As customers seamlessly navigate between different channels during their buying journey, it is important for brands to reach out to and engage with them at each of these touch-points. One such channel that has fast gained importance in facilitating this journey is video.
With more than 3 billion hours of video watched on YouTube alone per month, video is becoming one of the most important channels for content discovery and engagement. And the best part is that utilizing the channel requires minimum monetary investment for marketers. But even though this channel can be used for free, not using it right would be a costly mistake for brands.
We have outlined some of the best practices for brands that are looking to use video as a channel for enhancing customer experience with the brand:
1. Be Content-Centric and Not Channel-Centric
Even though it is important to divide your video content into separate categories or channels, marketers must remember to not overdo it. A channel with outdated content is most likely to turn their viewers off. It is important to think content first and then channels.
2. Make Sure Your Content Is SEO-Friendly
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. To ensure discoverability of your content is high, it is critical for all your Meta data to be in place. The meta tags, titles and descriptions for your videos need to be optimized so that your videos can be easily found on video search engines such as YouTube.
3. Ensure Your Videos Have Branding
All your videos should ideally have your unique branding. You should look at branding not just the content of your videos but also the Meta data. An appropriate level of branding within videos is essential because successful YouTube videos are often used outside of the context of a branded YouTube channel, such as website embedding.
4. Promote Your Content via Social Media
Marketers must use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and also social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon to increase the virality of your video content.
5. Integration Is the Key
Your video campaigns should be integrated with your offline campaigns for maximum impact. For instance, a series of videos can be used to engage audiences during events.
Lastly, you must consistently produce good quality content, taking also into account the feedback received from your subscribers and viewers. Test out different types of content and distribution and advertising strategies and arrive at a combination that works best for you.
