Creating a Video Distribution Strategy
You’ve got your explainer video made and are ready to share it with the world—or so you think.
Have you made a distribution strategy yet?
Yes, video is vital to marketing today but so is knowing how to get it in front of your audience’s eyes. According to Lyfe Marketing, worldwide digital ad spend is predicted to reach over $375 billion by 2021. This means there are many other businesses trying to catch the eyes of your consumers, so you need to create a great video distribution strategy to reach them effectively.
Don’t forget about SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is not just for blog posts and websites. According to Mushroom Networks, a networking company, YouTube is the second-largest search engine, processing more than three billion searches a month.
People use YouTube to search for broad information, and ensuring your video is optimized for searching will increase its likelihood of being seen. A few SEO tips:
- Keep the video title short and informative. Titles are the best way to catch people’s attention and should fit in the 60 characters YouTube allows room for. Pick effective keywords that you’ve done research on, and be sure to include the most important ones in your title.
- Add keywords to the video description. Include more keywords in this section, and help users understand what the video is about. It is also a good place to include a link to your website.
- Choose an eye-catching thumbnail. The thumbnail is the first thing a user sees, so be sure to choose a high-quality, colorful, branded image.
Decide where to share it
Posting videos on social media will help you drive traffic toward your marketing goals. According to Disruptive Advertising, social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined.
Be sure to optimize your distribution strategy for each platform rather than posting the same thing across the board. Each social network is utilized differently, and your approach to promoting the video on each should adapt to those purposes.
Like a tweet, keep your video short and sweet for this platform. There are around 1.2 billion video views on Twitter per day, and 90% of these views happen on mobile. This means your video should be adapted for a smaller screen and may need to be trimmed as attention spans on Twitter tend to be short.
It might be a good platform for a teaser video that can link to a webpage with more information and a longer video.
With over 2 billion active users, Facebook is a great platform as a video distribution strategy to reach a large audience. Videos on Facebook can be longer, but still try to optimize them for mobile devices as that is often how people access Facebook.
Uploading the videos directly to Facebook also helps with getting it in front of people’s eyes. Additionally, plan for silent playback as most people watch Facebook videos without sound because they consume this media when on their commute. This may mean thinking harder about visuals and whether to include some captioning.
Like Facebook, Instagram videos do not automatically play sound. Your video should be optimized for silent playback but also include audio for those who are enticed to tap for sound.
Instagram is a visual platform, so your video needs to be aesthetically pleasing. And don’t forget about Instagram stories! Thirty-five percent of Instagram users post and view Instagram stories, which means including video in your story is another great way to catch your audience’s attention.
Snapchat
Be thoughtful about whether you want to promote your content on Snapchat. While this platform is not all about flirting and selfies, a large portion of its users are college students or young adults. Snapchat receives 8 billion mobile video views a day, and 77% of college students use Snapchat daily.
If young people are your target audience, keep in mind that 58% of college students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product or service if they received a coupon on Snapchat. Your video for this platform should be short and optimized for mobile. This may be a good place to promote a 30-90 second video and then link to an outside website for more information at the end.
Video on LinkedIn is growing, so you’ll want to meet your audience there, but this platform is the most specific about the types of videos you’re suggested to share. According to Hubspot, there are four themes for video on LinkedIn: 1) Showcase your product or service or provide a tutorial on how it works, 2) transport your viewer into another location, such as uploading videos of an event your company participates in, 3) teach viewers something new, and 4) share your thoughts on a recent announcement or piece of industry news.
Figure out how you will measure success
Checking the analytics and tracking the video’s metrics are how you will determine if your content is performing well, but make sure you are looking at the right statistics to decide whether your video distribution strategy was successful.
Metrics like views and shares can seem appealing, but these numbers may matter less to your goals than conversion metrics like sign-ups or purchases. The views and shares will still quantify your reach and popularity, but some other metrics to consider include:
- Play rates.
- Conversations.
- Percentage of video watched.
- Click-through rate.
Once you’ve collected this data, you’ll want to analyze what it means. If your video has a high number of views but no engagement or click-throughs, you found the right topic but your tone or messaging may have been off.
On the other hand, if your video has high engagement but a low conversion rate, then your audience wants more of the same content but you’ll want to strengthen your call to action. If your video does not have many views or much engagement, then you’ll need a new video distribution strategy to promote the video to reach your audience to get the results you want.
The video distribution process is already complex enough, so perhaps turn to the professionals when it comes to the video’s production.
Contact StoryBox Studios to discuss your needs and how we can help. Our team specializes in 2D animation, motion graphics and live-action productions, and we’ve created everything from corporate content to family entertainment. Reach out today to see how we can meet your video needs!
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