Many people think once they’ve made a video, that’s the end of it. They don’t worry about distribution and promotion. In many instances, the video may be sitting on YouTube, never to be found by its audience. Without distributing and promoting your work, you miss so many opportunities to take advantage of the time and money invested in creating content. Don’t make this mistake!
Just as a satisfying meal is more memorable when it ends with a sweet treat, so too, is video more impactful if it concludes with a branding message or call to action.
Why go for video promotion?
Don’t let completing the video be the end of your project! Now that you have finished producing, it’s time to market yourself. This can be even more important than creating this initial video or series, to begin with. Make sure you come up with a comprehensive marketing plan to increase your visibility and attract new leads.
You’re just getting started. Deciding exactly where and how to start promoting your business can be intimidating, especially if you don’t already have a significant social media following. Analyzing the data from YouTube lets you zero in on the best places to promote your video based on what’s working for similar videos — and suggests new strategies to get viewers to fall in love with your project.
8 ways to promote your videos
Be social: Posting your videos on Facebook, Twitter, etc. allows for people to see what you are doing day-by-day. Let them know what exactly your organization does and share with them useful tips to improve their own lives. Whether you’re putting up a video on how to set up your latest hardware product or sharing an inspiring story of someone who benefited from your most recent non-profit project, people will surely appreciate seeing it. Make sure to share the video on all of your social networks so they can easily access it!
Post a teaser: If your goal is to drive traffic to a specific piece of content on your website, posting a teaser or a shorter version of your video can be a more sophisticated way for you to use social media. Along with the link directing users to the full video, they can also view it from inside Instagram as well as from other social media outlets that you mention in the description, such as Facebook or Twitter. In addition, if you have a series of videos related to one another that you’d like people to see, post them as a gallery on the linked page!
Create video campaigns: To help build buzz about your video, share it directly on social media, to your fan base. Use the brand’s Facebook page to post links for people to see your video. You can also reach out to bloggers who have covered the brand in the past and suggest they post information about it on their websites. You can use any promo video maker to create stunning videos.
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram all offer promotional options. The best thing about these sites is that you have the ability to be as specific as possible, so everything from age to gender can be filtered out. Want to target people with a certain job title? Sounds good. How about re-targeting visitors to your website? Great! Decide the audience you want and get your campaign moving forward.
Manage your email: Go through your regular customer email lists and send the video to anyone who might find it interesting, useful or relevant. If you’re a nonprofit, send your event video to people who couldn’t make the event so they feel included! For a company, the lines might not be as clear but we are sure you’d like to show your nice new video to them too!
Email marketing is a great way to get the word out about any number of topics, from promoting new products to sending thank you messages to customers. However, be cautious about sending emails to your entire list. If your video is an introduction of a new product, it might be best to start by sending your video to people who already purchased similar products.
Inform people to engage: It’s important to share your content with people who care. Email marketing is often used to share information about projects that can help spread awareness (and therefore help bring in more funding). If you’re promoting the development of a product, for example, send business updates or informal emails to people who you think would benefit from it. Encourage them to share the information with their networks because ultimately it’s THEIR voices that will really influence its success. Remember, most decisions are made by word of mouth and not during cold calls from sales personnel – ultimately investors want what’s best for their customers or end-users. Informative email or social posts give them a sense of authority on the topic they’re sharing and let them know where they can find more information on your project!
Repurpose your videos: Don’t let your video exist in just one place! You can get creative with your video placement through thousands of different internet-connected digital properties. This brings us to our favorite strategy, get the video thumbnail onto many of your sales follow-up emails. Talk about creating additional impulse sales opportunities!
Use share buttons: Always remember to put your share buttons in the video. It may seem like another basic or common sense idea, but you would be surprised how often videos go without them! It really is the easiest way to get more views.
Organic video promotion: The Internet is huge. Literally, everybody has at least one thing to say about something or the other online nowadays, and just about everybody’s watching video content these days too. That’s why a video marketing agency is so essential. Search engines also prefer videos, so if you want your video to get found by people looking for your product, you’ll need to optimize your content for it.
Conclusion:
It’s important as a video marketer that you remember that creating a video is just the first step. Think of all the time and energy you have to put into it beforehand – from scriptwriting and storyboarding to pre-production, location scouting, filming on the day of your shoot and editing afterward. A lot of work needs to come together behind the scenes, so once you’ve edited the final video why not promote it through your social channels with some great copywriting? Remember, this isn’t the end, rather a new beginning for developing your social media presence. Also, think about regularly posting videos onto your own channel for added reach.
