As a business owner, you’ll no doubt be sick of hearing about the benefits of video content. An informative, eye-catching video can encourage people to find out more about your business and increase engagement rates, but it can often be tough to get people to watch your videos in the first place. Below, we’ve rounded up five of the most effective ways to do exactly that.
1. Use them in your Facebook posts
Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have come a long way in recent years, and sites that were once for connecting with friends and catching up on news are now used primarily for entertainment purposes. Video consumption on Facebook has exploded, with videos bringing in an incredible 8 billion views every day. Uploading your video to your Facebook page and using it in one of your posts can push out your message to more people.
2. Write blog posts about them
Content marketing is one of the most effective methods of promoting your business online, but as consumers become more and more accustomed to modern marketing techniques, the good old days of 500-word blog posts are over. Consider writing blog posts to complement your videos, whether they’re tutorials or introductions to your business. If you want to make sure your videos are indexed and searchable on Google, you could even write transcripts of your video content and use those as the basis of new blog posts, where you can expand on points and get customers to click through to more pages and resources on your website.
3. Pay for advertising on social media
If you’re desperate to get potential customers to watch your short videos, then you could even pay for them to be promoted on social. As we’ve already mentioned, video on Facebook is big business, so paying to have your video play after one of your competitor’s could be a sensible move. Cost-per-view on Facebook video ads depends on the nature of your business and the audience you want to target, but with a compelling video and call to action, it might be worth it.
4. Play them at events
Regularly attend networking events and conferences in your niche? Rather than starting your presentation with a cheesy quote or a boring introduction, you could kick things off by playing one of your corporate explainer videos. At exhibitions and trade events, you could take along a laptop or monitor and play your videos in a loop so that interested parties can get a feel for what you do. Remember, though, that if you’re playing your videos in an open space, you should consider subtitling them to make it easier for people to interact and engage with your content.
5. Showcase them on your homepage
Your website is the shop front of your business online, so what better way to show off than by playing one of your videos to greet new customers? Research suggests that consumers don’t enjoy videos that autoplay when you first visit a website – especially with sound. Instead, play videos without sound, or display a ‘click here to watch our video’ button at the top of your site.
There is no denying that high-quality video content can transform the fortunes of your business online, but unless you promote your video and put it in front of your audience, it won’t have the impact you desire. Start by trying out some of the methods we have mentioned in today’s blog, and see how far your marketing messages spread. Best of luck with your video campaign!
About the Author
Max Greene is the Managing Director of Muffin Marketing, a marketing agency specializing in content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimization.