Getting more video views

First off, let us say congrats on recognizing the need for video.

Marketing is changing and trends are hard to keep up with. One thing for sure is that we have seen a HUGE trend towards video production recently. Companies are recognizing the need to provide high quality video as a long term strategy to their marketing, training, and brand recognition needs. Embarrassingly, we admit that companies have approached us with ideas for video usage that we hadn’t even recognized. This is incredible and a wonderfully forward thinking ability by companies and the employees within them.

But, how do you get people to actually watch your videos?

This is an essential question and one that must be thought about long before the video creation process. You see, every video serves a unique purpose and should be structured to cater to those purposes. So it is best to think about the audience, marketing, and usage all in advance. Then you can truly arrange the contents, pacing, and budget for these end goals and effective video views.

But fear not, if production is in the rearview mirror and you are just looking for a way to promote your masterpiece, there are several ways to get exposure.

So tell me already, how do I get more views?

We can share the numerous ways in which we have acquired video views (and of course we will), but let us start off with stating that a large number of views isn’t always a great metric for success. You could have thousands of viewers, but if those views don’t convert to real sales dollars, they serve for nothing more than an ego boost. With that said, check out the ways below and really evaluate whether or not these methods will get the right viewers and can translate to sales.

Ok, here we go

First up is Facebook. This option is top of mind because of the prevalent and effectiveness of Facebook for promoting video content. There are two major ways of promoting your videos via Facebook. Paid and free.

Paid

I have to pay for people to see my facebook content? This sometimes comes as a shocker to new clients and our response is always and enthusiastic, Yes! It seems counter-intuitive to pay for promotion on a free platform, however paid ads open up an incredible ability to target the exact customer your business has been searching for.

Free

Free usage of Facebook also brings an incredible value for most clients. However, you must recognize this is a long term strategy, unless your social media profiles already have a loyal following. For free posts to really get great traction, you must be consistent and work towards building an engaged set of followers. This is very time consuming, but in the long run pays off ten-fold.

Next up is Google. We all have heard the terms SEO and ranking. We also know that hitting first page on google provides amazing value.

But did you know, videos can rank on page one also?

That’s right, you can get your video ranked on the first page of Google, giving you a valuable page one link into your business or even better, knocking your competition off the first page and increase the visibility of your brand. Check out a sample of a thumbnail below to see what hitting the Google search engine for video can look like for your brand:

How cool is that? You get page one and you get an eye-catching thumbnail. Ranking a video is similar to SEO for websites and in some cases, using YouTube will make ranking even easier.

Speaking of YouTube, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention it as a great way for promoting your video. Now, you may be skeptically thinking, “hey, I don’t make cat videos, so why post to YouTube.” I am as big of a fan as the next guy of cat videos, but YouTube has come a long way over the years and is now the 2nd largest search engine.

Ranking in YouTube can be difficult at first, however after you understand the methods for ranking and begin to build channel authority, you will find ranking become a breeze. There are 4 main factors to focus on when trying to rank your video in YouTube:

Script Keywords – Pick relevant keywords that your clients will be searching for and work them into the script of your video, whether it is an interview or voiceover, you can easily squeeze in these keywords throughout your video.
Captions – From there you should always caption your videos. This of course serves the obvious need for all viewers to enjoy your content. However, it also serves the need for Google and YouTube to truly understand the content of your video. Google and YouTube are able to look at the script you created and interpret what the viewers are experiencing. This elevates your videos above the competition because your keywords will be recognized and ranked appropriately
Playlists – Not only do viewers enjoy having content intuitively laid out for them, YouTube also gives high priority and recognition to users who take the time to appropriately setup their channels and utilize playlists to guide viewers from one video to the next.
Backlinks – Just as websites need quality backlinks to rank, so do YouTube videos. Submitting videos to blogs, sharing on social media sites, and sharing via email marketing, all enable to ability to generate backlinks to your videos. This gives your channel and videos more authority, thus allowing you to outrank the competition.

Consistent action creates consistent results.
– Christine Kane

Consistency may not come to mind for most folks, but is a proven winner in creating videos that sell and get volumes of views. By being consistent, your audience knows what to expect, looks forward to viewing your content, and proves your brand as an authority in the market. Try not to think of creating a video as a one off ordeal, instead view it as a long term growth and branding strategy. Build out your YouTube channel, create a library of content on your website, and create a timeline to release consistent content.

Bonus: Creating content in bulk

As a bonus, one tip we share with all of our current and prospective clients, is to create content in bulk. Typically, when you hire a video production company, they will charge a day rate for filming. This means you can spend an entire day with your production team capturing a plethora of content to build your arsenal of content. Just because the content isn’t needed right now, doesn’t mean you can’t use it in the future.

Get creative with it. For example, if we are interviewing a client’s customer, we recommend asking for a video testimonial after we complete the main interview. This will give you a high end video testimonial to use in a future date, allowing you to save on cost and build up a large amount of video content to be slow dripped over the coming months.

Make no mistake, your clients are out there searching and generating video views are an incredible way to reach out. Be smart about how you plan to get views that translate to sales. This is our expertise and we have an in depth procedure that we would love to share with you for identifying your best audience and how to effectively reach out to them. Best of all, you are able to kick back and relax while we do the leg work on researching, scripting, creating, and delivering your videos for optimum results. Reach out today to see how we can take your brand to the next level with videography.