We’re gonna give it to you straight: video marketing is a big deal. It’s engaging, it works on a variety of digital platforms, and it’s not as expensive as you might think. Plus, video marketing helps you take advantage of YouTube traffic. Did you know YouTube is the second-most-popular search engine in the world? We won’t wax on about the importance of video marketing because that’s probably what brought you here. The trick is finding creative, interesting video marketing ideas while driving sales.
For great marketing videos, you need to start with an idea and a plan. Now’s the time to start, considering 80% of web traffic next year is expected to be videos. Try these ideas on for size.
1. Keyword Research
If you’re struggling to generate topics for videos, keyword research can be your savior. Look into investigating the most-searched keywords and phrases in your industry. As you research, consider prioritizing keywords that aren’t as competitive so you’ll have a greater chance of ranking on the first page of results and use those keywords to generate video topics.
For instance, if you run an e-commerce site selling hair products, you might come across keywords and phrases like “how to straighten your hair.” Voila, there’s a video topic. For each video make sure you focus on a primary keyword to include in the title and meta tags for the video’s page on your site.
2. Talking-Head Videos
Many small companies are afraid to try video marketing because they think it’s too expensive. However, technology has made it easier to produce polished, low-budget videos like talking-head videos. These videos are exactly what they sound like—someone on camera talking about a topic relevant to your business.
One of the largest mistakes companies make is failing to use all their resources. You don’t have to star in all your videos. Consider bringing in professionals or specialists in your field and interviewing them. This lets you provide useful information and, depending on who you’re interviewing, can expand your reach as well. Going back to that hair product company example, they could reach out to interview someone with special knowledge of artificial hair colors. If that person is a popular beauty blogger, they could get exposure with the blogger’s fan base too.
3. Go Live
If you’re not in the live video game yet, now’s the time. On some platforms, doing a live video bumps you to the top of your followers’ feeds. With Facebook Live and live Instagram videos, you could start with something like quick “good morning” videos to get comfortable with the process and build to a live Q&A session.
4. Do a Demo
How-to videos are among the most popular on the internet for good reason. There are some things you can’t learn as easily from a written explanation. Think about your niche and what your customers might want to learn. The key is speaking to your specific audience. For that hypothetical hair product retailer, a video to demonstrate hair curling techniques might play nicely when selling to average citizens, but if the company’s a wholesaler whose customers are hair salons, that’s information they already know.
5. Create a Series
Instead of focusing on a new topic every time, why not start a series? Having a series of videos on related topics can make it easier to generate ideas in the future. It also helps build a following because viewers who get hooked by the series are more likely to follow your other marketing endeavors. Returning to our hair products company, a series like “Updo of the Week” might bring viewers back to learn new techniques.
6. Take a Content Marketing Approach
As you create videos, try to maintain a content marketing approach. In other words, your goal should be to inform viewers, not advertise to them. You don’t want them getting fed up and tuning out. The exceptions to this are videos on product pages. The main purposes for those videos are to show a product’s features or demonstrate how to use it. Even for those videos, though, think about what will genuinely help your customers rather than “here’s why this is so great.”
Conclusion
People turn to online videos for everything from makeup advice to how to build a house. Make sure this includes your industry too. Once you learn how to create strong videos, you’ll be poised to take advantage of video traffic as it continues to grow.
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