So you've created an explainer video for your business?

Great!

With 78% of marketers citing video as an important part of their marketing strategy, it’s clear that this has fast become a popular tool to use.

But now that it's on your website, you wait for those conversions and leads, and nothing happens.

It looks great, it's fun and it tells a story with a clear call to action, so why isn't it doing what it should?

The thing is creating a great video is only half the challenge. The success of the video all depends on how well you promote it.

Luckily for you this blog is to assist you in promoting your video like a boss!

#1. Set up your video on a hosting solution

Things aren't like they used to be, when a video could only be broadcast on TV or in the cinema. Nowadays the internet has completely changed the way we can view videos and has opened up a whole other avenue for marketers. With Youtube alone getting 4 billion views per day you really can't afford not to put your video on to a hosting site.

Since we've already mentioned it, let's start with YouTube! It has the potential to reach a huge audience (1 billion) with little or no effort as it's free and it's also super easy to upload to. Also it's directly linked to search engine rankings, since it's owned by Google, so it's a good idea to use it to host your videos. If it gets plenty of views on YouTube it will automatically rank better in a Google search.

Top tip for hosting on YouTube: Optimise all your video tags, including keywords and descriptions to better your chances of showing up in search engines.

Vimeo has less unique users than YouTube (100 million) but thanks to its position on the video hosting market and a little less service space, it is a great option for creative industries. They do offer a free account but it has limitations to the number of videos you can upload. Although, they do have upgrade accounts Plus for £49.95 annual fee or PRO/PRO Unlimited for £159/£319 annual fee. Its community is related to the idea that Vimeo has more quality content, without ads, and is much more niche for more serious video creators.

Top tip for hosting on Vimeo: Do more cross-promotion on your social networks and any other online platforms you use to make your videos more visible.

Wistia is a business specific video hosting site and although it has free version it is very limited; it is much more beneficial if you choose one of the pay for packages. If you can afford the cost of one of the packages you'll find it offers some good and impressive features such as, privacy settings, SEO tools, behavioural website analytics based on heat maps or special call to action buttons.

Top tip for hosting on Wistia: Integrate it with your email marketing solution.

#2. Optimise your landing page

You need your video to be easily found so make sure your video landing page is suitably optimised. Remember don't go keyword crazy otherwise your page will be consider spam but do include the keyword of your video in the page heading, URL and meta description.

It will also help if you write a summary about your video and include your keyword within that too.

So for example, we created a video giving viewers 5 reasons why they need to start blogging. We created a landing page for it, including the keyword 'blogging' in the heading, URL, meta description:

 

And we also included the keyword within our short summary:

 It's important to make sure you design the landing page around your video and keep it simple by removing any unnecessary sidebars, headers or any other clutter that will draw the audiences focus away from the video. A simple graphic inviting the visitor to click play. This can be in the video thumbnail or page content and you can include text that tells them the same as the video, as an option, but 9 times out of 10 they will click the play button.

Plus, don't forget to include social sharing buttons to help encourage them to promote your video further.

Speaking of social sharing...

#3. Utilise an effective social strategy

The amount of videos directly uploaded to Facebook now exceeds that of YouTube, if you can believe it! Will you be one of those? If so you need to ensure you make an effective social strategy that includes any of the social sites you're thinking of promoting your video on, not just Facebook.

Social is a very good place to promote your video as it is such sharable content and the more times it is shared the more likely it is to be seen by the people you want. Social is also great for starting a conversion with people so make sure you thank people for sharing your content.

You can mange this by using a social media management tool like:

  • HootSuite
  • SproutSocial
  • Buffer

These will help you schedule, manage and find out who is sharing your video content.

#4. Outreach to bloggers and influencers

Finding relevant bloggers and influencers to reach out to can be hard but so worth it as they can really give your video content the boost it deserves.

This is because of their massive audience which, let's face it, would be near impossible for you to do all by yourself. By outreaching to these people to share or post your video you'll be much more likely to reach your target audience on a bigger scale. The idea is your target audience who already trust and follow these influencers and bloggers will now trust you because you're being promoted by them. Winner!

To help you identify, monitor and analyse influencers in the areas you want use a tool like Buzzsumo or ClearVoice. Buzzsumo in particular because it lets you search using keywords to connect you to the most appropriate people who have influence in the area you want.

Once you find the most appropriate influencers and bloggers you need to get in touch but you need to take the time to ensure you do this carefully, remember they don't know you yet and you need to build a relationship with them. So research and planning is key.

Visit their blog's and make sure that their content is relevant to your video. Once you're ready to reach out to them, mention specific blog posts that you have read to show that you follow them and take the time to read their content. This will help you build up a rapport and they'll be more inclined to share your video.

Promoting your video is crucial to the overall success of your campaign. Make sure you follow these tactics to correctly optimise your content and reach out to influencers within your niche who can help give you the exposure you deserve – good luck!

 

By Matt Byrom, Managing Director of Wyzowl.

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