Video is a powerful marketing medium, especially in 2019. Those that understand how to create this type of visual content and market it effectively have an advantage, generally speaking, over those who don’t. But if you’re reading this, you already know that. That’s why you’re here!
In this article, we’ll help you get started with online video marketing and teach you how to create awesome video content for your company.
What is Online Video Marketing?
Let’s go back to the very beginning — this is a beginner’s guide, after all — and start with the definition of online video marketing. According to HubSpot, online video marketing is:
“Using videos to promote and market your product or service, increase engagement on your digital and social channels, educate your consumers and customers, and reach your audience with a new medium.”
The kind of video you create doesn’t matter, just as long as the content works to promote your company and its products in some way. So live broadcasts, vlogs, YouTube video ads, and product demo videos all fit under the “online video marketing” umbrella.
Why Online Video Marketing is the Future of Content Marketing
When it comes to marketing, we’re always trying to predict the future. Which social media network is poised to take off in the next year and which ones will start to fade into the background? Is there a new ads platform that we need to be aware of? And will email still be the best way to connect with our customers in the coming months?
While we obviously can’t know exactly what the future holds, we can rest assured that the importance of online video marketing will only continue to rise. This is because online video presents businesses with three distinct benefits:
Better SEO
One of the main goals of content marketing is to draw awareness to a company and its products. What better way to do this than by claiming the top spot in Google search results whenever your chosen keyword is queried?
Online video marketing boosts SEO, in part, because it increases dwell time on web pages, AKA the amount of time a web user spends (or dwells) on a website.
In fact, research from Mist Media tells us that users spend 88% more time on websites that contain videos. That’s a massive improvement!
But that’s not all: websites that utilize online video marketing are also 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results than sites that don’t. If it’s not enough to get you on the online video marketing bandwagon, we don’t know what will be.
Higher Engagement
Online video marketing can also result in higher engagement levels. Our society is very visual. We like to see things, not just read or hear about them — so much so that audiences, on average, are 10 times more likely to comment on and share video content than they are to take similar action on blogs or standard social media posts.
If you really want to engage your target audience on a deeper level, you need to start creating video content for them to consume.
More Conversions
Lastly, online video marketing (when done correctly) almost always leads to higher conversion rates. This makes sense given what we’ve just learned about the benefits of video in regard to SEO and engagement.
If your audience is able to find your videos easier because they show up on the first page of Google results, and engages with them much more frequently once they have the chance to watch, better conversions are only to be expected. What you might not realize, though, is how much better…
According to Deposit Photos, conversions rise by as much as 80% when a landing page contains a video. And email open rates can jump up a whopping 19% by including the word “video” in the subject line.
6 Online Video Marketing Tips and Strategies
Online video marketing is obviously beneficial and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Which begs the question, “How can we capitalize on this content form and grow our businesses quickly and consistently?” That’s what we’ll cover in this section.
1. Know Your Online Video Marketing Goals
Successful online video marketing always starts with a strong understanding of the goals one’s trying to accomplish. If you don’t know why you’re creating video content, your efforts will flounder and you won’t be able to make a measurable impact on your company.
So what will it be? Are you hoping to drive traffic, boost email signups, or increase revenue? All of these goals are attainable with online video marketing.
We suggest setting SMART goals. If you’re not familiar with the concept, SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
- Specific: The best goals are extremely specific. What exactly are you trying to achieve and by when? The more specific you can be, the better chance you have of actually accomplishing what you set out to do.
- Measurable: Your goals should also be measurable. That way you’ll know when you’ve met your objectives and can assess your progress towards them. So decide which metrics you’ll use to measure your online video marketing efforts and analyze them.
- Achievable: We applaud ambition, but unattainable goals don’t benefit anyone. In fact, they might actually sow seeds of discouragement and harm your company. Before deciding on a specific objective, make sure that it’s actually achievable and that you’re willing to make the necessary sacrifices to accomplish it.
- Relevant: Every online video marketing goal you commit to should be relevant to your business as a whole. You might not, for example, want to spend time creating video ads aimed at teenage girls if you’re still trying to build up a customer base of grown women.
- Time-Bound: Finally, every goal you set should be time-bound, which means it should have a deadline. Otherwise, you run the risk of “pushing off” your goals and never actually accomplishing them. At the same time, make sure your time frames are realistic or you’ll quickly become discouraged when you miss your target.
Create SMART goals for your online video marketing efforts and you’ll be much more likely to achieve them and move your company forward.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is the most important thing after understanding your online video marketing goals. Think about it: if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach with your videos, you’ll have a hard time creating content that connects.
Fortunately, discovering who your target audience is, if you aren’t yet sure, isn’t that difficult. You just need to invest the time. Analyze your internal company metrics to learn about your current customers. Then take to the internet and dig deeper into this specific subset of people.
You’ll want to discover both the demographic information of your audience like their age, gender, occupation, and income level, and psychographic details like their hopes, fears and daily challenges. Once you’ve learned this information, assemble it into a customer persona so that you can use it during the video creation process.
3. Decide What Kind of Online Video You’ll Produce
Once you know the goals you want to accomplish with your online videos and the target audience you hope to reach, you can determine what kind of video content will work best. Would your company and its ideal viewers be better served through product demo-type content or animated brand videos? What about an explainer video or an interview with an expert?
To help you determine the right video content format, think about the story you want to tell and where your video fits in the buyer’s journey.
For example, if you want to share a video that explains your company’s mission and brand values, you might decide that your story is best told with animation and aimed at folks in the early stages of the buyer’s journey. You might then create something like the famous Chipotle video that hit the internet in 2012.
We should also mention that your goals and audience might shift as you begin publishing video content. If this happens, make sure to also change the kinds of videos you create.
4. Write a Compelling Video Script
When your online video marketing goals, audience, and video types are locked down, you can begin the creation process, which should almost always starts with scripting. Even live videos should have some kind of framework in place before the record button is pressed.
Your script can be as lax or detailed as you want. Some creators just put together a rough outline and deliver their content in a loose, off-the-cuff kind of way. Others prefer to write out every word they’ll say on camera. There’s no right or wrong way. The choice is completely up to you and what you feel comfortable with.
The key is to script something so that you have an idea of what your video is about and the kind of content you’ll be sharing. This will save you loads of time during the editing phase and help you produce a much more professional video.
5. Use the Right Video Marketing Tools
Online video marketing is a lot easier and more enjoyable when you use the right tools. Here are a few software programs that we recommend investing in:
iMovie
iMovie is a popular video editing software that just about every Mac user is familiar with. It’s really easy to learn and allows users to quickly edit footage they’ve already captured on their phones or video cameras. Users also get access to eye-catching titles, image filters, basic effects, and the ability to edit 4K video clips. The best part? It’s free!
Unfortunately, iMovie can only be accessed on Apple devices. But if you’re already part of the Mac faithful, this is a great program for online video marketing purposes.
Biteable
Biteable makes it super easy to create professional-level videos in no time flat. That’s why it’s used by mega-corporations like Microsoft, Panasonic, and IBM. Users get access to a large (and growing) library of customizable templates and royalty-free media files like images, video clips, animated characters, and background music.
The Biteable interface is intuitive and can be access for the low, low price of $0 a month. Though, if you want access to upgraded features, you will need to pay a monthly fee. For those just dipping their toes in the world of video editing, Biteable is a great option.
Zight (formerly CloudApp)
We’ve talked about a couple of video editing tools so far. But what about a tool that will help you create your online video marketing footage? For that, we recommend Zight (formerly CloudApp). Our software’s screen recorder, webcam recorder, GIF creator, and image annotator will allow you to easily create tutorials, product demo videos, vlogs, and other video clips.
And just like iMovie and Biteable, Zight (formerly CloudApp) can be used for free. Sign up for your free account today and see why well-known brands like Uber, Adobe, and Salesforce are loyal customers.
6. Analyze and Optimize Your Online Video Marketing Efforts
After your video content has been published on your company’s website, YouTube page, Facebook profile, and other digital locations, you need to analyze its results. Are audiences connecting with it? Is it helping your brand accomplish the goals you set? What can you do better next time so that your online video marketing efforts see more success?
Don’t get too wrapped up in vanity metrics like number of views unless brand awareness or something similar is your main objective. Just because a video only gets watched 72 times doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a failure.
Refer back to your SMART goals and the metrics you chose to measure for each of them. This is your north star. 72 views is a smashing success if it leads to 10 purchases and your company achieving the goal of a higher conversion rate.
At the same time, be honest with yourself and look for ways to improve your online video marketing skills. That way you can achieve bigger and better goals in the future!
Promote Your Business With Online Video Marketing
Online video marketing is an increasingly necessary skill. Once you learn how to create videos effectively, you’ll be able to rank higher in Google search results, better engage your target audience, and boost your company’s conversion rate. Just remember to follow our six tips:
- Know Your Online Video Marketing Goals
- Understand Your Target Audience
- Decide What Kind of Online Video You’ll Produce
- Create a Compelling Video Script
- Use the Right Video Marketing Tools
- Analyze and Optimize Your Online Video Marketing Efforts
And don’t forget about Zight (formerly CloudApp)! Our powerful video creation tool will allow you to easily record both yourself and your computer screen, create engaging GIFs, and quickly annotate images. Create your account and start using Zight (formerly CloudApp) for free today.