stages, the better you optimize the content to achieve those objectives and connect with the audience.
Optimize Videos for Maximum Visibility
Keywords are crucial for video optimization. By including relevant keywords and phrases in the title and description, you ensure that search engines can easily find and index your video. It would be best if you also considered using keyword-rich tags when uploading your video to social media platforms or video-sharing sites. We also recommend adding a CTA or other forms of engagement in the description to encourage viewers to watch the video or potential leads to follow up. Keyword-rich titles and descriptions will help your video search engine optimization (VSEO) rankings and improve relevancy for individuals searching for your solution.
Use Lead Generation Tools
As previously mentioned, we recommend including clear CTAs or a way for leads to follow up in your video description. Doing so will both get you views and convert them into leads. Other ways to implement CTAs in your video include:
- Landing pages
- Lead capture forms
- Video cards
- End screens
Various lead generation tools are available depending on where you host your videos, so make sure to explore all of them.
Marry Video to Email Marketing
Video and email marketing go hand in hand when engaging with your audience. Like including CTAs in your video description, you should consider including videos in your email marketing. Using video in your emails offers your audience what words cannot – a visual and compelling way to absorb information. By adding videos to your email marketing campaigns, you engage more with your audience and increase clickthrough rate and conversions. In fact, attaching a video in an email can lead to a 200-300% increase in click-through. Using the word “video” increases open rates by 19%, CTR by 65%, and cuts the number of unsubscribed by 26%.
Customize Thumbnail Images
Your thumbnail image is one of the first things people will see when they come across your video, so choose wisely. The thumbnail should showcase the video content and be engaging enough to make people want to watch. A quality and visually appealing thumbnail image can make a big difference in the number of people who click on your video.
Different video and social media platforms have specific requirements and resolutions for thumbnail images. Our team at Simple Story can help you design your thumbnail images for particular platforms.
Re-purpose Your Videos for Social Media
One of the reasons video is a valuable medium is its ability to be repurposed into short-form videos for social media. These shorter versions are useful for paid social media advertising, influencer marketing, display ads, sponsored content, and other social media marketing strategies. Short-form videos are typically 60 seconds in length, but we can help you identify the ideal length for your videos for specific social media platforms.
If you have a long-form piece of video content that you’d like to adapt for a shorter version or different aspect ratios, Simple Story can help. We will work with you to select the remaining scenes, re-record the voiceover to flow with the new length and selected scenes and add audio, music and sound effects.
Add Closed Captions and Transcriptions for Accessibility
Closed captions and transcriptions are a great way to make your video content accessible to a broader audience. Adding these ensures that deaf or hard-of-hearing people can still enjoy your videos. Closed captioning and transcriptions can also be beneficial for people watching your videos in a noisy environment or for those who speak a different language than the one your video is in.
Measure Your Results
Now that you put in all that effort to create and distribute your video, it’s time to measure your results alongside those goals defined during the pre-production stages. This step is crucial for reviewing your marketing strategy and learning how to finetune it the next time you distribute a video.
During this stage, ask yourself, “What worked well? What did not work well? How can we improve our process and strategy?”
We mentioned a few already, but here are some content marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) to pay close attention to:
- Views
- Unique viewers
- Average view duration
- Subscribes
- Shares
- Comments
- Traffic sources
- Click-through rate
- Conversion rate
Conclusion
As a leader in video production, Simple Story is here to help you create powerful videos and strengthen your end-to-end video production and marketing strategy. Our award-winning team will guide you in creating a captivating story and understanding the importance of distributing your videos. So start creating purposeful videos and getting results with Simple Story today!