So how do you do it? How do you make sure your videos will help improve your reach?
1. Well Made Wins the Day
Make sure your videos are well made. It's true that you can use most smartphones to take videos, but a quick one-off cell phone video typically isn't going to be received well – especially if one of your goals is to show off your professionalism. Making sure that your videos look good and are put together well will help you stand out from the literally billions of videos out there competing for peoples' attention.
To this end – make sure your video is well scripted. Some people are great at talking off the cuff. If you aren't one of them (or if you aren't sure), create a script. Go over it a few times before you start recording so it won't look like you're reading from a teleprompter.
2. Share, Share, Share
You can create the best videos in the world, but unless you tell people that those videos exist, nobody is going to watch them. Make the sharing of your videos a part of your regular upload process. As soon as YouTube or Vimeo or your own server alerts you that the video has been published, send out notices on all of your social media profiles and to your email list.
A note about email: If you plan to create a lot of videos, you'll get a better response from your email list if you don't send out an email after each video goes live. Instead, create a weekly digest of what you've published in video form and send that out (or tack the digest on to your regularly scheduled newsletter).
3. SEO Matters
SEO matters just as much with videos as it does with written content. Make sure you include your target keywords in your videos' tags as well as in their descriptions. This way you'll increase your chances of showing up in a list of "related videos" whenever someone searches for something specific to your niche.
4. Grab People's Attention
"My Video About..." or "[COMPANY]'s Take On..." aren't typically great titles. Instead, treat your video title the way you'd treat an article headline.
It will take some practice to hone this particular skill. Spend some time browsing the videos on YouTube. Which video titles grab your attention? Why? Use those answers to inform the titles you create. Typically, a good title is short, jazzy, and intriguing.
5. Always Make Your Videos Public
Unless you want to create a subscription-based video channel, the best thing you can do is make your videos open for public consumption. This designation tells YouTube and other video servers that you are okay with anybody seeing what you've created. It's a great way to increase your chances of getting free and spontaneous traffic as well as highly targeted traffic.
Creating great videos is a time-consuming process, but the more you do it, the better at it you will become and the more reach your business will have. It's definitely something worth learning and including in your marketing plan.
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