One of the hottest ways to share your message is video marketing. When done right, video can be engaging, and draw people to your website or business. Unfortunately, it can also be all too easy to make video marketing mistakes that can harm your campaign before you even get it off the ground.
As you get ready to start your online marketing strategy, here are seven mistakes to avoid:
1. Not Understanding Your Audience
One of the fundamentals of any marketing strategy is to understand your audience. You should know what they want to see. You should also know what sort of attitude they like, and their values. When you “get” your audience, you are far more likely to succeed since you will make videos they want to watch — and share.
2. Neglecting to Integrate Your Videos with Your Other Content
You should have an overall content marketing strategy that includes your multimedia content. One of the biggest video marketing mistakes you can make is to not make sure your video content meshes with the rest of your content. It should be consistent in message, values, and approach. It should also support your existing content. As you work out your online marketing strategy, make sure all your content has a purpose, and that all piece complement each other.
3. Posting In One Place
Don’t forget to post in more than one place. You can make a Facebook video, then download it and upload it to YouTube. You can make a video for YouTube and embed it on your blog or share on Facebook. When you keep a video to less than a minute, it can be posted to Instagram. There are also video options in Snapchat.
Figure out a strategy that allows you to use your video content in multiple places so that it gets more views. Plus, you’ll reach your audience where they are and there is a better chance of it getting shared and getting more eyeballs.
4. Failure to Optimize Your Videos
One of the major video marketing mistakes is a failure to optimize your videos. You want to use tags and metadata. Come up with good titles that are clickable. The fact of the matter is that YouTube functions like a search engine — in fact, it’s the second-biggest search engine. Make sure your content is optimized properly, no matter where you post it.
5. Neglecting Your Call to Action
You need a call to action in your marketing content — including videos. Your call to action can be as simple as saying, “subscribe to my channel,” or “sign up to receive the latest deals and promos.” Don’t forget to tell people explicitly where to go in order to complete the desired action.
6. Being Over-the-Top with the Sales Pitch
Yes, you want a call to action. But one of the video marketing mistakes you can make is to sell too hard. The video should be helpful in some way, impart useful information, or be very entertaining. It should showcase your brand and your product or service in a non-sales way. Then your call to action can provide the information they need to take the next step. But, first and foremost, your video content should fulfill a need for your audience.
7. Failure to Track and Analyze the Results
Finally, make sure you track and analyze the results. Pay attention to what works. If possible, split test different approaches or titles. Look at where you get the best view and shares. You can use this information to tweak your campaign and your style, and make better, more effective videos in the future.
