We’ve written tons about the benefits to advertising with video.
Something we haven’t shared much about, though, is how to maximize these benefits once your video is out in the world.
After 11 years as a studio, we’re proud to guarantee a finished product that will take hold of audience attention and move them into action. But first, you’ll need your audience…
In this blog, we tell you how to maximize the impact of your video. We share our hottest tips for maximizing search engine optimization (SEO), and name 5 great ideas for helping your video get maximum exposure.
Ready to maximize to the maximum limit??
All systems go!
How to Improve the SEO of Your Video
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, or how easy it is for search engines to find your content. Content that is well optimized for a specific topic shows up higher on the list of search results.
The internet is a massive place, and if you’re feeling intimidated by trying to secure your place in the top results, worry not: we’ve got good news and even gooder news about SEO and video.
The good news is that by default, video is already an incredible choice in terms of SEO: Forrester Research stated that videos are 53 times more likely to generate a first page ranking than traditional SEO techniques.
By choosing to create a video, you’re already optimizing!. Good on you!
The gooder news is that we have organized some ideas below to help you maximize SEO and get as many views as possible on your video:
Use Titles & Descriptions to Maximize SEO
It’s likely that in the process of launching your new video, you’ll consider uploading it on a video-hosting website such as Youtube (more on that, a bit later…)
When uploading a video to the web, you’ll be asked to include some general information, like a title for the video and a description of what it’s about.
What you choose to write here influences SEO, and helps search engines recognize and validate what you’ve uploaded. Therefore, being highly selective about the words you use in your title, description, and other categories can really pay off in terms of who is finding your content.
- What single keyword can summarize the content in your video? Hint: think of what words someone might use to find what you’re offering. Your target keyword should be a relevant, high search volume, non-branded keyword.
- Include your primary keyword in your title and throughout your description. Youtube and other search engines prioritize keywords that appear early.
- Users are only able to see about 80 characters of your title when reviewing search results, so make those 80 characters count!
- Descriptions, on the other hand, can be quite long with no negative effects! Use the description area as a catch-all for your other central keywords, other relevant phrasing, and any call-to-action you might have! As with the title, put the most important keywords at the front of your description.
Consider Back-end Settings
Once you’ve considered the front-facing information that users and search engines will use to categorize your content, you can turn your attention to some more subtle SEO tactics.
Handy tricks like re-naming the video file (before upload) to match your title exactly, or adding a closed caption transcript or SRT file to your video, can be enough to improve your SEO significantly.
Think of these settings as click-bait insurance for search engines: they want to make sure you aren’t just slapping any old keyword into your title to siphon traffic off. They’re happy to reward real, relevant content with high spots on the search results.
These SEO optimization tips double as commitments to accessibility. By ensuring that your content is consumable for all internet users, including the millions of global internet users who experience a disability, you continue to widen your possible audience.
Pay to Play
Of course, investing in paid advertising sometimes makes a lot of sense – especially since you’ve already invested in a piece of content that you know is exceptional. Paid advertising can be an incredibly lucrative source of leads and connections, because you can curate your advertisements to folks you know will have their problems solved by your product.
We recently featured our friend, Max Sinclair of Snowball Creations, on the blog to talk about How to Increase the Impact of Your Video with Paid Advertising.
5 Ideas for Maximum Views on your Video
One of the most significant benefits of advertising with video is how widely shareable it is. Unlike finite resources such as fliers and paper ads, or pitch decks that require attaching large files for potential clients to download, consider how a succinct explainer video compares.
Here are some suggestions for different places you can include your video advertisement when planning your campaign.
This list is outward facing and non-exhaustive. Be sure to visit our ‘18 Awesome Ways to Use your Animation’ post for some other great ideas!
1. Integrate your video into your online presence
Your website should be your first stop once you’re ready to share your video.
Of course, every video project has a different goal: it’s important to ask yourself questions about these goals as you decide which pages to include your video on and how to drive attention to it.
Is it something you want every website visitor to see? Consider whether the video might fit well on the homepage of your website. A video can be the perfect way to welcome visitors and set the stage for what they’ll find on your site.
Or maybe your content is related to a specific branch of your website, or even a specific product? In that case, consider embedding the video on the appropriate pages.
Remember all of those SEO Optimization tips you learned above? They apply to your website too: be sure to embed videos with relevant file names, back-end descriptions, and alt text or captions wherever possible.
2. Make a social media campaign around your video
Your social media accounts are an extension of your website and online presence, which means a lot of the questions you answered in the previous section should help you decide how to proceed.
This Instagram graphic was created as a part of the Social Media Package for our project with United Way Connecticut. Click the image to learn more about the project.
Is the video more of a one-time announcement, or something you want to fold into your social media plan over the long term? The work you put in to increase the impact of your content means that new people will be discovering your video all the time.
presenting content in a few different ways (like as gifs, still images, and video) or refreshing the content with minor updates extends the life of your video. Your long term followers stay engaged, and new visitors experience the eye-catching excitement too.
We offer a social media package add-on for all of our video projects, because we’ve seen how effective it is at extending the life and reach of a video.
Learn more about the Social Media Package add-on, and some of our other offerings, on our Marketing Services page.
3. Upload your video across many video hosting sites
Above, we discussed some of the nitty-gritty details of helping your content succeed among the overly saturated video hosting sites of the internet.
Of course, the longstanding giant in the world of internet videos is Youtube.
But YouTube isn’t the only video-hosting website out there, and plenty of others would be glad to show their visitors your content, and even give it credibility in search results. As you make your upload plan, consider platforms like Vimeo, Wistia, or Twitch. This blog from kinsta.com makes great arguments about the pros and cons of fourteen video-hosting sites.
4. Company Communcations
Does your company write a newsletter, or have a listserv? Your new video is the perfect addition to your next client outreach.
Our fabulous Partnership Director, Laura (featured here in our Instagram series: #StaffShowcase) sent out a video to our clients just last month!
Video in your newsletter is a great way to touch base, or inform of a new product offering. A short video will often drum up more engagement than your usual marketing or text-based touchpoints.
5. Pre-Roll Ads and Transit Ads
A short explainer video or social media package is also well suited for specific instances of paid advertising.
For example, pre-roll ads – those short, 10 second ads that play before you’re able to watch your Youtube video – are a remarkably affordable way to get your message in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Similarly, public transit institutions across the country are offering up their bus stops and ad spaces for increasingly technologically advanced advertising potential. Why not have your video featured?
Check out these real-life examples from one of our recent metro ads!
At Next Day Animations, we can deliver you an animation that thrives in this medium. We can make a version of your video, or design it, with brevity in mind. We’ll also write a script that features a clear call to action and engages viewers immediately, to keep them from pressing that ‘skip’ button.
More questions on how to MAXIMIZE? Give us a call: you can always reach our fabulous client advisors directly at 202-747-0404 for a free quote and consultation.
