How to Incorporate Video into Your Online Strategy

Anyone old enough to remember trying to stream a video clip from a website back in the days of dial-up before broadband was common would have been forgiven for thinking it would never catch on. Fast forward to the present and we have Forbes magazine, as well as many others, telling us, “2016 is the long-anticipated year of video marketing.”

You might be wondering if video marketing really works, and that’s a fair point. Well, consider these statistics from the Online Publishers Association:

• 80% of Internet users watched a video ad in the past month, and of that 80%
• 26% searched for more information about the subject matter
• 22% went to the website mentioned in the ad
• 15% checked out the company behind the ad
• 12% bought the product being promoted in the ad

The great thing about using video to promote your product or service is that you are not limited to only having a video on your website. In fact, you should be spreading your video around as much as possible. Social media now give greater weight in their algorithms to video placement, making it easier than ever to market effectively.

YouTube is certainly the granddaddy of video sites, but Facebook has recently overtaken YouTube in terms of daily video minutes watched – some 4 billion videos watched worldwide per day – and Twitter and Snapchat are also catching up fast. These numbers are only going to grow as people are showing an ever-increasing voracious appetite for video.

Producing Video on a Shoestring Budget

Creating your own promotional video can be fairly easy, even if you are on a tight budget. One of the easiest and most effective ways is to create a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint. You first need to write and record a script, but it doesn’t need to be long, about one minute to 90 seconds of talking time works well.  You can then create your presentation using suitable images and text. Time each slide length according to the relevant part of the script. You can then choose File, Export, and Create a Video to create the video in the WMF video file format. After choosing the video quality setting, you can choose, Use Recorded Timings and Narrations to add the script you recorded earlier.

Consider recording a video blog, with the presenter/host simply appearing on-camera.  Video blogs can be fun, informal, informative and powerful.  The audio and video recording capability found on most modern mobile phones is usually sufficient to produce an effective message, as long as you have access to a quality microphone and have good lighting.

Best Practices and Tips 

• Avoid incorporating 3^rd party logos or images copied online within your video presentation.
• Remember to respect all common trademark and copyright ownership laws and adhere to restrictions. 
• If you buy images, fonts or soundtrack content for inclusion into your video, then make certain you follow the usage terms and conditions associated with your purchase. 
• Don’t forget to post and promote your video on YouTube.com, as well as embedded it within a page on your own website.
• Include a link in your video description leading back to your designated landing page for more formation and lead capturing.

Want some extra help? 

CC Communications and our affiliate partners offer a wide range of very cost efficient web video production options and services, with some support packages starting as low as $899. Once your video is produced, CC Communications can also help you successfully post and promote the program online, as well as setup an effective landing page that connects to your presentation with a clear “call-to-action” response. At CC Communications we have a highly experienced team of industry experts who can help with all of your online marketing needs, including video. For the best video production and marketing advice or assistance, call us today on 704‑543‑1171, or contact us online. We’d love to hear from you!