When it comes to marketing with web video, one of the most common mistakes many companies make is failing to follow up on their distribution efforts once the video is done.
Ideally, where and how to distribute your finished video should not be an afterthought. It really should be thoroughly gamed out in the pre-production planning. Videos that, once produced, simply "end up on the shelf" collecting dust are about as likely to be seen by your prospect as a paper brochure is to put itself in your customer's hand.
Video Distribution Neglect Syndrome
Video SEO is often neglected on an amazing amount of YouTube Videos. Marketers have invested a lot of resources and time producing videos, so spending another few hours to make sure people can find it only makes sense. Instead of sending that high-quality video aimlessly adrift in cyberspace, use these three ways to optimize it for SEO so people can find YOUR company when searching for information on the web.
Here are the 3 quick ways you can optimize your video for distribution.
Set up Title, Key Words and Meta Tags correctly. The title and the description are the first things that will grab a potential viewer's attention. Getting them to click on YOUR title requires some effort, so consider taking the time to connect the right topics and keywords to the right audience. Knowing your audience is key, and using a service such as Google Adwords' Keyword Planner is a great place to find out what they searching for.
Optimize the Description area. Instead of simply adding a line or two about the video with a "learn more" link to visit the website, consider typing a couple of well-written paragraphs summarizing the video with some of the "key words" people are searching for. Be sure to optimize your content for key words in a natural way that people can read easily, trying to avoid jargon and terms that your audience might not be familiar with. Your video should have been written with this in mind too, by the way. For shorter videos it's not a crazy idea to include the actual script in the video description area--but ONLY IF it was written well and is filled with keywords that will help with SEO.
Share and encourage sharing your video with your audience. While many companies will post the video on YouTube and share it via Facebook, there are a number of other ways to get your video noticed. Posting on YouTube and Facebook is just the beginning. Consider tweeting it, sharing it with your current customers via email, posting it to LinkedIn--maybe even writing up a summary in the projects section--and blogging about it on your website. The BEST WAY to make sure to get some traction with those channels however, is by engaging your viewers in a conversation. Ask them to comment on the subject, or ask questions to start a dialog on your call-to-action.
These are just a few on the many ways to get more traction with your video and avoid Video Distribution Neglect Syndrome. There are literally hundreds of other ways to get people to see your videos. If you need more, give us a call. We'll show you how our Batch and Release, Video SEO and Content Marketing services can help.