Video is now an essential part of any successful social media marketing strategy. Not convinced? According to Wyzowl, 77% of consumers say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video. Online videos help you achieve a variety of outcomes from awareness and engagement to conversion and retention.
Videos, especially those that offer a real-time look into your brand activities, are a unique content format that deserves equally unique content. It’s not enough to pull copy from your other channels. Because of this, video can sometimes be hard for brands to develop because it requires resources to create and curate content—someone with behind-the-scenes, real-time access to your brand.
When optimizing video for your social media marketing efforts, the first step is to understand the goals that you aim to achieve with your videos. Some will simply entertain— building brand affinity, awareness, and engagement, while others will serve as education—helping drive customers toward another purchase or retaining those that you already have. To get more visibility, make sure you optimize your videos in the following ways:
Use customer-centric titles Put careful thought into the keywords your customer might search for when looking for a video like yours or what will catch their attention as they’re browsing their feeds.
Use video descriptions with targeted keywords Use the description field to add in keywords that are relevant to your buyer and your brand. If your video aims to drive conversions, such as a purchase or download, it’s a best practice to include a shortened link with a call-to-action (CTA) driving traffic to your website or a landing page with a specific offer to generate leads.
Encourage comments Your goal should be to generate as many “thumbs up” ratings and comments as you can for brand awareness and SEO purposes. Commenting on other popular videos in your niche is another way to generate more comments and ratings. It’s also a great opportunity to present yourself as an expert by making a comment that spurs other viewers to engage.
Increase social shares Use links or embed codes to share your videos on other channels and include your videos on your website. Determine which videos would be useful to prospects and customers and include these links in your emails, blog posts, and other outbound communications. Always think about how to make your content more shareable. Video content is a great asset to promote social sharing. Integrate videos in your social campaigns to further increase engagement, as videos often have high share rates compared to other types of assets. Promotional and sales-focused videos are acceptable and useful.
