VIDEO MARKETING IS MORE SOCIAL THAN EVER.

When we think of video marketing or YouTube, it’s tempting to think of it as a platform for your brand to make a sales pitch to consumers, but this is the wrong approach. Don’t get us wrong, though! There’s always a place for traditional advertising and creating videos that promote your incredible products and services! However, if you’re invested in producing and releasing video content on a regular basis, then it’s ineffective for each video to be a sales pitch.

Instead, your video content must embrace what makes social media so effective: the ability to engage. Consumers want to be social with your brand. Whether they comment on a YouTube video or learn something valuable from a how-to video, it’s more important than ever to not only be social with your customers, but also allow them to be more social with you!

COLLABORATIONS MATTER…

Among “YouTube celebrities,” one of the biggest ways that they build their brands is through collaboration. They’ll appear on each other’s YouTube channels to promote their own videos and redirect traffic. While businesses won’t necessarily engage in this practice, there’s a clear lesson to be learned: endorsements are everything.

You see, when YouTubers get on each other’s channels, they’re essentially looking for an indirect endorsement. Appearing with another video content provider gives them credibility and encourages the audience to check out the guest’s channel.

Likewise, businesses can take advantage of this by seeking their own endorsements. Whether it’s a local politician or “local celebrity” or a satisfied customer, there are many ways to get people to endorse your brand. Furthermore, this endorsement can be captured via video through a testimonial, interview, flat-out endorsement, or something completely creative.

CALL TO ACTIONS ARE KEY. 

Many brands and video producers make the mistake of putting a CTA in the description of the video. While you want to do this, it’s much more important for a CTA to be issued within the video itself. It’s been proven time and time again that a CTA issued within the video draws far more attention – not to mention action – than one issued in the description.

So if there’s anything that you want your viewers to do such as become a fan on Facebook, share your video, or visit your website, you’ll get a much better response by asking them to do this in the video itself. Make the call to action extremely obvious and try to sneakily add one early on or in the middle of the video, as many might stop watching by the end.