The Importance of Video Promotion & Distribution
Video is one of the most powerful forms of content and should be a core component of any content marketing strategy. But focusing on creating high-quality videos isn’t enough; you must also distribute your videos to the right audience.
That’s where video promotion and distribution come in — good promotion will ensure a steady stream of users watching your videos, resulting in a better brand image, more potential customer engagement, and improved customer loyalty.
Learn our tips and best practices for video promotion and distribution for your contracting business.
Distributing on Multiple Platforms
It’s easy to get so involved with one social media platform that you forget about posting your videos on others, but putting too much effort into a single platform can hamper your distribution efforts.
Diversifying and choosing the appropriate channel for your video is one of the best ways to improve visibility. Not all platforms are equal; some may have a user base that matches your business’s target audience better.
Selecting the right mix of platforms to distribute and promote your content is the first hurdle in a successful content promotion plan. To do that effectively, you need to have a solid understanding of each platform.
Every platform has its own system for handling video and customer engagement. Some platforms are better suited to short-form content, while others are better for long-form content. You’ll need to understand these differences to produce the perfect video for each, so let’s dig into the differences between a few major platforms.
YouTube
YouTube is the biggest platform for video content creators and marketers. With 2.6 billion active users watching a billion hours of content daily, it’s easy to compare YouTube to its text-based cousin: Google.
Like Google, simply putting content on YouTube isn’t enough to get traction with customers or potential leads. Instead, it’s wiser to treat YouTube like a search engine and your videos like the landing pages on your website.
While YouTube doesn’t crawl videos like Google crawls websites, other SEO techniques, such as keyword research and title optimization, can play a significant role in your YouTube video distribution strategy.
Strategically placed keywords in your video title, description, and tags can increase visibility, especially if your title matches a user’s search term.
Even better, strong titles can influence your visibility outside of YouTube itself.
Google often displays snippets of YouTube videos in its search results, allowing you to gain attention on two platforms simultaneously.
The simplest way to identify potential keywords is to start typing a particular phrase relevant to your video into YouTube’s search bar.
This method will give you the most common auto-predictions, which provide insight into what users want to see and may even give you ideas for future videos. Alternatives include tools such as Ubersuggest and YouTube Analytics.
Despite having a relatively small market share compared to other social media platforms, Twitter users are generally more engaged and active, making Twitter an exciting option to promote your videos and drive brand engagement.
What’s important to note about Twitter is that tweets generally have a lifespan of several minutes, and if your potential customers don’t see your video in that time frame, they probably never will.
One way of getting around this problem is to identify when your target audience is more active on the platform and schedule tweets to go out at different times on different days. That way, you’ll be able to catch a larger portion of your audience and increase visibility.
An important aspect of making videos Twitter-friendly is to keep them short. Ideally, you want your Twitter content to act as a teaser for your complete video. Ways to do this include:
- Create a short video snippet that links to the full YouTube video.
- Create a GIF of a particularly engaging portion of your video.
- Share a video thumbnail that contains a link to the full video.
Instagram is the top social media platform for brands interacting with potential customers, and videos are a great way of standing out from the crowd. Before you put your video up on Instagram, it’s important to consider how people use the platform and how you can leverage those habits into an effective video distribution strategy.
Instagram supports a few different video lengths. Instagram Reels should be 90 seconds or shorter, while videos posted to Instagram TV can be up to 10 minutes (or 60 minutes for certain accounts).
Follow these best practices to get the most out of Instagram:
- Have an appealing thumbnail and avoid relying on Instagram’s default option
- Include a call to action, such as visiting your YouTube channel or watching the full video
- Add hashtags and geotags to capture new audiences that may be interested in what you offer
- Reshare in-feed videos to Stories to reach a wider audience
Most business owners don’t see LinkedIn as a marketing opportunity, but it’s a social media platform with many active and engaged users — who could also be looking for contractors.
LinkedIn has a 10-minute maximum, making it relatively easy to publish your full video without much editing. Some videos may benefit from being shorter and linking to your primary YouTube channel, but you may also consider LinkedIn as a primary distribution platform if its demographics fit with your target audience.
Blog Posts
Most companies have a blog to assist with their overall digital marketing strategy. You significantly increase the impact of your video on your digital marketing efforts when you put a video in your blog post.
The blog serves as an additional video promotion and distribution channel, and embedded videos complement your SEO efforts. People who watch the embedded video stay on the blog page for longer, leading the algorithm to evaluate your content as more interesting and relevant.
Email marketing offers some of the best ROI in the business, and it’s a potent distribution channel for your videos. Some of our preferred options for adding videos to email content include:
- Have a static thumbnail with a link to the video and an overlaid “Play” button. This method creates interest and increases your click-through rate.
- Create a GIF of the most interesting or fun part of the video, and link it to your full video. GIFs tend to have higher click-through rates than static images but require more effort than a simple image.
Video Distribution Best Practices
While the distribution channel determines how and when you promote your videos, some distribution best practices are the same across all platforms. Regardless of your video promotion and distribution strategy, always remember these principles to ensure you get the most out of the medium.
Consistency
Keeping your branding consistent will make it easier for people to identify a video as yours, making subsequent promotions more effective. Brand consistency includes everything from color choices and fonts to style and length, creating a familiarity that encourages repeat visitors to your channel.
Quality
While creating high-quality videos is easier said than done, it’s the cornerstone of any successful video content marketing strategy.
A lower number of high-quality videos that are relevant, concise, and visually appealing will do more for your brand image than dozens of poorly edited, blurry videos that don’t drive engagement.
A significant component of creating good videos is listening to user feedback, which may include reading YouTube comments, listening to your sales team, and studying the online communities that your product or service serves.
Tips to Promote Your Video
The largest challenge facing video content creators is visibility — people have access to millions of hours of content, and getting the attention you want can be difficult.
While following video distribution best practices and adjusting your videos to match your chosen platform can help, you may also need to adjust how you promote your video to ensure that it gets the highest possible visibility in a very crowded landscape.
Create Optimized Content
Tailored content may not have the same reach as more general videos, but it has the benefit of being more likely to have an impact on the people who see it.
It’s vital to understand your target audience before creating content — younger demographics prefer shorter, snappier videos that they can watch on their smartphones, while older people will spend more time on their desktops and prefer longer-form content.
Adjusting your content to fit these needs will make it more engaging while helping you reach your target audience.
Integrate Video with Other Marketing Channels
While video marketing is an effective tool by itself, it works even better when paired with other marketing strategies.
For instance, consider attaching a video snippet to a promotion on social media. Not only will the snippet make the promotion more interesting, but it will drive users to your video channel and increase engagement.
Similarly, using email as a video distribution channel helps promote your other videos, especially if you create interesting and relevant content.
Work with the Experts
Navigating the world of content and digital marketing can be overwhelming for many contractors. Having a partner can help reduce overwhelm and increase the impact of digital marketing efforts.
Contractor Growth Network is a contractor-focused marketing agency that can help your business attract new customers by using the latest proven digital marketing strategies.
To find out more, schedule an appointment by filling out our contact form or calling us at (980) 449-4384. We look forward to helping you maximize your marketing budget and take your business to the next level.
