You’ve invested your hard earned time and money into producing a marketing video for your business. But how do you make sure people actually see and watch it? Here are 5 ways you can maximize viewership and make sure your videos are working as hard as you do!
#1 - GAME PLAN
Starting with a plan is always a great goal. And in the case of video, the best method is to start with the end in mind. Ideally, this work is done before your video is even developed and produced. But this plan can be built once you’ve got your video in-hand, as well. First and foremost, you want to know your audience:
Who are they demographically? Create an avatar (or multiple) for your ideal customers. Put a face and a name to them.
How do they like to learn and what do they like to watch? Do they appreciate human interaction, do they like narrative stories and real-life examples or do better with instructional/educational content? Do they rely on reviews and testimonials to make purchases, do they seek out how-to guides, materials, or videos? Your answers here can help determine what type of video to produce that will appeal best to your audience.
Where do they spend their time online? Answering this question will help you pinpoint where you’ll find your customers and which distribution channels are most likely to reach them best. Are they on social media and which ones, utilizing streaming services, or reading blogs, news, or articles (which publications)?
#2 - DIVERSIFY YOUR DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Once you know your audience, what they like to watch, and where you can find them online, you can select your distribution channels. The key to success here is to diversify. Utilize multiple channels and use them to push your content out into the world frequently. Some of the most useful distribution channels and methods to increase video views are:
Organic Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tik Tok, Snapchat and more all exist and one or more are most likely frequented by your ideal audience. Select the channels that are most popular for your folks and post your video frequently. Utilize both personal and company branded channels for cross-promotion. Make sure your content is shareable and invite co-workers, clients, friends/family, brand influencers or ambassadors to share your video on their social channels as well.
Paid Ads: if budgets allow, use paid advertising to give your video a boost. Most social and video hosting platforms give you the ability to create paid ads as well as posting organically. And Google is a great option for paid ads and search as well. Explore these options and make sure your messaging and call to action in your video and/or ad is clear and concise to garner the most attention.
Website: Your company website is a perfect place to host your marketing video. Review your website analytics and determine which pages are your most visited. Consider placing the video and your clear call to action on these pages.
Product Pages: if your video is specifically produced to promote a product, make sure it lives on any new or existing product pages - either on your company website or on 3rd party marketplaces where you sell your products.
YouTube & Other Video Hosting Sites: YouTube is a great place to upload and host your marketing video for maximum exposure. And while YouTube is one of the most popular sites, others - like Vimeo, Wistia, SproutVideo, Brightcove, etc - can be just as valuable depending on where your audience can be found.
Blog: Does your company publish a blog? This is another great channel to push and promote your latest marketing video through.
Email Marketing(blasts & signature links): Share your video with your email subscribers and create an entire email blast campaign around it. Countdown to its release or provide folks with a “behind-the-scenes'' look at how it was produced. Let them know it exists and encourage them to share it with their networks as well. In addition to subscriber campaigns, consider putting a link and call to action to the video in your email signature so anyone you communicate can view it.
Traditional PR: Write a press release about the development, production, and release of the video to notify and gain news outlet attention.
Online Profiles & Bios: Utilize any company (or personal) branded profiles and bios to share a link to your marketing video.
#3 - UPLOAD VIDEOS NATIVELY
As you can see, there are plenty of avenues to pursue when distributing your video. And many of those channels (especially the socials) require posting in order to share. While it’s tempting to upload your video to YouTube and use that video link in your various other distribution posts, avoid this whenever possible. Each platform wants to keep its viewers on the platform and outside links (like to a YouTube video) that navigate folks away aren’t treated kindly by algorithms. You’ll lose out on views this way.
Whenever possible, upload your video natively (directly) to the platform (ie: Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc) in order to maximize viewership and encourage folks to stay on the site and share your post on the site.
#4 - OPTIMIZE YOUR VIDEOS
Depending on the platform you’re natively uploading to, you might have a slew of options available to you. Setting these up well can optimize your video for broader viewership. Here are several elements to consider and utilize when they’re available to you.
Video Titles: when you’re able to give your video a title, you’ll want to keep it consistent across platforms, include relevant brand and product keywords in it, and ensure it catches people’s attention. You want your title to stop folks and make them click on it.
Video Thumbnail Images: when you’re able to include a thumbnail (or cover image) for your video you want to make sure it’s appealing and eye-catching. Ideally, you’ll want to create a special thumbnail for your video vs. just using the pre-selected thumbnail the hosting site picks for you.
Video Descriptions: you want to ensure any video description is robust, includes any relevant brand or product key words or hashtags, links to your company website and/or social profiles, includes a word-for-word transcript of the spoken words in the video, and a clear call to action (CTA) - what next step do you want your viewers to take after they’ve watched your video?
Keywords: Some platforms (like YouTube) give you a specific field in which to enter your relevant brand, product, or video keywords. When it’s available to you, make sure to utilize this setting.
#5 - ANALYZE & TRACK METRICS
For each distribution channel, you should plan to routinely measure, track, and analyze your video metrics. Metrics that are often most helpful are: views, play rate, engagement rate, shares, click-through rate, and conversion rate. It’s wise to take a look at your video analytics across platforms at least once a quarter to see how they are performing.
It’s also a great idea to do a full audit of your video content at least once a year to ensure your videos are still performing well and helping you hit your marketing, sales, and revenue goals. Through an audit, you’ll be able to assess each video piece you’ve produced and evaluate if it should be retained, redone, reused, or retired.
For an easy, step-by-step way to conduct your own audit, download our
FREE 5-Step Video Marketing Audit Guide to start ensuring your videos are as strategic, aligned, and effective as possible.
We hope these tips are helpful and have given you useful food for thought. We can’t wait to see the next innovative way you distribute your video. Feel free to contact us if you ever have any questions about distribution - we’re here to help!
And in case you're interested in continuing to read up on this topic, here's another resource from DesignRush that might be helpful to you when planning your small businesses social media strategies.