Small business owners can use Youtube and other online videos for free but effective marketing campaigns. Youtube videos can bring new customers and push up your search engine ranking. It can also make your product and content easier for people to understand, and—with Facebook and Twitter buttons—easier to share!
But what’s the secret to creating an effective Youtube video for your business? Here are some great tips for small business owners or even freelancers. Like all of o5.com’s recipes for life, these suggestions are practical, concrete and tested!
Optimize your video with keywords
You can make the best Youtube video in the world, but can people find it? Yes, if you optimize it properly for search engines. Do this through your title, description, captions and annotations, and tags. Avoid cutesy, witty titles that are too vague or even unrelated to your content.
Pick powerful thumbnails
Youtube will let you display a thumbnail image. This is the first thing viewers see if you’re lucky enough to have your video appear in a search list. But seeing it is only the first step—you want them to click on it! So choose a compelling image. For example, if you’re selling a weight loss program, you could put a somber image of yourself in a business suit or an image of a happy customer in a bikini. Guess would probably get people to click?
Attach transcripts to your Youtube video
One way to pump up your Youtube video’s search engine ranking is to add a keyword-rich transcript. This enables Google, Yahoo, etc. to find your video among the millions of others on the web.
End your Youtube video with a call to action
Great video! Lots of viewers! But does it to translate to real sales? Your video should end with what marketers call ‘call to action.’ This is a concrete step that will lead them to using your product. The least you should do is to give your website address, so interested customers will continue to interact with your company. But it’s even better to give a specific idea of what they would get, and what you should do. For example: ‘Like this video? Get the full DVD with a 25% discount at www.mywebsite.com.’
Location, location, location
Your Youtube video shouldn’t just be on Youtube. Tweet it, post it on Facebook, and send it to other websites like Vimeo, Blip.tv, iTunes, Viddler, etc. Some programs, like TubeMogul, can help you upload your video to different websites.
Consider making different versions of your video
Who is your target market? Chances are that even within your market segment there are mini-communities. A weight loss program, for example, can appeal to the 20something crowd, which have different interests and reasons for going on a diet than an older 40something crowd. They also tend to go to different media platforms. Your videos will be more effective if they’re targeted towards those individual segments. Little changes, like the soundtrack or the words you flash on the screen, can make a big impact. For example, a 20something crowd would love ‘Fit in your bikini in 30 days!’ while a 40something crowd would like ‘Lose weight for your reunion!’ A mommy market would respond to ‘Lose the pregnancy weight.’ All these keywords will pull up your video ranking in response to the keywords that demographic would type on a search engine.
Put together a Youtube playlist
Create several videos and assemble a playlist so you customers can spend the whole day (or at least several hours) watching your content.
Photo from screenrant.com