With one billion hours of video watched daily on YouTube and more than 6/10 individuals preferring internet content over television, according to Google, it is simple to see why video has often been called the Digital Age’s winning media format.
Human beings find multi-sensory videos more persuasive and engaging than other formats as visual and emotional creatures. With 81% of companies using video as a promotional instrument in 2018, if you turned your back on this avenue, you’re really missing out.
As a content strategist, I have seen that the most frequent and dissuasive problem for larger brands and companies is often the perceived skill sets and resources needed for a consistent video approach. In fact, any other long-term marketing effort should be approached with a very comparable attitude.
Here’s how even the most modestly resourced marketing team can develop a coherent video strategy – from awareness to conversion and beyond.
Top-of-the-funnel awareness: increase your reach
The goal at this point is to have as many eyes as possible on your video content. Users can then be screened for lower-stage tactics, evaluated and segmented. With this in mind, we suggest that awareness-building videos be fun, related, memorable and emotional. Opt for the greatest possibility of attaining virality through emotion over logic.
It’s vital to properly prepare your videos for search when you get began. The importance of powerful Google rankings is unmeasurable with the diversification of SERPs and the integration of the video tab. It is difficult to overestimate the sheer quantity of individuals looking for responses in this manner. Among the top tips are:
- Ensure that your videos (titles and descriptions) are properly optimized with high-volume keywords and all SEO elements (e.g. video sitemaps and schema) are correctly implemented.
- Including a link back to your domain and, where relevant, deeper landing pages. This will provide indirect long-term SEO benefits and also improve your chances of ranking.
- On YouTube, a popular awareness tactic is to collaborate with established online influencers. In doing so, you combine the potential reach of both parties, broadening your audience and appeal. However, after this flash-in-the-pan industry’s almost surreal rise and inevitable fall, it’s essential that you work with someone relevant and professional. Don’t taint your brand by associating it with a YouTube star set on torpedoing his/her own career. Be the YouFoodz 2.0, not Fyre Festival’s spiritual successor.
The main metric to concentrate on is the number of opinions, as the awareness phase is almost entirely about reach. Data can be sliced and diced in YouTube Analytics to enable you to better comprehend how future content can be tailored to your most precious audience groups; find fresh demographic possibilities; and learn what styles and formats really participate and inspire.
Mid-funnel consideration: instilling confidence
We begin separating the wheat from the chaff in the center of the funnel. Our objective here is to communicate with all those who possibly need our services and products-and to demonstrate our worth and significance to them. Show your value and USPs to demonstrate to viewers why you should be selected over the contest.
Brand videos and stories about the company / culture are an efficient way to do this. It will obviously express your human side and provide social proof to wavering spectators, including speaking to staff or current faithful clients. For instance, interviewing an industry specialist on a topical problem will assist to create your brand as a main player in your sphere and instill trust in your mid-funnel viewership.
Since this level is about persuasion, plus gaining trust and confidence, CTR on your landing pages is appropriate and saying metric to concentrate on. Channel subscriptions and comment section commitment are secondary signs of mid-funnel achievement as they also demonstrate that individuals are reacting to your Output and wanting to find out more
The final stage: proof and conversion
In essence, the majority of customers so far down the funnel have already made their choice to buy the service or product concerned; they merely weigh up who to buy it from and when. Leading them over the finish line is our task.
We want to be comparatively product-focused at this stage and make things more practical than emotional. 90% Customers claim that video helps them make purchasing choices and that including a product video on a landing page can boost conversion by up to 80%. This shows how crucial it has become to market video.
In addition, client reviews are helpful to include as they still have an important effect on conversion rates at this point of the client trip.
As well as uploading appropriate bottom-of – the-funnel videos for long-tail search to YouTube, make sure you include them on the appropriate landing pages of your domain. Before pressing the’ Buy Now’ button, customers are likely to look at this.
It can be hard to evaluate the effectiveness of content straight on conversion due to the nature of aided conversion and research. However, a topline comparison of conversions versus videos should still be kept uploaded. Google Analytics can then collect more granular information. For example, how YouTube referrals and related social media posts act when they reach your domain — especially the goals they achieve.
Maintaining your viewership: audience retention
In sales funnel debates, retention of current clients is a topic that is often ignored. It’s probably the most precious tactic, however, depending on your business model, costing less per conversion than fresh clients.
If you really create your mark, you can get your clients to do your marketing for you – the ultimate goal of retention-focused marketing is an army of faithful ambassadors and the most genuine and attractive type of support. However, to keep coming back to your content, you need to give your client base a reason-and maintain your brand top of mind.
Video series is definitely worth considering because not only do they require viewers to return for the next installment, but they also deliver cost-effectiveness compared to one-off productions. However, using YouTube to construct a community— in conjunction with your blog and social media strategies — is likely the most strong retention strategy.
Here are a few easy tactics to generate a loyal YouTube viewership:
- Encourage user-generated content with competitions and challenges.
- Reward discussion and conversation in your comment sections. Ask your viewers to ask you questions and leave comments.
- Provide incentives for community engagement by giving shoutouts to popular contributors in a monthly YouTube video or/and social media posts.
- Use customer feedback and suggestions to inform the type of video you upload and thank individuals for their recommendations.
- Include videos (and additional content) in your member newsletter with additional insights and exclusive extras. Including the word ‘video’ in your email subject line increases open rate by 19%.
- Share behind-the-scenes footage to show your human side and maintain transparency.
- Organise occasional events or, if this impractical, sporadic webinars. This is an effective way to drive engagement, build loyalty and place your brand at the helm of a like-minded community.
To demonstrate returning versus fresh users, use Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics -this is a nice way to see how well you retain clients. Combined with the development of blog readership, the amount of bookmarks and the amount of channel subscriptions, we create a fairly good image of how well we retain clients.
So, Keep in mind….
As a tiny or medium-sized business, throwing yourself completely into YouTube’s Wild West marketing might seem daunting. But it certainly has nearly any marketing channel’s biggest potential.
It is often thought that a high-risk strategy is needed in the highly saturated internet consumer industry to stand out and achieve that’ high reward’ grail. While tips may not be comprehensive, they are a great starting point for minimizing danger and giving you the greatest opportunity to build an efficient and stable long-term YouTube channel without the heavy spending you might have anticipated.
