Video Marketing For Your Business: 3 Platforms and How to Use Them

In 2016, video became the important element and priority for my home lifestyle marketing clients and it keeps gaining momentum with high-tech options like 360 Video and Virtual reality. As a small business person, there are great video options to help you be part of this video trend, better engage with your tribe, while creating good content.

Start With Your Website

At Craft Content Nashville recently, one of my favorite social media experts Dave Delany reminded, “we rent Facebook and Instagram,” which is exactly right. This is important to remember as you create your video content. Be sure you are staying true to the real estate you own – your website. Let this be your foundation for marketing with content living here and then share outward from it.

Consider that 80% of traffic is being driven by video and 70% see a significant sales impact when using video according to Craft Content. These are exciting numbers so let’s start engaging.

In case you feel pressured to share content all at one time, it really is better to take that blog with a great video and share over various platforms throughout the week. And repurposing content even a year later is completely kosher. Here are some tips for sharing your video blog content on social media:

• Play around with multiple Facebook posts. Be sure you check your analytics to see how it is performing. Click to see how your page is performing. We also load the video straight to Facebook – which the platform prefers.  It dilutes your YouTube cumulative views but our project goals are analyzed differently.
• Also, when creating the video, do a :06 Twitter version which will currently run on a loop.
• For Instagram Stories, take advantage of the automatic sound on feature.
• For an Instagram post, use chunky graphics which will catch the eye as folks are scrolling.

Create A YouTube Channel

Does your brand or company have a YouTube Channel? Via your Google account, go ahead and set this up taking advantage of creating custom channel art – currently at 2560 x 1440 pixels. Canva is a great graphic arts option for creating one.

Here are a few YouTube tips to get your started:

• Create a channel trailer. One of my new favorite things is to create a :30 to :60  second channel trailer as a welcome and quick explanation of what viewers and subscribers can expect from your channel content. Below is a new client we just launched. Be sure you add a card to it or link to your website when possible, but it must be a verified account. More on cards below.

• The first :05 seconds are important. When creating your video, be engaging immediately. Lately, I’ve been doing drone video tours for new neighborhood projects opening first on video and then establishing brand. One of my clients is a licensed pilot and amateur drone enthusiast! #WinWin

• Create a custom video thumbnail. After you’ve loaded your video, you’ll have the choice to select a thumbnail from within the video content or load a custom one. Creating custom thumbnails is SO awesome, helpful and eye-catching! You can also do this in Canva. Remember to use a bright image and concise words.  Current size is 1280 x 720. Here’s one my recent examples and I created the video in iMovie using their movie trailer template which just happens to be my client’s signature colors.

• Add a call to action in your video with a YouTube card. I’m obsessed with adding a card to videos which is done after you’ve loaded your video.  Add this toward the middle of your content. The card is a pop-up call-to-action and provides a link in the video to your website which you can customized with a photo. Promise it is easy to do and all of these YouTube suggestions are very intuitive as you work through the steps. The storytelling video below is a little longer in length at three minutes and the card activates at around a minute. Take a look and note it also has a custom thumbnail.

Facebook Live

Finally, Facebook Live is still the no. 1 element to cut through the clutter and boost your engagement without purchasing advertising. You want to try for at least 3 to 5 minutes in length. Remember, you can edit the video post event, add a custom thumbnail photo, revise the title and add tags which will help people find you while searching. If it turns out great, be sure you pin the video so it will show up higher on your page.

Video is here to stay and as Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg shared with USA Today, “Soon, we believe a camera will be the main way that we share.” And, Facebook is aggressively pursuing this strategy according to a May 12 story as they move into 360-video.

How Are You Using Video?

Video is an intriguing dimension in PR and I love it! For more inspiration, be sure and follow video pro and Southern C alum Libbie Summers. She’s #amazing. Be fearless and it will pay off.  And, let me know your favorite uses for video in the comments below.