How do you create a video marketing strategy?

Mention features key statistics highlighting the importance of video.* 

It’s easy to see how creating a successful video marketing strategy can benefit your business. At BlueSky Video Marketing we’ll break it down to help you on your way.

Keep it simple

The number one thing we suggest is to have a simple SEO strategy. When people used search engines, they tend to search for more general information.

Mention recommends the following practical steps to make it easier for your YouTube videos to be found:

• Titles are great to catch people’s attention. Keep it informative and short. Plan your keywords.
• Add keywords to your video description. Include a link to your website.
• Use tags properly with different keyword variations. Think about all the different things that people who watch your video could be looking for.
• Link-building is important. The number of links that lead to your video is important for keywords rankings in searches.
• Thumbnails are the first thing that makes users want to watch your video. Focus on high-quality and eye-catching images.
• Optimise your videos for mobile viewing.
• A video sitemap is great to provide all details about your video content in order for them to rank higher in search engines.

Be clear about what your video is about

In order for your videos to gain more views, it’s better to provide enough information so your viewers can decide whether or not they want to watch it. To do this:

• Write an accurate and informative recap. Highlight a few benefits that viewers will get after watching your video. If it’s a narrative, address the main points.
• Transcribe your video. Viewers can consume content in a text format allowing them to skim read first, then watch if they prefer.

Understand your audience

Successful marketing campaigns start with market research. So, make sure to apply this to your videos. You can start with questions such as – who is your target audience? What type of content do they consume? What channels do they tend to engage with the most? The point is to create content that your audiences will actually watch.  

An important thing to keep in mind, are the goals you are trying to reach with your video marketing campaign. These tie in with engagement, sales and traffic.

Have a realistic budget

You don’t necessarily need to pour a fortune into your video for it to be successful. On the other hand, if you don’t spend enough on a far-reaching campaign and your video is extremely low-quality, you run the risk of damaging your brand’s image. As Criteo states:

“When it comes to actually making the video content, keep your campaign goals in mind and make sure you’re spending your budget well. For instance, if you’re looking to win over more millennial or Gen Z shoppers, you might not need to spend too much money on video production.”*

Optimise your video according to channel distribution

You’ll need to optimise your video depending on which channel it’s launched in to get as much engagement as possible. Criteo suggests keeping it short on Facebook and making tweaks to refine it for YouTube.

You can optimise your video by:

• Having a clear call to action
• Analysing the best publishing time
• Offering incentives
• Creating engaging video content

Test, measure and analyse

Just like any marketing campaign, A/B testing will help you figure out what elements of a campaign are working or not. Here are five ways to measure campaign success:

• Engagement rate
• View Count
• Social sharing
• Comments and feedback

The bottom line

It takes time and effort to create a high-performing video. But if you have the right video content plan and are creative, you can capitalise on your video’s potential to tell an inspiration story, encouraging people to watch and to take action.

Source: “7 Top Tips to Create a Killer Video Content Strategy” by Mention, “How to Build a Video Marketing Strategy” by Criteo.