Importance of Video Marketing and 10 Ways to Optimize Your Video for Search.

Video marketing has gathered buzz over the recent years and today it is a hot tool used by marketers widely. It is effective, has an immense reach and is powerful enough to influence people. Video marketing is not just limited to YouTube but extends to other social media such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. Videos have changed the way customers perceive brands -- effective videos not just tell the viewers about the brand but also provide some value to the customer.

They are catchy, entertaining and convey the brand message at the same time in a unique way.

Videos are the best way you can engage your audience as they get the feel of personal touch, compared to other mediums. Companies today are trying to create the similar feel one gets after a personal meeting and videos prove to be the best tool for that.

Not just this, videos in landing pages have proven to increase the conversion rate by 80% and 70% marketing professionals admit that videos get conversion better than any other medium -- a great sign for brands who are still skeptical about video marketing.

Another reason video marketing is doing well is the fact that people are drawn to anything that is quickly and easily available. Not just this, videos are quickly understood and absorbed by the viewer, conveys the message and gives them a gist about the brand.

Studies show that moving things capture more attention than static ones, i.e., video content grabs attention and is compelling which keeps the viewers on cliff. This gives the marketers all the more reasons to invest their time and efforts in producing video content. Not to mention, videos do require more time and effort than writing the content. But, this does not imply that you opt for simpler solutions that give short-term results and shirk from putting in some extra time and effort for greater, long-term results.

There are a few pointers you can consider before making video content.:

1. Inspire: Inspiration is simply encouraging your customers to take action and is the biggest stimulator for your customers. People are always on the spree, looking for something new. Your videos should be creative and compelling and should deliver an idea. The idea could be the message your brand wants to convey. When utilizing video marketing, you should never try to sell your product, this will irritate our customers away. Instead, knit your message around a story that makes the viewers think or even, take action.

1. The more you’re visible, the more you sell. : Your customers are everywhere. Where are you? Your customers are available on all the social media and not just on one platform, publishing your videos on just one of the many might not be enough. Share your links on other media, as the idea is to be visible. You can drive traffic to your YouTube videos or even post snippets of it on various social media to make you customer aware about your brand. Video creation is great, but even the best of your videos might not get conversions if it lacks views. Make sure you utilize and make the best of each platform.

1. Make it unique: Your customers or visitors want something new every single minute. If you're creating same videos that your competitors are, chances are high you’ll not get enough attention even if it’s better. Make your videos unique and something that’s not been seen in the market yet. Not to forget, people are always looking for solutions to their problem, give them one. Consistency sure is the key to success but with that, coming up with unique compelling content is equally important. You can also make videos on the trending topic and give your personal view on it if it is in your niche. When you want people to look up to you, don’t limit yourself to just what you want to do but also what they want.

1. Know them: With the increase in usage of analytical tools, it has become even more so easy to track your consumer behavior. You can tell by their pattern of navigation and consumption that what are they exactly looking for. This is one thing that traditional marketing lacks. You cannot tell in traditional marketing what your customers think about you. Thankfully, we have this privilege in digital marketing so why not make the best use of it? Keeping in mind -- what your customers want and how do they react to various campaigns, makes you create something very close to or maybe exactly what they are looking for. Again, all they want is solutions and not just promotional videos. Show your creativity and increase your chances to get the top results.

1. Make the most out of it: YouTube is the second largest search engine and it gets almost 30 million views every day. Video marketing gives you immense reach, and you surely want to use it to its full potential. There are endless tools you could use to boost the reach of your videos. For example, you can ask people to share, like, and subscribe as most YouTubers do. Also, the video gets more attention when it is shared.

Other than this, you can:

• Utilize #hashtags -- to maximize your reach.
• Creating compelling description -- to grab attention.
• Apt keywords and phrases -- to be seen in the SERP (search engine results page).
• Encourage viewers to share -- to reach out to the maximum.

Videos are sure to capture anyone’s attention. For example, if you’re watching a video in a public place, the person sitting next to you is surely going to peep into your screen. So definitely, videos are catchy.

1. Solutions and not the brand: If you’re focusing only on sales, you might need to refresh your strategy. There are numerous salesperson in the market today and you don’t want to be another pesky-person. They not only lack engagement with the customers but also tend to create a negative impression of the brand.

Time and again market have seen a tremendous change in the taste and consumption pattern of their customers. These days, they don’t prefer being to be told what to do and what not to do, what they look forward to is:

• Entertaining content.
• Solutions.

This is the key to earn the trust of your customers. Over time, they will start looking up to you as someone who adds value to their life rather than someone who is too eager to sell their product or services. This makes you more in-demand. Great!

Your motive should not be to sell but solve their problems. Always.

1. Change for the better: Social medias keeps upgrading their platform by adding new features all the time and marketers couldn’t be happier. It gives them more tools to experiment with and connect to their clientele and visitors.

Example, the live feature on platforms like Instagram or Facebook or even YouTube gives you a great opportunity to connect with your audience. Another great tool is IGTV -- for videos that are longer than a minute.

Adapting to new ways to showcase your brand is always a great deal. Not just this, there are various options you can explore and take advantage of.

1. Collaborate: This means joining hand with someone in your niche. You can collaboratively make videos that might interest your viewers. Collaborating with someone in your niche is a win-win situation for both, as you not only have common goals but also customer base. This is a great way to expand your reach. This not just makes you increase your customer base but also increase your reputability. Well, it just does not end here, collaboration gives you fresh ideas, enhances your creativity and improve your relationships with people in your industry. This boosts your visibility and makes you more approachable -- one thing you definitely want to look forward to. An approachable person gains more customers than someone whom people cannot connect with.

1. A/B Testing: Other than brainstorming the ideas, testing out your campaign too is necessary. This gives you a green flag for one of the two campaigns and you get better engagement than you would have if you skipped it. A/B Testing is simply carrying out two different campaigns to check which one outperforms and give you better conversion. This also lets you know the taste and preference of your customers and helps you create future campaigns accordingly.

It is like having someone taste your dishes and give you feedback before serving it as dinner.

Through A/B testing you do exactly the same, you create two campaigns and test them on two different groups of people rather than directly publishing them. This way, you know precisely what would work out.

1. Connect: Emotional connect is known to be the strongest connect one can have. You want customers to relate and connect to your brand emotionally instead of focusing on sales. Customers who connect with the brand have a higher chance of repetitive sales than those who don’t. This is one thing that leads to success and that is when videos come into play. You might have noticed how some videos teach us a lesson and make us feel something, others make us cry or even make us have a hearty laugh. It's no brainer that videos do make viewers feel something because of its visual and graphic effects.

Telling about your product/services is crucial but building bond with your customers give you higher chances of sustainability.

That is what makes you stand out -- when customers get the feeling of getting genuine content that’s really useful for them.

If you pick any brand that’s been in the market for several decades, you would notice how that is the house name for many customers.

With all of this, don’t forget to be consistent. Consistency is the key to success. Be it for digital marketing or traditional one. Consistency nurtures the trust between you and your customers and increases your reputability.

Video marketing has proven to increase conversions and build a strong bond and trust between the brand and its customer. It is always a great idea to keep in touch with the latest trends than to run outdated.