Video is a highly effective form of content and its popularity has gone hand-in-hand with the rise of social media. Even though so many of us consume online videos daily, many marketers still aren’t using video as part of their digital marketing strategy or aren’t seeing the best results.
Whether you’re a small business or nonprofit, you need to consider a solid video marketing strategy to grow your business, increase your social presence, build connections & have better engagements.
Recent research found that 54% of all people want marketers to put out more video content, and It’s estimated that by 2022, 82 per cent of the global internet traffic will come from video streaming and downloads (Cisco, 2019).
Statistics are great, but how do you make them work for you? Let’s take a look at how to create a video marketing strategy with five easy steps.
Step 1: Understand Your Target Audience
Looking at the current state of the economy, having a well-defined target market is more important than ever. It is not advisable to target everyone. Small businesses can effectively compete with large companies by targeting a niche market.
Many businesses say they target “anyone interested in my services.” Some say they target small-business owners, homeowners, or stay-at-home moms. All of these targets are too general.
Targeting a specific market does not mean that you are excluding people who do not fit your criteria. Rather, target marketing allows you to focus your marketing dollars and brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets. This is a much more affordable, efficient, and effective way to reach potential clients and generate business.
Step 2: Outline your Video Content Plan
The Key to being better with your video marketing strategy is to have a well-defined content which is scheduled in such a way that each content can connect with another. For that to become successful, use your calendar and schedule the video content strategically or you can refer to a readymade content calendar which helps you to boost your process in the beginning.
Once you figure out your content schedule, you’ll want to diversify the types of videos you offer. There are many types of content from which you can choose:
- Educational videos
- Entertaining or humorous videos
- Practical or how-to videos
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- Tips and tricks videos
- Interview videos
- Recorded webinar videos
- Product explainer videos
- Customer testimonial videos
- Case study videos and more
In the Beginning, choose two or three types of videos and create a bullet list or spreadsheet with proposed topics based on the research, a brief outline, and estimated length of the video. Keep in mind that videos up to 2 minutes long tend to get the most engagement. You also want to make sure that each video has a specific call to action for your viewers like subscribing to your email marketing contact list, calling your office, or purchasing a product on your eCommerce storefront.
After planning out your video content, you need to figure out how you’ll publish your videos. Will you increase the authenticity by filming live video on a platform like Facebook or YouTube, or would you prefer to record, edit, and upload your final product to insure perfection? Of course, there are benefits to both, but it all depends on your audience and message.
Step 3: Delegate & Execute
Once you have finalized your content strategy, scheduled your content calendar and decided on which platforms you would publish your video content, you’ll need to delegate tasks to get the videos recorded. Assuming you have a team to help you, critical tasks will include:
- Writing scripts or talking points
- Setting up lighting and/or green screen
- Checking the Audio & the Background Sound
- Recording the videos
- Editing the videos
- Uploading the videos
If you are a one-person crew, you can still make your video marketing strategy a reality, but you’ll need to plan and schedule these different tasks. Have a Free 30 mins Strategic Call with me to find out how.
Step 4: Upload Your Video Content
Once you’ve recorded and edited your videos, you are ready to upload your video content on the platform you have selected in the beginning. It’s important to note that you won’t need to edit or upload your videos if you are recording live. During a Livestream, the video simply plays for your audience, and on certain platforms, you can upload your live video for others to watch later.
If you are recording, editing, and uploading your video content, then you’ll want to choose an appropriate platform: YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram.
Step 5: Measure & Adjust
If you want your video content to succeed, you need to continually measure your results, costs, failures and successes – and adjust your strategy based on the insights and the analytics which you learn from various platforms where you have uploaded your video content.
To help further develop your video marketing strategy, you want to look at metrics like:
- Total views
- Click-through rate (on email or social)
- Conversion (on landing pages or website)
- Social media engagement
- Likes
- Shares
- Comments
- Retweets
Once you collect the data, you want to analyze it to make informed decisions on your future videos and design your content calendar accordingly.
If videos have a high number of views but no engagement, then you touched on the right topic, but maybe your tone or messaging was off.
If videos have a high level of social media engagement, then your audience is telling you they want more of the same. If you see high levels of engagement, but your conversion rate is low, then maybe you need to bolster your call to action.
If videos don’t have many views nor engagement, then you want to find new ways to promote the video like social media posts or dedicated email campaigns. If, after the second round of promotion, your video metrics remain stagnant, then revisit your Target Audience and reconsider your video topics.
Again, pay attention to those numbers before you spend the time and resources to record your next set of videos. Measuring and analyzing will help you make a greater impact on your audience.
Get started
If you have a smartphone, you can get started on your video marketing content strategy. You don’t need an expensive Digital camera or a Film Making crew behind the lens. You simply need to follow the five steps above and know that as awkward as it feels at first, it will help you grow your business in the end.
