Welcome to Part 2 of this online video master class. In Part 1, we discussed five key elements of an effective online video. Now let's talk about five ways of marketing an effective online video.
1. Use a dependable hosting service
When you are marketing your video, the last thing you want is an unreliable hosting service that ruins your efforts. It's important to use a provider that will offer you consistent quality and give you the assurance that your video won't be spontaneously taken down at any point.
Websites such asYouTube and Vimeo are traditionally pretty reasonable at providing such a service; if you want 100% peace of mind, then investing some money into a host such as Brightcove or Bitsontherun might be a good idea.
2. Remember video SEO
Video is a great SEO (search engine optimization) booster, and using sites such as YouTube can greatly aid your SEO efforts. Just as in any SEO strategy, your main aim is to allow your video to be found by online users who are searching for content related to your video.
When marketing video, making your video findable by search engines is your top priority. It's essential, therefore, to fill out all of your video meta-data on all the video sharing sites it is hosted on, and to write as much information as the sites allow you to include.
3. Harness the power of social sharing
Cracking social media isn't always easy, but the power of a social share is unquestionable. Sharing online video on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and other social sites allows you to reach an almost limitless audience.
One share to your primary audience could generate further social shares within that group, thus reaching audiences you've never interacted with before and spreading your video's message way beyond your current online reach.
4. Interact on your platforms
No matter what platform you are using—your website, social profile, video-sharing site, or blog—as the home of your online video, you will need to embrace and interact with the communities there.
Engage with commenters and other users, Like or comment on their content, video-respond to them, share their work, and generally participate in the discussions taking place in those locations.
Doing so will encourage other users to do the same, in turn, with your content and will generally create good marketing karma for you.
5. Measure your success
Always remember that measuring success creates success. Whether you're looking to improve your video views, social following, Likes, conversions, website visits, or bounce rates via online video... you need to regularly check the success of your strategy and tactics.
Try to check on your success monthly to allow for an appropriate amount of time to have elapsed. Upon checking your results with tools such as Google Analytics, SEOmoz, HootSuite, and the like, sit down with your team to work out how to strengthen your campaign further.
