Adding video to your marketing is not as hard as you think and is more important than ever. According to iStock, 88% of internet users are now spending more time on sites that have videos on them. That’s a huge percentage of users who won’t be bouncing immediately off your site if you have a video embedded. Videos also help increase your conversions on landing pages by 86% according to Wishpond. With technology becoming more and more accessible, it’s now easier than ever to create your own marketing videos and share them with potential customers. How so?

Glad you asked! Let’s explore the several different ways you can use videos to enhance your overall marketing efforts, and look good doing so.

Image Source: iudm

Client Video Testimonials

Having video testimonials help draw the line between fake reviews and real ones. It also shows how dedicated your customers are. They are not only taking time out of their day to do something for your company, but agreeing to be on camera and say nice things about how business was conducted. This is personable and real in a world that has become so disconnected.

Think of 3-5 of your best clients. Give them a call and introduce the new idea. Send over an example you shot in-house and instructions on how they can do something similar. You are more likely to receive a positive response if you have an incentive to give. I have worked with companies in the past who’ve offered free items like massage coupons or Starbucks giftcards to customers who posted testimonials on their social media pages. Asking your customer to shoot a video testimonial is a wee bit bigger of a favor, so make sure and give them a great incentive to do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9rj4-A6FI

Hosting Video Contests

Instead of submitting photos or taking polls like traditional contests, host a fun and interactive video contest for your followers. Just about everyone who would be interested in entering your contest has a smart phone, which means they have the capability of making a video and entering.

Video entries give people a unique way to interact and get excited, while spreading the word. One of the best ways to host a video contest is by selecting the winner based on votes and utilizing the company’s social media profiles. This encourages users to share their video, and your company’s branding, on their own social networks for votes.

An Inside Look At Your Company

Do you find yourself searching for info on a company before calling? I know I do! I’ll catch myself deep in a Google image search trying to see what every seat in the house looks like before choosing where I’m going to dinner. Being able to envision the type of business you’re about to give your hard earned dollars to is a big part of consumer decision making.

Don’t believe me? Remember that one time you went to Vegas and booked a room at Hooters? Imagine if you were able to see past those unrealistic stock photos and see how tacky and outdated the hotel rooms really were before you booked. You probably would have chosen another hotel, one that actually resembled what it advertised. The Signature by MGM Grand does a great example of this by offering users a video, photo, and a virtual tour of the rooms, giving an inside look at what they can expect.

Using Video for Search

Video has so many positive marketing benefits, including rankings. Embedding videos to your website or adding them to third-party hosting sites like YouTube has several SEO benefits when optimized correctly. Just posting a video tour of your new building and titling it, “The New Building” on YouTube doesn’t do much for your SEO. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re optimizing your marketing videos properly:

• Embed your video on the webpage that makes the most sense. Having a tutorial video is great, but it doesn’t do you any good search-wise being on your “About Us” page. Instead, embed the video on your “How-To” page or the page that is most likely to receive a video rich snippet. This includes pages that have terms like tutorial, how-to, video review, learn how, etc.
• Optimize your keywords on third-party hosting sites. Using YouTube, Vimeo, or Vine are great ways to increase your viewing audience while promoting your company. To help stand out against the thousands of other videos hosted on these sites and increase chances of your video showing up in search results, use specific keyword terms in your title and description. To ensure the right keywords, you need to do thorough keyword research on your video topic, just as you would for a PPC campaign.
• Create a video sitemap. Search rankings = obeying Google, so make it easy for Google to find your video and give them the exact information about your new video. Google provides plenty of rules and detailed instructions on how to set this up here. Make your life easier and follow their instructions to install it correctly.

Photos Are Soo Yesterday

Photos used to be the go-to for posting on social media, especially on Facebook. But, the times they are a changing! Marketing Land recently posted an article discussing this change and how photo posts now have the lowest average organic reach and video posts are seen twice as often. Images aren’t as visually attractive on social media when we have technology like GoPros and HD smart phones to capture unique video with.

Image Source: Marketing Land

Tips For Creating Your Marketing Video

Now that you have a better understanding of the different ways to use video marketing, here are a few tips to help you shoot a professional video, without the expensive equipment.

• Plan out the content and scene ahead of time. Envision what you want to accomplish with the video way before you actually shoot it. Have your goal defined and where you will be posting the video so you can shoot according to that audience. You’ll also want a clear development of the overall idea, different angles, who will be in it, and a basic overview of what they will say.
• Keep it simple, keep it short. No one has time to watch a 20-minute product video, unless you’re teaching us how we can make it ourselves. The shorter the video, the more likely it is to be watched in it’s entirety.
  

Image Source: The Next Web

• The brighter the better! Make sure the room or environment you are shooting has bright light from several different angles. You can also enhance the brightness and contrast using video editing tools, but I highly recommend if you’re going to invest in anything for your video marketing, invest in quality lighting.
• Eliminate background noise. This is especially difficult if you’re shooting outside, but background noise can come out louder than it sounds while shooting. If you’re using a mic, avoid areas where there is a lot of movement for the mic to pick up. You’ll also want to make sure the mic is close enough to your mouth to help ensure it picks up the noise you’re projecting.
• Don’t have a microphone? If you don’t have a mic or the budget to purchase one, make sure whoever you are shooting is very close to the camera (or phone). The closer you are, the easier it is for the device to pick up the subject’s voice with clarity.
• Film in several takes. Trying to shoot everything in one take is a great idea, if you’re perfect. It’s best for whoever is shooting the scene, as well as the subject, to shoot in several takes. Practice your scene a few times before shooting and then shoot a couple takes of each scene. Watching after each take will help you adjust exactly what needs to be adjusted then, instead of waiting until you get back to the office to realize the mic wasn’t on.
• Smile. Being in front of the camera is nerve wracking, unless you’re Beyonce. Remember to breathe, talk clearly and have fun. We can all tell when you’re nervous, so why not relax and have a little fun with your video?
  

Image Source: Guy Code Blog