As the old expression goes, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound at all?
While a cliché, to be sure, this concept still applies to online video marketing. You’ve taken the time and invested the money to create an amazing piece of content…but if you don’t have a good rollout plan and no one actually sees it, what was all that time and effort for?
We’ve been creating award-winning explainer videos for over fourteen years. Let us offer some insights and guidance about how best to promote your animated explainer video online to see your video engagement skyrocket.
And don’t forget, we offer every client a complimentary Video Launch Consultation as a dedicated part of our award-winning explainer video production service. So, if you’re ready to roll, get in touch today to start your project.
Understanding the Power of Animated Explainer Videos
Let’s briefly go back to basics: An animated explainer video is a dynamic tool that simplifies complex ideas and delivers them in an engaging, digestible way. By pairing exciting visuals and storytelling, explainer videos can quickly capture audience attention and clarify intricate concepts, making them ideal for marketing, education, or training.
From big brand names like the Home Depot, to hundreds of nonprofits around the globe like Voter Participation Center, we’ve helped organizations across industries sucessfully harness the power of explainer videos to boost engagement and drive action.
When well-executed, an animated explainer video can amplify brand reach, increase conversions, and improve message retention.
If you’re interested in learning more about the different types of animated explainer videos, or their history and evolution, we’ve got a great blog on Explainer Video basics for you. You can also read more about the power of explainer videos here on LinkedIn and in this article on Medium.
Now, let’s get into our expert advice for promoting your video for best results:
Explainers leverage the synergy of storytelling and engaging visuals. Check out this example of one of our most successful animated explainer videos, or click to learn more about our process.
Optimizing Your Explainer Videos for Various Platforms
When it comes to maximizing the reach of your animated explainer video, optimizing for different platforms is key. Each platform has unique requirements, so adapting your content ensures it performs well wherever it’s shared.
Video Format and Vertical Video Resizing
For many years, a 16:9 aspect ratio was preferred for video, especially on video-sharing platforms like Youtube. Now more than ever, your audience is viewing video content in a 9:16 aspect ratio – sometimes called ‘vertical video’ or ‘reels’ – to better suit their phone screens.
Formatting your video to accurately fit the platform’s specifications will ensure it looks professional and captures attention across the board. Our studio offers custom video resizing and reformatting in a variety of options to support our clients transitioning to reel-based platforms, or to create comprehensive campaigns that span across a variety of platforms.
SEO Optimization for Videos
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, or how easy it is for search engines to match your content with unique user searches. If your content is well-optimized for search engines, your video will show up higher in a list of relevant search results.
To help your animated explainer videos be found, use strategic keywords in titles, tags, and descriptions. Make sure to include the most relevant terms to your topic to boost visibility in searches. Optimizing descriptions and metadata plays a crucial role in ranking higher in video searches.
Thumbnail Design
An eye-catching thumbnail is essential for encouraging clicks.
Create a visually striking image that reflects the video’s content and entices users to press play. A well-designed thumbnail can dramatically improve your video’s click-through rate.
This blog takes a deep dive into metadata and SEO to help you better understand how back-end metadata can shape viewership on your animated video.
As a full-service animation studio, we help you plan out and secure additional graphics, like thumbnails, as part of your video project package. You can find additional guidance on how to optimize thumbnails and content for various platforms in this article on Yoast.
Leveraging Social Media to Boost Visibility
We don’t have to tell you about the huge impact social media can have for brands and organizations. With the potential for huge impact, though, comes an increasingly fierce battle for attention.
So, how to help your video stand out from the crowd?
Share Widely… and Wisely
Remember that optimization advice from just a moment ago? Well, keep it in mind – more than ever – when it comes to social media. All platforms are not created equally!
Making sure your animated explainer video looks sharp and fits each platform’s specifications is crucial when it comes to social media, because there is simply so much variety across platforms. For example, Youtube Shorts requires videos be in 9:16 aspect ratio and be less than 60 seconds to even share on their platform; on the other hand, platforms like X and LinkedIn will allow you to post video content in a variety of ways – but will limit your ability to alter settings like the thumbnail.
Consider differences such as preferred format, length, and even trends like the best days to post – per platform – to develop a strategy that will take your message far. Oh – and don’t forget the hashtags! We cover more social media basics in our Comprehensive Guide to Video Marketing.
Consider a Variety of Engagement Strategies
Boosting visibility involves both paid ads and organic efforts. Once you have an amazing piece of content in hand – like a custom-designed explainer video – it’s worth taking time to consider paid advertising versus organic promotion.
Paid promotions using Meta Business Suite or Google Ads will not only allow you to target specific demographics but also enable you to refine your audience based on location, interests, and behaviors.
Meanwhile, organic posts can engage your current followers, foster community interaction, and help new users discover your content through shares and engagement.
For more ideas, you can explore this article on video marketing strategies or dive into tactics for viral success with this resource.
Integrating Your Explainer Video Into Your Website
Your animation can do more than just entertain—it can strategically enhance key touchpoints in your communication and online presence:
Placement Strategies for Your Explainer Video
With fourteen years in the animated explainer video business, we’ve seen it all: from attention-grabbing landing page videos, to animations that answer FAQs!
Placing your video strategically on your website has the potential to reduce bounce rates, increase conversions, build trust, and so much more. When creating your animation, consider where you may place it on your website to help determine your video goals. This article by Vimeo covers the technical steps to embedding videos.
We’ve created this short list of placement ideas to help inspire you, with the full list available in this blog:
A Brief Consideration of the Call-To-Action
When it comes to explainer video marketing, we encourage our clients to think carefully about their video’s ‘CTA’ or ‘call-to-action.’ A clear, compelling CTA – whether it’s “Sign up today,” “Learn more on our website,” or “Book your free consultation” – gives viewers a specific next step when interacting with your content.
If you have plans to integrate your explainer video into your website, your Call to Action should consider what you would like users to do after watching your animation to most effectively increase conversions.
Email Marketing and Explainer Videos
No matter what they tell you, email marketing is not dead! In fact, we know from experience that video is the leading way to continue capturing attention from audiences despite their over-stuffed inbox.
Build an email marketing campaign around your new explainer video animations, making your video the star of an email blast to your audience.
Start with a compelling subject line that teases the value of the video, like “Watch Our New Explainer in Action” or “Discover Our Story in 90 Seconds.” This is a great place to draw your audience’s attention, especially if your video is unique content they haven’t seen before.
Make sure the email body features the video front and center, encouraging viewers to watch and share.
Animation allows you to customize your messaging for your target audience at a fraction of the cost. These three videos use the same base content, but emphasize unique solutions within the Infinite Facade product.
For maximum impact in email marketing, consider segmenting your audience: Tailoring your email content to specific segments—whether by interests, industry, or buyer stage—will improve engagement.
You might even consider personalizing your explainer video animations for each group shows them that the content is relevant and designed with their needs in mind. For instance, if your business caters to both children and adults, you can create distinct animated content that appeals to each demographic within the same project scope.
We even offer discounts for bundled projects such as these that include multiple videos: click here to learn more about creating a video series to get a quote from our client advisors.
Measuring and Analyzing Performance
Even with an arsenal of tips, tricks and ideas, your video won’t reach it’s full potential without some responsive strategy. By tracking key performance metrics and utilizing analytics tools, you can refine your video marketing strategy for even greater success.
Let us share some of the tools and strategies we leverage to measure and analyze the performance of our videos:
Even with an arsenal of tips, tricks and ideas, your video won’t reach it’s full potential without some responsive strategy. By tracking key performance metrics and utilizing analytics tools, you can refine your video marketing strategy for even greater success.
Let us share some of the tools and strategies we leverage to measure and analyze the performance of our videos:
Key Video Performance Metrics to Track
Keep it simple! Start by monitoring core metrics like views, engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments), and conversions.
These data points can give you a solid understanding of how well your video is resonating with your audience. Are viewers staying until the end? Are they clicking through to learn more or make a purchase? Analyzing these behaviors helps you gauge the impact of your animated video explainer and adjust as needed.
Where to Track Impact: Tools and Analytics
There are a variety of tools that can help you dive deeper into your video’s performance. Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo offer built-in analytics that show viewer drop-off points, watch time, and engagement.
For even more insights, consider using tools like Wistia or Vidyard to track how your video influences conversions and leads. These tools provide data that can help shape future campaigns. This article from Eggplain outlines some platform-specific tools.
Continuous Improvement and Adaptation
Another great benefit creating animated explainer videos is the ROI on your advertising strategy. Because animation is inexpensive to produce compared to other forms of video, and it is easily updated, you have a unique opportunity for continuous improvement and adaptation.
We partnered with Nicole to crete this animated explainer video advertising group piano lessons; after sharing widely across socials and an email campaign, she can assess the impact on her bottom line of lesson sign-ups.
To keep your content fresh and effective, it’s important to continuously gather feedback and adapt your approach to meet evolving audience needs.
Consider using surveys, social media polls, or direct engagement to ask viewers what they enjoyed and what could be improved.
This input can provide valuable insights into how your animated explainer videos are perceived and highlight areas where you can refine the messaging or visuals.
Another key to continuous improvement is iterative testing. Run A/B tests by creating different versions of your video—whether it’s adjusting the script, the visuals, or even the call-to-action. This allows you to see which version performs best in terms of engagement and conversions.
Regularly testing and fine-tuning your video ensures it stays relevant and impactful, even as audience preferences shift. For more on how explainer videos can serve as tools for change, explore this resource.
Incorporate these ideas to see your animated video explainer soar.
Alternatively, why not let the experts handle that?
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