Video Marketing Best Practices 2018

People all over the world are consuming and sharing videos on a daily basis, not just YouTube videos but now also Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter videos. All of the major social media platforms are actively seeking to make videos an important part of their platform, and as a marketer you simply cannot ignore this. One third of all online activity is spent watching videos, according to Digital Sherpa's 25 Amazing Video Marketing Statistics. What's more, video increases peoples' understanding of your product or service by a whopping 74%, making marketing videos an excellent tool for presenting new products and services and showcasing them in action.

Video marketing should be a key component of your online marketing strategy. To inspire you with your video marketing campaign, here is a set of best practices which will make your efforts more effective.

Create a realistic video marketing strategy

You need a long-term objective and short-term goals, as well as to decide how the video will try to attract and engage customers. Also, you must decide what sort of action the viewer should be encouraged to take after watching the video, whether it is to buy, join you on social media, or visit your website.

Target a specific audience

Marketing videos are more effective when they provide a relevant experience to a certain group of consumers, whether it's young mothers, middle-aged men, hockey lovers, or home gardening enthusiasts. The targeting can be further narrowed down to members of a group who meet certain criteria based on age, education, and income level.

Keep your videos short

There is no consensus on the ideal length of marketing videos, but judging from the length of the most popular videos on each networks, as well as by Adweek, it seems that the most popular YouTube videos are under three minutes, while popular Instagram videos are just 15 seconds long. You can always experiment with the length of your videos to see what works best for your brand, but as a rule, keep them short.

Choose topics that are bound to attract interest and create engagement

People are most interested in videos that answer one or more questions they may have about your brand or your products & services or that highlights a problem your business can solve for them.

Embed text in videos

Use a catching and relevant title frame and add keywords and phrases over images, as well as a call-to-action link at the end of the video. Text makes videos more engaging and helps convey your message better, especially on Facebook, where videos in the news feed are auto-played on mute.

Optimize videos for search engines

Don't forget that YouTube is the world's second largest search engine. Use a well-chosen keyword in the title, description, and tag, as well as in the video description. These make a video easier to find online and ranks it higher in the search results.

Upload the video to each social network, instead of sharing the YouTube link

This reduces the number of clicks viewers have to make before playing your video, and also eliminates occasional playback issues.

Be productive.

Brands that successfully harness the power of video marketing have 50% more videos per channel than the rest.

Use video analytics to measure your video marketing performance

Many video-based social networks offer you built-in tools for tracking viewing patterns for your videos. More advanced analytics available as standalone Web-based software or downloadable software also feature video marketing tracking tools.

Video marketing has become highly competitive, but if you stick to the best practices described above and strive to create interesting, informative, or entertaining videos that engage your audience, your video marketing efforts will be rewarded with views, shares, traffic, and ultimately, sales.