It’s no secret that video content can be very a powerful part of a marketing strategy to grow a brand or business. Today’s technology has made the creation of video extremely easy and attainable to anyone with a smart phone. Yet, video content is still often an afterthought for many, but should be a no-brainer in your marketing plan.
Search
This is the most valuable part of making video content, specifically YouTube content. Google, being the largest search engine in the world, owns YouTube and they give a lot of value to video content. Having a video on your business’s website can lead to a much higher ranking with search engines as opposed to an equivalent website with no video. Also, YouTube ranks videos on how well they answer questions that people are asking about.
How do you make quality educational content on YouTube? Think about the reasons you use YouTube. For most people, it is as general as trying to find an answer to questions or a problem. Look at the biggest problems or questions that your clients or customers have and make video content around it in the form of how-to’s and tutorials. All of the content that you create doesn’t have to be exactly related to your niche or industry. For example, If you’re a small business in the lawn industry you could possibly create a video about what it takes to get your lawn growing or maybe even how to start your own lawn care business. So think about your industry, things that are related and the amount of tutorial based videos you could create around that. Doing so will help others find you when searching on YouTube.
Reach
If you want almost immediate engagement with your content create a Facebook live video or upload a video directly to Facebook, which is referred to as a native Facebook video. With this, you will get two times the reach and seven times the engagement over all other content because Facebook’s algorithms rank video as the top performing kind of content.
This type of content doesn’t have to be fancy; you can take videos on the go with a smart phone with no prior planning. It’s all about creating content that will engage your audience in an interesting and real way. You are also able to automatically remarket to anyone that has watched your native Facebook videos if you decided to create a Facebook ad.
Authority
Being willing to go on camera or live video–Facebook Live or Periscope–to talk about your industry makes you look like an authority in your area. It is very different than a blog post. Putting yourself on camera builds a level of trust with your audience that is hard to create with other forms of content. Your audience gets to know you on a deeper level with video, visually seeing your face and hearing your voice. It makes them feel as if they already know you personally, which can’t be done with other mediums of content. Just as it is easier to be found in search with video content, the more videos you create around your industry, the more you will be seen by your audience. This enables you to develop yourself into a thought leader in your area of expertise.
Build Relationships
Once you’ve been discovered on YouTube or Facebook you need to nuture the relationships with your viewers and people that have engaged with your content. Become personal with these people by answering questions they may have in comments or even creating videos answering peoples question to content with them one on one. The possibilities are endless and it can be used to show great customer service to answer questions or complaints. Be creative on how you use video whether it is native Facebook videos, Facebook live or YouTube. It will show your customers and clients how much you care about their input and give you and them a chance to get to know each other on a personal basis.
Conversions
Once you have the optimization of search engines that adds value to your website ranking you higher, the reach that Facebook provides, and the relationships that you have nurtured because of video content, you are in the position to turn your viewers into customers. You do this by inviting them to your website, getting them to your contact page, giving them your contact info, or getting them on your email list. They will either become immediate customers if you are sending them to an ecommerce store that you have or they become a lead that you can convert down the road with more content and continued social engagement.
Thanks for learning with us and feel free to contact us at John@thebusinesssourcellc.com for any questions or future content ideas that you would like to see!