Friday, 10 March 2017

How to Start a Video Marketing Campaign From Scratch

It’s no secret that video marketing has exploded in popularity over the course of the past few years. Nearly 5 billion videos on YouTube are watched per day — and that number is steadily rising. As mobile technology grows more prevalent and more proficient, video marketing will grow to become even more important as an integrated part of your content marketing campaign, but if you’re new to video, it can seem a bit intimidating. It certainly takes more effort than writing an article or doctoring up an image, but with the right strategy, you can create a worthwhile video marketing initiative from scratch without spending a fortune.

Where to Start

Pexels Image credit: Martin Foskett

For now, don’t worry about all the technical details. Instead, focus on creating engaging video content that your target audience actually wants to watch.

Look to competitors and marketing champions for inspiration. First, you need some baseline inspiration on which to base your campaign. You aren’t going to be copying a strategy that already exists—doing so would actively work against you—but you do need to become familiar with some of the customs and effective techniques that companies before you have tried. Look to your competitors, specifically, to see how video marketing has worked in your industry in the past, and be sure to check out some examples of companies that are killing the online marketing game.

Settle on a target audience. Next, you’ll need to decide on a target audience to build your campaign around. Hopefully, marketing campaigns you’ve run in the past can point you in the right direction. Still, will your video viewership be different from your usual demographics at all? Will they be further along in the buying cycle? Will they be younger? Will they rely on technology more? These are important considerations that can and should shape the content you eventually create.

List the types of videos you’ll produce. There’s no shortage of different types of videos you can produce, all of which are valuable in some way. Tutorials, interviews, and news-style shows are all popular, but don’t forget that you can also do “top 10” lists, animations, video graphics, and even humorous or entertaining videos. You aren’t limited to one type, either, so brainstorm about how you could use these videos in different ways or for different audiences.

Find talent and/or resources to aid with production. Your smartphone has a camera built in, so as long as you keep it steady, you can produce rudimentary videos yourself. However, if you want some extra pizazz or if you want your video to look more professional, you’ll need to either hire some talent or invest in equipment that allows you to achieve those goals. This may take some time and money, but it’s worth the extra investment—you’ll make a better impression with your viewers and differentiate your brand.

Create a YouTube channel. It’s not hard to create a channel on YouTube, and it allows you to keep all your videos in one place. Viewers can subscribe for regular updates on your brand, and of course, you can embed your videos elsewhere (like on your main site). You’ll also want to be ready to optimize both your channel and your videos for searches, as they’re going to be one of your main outlets for discoverability.

Script, shoot, and syndicate. After that, you’ll shift to the creative side of things. Start by writing a script for your first video, and enlisting whatever talent you have on hand to shoot the first draft. View the early cut of the video, and make any adjustments that you need to the script and performance. Then, edit the video as needed and get ready to upload it. Once it’s live, you’ll want to syndicate it across your social media profiles, and increase visibility and traffic to it however you can. Repeat this process for every video you produce.

Nurture your audience. After that, the bulk of your work will revolve around building and maintaining your audience. Respond to user comments, thank them for their viewership, and reach out to them to get feedback you can use to make even better videos in the future.

Looking at the Details

If you want your campaign to continue showing results over time—and improving those results—you’ll need to pay close attention to your key performance indicators (KPIs). These are the metrics that will help you gauge the overall effectiveness (and ROI) of your campaign, including total views, comments, likes, click throughs, and of course, conversions.

Learn which videos perform best and which perform worst, and adjust your strategy accordingly. Nobody starts with a massively successful video marketing campaign—they build one over time.

The post How to Start a Video Marketing Campaign From Scratch appeared first on SpyreStudios.



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