YouTube is not only a popular website for individuals to share their favorite videos; it has also emerged as a marketing tool for businesses. Many businesses actively promote their products or services by creating a YouTube channel that includes a company's branding, video advertisements and interviews with executives and employees and ways for customers to interact with them. A YouTube channel, effectively used, can help a business improve its search engine rankings and increase awareness of its products.
One of the major business benefits of creating a branded YouTube channel is that YouTube can help generate traffic to a company's website, which can help increase sales. According to Alexa, a Web analysis company, YouTube is the third most popular website in the world (following only Google and Facebook), with about 490 million people globally visiting each month, watching about 2.9 billion hours of video monthly. Businesses that create effective, compelling videos and upload them to their YouTube channel, including links to their business' website, can drive traffic from YouTube to their site.
Search Rankings
Building an effective YouTube channel, frequently updated with fresh and interesting video content, can also help a business improve its search rankings, according to a July 2011 article by Search Engine Journal. Specifically, video content that uses the right keywords and tags that are relevant to that company and its products can help a company's "organic" search rankings, which are the results that appear in a search engine because they are the most relevant to the terms a person is searching for, not because of paid advertising. In addition, YouTube is the Web's second largest search engine -- trailing only Google. Companies with YouTube channels can pay to have their videos ranked higher in the rankings when a person searches for videos using specific keywords.
As more of you expand your efforts invideo content marketing, you undoubtedly know (and have been told) that a call to action (CTA) is an absolute must have. That all-important prompt encourages someone to actually dosomething and it offers an opportunity to evaluate your video’s effectiveness.
Advice on how to weave an engaging and tightly integrated CTA into your video is much less decisive. Create a funny and personal or slick-motion graphic? Incorporate in video or description? The fact is that there is no single answer. The secrets to crafting a great CTA depend on your unique circumstances.
This guide focuses on YouTube because the CTA design is more direct and easier to measure than on other platforms. (Vimeo, for example, is a popular tool because of its visual clarity and compression for crowd-funded campaigns like Kickstarter, but those initiatives often have different goals.) In a medium where there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, access to information is key for successful content marketing.
Step 1: Assess your goals
Your CTA is the nudge you give viewers so that they will do something. So what do you want them to do? Take stock of your business goals in both abstract and specific terms:
What do you want to achieve with this video? Be broad. Evaluate how the video is designed to contribute to your goals. Do you want viewers to buy a product, install an app, or subscribe to your channel?
How can your CTA support those goals? Be specific. If you want someone to purchase a product, does the CTA allow them to click through to the sales funnel? If you want more YouTube followers, does it encourage them to subscribe to your channel? If you want viewers to visit an affiliate, is the affiliate identified with a clear link?
After you’ve nailed down exactly what you want your CTA to achieve, your next task is to create something that meets these goals as effectively as possible.
Step 2: Identify the best options
At this point you have two decisions to make: How should you craft your CTA stylistically and which tools can help you meet the goals.
How does your CTA fit with the video content? Think thematically. Let’s use Dove’sReal Beauty Sketches as an example. The video is pensive, introspective, and emotionally charged. As such, the CTA on the screen at the video’s end is thoughtful, restrained, and unobtrusive. Dove didn’t use brightly colored annotations or loud noises. In its description, Dove simply included a hashtag and link.
Now look at Cartoon Hangover’s Bravest Warriors episodic cartoon’s CTA end card. It’s busy, colorful and energetic, just like the video.
Its visible description focuses on the episode and doesn’t include a CTA, and the full description reads like closing credits for a show.
Both Dove and Cartoon Hangover understood their videos — they matched the CTA to the video, and more importantly, they matched the CTA to their goals. For a B2C like Dove, its primary objective was to encourage viewers to further their experience with the brand, while Cartoon Hangover’s primary objective was to inform viewers about the show.
What tools will effectively communicate your CTA?
Annotations: These pop-up messages on the video don’t have to detract from the viewing experience, but if they show up in the meatier content they can. The upside is that users can interact with your CTA immediately within the video experience. The downside is that annotations have a tendency to make users bounce, and annotations don’t appear on mobile or set-top boxes. Annotations in end cards? Totally cool.
Descriptions: A video description offers two-fold viewing — a few sentences on the first screen underneath the video and an expanded version after the viewer clicks “show more.” Including CTA links in descriptions is both better and worse than annotations because they don’t distract the viewer from the video experience. They’re more versatile than annotations and engaged viewers will naturally check your description for more information. But be careful about how you use your real estate: The first three lines of your description are a critical part of YouTube SEO (YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine), and the first lines are all that appear on the first screen.
Verbal (speaker mentions) vs. (direct host): A CTA during the video that comes from the narrator or host can carry more emotional weight than an end-card CTA. It also requires you to lock into a single CTA, so make sure the CTA is sufficiently attractive or powerful to engage viewers. Unlike an end card, which can be changed and updated easily, a speaker mention cannot be changed without significant production overhead. Many Kickstarter videos use this technique because viewers are likely already on the campaign page, making the next step obvious.
In addition, if your videos involve multiple speakers or subjects, the person speaking may not be in a position to deliver a meaningful CTA. In those cases, consider filming a separate end card with a familiar host that can be shot and edited separately.
In this edition of its Ripple Effect videos, Red Bull opens the video with its general web address then uses Red Bull.com/Surfing on the opening credit slide. The CTA returns 14 minutes 30 seconds later in the end credits. Note the lack of annotations in the video, though.
End cards: CTAs on the end cards can work, but it’s a risky move given that a good portion of your audience may not still be viewing. That means you should explore all CTA options, but don’t give up on end cards. The 40+ percent of your audience that may still be watching is probably interested and looking for more information.
As we’ve seen, there are pros and cons to every tool and stylistic decision you make, but this can be mitigated by combining CTA styles. Make sure they all support your goals so that you don’t risk overcomplicating your pool of results and possibilities.
Step 3: Test, measure, and iterate
After you implement your CTAs, the evaluation begins. What happens with your CTAs? How you measure your CTA depends on what goals you’re trying to hit, but since many marketers are ultimately trying to push YouTube viewers off site and into their own funnels, we’ll focus on three critical measurements:
Measure in-video CTA viewership: If you click on Audience Retention in YouTube Analytics, you can see at which points viewers are dropping off, and this information can be used in multiple ways. For example, a significant drop-off that coincides with an annotation is a good sign that viewers do not think the CTA is too disruptive to the experience. Perhaps more importantly, these analytics allow you to see what percentage of users even makes it to your CTA. You can calculate a CTA viewership number by multiplying the number of total views by the percentage that made it to the point in the video with a CTA.
Measure click-throughs: Other than clicking the universal “X” in the right corner of a page to cease viewing, there are only two ways to click out of YouTube – through annotations to your verified website (known in YouTube parlance as Associate Website Annotations) or through links in the description.
Ultimately, you want to extrapolate the conversion rate of your CTA by dividing the number of views by the number of out-bound clicks. This CTA conversion rate is a really handy way to compare variations in your execution.
Tip: Further track your CTAs by using custom links through shortened-URL sites like Bit.ly, which can bring in demographic and easy-tracking data for each CTA.
Measure your annotations: You can see how well an annotation is performing by visiting the Annotations page under Engagement Reports in YouTube Analytics. Enter the name of your video and not only will you get your number of clicks, but also the close rate (the number of times a viewer closed the video when the annotation appeared).
Conclusion
This three-step video CTA process can help you create a goal-oriented CTA, pick the right delivery avenues, gauge each CTA’s effectiveness, and adjust and use analytics to evaluate what you should continue, change, or stop. It will likely take a few tries before you’ve developed an effective style, but once done, you will have a systematic approach to engaging your audience, increasing retention, and in turn, boosting the number of people responding to your CTA.
I love YouTube. When it comes down to it, YouTube is still the most heavily trafficked video site online today. And with an estimated 72 hours of content being added every minute, it should certainly remain the cornerstone of any good video-based content marketing campaign.
But what if you want to take things further? Sayyou’ve already maximized your brand’s presence on YouTube and are looking for new opportunities to reach different consumers or experiment with alternative types of video content. Depending on your specific use case, any of the following three YouTube alternatives could give you the campaign growth you’re looking for:
1. Reach higher-quality audiences with Vimeo. Although Vimeo’s basic structure is similar to Youtube’s, it differs in a number of key ways. Not only was Vimeo the first to support consumers' uploading high-definition pieces, the video-sharing site prevents post-viewing “related videos” from displaying your competitors’ clips. And it's is totally ad-free. For these reasons, Vimeo tends to attract a smaller but what many advertisers consider a much higher-quality audience (meaning a viewership including lots of employed professionals).
Get started by creating some epic video content: Vimeo filters out most commercial, gaming and nonuser-generated content, so you’ll want to invest in creating quality videos before branching out onto this site.
Consider a paid account. As a paying producer (plans start at $59.95 a year), you’ll be able to customize your video player, add your logo to the top of your videos and take advantage of other premium features.
Focus on community building: Vimeo users are seriously loyal about their platform. So don’t look at the site as just another dumping ground for your video content. Instead, get to know the site’s users by interacting with them before sharing your work.
2. Use Vine when you want to experiment with more viral-style short-form video content. Vine isn’t a video-sharing site; it’s a mobile and desktop app associated with Twitter that allows users to share looping videos of 6 seconds or less in length. The videos' limited duration means that Vine isn’t right for every brand, but it’s definitely worth considering; Ogilvy vice president Heather Taylor estimates that “brand vines are shared four times more than other online videos.”
Think personality. Six seconds doesn’t give you enough time to do a full product demonstration or sales pitch, but it does give you an opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality. Have fun with your clips and leave people wanting more.
Post regularly.The number of Vines being created and shared means that regular posting to this network is a must. Don’t stop after releasing a single Vine video. Keep your channel full and your followers engaged with regular releases.
Learn from the big boys.The learning curve for Vine can be steep. Help your brand's Vine profile pick up traction (scoring followers and interaction) by checking out how big companies like GE and Lowes use the service.
3. Tap Wistia when you need more analytics data and features than YouTube provides. Unlike YouTube, Wistia is a paid video platform (the price for a plan starts at $25 a month) that delivers clips to websites and mobile devices. Where Wistia really shines is with its conversion and analytics features, which help users capture leads and learn more about how viewers are interacting with each video.
Amp up your production quality; if you’re going to invest in a video platform, you’ll want to use it to deliver quality content. Wistia’s video-production page offers tips on improving clip quality on a budget.
Think about your core audience; Wistia isn’t about driving view counts; it’s about the chance to engage with your brand’s ambassadors. Use analytics to be sure your videos are striking the right chord.
Pay attention: Having access to advanced analytics is only helpful if you use this data. Tap the information you generate to drive campaign changes across all your brand’s marketing channels.
These three Youtube alternatives should help you expand your video-marketing campaigns, but if you have another recommendation to share, leave a note in the comments section below.
Courtesy : SUJAN PATEL VP of Marketing at When I Work
Instagram has recently introduced video to its suite of options for users and advertisers. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images
With smartphones and tablets rapidly becoming the world's preferred method for connecting to the internet, brands are looking to mobile video as the next great battleground in advertising. Advertising tailored to mobile devices is growing rapidly as services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube and Sky encourage mobile viewing. Meanwhile, social media platforms are looking for ways to boost the use of mobile video ads.
Facebook, which gets nearly 60% of its ad revenue through mobile, according to its Q1 2014 figures, sees mobile video as a burgeoning area and is introducing a range video ad formats. These include Video App Install Ads, which enable marketers to drive downloads of their apps through video ads in the mobile news feed. The social network has also launched its premium auto-play video ads in the US (which play silently until clicked, after which the sound comes up) and is introducing this to other markets, including the UK.
Meanwhile, Facebook's image-sharing social network Instagram has introduced video and is striking deals with brands to create what is being billed as beautiful and memorable advertising.
Chris Jacob, director of product marketing at Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, believes that mobile video is quickly becoming a vital part of most marketing strategies. He says: "As mobile video consumption continues to increase, it is becoming an important medium for marketers to maintain brand awareness, build loyalty and influence the customer journey.
"Advertisers are realising that delivering engaging location and smartphone or tablet-optimised video is not only powerful, but is also becoming the best way to reach much of their target audience."
An attractive feature of mobile video advertising via social networks is the sophisticated audience targeting and analysis that is now possible. Jacob points to other advantages, such as tapping into the always-on customer environment and reaching potential consumers when they are most engaged. Jacob says that customers are engaging with mobile video more actively too, choosing to view the content rather than sitting passively through a standard TV ad spot.
To get the best out of mobile video advertising, brands need to use one of the ad management platforms that can guide them through what can be a complex process. Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud offers the Social.com service, a platform allowing advertisers to launch, manage and optimise their video campaigns efficiently and at scale.
Social.com enables brands to use their first-party customer data to better inform their targeting through Facebook's Custom Audiences product. This allows brands to supply Facebook with email addresses from their customer list so the social network site can anonymously target those users with ads. Meanwhile, social.com also offers features such as Interest Clusters & Draft Campaigns, which help boost return on investment.
Mobile video offers stunning prospects for advertisers to engage with audiences through the devices that they keep closest to them. They will need to bear in mind that there are differences between how people use their smartphones and tablets - tending to spend longer on tablets while using smartphones in a more functional way. But given the opportunities for targeting people by location, activity and through their social networks that mobile offers, brands are likely to build it into their marketing plans.
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Consumers are thinking and behaving in new ways, expect new things, interact differently – and are increasingly intolerant and impatient with any company that seems to be stuck in a slight time-warp.
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Discover why so many marketing directors are tired of marketing. Watch the video:
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Forget multichannelconsumers – think about multitasking consumers. You may think you are reaching an audience with a TV campaign, but many of them are on Facebook, or searching online, or replying to an SMS or playing games at the same time as you hope they are paying attention to you.
The days of shouting, hype and spin are over. It’s just too noisy with too many brands, too many distractions. Tomorrow’s campaigns need to be about information, revelation, timely advice, trusted friends, personal insight, sensitive timing, sharp relevance, saving time and money.
Future of Marketing – Q&A session on social marketing / social networks impact on corporate image and recruiting – for STARS Leadership Summit
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Marketing strategies need to target each niche group – for example focus on older, affluent women. Part of one hour global trends keynote on many consumer, lifestyle and demographic issues relating to marketing. See also marketing to older consumers (article) and marketing to older consumers (media interview).
Future of marketing, management, motivation – video of keynote to 4,500 event organisers in Las Vegas
What do you say about communication to 4,500 professional event organisers, responsible for training global teams in marketing, managementand leadership?
How to connect with an audience.
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