You’ve created a compelling video about your business. You’ve invested time and money in the content and messaging, and are confident it sells. How do you get people to watch it when there’s so much competition for eyeballs online?
Uploading your video to YouTube is a no-brainer. But don’t stop there! You need to share that video far and wide to maximize reach and engagement.
Here are ten ways to share your business video, with tips and best practices for each.
YouTube
YouTube is the
second largest search engine online after Google, so uploading your video here
is essential. YouTube is especially well suited for educational content such as
“how to” videos and product demonstrations. The downside? There are hundreds of
millions of hours of videos on YouTube, and getting found can be difficult. Bringing traffic back to your website is even harder still.
Tips: Fill out the title and description of each video with relevant keywords and tags for search engine optimization (SEO). Organize your videos into clearly defined playlists so they're easy to find on your channel. Use YouTube cards to direct people to your website or related content when they’re finished watching.
Vimeo
If you’re more interested in a quality viewing experience than being found, upload your video to Vimeo. This platform doesn't have nearly as big an audience as YouTube, but there are no banner or pre-roll ads or distracting cat videos. The other plus? Your video will plays in high definition without the viewer having to adjust settings.
Tip: Create a custom thumbnail image for your video after you've uploaded it. You can almost always do better than the one selected automatically!
Your Website
Once you’ve uploaded your video to YouTube or Vimeo, grab the embed code and post it on your company’s website. Make your video a prominent size and place it “above the fold” – in other words, high on a page instead of buried at the bottom.
You can host your own video, but specialized video hosting services, like Wistia (the service we use to host our course videos), VHX, and Uscreen offer solid advantages for certain kinds of business video. These "white label" hosts let you display video on your site without any unwanted branding (or with your own), provide robust metrics and engagment tools, and won't try and drive your traffic back to their platform.
Don't forget to write a blog post about your video too!
Tip: Avoid auto play. Most viewers like to have control over when or whether a video plays.
Social Media Sites
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest are made for sharing. Post your video to all of your company’s social media accounts – repeatedly. Keep in mind that not everyone is going to see your video the first time you post it.
Whenever possible, upload your video directly to the platform in question, rather than posting a link to YouTube. Sites like Facebook give a higher priority to videos that are uploaded natively. Also, consider making different versions of your video for different social media sites. For example, you might want to create a 15-second teaser video for Instagram to drive traffic to the full-length video on your website.
Tip: Use online tools like Hootsuite to schedule your posts at different hours and on different days to maximize viewing.
Newsletters
Add your video to the next email blast or newsletter you send out to clients. They’re already interested in the content you provide, so chances are you’ll have a high click rate.
Tip: Encourage clients to share your video with others. Ask them what kind of video content they’d like to see in the future.
Email Signature
Promote your video in your email signature. Just write a line of text to tease the video, then add a hyperlink. Here's a fictional example to illustrate what I'm talking about:
John Doe | Widgets Inc. | (555) 123-4567Have you seen our
newest product line? Watch the video!
Tip: Change the signature every time you release a new video.
Press Releases
Most press releases are sent online these days, so it’s easy to link to a video. The next time your business introduces a new product or service or wins an award, make sure the press release includes a link to your video.
Tip: Include an eye-catching thumbnail image to entice people to click on the video.
Partner Blogs
Contact your industry partners and ask if they’ll feature your video content on their blog or social media sites. For example, one of my clients is a golf pro who created a series of short tip videos. She has sponsors for clubs, tees, and clothing that might be interested in sharing her videos because they serve the same audience.
Tip: Offer to promote some of their content in exchange.
Community Web Sites
Many communities have blogs or websites that profile local businesses and people, and they’re usually hungry for free content. It’s worth searching online to see what’s out there. Ask if they’d be interested in linking to your video or writing a blog post about it.
Tip: Offer to write a short introduction to the video to help make their job easier.
Stores, Trade Shows, Conferences
If you have a bricks-and-mortar storefront, set up a flat screen monitor to play your video. Same goes for trade shows and conferences where your business might have a booth.
Tip: Make a version of your video with subtitles so you can play it without audio.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are lots of ways to share your business video beyond YouTube. Which methods you choose will depend on your business and the type of video you’ve created. So start experimenting!
This post has given you an introduction to the major video channels, but you can find a lot more detail in our Video Marketing Guide. It has a full chapter dedicated to video channels, including the pros and cons of each and the technical specifications for each channel. And the other nine chapters cover other essential aspects of video marketing too. By the end, you'll be a video marketing expert!
