Video Marketing Tips and Tricks for 2016

Video Marketing Tips and Tricks for 2016

Although online video is nothing new, the amount of video being watched has absolutely exploded over the last year. According to Google, the amount of time spent watching YouTube videos has increased 60% in the last twelve months. And with both Facebook and Snapchat aggressively rolling out new initiatives related to video, it’s safe to say this is a trend that will only continue to grow.

While people are spending a significant amount of time watching video on devices of all sizes, only a small amount of businesses are taking advantage of this channel. The most common reason businesses are hesitant to commit to video is they think it’s going to consume too many resources. There is definitely some merit to that belief. But at the same time, it’s easier than ever to shoot quality videos.

So whether you’re still on the fence about being able to use video for your business or want to know more about what it takes to get the ball rolling, we have some very useful video marketing tips we want to share:

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish There are a few businesses like Dollar Shave Club that have managed to hit it big with a single viral video. There’s nothing wrong with shooting for the stars with video marketing efforts. That being said, most businesses are going to get more value out of consistently producing solid videos instead of putting all their efforts into trying to produce a single breakout hit. This is where strategy plays an important role. For videos on YouTube or other social sites, you’ll get more mileage out of providing education, entertainment or another form of value. Then when visitors come to your site, you can put videos on your landing pages that focus directly on pitching your products or services.

Avoid Falling Into the Perfection Trap Don’t worry about investing in a green screen or other expensive technology. A modern DSLR or even iPhone and a few lights are enough to start shooting solid videos. Videos don’t have to be Hollywood quality productions for people to watch them. In fact, multiple businesses and YouTube personalities have gone back to less polished videos after finding that over-polishing their work caused people to be less engaged.

Measure and Adjust Putting a video on YouTube or another hosting platform means you’ll get lots of useful data about people’s viewing activity. Take the time to look at this data and adjust future videos accordingly. For example, if you notice that people leave after watching just 2 minutes of a 5 minute video, limit your next video to 2 minutes to see if that increases the number of people who finish watching it.

Published by: Michelle Hummel Founder of WebMediaUniversity