Video marketing is the best thing that you can do to promote your small business. Today’s cell phones and apps combined provide easy ways for you to use video to get extra exposure. And it’s not just on YouTube! You can share the same video in many different places, including your website!
See, video is how most people want to communicate. Folks would rather watch a 1-3 minute video than read a lot of text. Anything that moves catches people’s attention on the social media networks.
Here are some Online Video Stats…
- Google searches and AI Overviews will feature at least 1 video.
- 8 out of 10 of the videos listed are on YouTube.
- Social videos get shared 1,200% more times than ordinary posts. Yes, that’s correct.
- The longer the video, the lower the engagement rate.
- 1 in 5 people who come across a video will watch it.
What Works in Video Marketing
Views count! Obviously, the more views a video gets, the more it will come up in organic algorithm suggestions. That’s true for Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook Native Videos (those uploaded directly to Facebook).
Here are some tips for various industries…
Restaurants and Food Service
- Close-ups of mouth-watering food prep, 5-10 seconds, work best. Definitely, under 30 seconds max.
- Always high-quality.
- Fun, creative, and appealing. The viewer should think, “That’s making me hungry!”
Retail
- The shopping experience
- Cute kids
- Short, sweet, and to the point
- Product demos
- Clothing modeled on real people
What Works for Which Social Media Networks
Horizontal videos work best for…
- YouTube
- X (formerly Twitter)
- Embedding in blog articles
- Longer educational videos
- Webinars
Vertical videos work best for…
- Instagram and Facebook Reels
- Stories on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube shorts
- Snapchat (They are still going strong!)
- Entertainment
- Inspirational
- Emotionally appealing
- Long-form
- Voice-overs make it more personable
- The new “Featured” section is vertical only!
Fun, emotional videos with sound. Besides that, use relevant hashtags. Use captions, as many people watch the videos with the sound off.
- Reels – <60 seconds
- Instagram Videos – <3 minutes – short, explainer videos or product demos. Also, the wow factor.
- Stories – 5 seconds
Here are some new Instagram tips from the Social Media Marketing Talk Show…
X/Twitter
- News, hot topics
- Animated gifs
- Interviews
- Shorts
- <2 minutes
- LinkedIn video posts are 20 times more likely to be shared! Upload them directly.
- Educational
- Rally or praise others
- Q & A videos
- Team building
- Relevant hashtags
YouTube
Clearly, YouTube is still the 2nd largest search engine next to its parent, Google. Also, the 2nd largest social media network next to Facebook.
- Post on YouTube and get ranked on Google in seconds!
- Educational videos…
- “How to” is still the most-searched phrase
- “Best way to…”
- “Product Review”
- Long-form
- Problem-solving
- Discovery
- Evergreen content — In other words, YouTube videos have a very long “shelf life”. Therefore, try not to “date” your videos seasonally, if you can.
- If you’re a local, brick-and-mortar business, always put your location!
Google Business Profile (GBP)
Google now allows businesses to post videos directly to their Google My Business page! That means that they get indexed instantly in the search engine. However, I do recommend reviewing their Content Policy. Here are their video guidelines:
Make sure your videos meet the following requirements:
- Duration: Up to 30 seconds long
- File size: Up to 100 MB
- Resolution: 720p or higher
Since YouTube is owned by Google, use the same Google account for your business YouTube Channel, and the videos will appear in your GBP.
Video Marketing Tips
- First and foremost, know your target audience well! What do they like? What do they watch? Which network do they prefer? On what do they watch it? (Phone, tablet, computer, HDTV?)
- Research
- Competition – what are they doing?
- Consumer interest
- Opportunity – low-hanging fruit
- Consistent brand equity — all videos should have the same look and branding with a watermark or logo.
- Have movement in the 1st 2 seconds
- State the benefits in the 1st 15 seconds
- Consider the niche and theme tag words
- Consider the video requirements for each channel — aspect ratios, size of file, content, etc. For instance, you can put a video as your Facebook cover graphic, but the dimensions are narrower than the standard YouTube horizontal video. File size and video length also must be considered. Unfortunately, each platform has its own preferred guidelines and requirements. It’s best to go over them first before you try to upload content that’s too long or too big a file.
How Often Should You Create and Post a Video?
Yes, videos take more time to produce if you want to do them right. Nevertheless, they work! You can’t deny that. For a successful video marketing strategy, they recommend…
- 1, long-form, horizontal video a week (When I heard that, I thought, “Yeah, right!”). See, even I find it hard to find the time to blog! Yet, I do it because it works!) Post these to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and your blog.
- 2-4 vertical shorts for social media – TikTok, Reels, Stories, YouTube Shorts
All in all, you need to get comfortable doing videos. If you don’t feel that you’re a good on-camera person, get a friend to help you. Writing the script may also be challenging. If you don’t have the budget to hire someone, your local public library may offer writing classes. You have to weigh your time, budget, and quality of your content to decide whether to attempt it on your own or outsource the project. If you try to do it yourself, will the quality be there? Also, how long will it take you to do it? Consider — how much is your time worth?
Also, remember you’re creating content to reach YOUR TARGET MARKET — people! Talk to them, not the search engine. Don’t overthink it!
For instance, when I needed new intro and exit splashes for my training videos, I outsourced them. I know I CAN do them. However, it probably would take me days to do them, when I could hire a pro to do them for me, and I can focus on something else. Likewise, the same with editing existing videos to make them shorter commercials. (My go-to video team is Financial Potion Video Production.)
Now that you’re even more overwhelmed and probably still don’t know where to start, it’s time to schedule a free 15-minute phone consult so I can help you determine which type of video marketing will work for your business. Click here to schedule…
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Top image by Ron Hoekstra via Pixabay.
