Video marketing is one of the best methods for marketing products and services. When done correctly, it can draw in potential customers from around the world.
Given that video marketing SEO is constantly evolving, it is more important now than ever to keep up with trends to ensure you can reach the widest audience possible. Implementing an effective video marketing strategy can positively affect your ability to generate brand awareness, recognition, and (eventually) profits.
Why an SEO Video Marketing Strategy Is Imperative for Success
Let’s first look at YouTube, the largest video platform in the world.
Approximately 2,500 videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Given that the average length of each video is 11.7 minutes, these videos add up to more than 487 hours of content being uploaded every minute to the second-largest search engine in the world.
Not paying attention to how to optimize for YouTube can result in your videos getting buried in search results, which means fewer people will be able to find and watch them. Further, failing to properly optimize your videos for SEO could lead to lower-quality traffic and engagement and decreased conversion rates.
All these factors can combine to make your video content less successful than it should be. If you don’t have a plan for video marketing optimization, you can miss out on many benefits. It’s essential to take a proactive approach to SEO video marketing for your content to avoid these issues.
How SEO for Videos Is Changing
Most businesses are aware that SEO is critical for their online success. However, differences between each platform can make it challenging to cross-promote videos and utilize SEO video optimization strategies. Although you can tag your video content on Facebook and LinkedIn, these tags are exponentially more useful on YouTube and TikTok for increasing exposure.
Additionally, the fact that TikTok does not generally have titles for any videos or content can make it challenging for users to find unique content without knowing the specific hashtag for it. Content creators must be aware of these differences to maximize the exposure to their videos, drive up views and increase brand recognition. After all, the more interaction your content has, the more exposure it will achieve.
Where Are Companies Hosting Their Video?
Here’s a list of video hosting and sharing platforms that allow businesses to upload and host videos, create a video channel, and have people subscribe to them:
- Brightcove: Brightcove is a video hosting platform that is focused on helping businesses deliver high-quality video experiences across all devices. With advanced customization options, businesses can create a unique and branded video experience for their audience. Brightcove also offers analytics and integrations with marketing automation tools for businesses to measure and optimize performance.
- Dailymotion: Dailymotion is a video hosting platform that allows businesses to upload and share videos with their audience. With over 300 million monthly active users, businesses can reach a large audience and target specific demographics through paid advertising. Dailymotion also offers analytics and monetization options for businesses.
- Facebook: Facebook is a social media platform that also allows businesses to upload and share videos with their audience. With a massive user base and the ability to target specific demographics through paid advertising, businesses can reach a large audience with their videos. Facebook also offers detailed analytics and the ability to create video playlists and channels.
- Instagram: Instagram is a social media platform that is primarily focused on visual content, including videos. With the ability to upload videos up to 60 seconds long on the feed and up to 60 minutes long on IGTV, businesses can create engaging video content for their audience. Instagram also offers paid advertising options to reach a wider audience and detailed analytics to measure and optimize performance.
- TikTok: TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to create and share short-form videos up to 60 seconds in length. While it’s primarily used by individuals, businesses can also use TikTok to create engaging and viral video content. With over 1 billion monthly active users, businesses can reach a large and highly engaged audience, particularly among younger demographics. TikTok also offers paid advertising options to reach a wider audience and analytics to measure and optimize performance.
- Twitch: Twitch is a live streaming platform that is popular with gamers and esports enthusiasts. However, businesses can also use Twitch to host live events, webinars, and other video content. With over 140 million monthly active users, businesses can reach a large and engaged audience. Twitch also offers monetization options and detailed analytics.
- Vidyard: Vidyard is a video hosting platform that is focused on helping businesses use video for sales and marketing. With features like personalized video messaging, video analytics, and video player customization, businesses can create engaging and interactive video experiences for their audience. Vidyard also offers integrations with marketing automation tools and CRM systems to measure and optimize performance.
- Vimeo: Vimeo is a video hosting platform that is popular with businesses looking for a more professional and polished look to their videos. With advanced video customization options, businesses can create a unique video experience for their audience. Vimeo also offers a wide range of analytics and video management tools for businesses to measure and optimize performance.
- Wistia: Wistia is a video hosting platform that is focused on helping businesses build and grow their audience through video. With customizable video players, email capture forms, and calls-to-action, businesses can create a seamless video experience for their audience. Wistia also offers detailed analytics and integrations with marketing automation tools to measure and optimize performance.
- YouTube: As the largest video-sharing platform, YouTube is an ideal place for businesses to host their videos and build a channel. With over 2 billion monthly active users, businesses can reach a massive audience and target specific demographics through paid advertising. Businesses can also use YouTube analytics to measure and optimize performance.
How to Optimize Videos for Search Engines
There are several actions that you should take when launching any video campaign to ensure the most success. You can begin by following these four steps:
- Choose your platform. When creating and publishing videos, you need to stop and think about your target audience rather than focus specifically on the platform. Consider where your viewers are most likely to engage with your videos to determine which platform offers the most benefits for your specific needs. Additionally, pay particular attention to what your audience is watching and what they don’t watch. Consider how much time they spend watching what they like and what they dislike. Creating content for your audience’s likes and interests can help you create more effective video marketing strategies down the road.
- Brand your channel. The majority of video marketing platforms offer robust ways to brand your channel, from your logo, background image, company description, location, links, watermarks, playlists, and even calls-to-action for viewers to contact you. Be sure to utilize every feature of your platform’s channel optimization that you can… while they may not directly attribute to more views, they can help you to convert more viewers into customers.
- Focus on productivity. The quality of the video that you create truly does matter. Having a low-quality video can turn off many potential viewers. Even if you have the best product to offer, not having a good-quality video to market the product can result in extremely low exposure. Consider including high-quality videos with closed captions. These simple offerings can provide you with nearly unlimited ways to incorporate keywords and market your products or services to an even wider audience.
- Optimize search based on the platform you choose. Considering that each platform has its own way of marketing videos, you must be familiarized with the practices used on the platform you choose. If you decide on LinkedIn, YouTube, or TikTok, you can maximize exposure through thumbnails, titles, descriptions, and tags. For Facebook, finding groups that share an interest in what you offer will provide you with the greatest exposure.
- Include captions and transcriptions. Keep in mind that many people will start the video with the audio turned down or even muted altogether. Transcribing your videos and including the transcription in your video description can provide rich text to index your video. Captioning your video can capture the visitor’s attention who isn’t listening to the audio.
- Develop a promotional plan for your content. It’s not enough to optimize a video just for search. If you’re relying solely on SEO to get your videos picked up, you’ll be disappointed. Because most search engines place the highest value on video engagement, you need a strategy to promote engagement when your video is new. It takes time for search engines to crawl your video.
Following these steps and staying up-to-date on best practices can ensure your video campaigns will be fully optimized and designed to meet the ever-evolving world of video marketing.
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