Last updated on August 27, 2020

Last updated on September 25, 2020

There is so much video content flowing around the internet today as brands fight in the battle for the customers’ attention.

Whether you’re a small or large business, the playing ground is accessible.

So how do you successfully stake your claim?

What makes one video perform better than another?

How are businesses able to catch consumer’s attention while getting them to take action? 

These are among the most prominent questions businesses today ask when they create video content for their platforms.

The content business has developed from its humble roots and beginnings of text into a more complicated video format, and we all have to catch up. 

The starting point

To get your videos to pull in traffic that you can convert into sales, you will need to craft your content to suit your marketing demographic.

The language, visuals, and tone have to appeal to its intended audience to draw them in.

If you don’t have a buyer’s persona to help with visualization while creating content, build one.

Here’s a straightforward template from HubSpot to help you get started.

Let’s talk sales copy

You need to engineer your videos for success from the planning stage.

Starting with the sales copy, ensure that you employ the use of language that speaks to your audience.

The secret to this is simple.

Speak to the problem.

Not the fancy problem you use in your elevator pitch or pitch deck.

Break the problem you’re offering to solve down to the most simple format possible, and inject that into your sales video copy.

 

And in the same way, offer your solution- with simple, easy to understand words. 

An important point in marketing is that you’re not necessarily selling a product but a solution.

If your product is an onboarding software, you’re selling the convenience of bringing on a new team member without having to manually install tools and share tons of passwords.

If your product is a fashion item, you’re selling the feeling of self confidence and being on-trend.

Your video content- both audio and visual- should reflect this. 

While selling your solution, try to stay away from cliches and tropes.

The market is saturated with the same types of marketing videos.

If you can’t hold your audience’s attention from the first few seconds, you will lose them to the next video that is about to play. 

Remember to build your video around an end goal or action.

You can do this by inserting a CTA- Call to Action.

Encourage the viewer to perform an action at the end of the video that leads them into your sales pipeline.

If not, you will be surprised at how many people can watch a video that offers them something valuable and simply… click away. 

Do NOT blend in

The saturation of the media space has made it increasingly difficult for content to stand out.

Many marketing videos end up getting stuck in “familiarity blindness”; a situation where consumers are not aware of your content because the familiarity blocks them from acknowledging. 

 

To avoid this, stop compromising.

On ideas, equipment, and production.

Brainstorm good video ideas frequently.

Write down those random, quirky, can-I-make-this-work ideas that pop up once in a while, and see to how you can execute them.

Use good (not necessarily expensive) equipment.

If you’re shooting videos, make sure your videos are well-lit, as this could change the entire quality.

If you’re making a whiteboard or similar videos, use the best tools available to you.

If you don’t have much experience with them, practice, or outsource to a professional. 

In all of this, remember that your videos form important parts of your overall sales pipeline.

Hence any action taken as a result of seeing the video must lead your prospects down the pipe and closer to a sale.

Use MOFU video content

One secret of great marketing is creating what we call MOFU video content.

MOFU stands for Middle of the Funnel.

(source: https://www.webascender.com/blog/27-tofu-mofu-and-bofu-content-types-for-your-sales-funnel-stages/)

These videos do the job of attracting leads and encouraging them further down the sales pipeline.

A marketing video is also a strategic tool because market research shows that more consumers prefer to watch videos about businesses that read about them.

Unfortunately, most marketers only use video at the top of the funnels.

And by the time your leads are in the middle, they lose interest in the type of content being pushed at them. 

This makes videos crucial to companies who wish to capture new customers by turning them from leads into paying customers.

While creating these videos, do not lose the core concept of these videos, which is to get your leads to make an action that brings them closer to your business.

Types of Videos to Create

One bone of contention most businesses face is the type of video content to create.

There is no hard and fast rule to the kind of video you should create for your business.

There are different approaches that you can take, but the important thing is to create the right content for the right moment.

 

It is also essential to consider your audience’s attention span while creating content; hence, you should try to keep your videos as brief as possible without losing any of its value.

Here are some of the content you can create for your business:

Video Case Study

A video case study will help you focus on a particular topic and discuss it in detail while carrying your audience.

This will allow you to engage your audience while simultaneously enlightening prospects and creating leads that will turn into sales.

Product Tours

These videos are best when you want to introduce your product to your customers and prospective leads.

You will need to give a clear and easy to follow breakdown of how your product or service works and finish up the video by leaving a CTA (Call to action).

Live streams

Live streams are useful when you want to engage your audience in real-time.

 

You can spice it up by inviting industry leaders to discuss hard-boiling topics facing your business and give your audience the opportunity to ask questions they may have and provide suitable answers to keep them engaged.

Explainer Video

Explainer videos help customers understand more about an aspect of a business.

Business owners can use this as a means to communicate effectively with their audiences and clear the air about any gray areas.

It also leaves room for interaction between your business and leads.

Q & A Videos

Question and answer videos help brands answer questions that have been asked by their customers.

 

As you answer these questions, you give room for prospects to learn more about your business and get drawn to your company, and this leads them into your sales pipeline.

You Should Be Using Videos to Generate Leads

Videos offer several benefits that no brand should overlook.

First, they are now more than ever, more engaging than any other content format.

One report shows that 92% of users watching video on mobile will share it with others.

 

Right now, video content is being shared, not just with people, but with other social platforms. 

Creating shareable videos not only gives you better reach, but also gives your videos a better chance to convert viewers into leads who may become customers.

This makes videos the perfect lure to place at the beginning of your sales funnel. 

Videos also have a better potential to go viral than other content formats.

Users find it easier to share video content from brands they love.

People are more likely to share a video, which is easy to consume, than to share a blog post.

The shareable feature of these videos means that it is easier for your message to reach larger audiences and connect with them.

The best way for businesses to convert new users is word of mouth and in the internet age, these shares stand as the new word of mouth marketing.

The Impact of Video on your Business

Video strategies greatly impact your business in different ways.

If you are skeptical about the ways you can benefit from video strategies, we will discuss how videos can positively impact your business.

There are various metrics that can be used to gauge the impact of using video marketing on your business.

Here’s a piggyback off an Orbelo infographic showing the stats of video’s impact on marketing.  

Impact	Percentage
Users who enjoy video content	85%
Users who love interacting with Video	73%
Share of profits achieved through video marketing	88%
Businesses that use video	66%
Video content that makes up social media	88%
Internet traffic due to video	82%

 

These figures are an indication that if you have not started creating video content for your business, you are losing business to your competitors who have.

It is never too late to begin creating amazing video content that will generate leads for your business.

Conclusion

Video is a powerful way to reach your intended audience and it is therefore important for you to employ video marketing to your advantage.

Use the right video formats for the right purposes and do not forget to add CTAs at the end of your videos.

Your call to action will help you convert your prospects into leads by guiding them down your sales pipeline.

You should also measure the impact of your video strategies so you can accurately gauge which of your videos have the most engagements and generate the most leads.

 

PS…We hope you enjoyed this post on getting more video conversions. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Last updated on September 25, 2020

What happens after you click ‘Publish’ on a YouTube video?

How do viewers find it?

Where are they from?

How long do they watch your videos for?

Do they enjoy some topics more than others?

These are just a few of the many questions that can be answered by understanding YouTube analytics. 

But while extremely useful, the amount of data available to analyze can get overwhelming sometimes.

That is why this article is going to focus on breaking down this platform and all the different metrics we can make use of.

Understanding YouTube Analytics

YouTube Analytics offers five categories of metrics, which are: 

1. Overview
2. Reach
3. Engagement
4. Audience
5. Revenue.

Here’s a detailed guide to the five categories of your YouTube Analytics dashboard.  

1. Overview

This section gives you an overall idea of how your channel is performing.

You may find similar information concerning these metrics in other reports.

But Youtube offers this data (in graphs) in the overall section as they provide a quick insight into the progress of your channel.

Let us look at the meaning of each metric:

• Views: Here, you will find data on the total number of views gotten on your channel for the selected period.

 

• Watch time: The total number of hours which people have spent in watching your videos.

 

• Subscribers: This shows the change in the number of people who have subscribed to your channel. You can also view the exact number of people who subscribed on each day.

 

• Estimated Revenue: If you have chosen to monetize your channel, you will be able to see the amount of revenue earned here.

 

By looking at your overview dashboard, you can see the rise and dips in your channel views.

The default period for which data is shown on this platform is 28 days but you can always adjust the filter for shorter or longer periods.

You can also find out exactly how a video has impacted your number of views or subscribers by hovering over the video icons at the bottom of the graph.

This allows you to see which one of your videos is helping to increase views or gain more subscribers.

2. Reach 

The metrics under Reach include:

• Impressions: This shows you how many times your video thumbnail has been seen by users. Your thumbnail is a still snapshot that shows a little of what your video is about and people see this as they scroll past on Youtube.

 

• Impression click-through rate: (CTR) as it is more commonly called represents the number of times your videos were clicked on. This shows you how many people are clicking on your videos and this results in views for your videos.

 

• Unique viewers: This is an estimate of the number of different people who watch your video content over some time. The difference between views and unique viewers is that views show how many times your video is being watched (for example,1 person could be watching your video 100 times which would give you a hundred views). But unique viewers shows the actual number of people who are watching your video.

This section also shows information about your traffic sources and viewership funnel.

 

Traffic sources: You could be getting traffic from YouTube searches, browse features, suggested videos, or even external platforms and this metric shows you what percentage of your traffic is coming from each source.

Viewership funnel: This is important as it highlights the journey of how your impressions turn into views and then measures the overall watch time gotten from those views.

It also shows the percentage of impressions gotten as a result of YouTube recommending your content.

For better chances of getting your videos recommended by YouTube, you should focus on increasing your impressions and click through rates.

3. Engagement 

Engagement focuses on how people are interacting with your videos. The metrics involved in this are:

• Watch time (hours): This displays the total watch time for your videos and allows you to view the hours watched every day if you hover over the period.

 

• Average view duration: Here you can view the estimated amount of time (in minutes) which people spend on watching your videos before moving on to another piece of content.

This section also lets you view data on other statistics such as Top performing videos, top playlists and top-end screen element types. 

 

Playlists: This report shows how many of your videos are being added to people’s playlists. This means any folder which someone creates for their favourite videos or for videos they would like to watch later.

Top-end screen element types: This shows end screen elements used and how many clicks they have been able to gather.

It also helps you to discover what exact elements are preferred by your audience.

End screen elements are boxes that appear at the end of a video and direct you to a different video, a channel, a playlist, or a link.

Also, if you choose to search for the engagement metrics for a single video, then you will find information such as Likes vs Dislikes and Audience retention.

Audience retention: This shows you how much of your videos your viewers are watching.

This can be a great insight for you as it allows you to pinpoint the exact time that people lose interest.

Having access to this information will help you know what topics and areas to avoid in your future videos. 

Likes vs Dislikes: This metric shows you which videos have more likes than dislikes and you can use this to have a better idea of the kind of content that your audience expects from you. 

You can also view the comments section of your videos to see what people have to say.

Many YouTube channels reply to comments as a way to encourage engagement, so I would advise that you also do this frequently.

Users want to know that there’s a person on the other end who is paying as much attention to them, as they are to you. 

4. Audience

This section shows the size of your audience and allows you to view information regarding the people interacting with your content.

The metrics included here are Unique viewers, Average views per viewer, and Subscribers.

These are pretty self-explanatory and have been talked about already so I am going to focus on the other analytics included in this section such as:

• Watch time from subscribers: This can be very useful in determining whether the people who watch your videos have subscribed to your channel or not.

 

• Gender: This metric displays the age group and gender of your viewers. It can show what percentage of your audience is male or female.

 

• Top countries: Displays the countries and locations in which your videos are being watched.

 

• Subscriber bell notifications: Here you can see the percentage of subscribers who have enabled bell notifications to be alerted when you post a video on your channel.

5. Revenue

 

If you would like to join the YouTube Partner program, this section provides data on the revenue of your YouTube channel such as:

• Monthly estimated revenue: which shows the amount of money earned over any period selected. 

 

• Top earning videos: The ranking of videos in order of which ones made the most money for your channel.

 

• Top advertisement types: such as bumper advertisements, Pre-roll ads, and TrueView advertisements.

You should note that revenue reports are only available for YouTube partners as they are the ones who can monetize their channels.

To qualify for monetization, you have to gain 1000 subscribers and reach 4000 hours of watch time on your videos.

See More/Advanced Mode

You may have come across the See more/Advanced mode when scrolling past each segment.

This feature is present for each section and it allows you to categorize your data using filters such as device type, geography, traffic source, and many more.

It can be used to get a more detailed analysis of the information available.

As a beginner, it is not necessary to make use of this feature as the basic metrics are sufficient enough.

 

You are also able to search for specific videos and get metrics for them using this feature.

And if you wish, you can export your data using this tool.

All you need to do is select the metrics you want and the date range of the data.

While you can view up to 50 rows of data on the Analytics platform, this feature allows you to download a report of up to 500 rows of data.

Conclusion

Successful YouTube channels and YouTube marketing strategies are built on data.

With the data you collect over time, your users’ needs and preferences become more evident.

You can run tests (such as A/B tests) on the content format, visual elements, voice options, topics, segments, and so much more, and measure their performances from the Analytics dashboard. 

For beginners, Analytics data may seem overwhelming at the start. So start out paying attention to the basics.

In the beginning, you only need to concern yourself with reach, engagement, and audience.

As your channel grows, you can continue to learn about the more complex aspects of your YouTube dashboard. 

Overall, consider YouTube Analytics as a guide when making decisions towards your video marketing efforts on YouTube. 

PS…We hope this post has helped in understanding YouTube analytics. Please share this post and leave any comments or questions below.

 

Last updated on September 25, 2020

Where is your target audience right now?

Insight from DataReportal shows that 79% of internet users own a YouTube account.

And with a 2 billion monthly active user count, a good chunk of those accounts are being used to watch YouTube videos often. 

This makes YouTube the second most popular social media platform right now.

The advantages of connecting through social media platforms can never be overstated; the benefits robust, especially for businesses.

YouTube is one of these social media platforms that, when it comes to marketing, you cannot afford to ignore. 

78.8% (approx. 8 out of 10) marketers consider YouTube to be the most effective video marketing channel.

These numbers show that YouTube could be used as an instrument of success to any business owners.

Putting your business out there on YouTube equivocally means putting out there to a wide range of audiences who may like what you commodify, commercialize and advertise.

Setting up a YouTube channel like with other social media platforms is quite easy.

To help you through this process, we have compiled the different steps on how to create a YouTube channel.

 

How To Set Up Your Youtube Channel In Simple Steps

Creating a Google Account

Google is directly linked with YouTube, so to open a YouTube account, you need a Google account.

If you already have a Google account through Gmail or any Google service, then you can skip this step.

If your existing Google account was initially opened for private use, you could still proceed to use it for your brand or business.

Nevertheless, if you don’t want to use your personal Google account for your business, then you could always open another Google account.

Here’s how to get yourself a Google account:

• Go to the Google account creation page and you’ll be asked to input details such as first name, last name, username, email address, and your password. You may have to try a few variations before finding a unique address.
• Complete the setup as directed. 

Creating your YouTube business account

Your Google Account gives you direct access to a YouTube account; all you have to do is just link the Google account when you open YouTube.

Since your proposed YouTube account will be for official use, then you will have to select the option of creating a brand account rather than a personal one. 

A personal account has limited features and restricted operation interface when compared to that of a brand account.

A personal account only gives you the option of you being the only person that can operate the account.

Also, your channel will automatically have the same name as your Google account, which won’t be ideal and proper for the promotion of your business through your channel.

When you opt for a brand account and finally set it up, you can then customize your channel for your business.

And use the multiple operation handle to tweak and grant access to your team members who will be helping you.

Here’s how to customize your brand account. 

• Log in to YouTube using your Google account.
• Go your YouTube homepage, right-click on your profile icon and try any action that requires a channel page. If you don’t have a channel yet, the process to create one will start. 
• At this point, you’ll be required to click on the ‘Create New Channel’ option and enter your brand/business name.
• You can then go back to the channel’s page. You will find your business(brand) channel there. If you’ve previously opened a private channel, you’ll also find it as a separate entity.
• The brand account gives you access to YouTube tools such as YouTube analytics. This tool provides you access to analytical data from your channel. Here, you can see who’s watching your video, how long they watch for, their locations, and other usable data. 

Personalizing your channel

Your YouTube channel should be customized to fit into your current brand identity.

When an existing customer finds the channel, they should be able to immediately associate it with your brand.

And when a user’s first brand interaction is with your YouTube channel, they should also be able to associate it with your other communication channels when encountered. 

Here’s how to complete the basic customization needs of your YouTube channel. 

• Log in to your YouTube account via a computer – note that you won’t be able to edit your channel images from a mobile device.
• At the top right of your screen, you’ll find a profile icon. Click on it and select ‘Your Channel’.
• Click on the profile image to upload a picture for your brand channel. The photo should be your business icon or something closely related to your business.
• You can then select the banner image, which will then bring up an option: ‘Edit Channel Art’. This feature allows you to upload a cover art for your channel; the cover art will appear as a backdrop of your profile picture.
• Another important thing you may want to do is adding links to your YouTube channel banner. This simply gives access to your other social media account to people who will view your brand channel. This is essential because it provides a one-click option for viewers to explore your other social channels. 

Here’s the quick method to add links to your YouTube channel:

• Log in to YouTube on your computer(remember that you will only have access to these features through your computer and not your mobile device), go to your channel and select the option ‘Customize Channel’.
• Click on the ‘About’ option then you’ll see a few options pop out, scroll down and select ‘Links’.
• Click on the pencil-like icon hovering over your channel banner art.
• An option for you to fill your information about your website and other social media links will pop out. You can choose the amount of social media links you want to add.

Getting your first video out there

At this stage, your YouTube channel should look in line with your brand.

You need to start adding video content to support your marketing needs.

Here are the steps to upload your first video.

• Log in to your YouTube account(if you aren’t logged in).
• At the top of your screen, right beside the search bar, you’ll find an icon that looks like a little video camera. This icon is for the create a video or post option, click on it.
• You will automatically be redirected to the media file (of pictures, audio, and videos) that you currently have on your system. Select the video you will like to upload.

• Right before you upload your video, you’ll be asked to add a title and description. Your title should have no more than 100 characters and the description should have at most 5,000 characters. 
• Review the information provided, then click publish, and you’re all set to go. 

Creating a YouTube channel structure

Once you’ve started uploading videos to your channels, you might need to keep your content organized.

This makes it easier for users to find relevant content on your page without sifting through tons of content. 

For example, if you upload videos on specific commodities, you can categorize them on your channel like so: ‘Kitchen Utensils’, ‘Living Room Appliances’, ‘Bedroom Makeover’, e.t.c.

This makes your channel less stressful to navigate.

You can always restructure your channel at any time, but you should build the basic framework when you’re starting your channel.

Here’s how to create playlists for your videos:

• Sign-in into YouTube(if you’re already signed in then go back to the home page).
• Go to your channel and click ‘Customize Channel’.
• Click the ‘Playlist’ option.
• Enter the title for your playlist(you’ll be required to enter a title with no more than 150 characters).
• You’ll be taken to a screen for your new playlist, then click edit.
• Click add videos then click your YouTube videos.
• Select the video you want to include in your playlist and click the option ‘Add Videos’.
• Your YouTube playlists should be specific. All the videos included in a category should hold a common theme. For example, if your company provides a software service, one playlist may serve for tutorials, another for community content, another for highlighting product features, and so on. 

Now, you can proceed to create sections for the YouTube channel. 

• Sign in to YouTube on your computer, go to your channels and click ‘Customize Channel’. 
• At the bottom of the screen, select the ‘Add Section’ option. 
• You will find a content drop-down menu, choose a single playlist from there.
• Then under ‘Choose Playlist’, select ‘My Playlist’.
• A ‘Find Playlist’ dropdown menu will then appear, from here, choose the playlist you want to include in its section.
• Click done.

Create a channel trailer

A channel trailer is a video to introduce visitors to your channel.

That said, you can also add a video that you’d like to get more views to.

It should tell new visitors about the basic purpose of your channel and what kind of information they can expect from your videos.

Here are the steps on how to create a channel trailer:

• Log into YouTube and upload the video you want to use as your channel trailer.
• Click the ‘Customize Channel’ option.
• Click the ‘For New Visitors’ tab, then click ‘Channel Trailer’.
• Select the video to use as your trailer, then click ‘Save’. 

Add your team members

Now that your YouTube channel is active, you may need to add members of your team such as marketers, advertisers, and your content team.

• Sign in to your YouTube account.
• At the top right section of your screen, click on ‘My Profile’ (the profile icon).
• Choose ‘Settings’ in the drop-down menu.
• At the bottom of the page, choose the ‘Add or Remove Managers’ option.
• Click ‘Manage Permissions’.
• You will then be required to enter the details of your members who you would like to add. This includes their email addresses. You can also limit or extend their access permissions depending on what aspect of the channel you expect them to manage.  
• Click Invite to share access with your team members, then ‘Done’. 

Verify your account to gain more features and accesses

You need to verify your account to gain access to certain features, such as being able to upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes.

Here are the steps to follow to verify your YouTube account. 

• Go to youtube.com/verify
• You will be asked to select your country. The system will need to send you a verification code. So your location and message option; either text or an automated voice message will be required.
• Enter your phone number. 
• Enter the verification code you will receive. 
• Click ‘Continue’.

If the information you provide is correct, your channel will be verified.

And you’ll notice that option to upload longer videos and to generate thumbnails will now be made accessible to you.

Join the YouTube partner program and monetize your channel

This is completely optional, especially for business channels.

But many businesses also use their YouTube channel to generate extra revenue.

This revenue can be used to fund their marketing activities. 

Consider Slidebean, a pitch deck and presentation design platform.

Their YouTube channel is constantly updated with videos of their CEO, Caya, talking about business and investments.

With over 113 thousand subscribers, we can assume that Slidebean brings in significant revenue through ads. 

If you want to monetize your channel, note that your videos must collectively have at least 4,000 hours in watch time over the past 12 months.

The channel must also have at least 1,000 subscribers. 

Here’s how to apply to monetize your videos:

• Sign in to YouTube, click the profile icon at the right top.
• Choose ‘Creator Studio’ from the drop-down menu.
• Click ‘Channel’, then click Status and Features.
• Click the monetization box, then click enable.
• Follow the steps provided and read the T&C’s then agree to the program.

Your application to join the YouTube Partner Program will be reviewed and responded to within a few weeks. 

Summary

A Youtube channel is akin to your website and must be treated as such.

It’s great for branding and traffic, but, like a website, must have strong foundations first before it can grow.

Also realise that a channel does not need to go viral.

Subscribers and the like are just vanity metrics and cannot be cashed in at the end of the day.

A small channel, with laster targeted videos that rank and attract a specific pocket of people can work better than a huge viral channel many times.

We hope this post gets you off on the right track when creating your YouTube channel.

To speed up the process and get an over the shoulder look at how to implement all these steps then this beginner course is advised.

PS…We hope you liked this post on how to create a YouTube channel. Please leave any comments or questions below and share this article with your friends.

 

Last updated on September 25, 2020

We can easily say that video is currently the most powerful form of social content.

When we look at the top-performing social platforms (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube), videos make up the bulk of their content and engagement drivers.

As a business owner or marketer looking to improve your marketing performance, plugging into the top video marketing platforms, specifically YouTube, holds a ton of benefits.

About 80% of video marketers say that video has helped to increase their revenue and website traffic and 85% of those surveyed are YouTube as part of their marketing strategy in 2020. 

YouTube serves as the video search engine of the world.

With over 2 billion monthly active users, everyone, including your target audience, is using this platform to find and engage with video content from brands. 

But while YouTube offers endless possibilities, creating YouTube videos can be stressful and time-consuming.

Attempting to use YouTube as a marketing channel without a suite of the best tools will pose several problems along the way.

Especially if your marketing department consists of a one-person team.  

In this article, we outline 13 of the best YouTube tools that take the pain out of video editing, transcription, SEO, and more, and even give insights into best practices to use for video marketing.

Let us take a look at these 13 best trusted YouTube tools below.

The 13 Best YouTube Tools

Video Editing

1.      Vidnami

Vidnami is a web-based video editing tool that allows you to create marketing videos that look very professional in a short amount of time.

This tool uses AI software to convert your text to speech.

Its functionalities also allow users to create stunning videos with appropriate images and soundtracks.

 

Vidnami is perfect for marketers looking to create promotional or sales videos.

They offer a free 7-day trial with full access to their suite of tools. 

2.      Canva

Over 30 million people use Canva as a graphic design tool for creating posters, logos, social media graphics, and other types of visual content.

This tool is a lifesaver for those without the ability to hire graphic designers in-house. It saves you time and energy on trying to learn how to use Photoshop and other complicated design tools.

A free Canva account gives you access to over 8000 free templates and thousands of free photos and graphics.

There are also paid options to choose from if you need to upgrade from a free subscription.

Canva offers many free video templates that you can use to create professional-looking thumbnails and introduction videos for your YouTube channel.

It also allows you to customize ready-made designs with the option of changing colors, fonts, and effects to your liking.

3.      InVideo

Invideo is an online video editing software that can be used to create and edit videos in minutes.

With features such as 3000+ custom templates, automated text-to-speech, and over 1 million premium photos and templates, this tool makes it super easy to create different kinds of videos for your YouTube channel.

 

There is also a selection of intro and outro templates offered by Invideo to help you create the perfect call-to-action for viewers and possible clients.

You can make use of these to direct people to your already existing videos.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

1.      YouTube Studio

This is the dedicated YouTube platform for the overall management of a channel.

It serves as the dashboard for interacting with the audience, viewing analytics, and gaining insights that can help grow your channel.

You can also view real-time data on published content and manage the monetization of your channel.

This tool allows you to properly optimize your videos for search by appropriately naming the titles, tags, and descriptions for your videos.

YouTube Studio offers channel owners access to all the performance data they need.

This includes comprehensive data on watch time, view duration, and other analytical information about your videos.

If you have a YouTube channel, then there is no reason why you should not be using the resources available on YouTube Studio.

2.     TubeBuddy

Tube Buddy is one of the top tools for Youtube optimization and channel management.

This is a favorite choice amongst YouTubers because of the many features included to help with optimizing videos and saving time.

 

It can easily be installed as a browser extension and it integrates seamlessly with the Youtube website.

Some of the features offered include:

• Auto- translator
• Keyword Explorer
• Search Explorer
• Video A/B Tests
• …and more. 

Tube Buddy also offers tools for productivity, promotion, and data research which can be used to help grow your channel.

You can check it out here.

2.      Morningfame

Morning Fame is a keyword research tool that uses search data to support your keyword research on YouTube.

Just like the tagline says, this tool gives smarter analytics for YouTube and it helps you plan what content to create by showing what your audience is searching for/watching.

It also offers practical guides for optimizing your content to rank highly on YouTube.

 

Morningfame is currently an invitation-only platform and you can get a code by requesting it from someone who already has an account with the providers.

Here is an Invite Code: https://morningfa.me/invite/lqv4nq46

3.      VidIQ

VidIQ is an online analytical tool that makes it easier to improve video marketing on Youtube. It can be added as a chrome extension and is free for basic functionalities.

There’s also a premium version with more features available.

This tool can be used for keyword research by offering you data on the highest views, search volume, competition score, and views per hour for any topic.

Other features include analytics for competitors, trend alerts, productivity tools, and thumbnail generator.

Here is a list of all features and plans offered by this tool.

If you want to be able to view the most important analytics that can help with growing your YouTube channel, then this tool is the one for you.

4.      Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular web-based tool for backlink analysis and search engine optimization.

This platform provides many amazing features and tools for content marketers and business owners.

One such tool is the YouTube Keyword tool which allows you access to relevant keyword suggestions for your videos.

All you need to do is input the word you have in mind and get the report in the next second.

This is a great tool that also gives you filter options like the search volume, number of clicks per search, and even the return rate to show how many times people came back to search for content on a particular word.

Ahrefs offers a 7 day trial for this feature which you can access here.

Video Transcription 

1.      Rev.com

Rev is a transcription and captioning service which allows Youtubers to request for their videos to be captioned with the use of artificial intelligence tools. 

This tool basically provides the speech-to-text function.

Here is a detailed guide showing the steps to get accurate captions that will help your channel reach a wider audience.

Video Recording

1.    Camtasia

Camtasia is a software application for screen recording and video editing.

It is an all-in-one platform for anyone who wants to record and edit professional-looking videos.

It is great for marketers and business owners who would like to create tutorial videos or product reviews for their YouTube channel and it also offers the use of animations and transitions.

There is a free 30 day trial period with all features included and this application can be downloaded on Windows and iOS devices.

2.    OBS

Open Broadcaster Software is a streaming and recording program that can be used to record and live stream videos.

It is usually used for gameplay and can be used to share game streams on YouTube.

Some people find it difficult to use OBS to set up live streaming for their YouTube videos but not to worry, here is a guide to show you the way.

Audio Tools

1.     Epidemic Sound

Epidemic Sound is a music company providing royalty-free music to content creators all over the world.

If you have ever wondered how your favorite Youtubers always seem to have the right songs for their videos, then I am sure you would be interested in learning about this tool.

This platform offers free music on a subscription basis and gives you access to over 32,000 tracks and 64,000+ sound effects.

They offer a free 30 day trial period and you can check this page for their pricing options.

Conclusion

Effective and consistent marketing efforts require a host of tools that automate processes and generally make things easier.

The tools shared above are some of the best options available to business owners and marketers looking to save time and improve the quality of their Youtube content.

Most of them can be used for free and others offer affordable pricing plans.

 

PS…We hope you liked this post on the best YouTube tools. Please share it with your friends.

Last updated on September 2, 2020

Finally, your video is out there.

On YouTube! 

But it’s been a while and no one (apart from 10% of your WhatsApp contacts who received a link) has watched it yet.

You’re not going viral, or at least, getting comments from viewers you don’t know personally. 

Well, first, let me reassure you that your video has not failed.

300 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Including yours.

It’s easy for content to get lost in the noise.

But there are many ways you can prevent your video from falling into the YouTube void. 

In this article, we will be showing you how to get your videos to the top pages of your target viewers. 

9 Ways to Promote Your YouTube Video

 1. Rework your video title

Like shoes, your video titles will only get noticed when they’re fancy.

An interesting video title attracts more views, shares and like across the Internet.

Getting this right is very important for your brand and business.

So if you need to change your title after uploading, do it. 

To start, run a simple YouTube keyword search.

Why?

Because it shows you what your viewers are interested in.

Since viewers use specific keywords to enhance their search, you can craft the perfect YouTube video title around these keywords.

Here’s are some key things to consider when crafting your title: 

• Keep it short. Your point could be lost with a too-long title.
• Make it attention-grabbing
• Use words that trigger emotions, such as excited, shocked, e.t.c.
• Intrigue. This always works to get the click
• Add the keywords at the beginning of your YouTube video title.
• People like numbers 3 ways to…
• Include dates e.g. “Business Marketing Strategies for 2020!” reads as more relevant than “Business Marketing Strategies”. 

2. Create a blog for your YouTube channel

Data from Optinmonster shows that 77% of internet users read blogs.

This offers you an easy (and free) channel for attracting viewers to your YouTube channel.

You can build an audience using your blog, and redirect them to your YouTube channel when there’s a new upload. 

Your blog can also be used solely to build SEO that can be redirected to the YouTube channel.

Whenever you upload a new video to YouTube, upload a corresponding blog post using all the best SEO tactics you know.

This combined effort should mean combined rankings, offering your content better visibility.

Ensure that you use a video-friendly blog theme to make your video thumbnails attention-grabbing and clickable. 

3. Share your videos on other social media platforms

Connect with a wider community of internet users by sharing your YouTube videos on other social media channels.

Take advantage of the social presence your brand may have built and share the videos across your platforms.

You can also encourage your team members to share the videos on their socials. 

Another helpful strategy is to encourage your viewers to share your videos.

Some clever creators and businesses use a successful strategy to achieve this type of organic reach.

They encourage their viewers to leave comments or answer questions on the brand’s social media pages.

These comments are then mentioned and discussed in the next video.

People are usually excited to be mentioned or to have their questions answered by brands.

So what do they do?

They share the video to their social media followers and ask them to go watch.

Finding a unique way to apply this to your content strategy could help boost your YouTube video. 

4. Replace your custom thumbnail

Your thumbnail contributes significantly to a viewer’s first impression of your content.

Use a thumbnail from the most interesting scene in your video.

You want that one shot that captures the essence of the video.

If there’s nothing too exciting in the video, you can use visual elements such as words, emojis, and illustrations to amp the appeal. 

Also, remember:

• Be honest. Your custom thumbnail should reflect what’s in your video.
• Optimize your thumbnail to look great when displayed on mobile. 

5. Organize your YouTube playlist

The more content you upload to your YouTube channel, the easier it becomes for viewers to become overwhelmed.

Sort your videos into categories to make them easier to find.

This gives viewers a better experience and easier access.

And when users can find your videos easily, watch time should improve. 

Consider Evernote’s YouTube channel. 

Evernote is a note-taking and task management tool.

When you look at their YouTube playlist, they’ve sectioned their video content into specific categories.

From ‘Evernote Tutorials’ to ‘Mac Tutorials’ specifically targeted at Mac users.

These playlists not only save the viewer’s time but show them that there’s a lot more content they may like to watch. 

After creating your playlists, take the time to sort past uploads into the right categories. 

6. Leverage the power of Facebook advertising

Facebook ads also provide a viable channel to promote your brand’s YouTube channel.

However, it’s important to reserve your ad spend for videos with serious conversion goals.

For example, if you’re trying to build brand engagement, gain views and subscribers, launch a new product or service, or any other measurable goal you may have, then ads could be worth investing into. 

When it comes to ads, Facebook is one of the best choices because of its large audience and robust advertising platform.

Facebook records over 2.7 billion active users monthly, making it the most visited social media platform.

We expect that your target audience could make up a small fraction of that number. 

To promote a video using Facebook ads, it’s important to stay targeted about the audience you want to reach.

Apply everything you know about them (i.e. audience persona) when setting up your Audience Manager.

This way, your ad spend isn’t wasted on people who would usually not be interested in your content. 

7. Keep making (better) content

New videos drive views back to old ones.

When viewers find a video that they enjoy or that solves their need, they’re more inclined to search for other content from the same channel.

Which makes the combination of patience and effort very important in building a YouTube channel.

Consistently update your video content calendar and work on new videos.?

8. Take Advantage of Discovery Ads

Discovery ads are way to ‘guarantee’ you get top spot for any search term.

They also allow you to attach your videos to popular ones in your niche in the hope of getting clicks and views.

This video shows you how to set these ads up from start to finish

 

9. Bonus Tip

YouTube allows creators to see the average session duration on their videos.

This means how long someone spends watching your video before they leave.

If your session duration is short with a high bounce rate, one of the many causes could be unnecessarily long videos. 

To fix this, consider trimming your video.

Yes, you can edit a video after uploading it to YouTube without losing your views and link.  

Here’s how to edit your YouTube

video length after publishing: 

• Log into your YouTube account and open the Creator Studio. 
• Select the ‘Videos’ tab from the menu on the left and select the thumbnail on the video you choose to edit. 
• Select ‘Editor’ from the left-side menu
• Once you’ve loaded the YouTube editor, you can start trimming from either end of the video. This is where your video editing skills come in. The interface provided by YouTube is similar to any other video editing interface, so it’s easy to work with.

You can also edit multiple parts of a video using this same process.

Once you’re done with your edits, click ‘Save’ to view your edited video, and save.

YouTube will seamlessly update your published video with the new version. 

Anyone watching your video at that moment will not be interrupted.

The whole replacement process could take up to a few hours before the video is updated. 

Conclusion

Except for viral videos, most successful YouTube videos have a network of promotional efforts behind them.

On a platform with billions of hours of content, you need to be intentional about boosting the visibility of your YouTube videos.

And if you’ve published a currently unsuccessful video, the tips above should help you achieve better reach, views, and channel subscriptions.

PS…If you liked this post, then please share it with your friends.

Last updated on September 25, 2020

In today’s competitive digital space, videos are the best content tools to reach your target audience.

People watch more videos than they read blogs, they share videos 1200x more than other content, and they retain more information about a brand from videos than text-based content 

Now, this doesn’t just happen when they stumble on a video. 

Internet users actively search for video content about everything, including brands and products that they have an interest in.

Remember how people say, “If a brand doesn’t have social media, I can’t trust them?”.

We’re almost at the point where the audience and customers would say that about videos. 

In a digital world where brands use videos to establish their credibility and create relationships with their customers, your brand should not be left behind.

It’s also not just enough to create video content.

You have to build an audience base.

This article will focus on gaining YouTube channel subscribers who will watch, share, engage with, and even convert from your video content.  

Why Choose YouTube? 

Using YouTube’s resources is an effective way to reach a wider target audience and promote your product or services online.

Check out some of the interesting YouTube stats below. 

• 79% of internet users say they have a YouTube account, making the platform the largest and most popular video sharing site in the world.
• YouTube has over 1.9 billion registered users monthly. It’s a marketing magnet!
• Nearly eight out of ten i.e. 78.8% of users believe it is the most effective platform for video marketing.

Convincing right? 

Your target audience or demographic is most likely on YouTube.

You just need to find them.

So, how do you go about building your army of YouTube subscribers for your business? 

Let’s get started…

How to Get YouTube Channel Subscribers  

Pick a YouTube channel theme or niche.

Picking a theme for your YouTube videos is just like trying to plot the perfect novel.

The theme is the central idea to support your YouTube goals. 

Why is it important to pick your YouTube channel theme?

Themes help you add more structure to your content plan.

If your company offers a SaaS, then your theme could be tutorials for your users.

That gives you a good idea of the type of content to create.

You can now look at the frequent problems which users reach out to you for, and create tutorial videos to take that weight off your customer service. 

Ask people to subscribe

This probably sounds mundane in a world where we can hack/automate anything.

But the best way to get your first few subscribers is by simply telling people to subscribe.

They won’t if you don’t ask them to. 

Even when people start viewing your videos, encourage those viewers to subscribe.

Don’t assume because you churn out amazing content, they will make an automatic decision to subscribe.

Some will.

Some won’t.

Viewers are mostly concerned with what you are offering them.

If it’s interesting, they’ll stay till the end and bounce without tapping the subscribe button–unless you ask them to. 

There are subtle ways of doing this.

You can do a CTA (call to action), something like this: 

“Thanks for watching this video. If you want more videos like this, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button below for more!”

Use stickers on the screen to show exciting offers.

Then get to the point quickly–humans have a short attention lifespan–so cut out any irrelevant info.

Finally, after hooking and driving home your point, create a space or moment in your video where you ask viewers to subscribe.

Bonus tip: show your audience where to hit the big red subscribe button by using infographics in your video or a watermark.

You can also use an end screen.

End screens appear at the end of videos and feature large clickable subscribe buttons which makes them visible to viewers.

Promote your YouTube channel on social media by publishing regularly

The primary home of your videos may be YouTube, but don’t forget to share the content on other platforms available to you.

When you go live, make it a point to let your followers or audience on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms know about it. 

Use hashtags to widen your reach and vivid images to invite interests.

If you don’t have any, now’s the time to create one for your brand.

Managing multiple social media platforms can be challenging.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of your posts or engage your audience.

As a result, it is important to schedule your content.

Apps like Buffer offer add-ons that allow you to easily and effectively cross-promote your content using its inbuilt integrated social media feature.

We, however, created Embedinate to distribute our videos effectively.

Customize eye-catching thumbnails

Creating eye-catching thumbnails for your videos will not only expand your online presence but also leads to more views, clicks, and subscribers.

If you want clicks and traffic, don’t ignore the power of thumbnails.

Below are guidelines to follow when creating or customizing your thumbnail for your YouTube channel:

• Use high-quality images. Blurry or low-resolution images will ward off viewers. 
• Use custom thumbnails: If not, YouTube will snap a screenshot of your videos to use as thumbnails. Sadly, sometimes, these algorithms pick up just about anything from your video as a thumbnail. Because of this, your target audience can be misled even though you have a captivating title. To avoid this, ensure your thumbnails are professionally shot, well-edited and carry in them a good tease of what your video offers. 
• Direct your audience’s eyes to where you want them to focus on your thumbnails by varying the contrasts of the shot. This way, when they search for anything related to what your YouTube videos are offering, they won’t miss your video when it appears in their search results.
• All the thumbnails on your channel should be consistent. Viewers should be able to recognize your video in the search result without having to search too hard.
• Don’t be afraid to play with colors. Also, try to show emotion in your thumbnails. Let your thumbnails invoke intrigue, excitement, entertainment, or anything capable of luring viewers.

Interact with your audience and make friends

Likability wins.

If you want to attract people, you or your brand representatives should seem likable.

When you engage your audience, they will keep turning up when you release new videos. 

And guess what? 

Your level of likability increases with time.

Engaging with your audience is very easy.

Like Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, YouTube allows you to connect with your audience by liking, commenting, or replying. 

When you do this often your online presence will rank higher than most YouTube videos that ignore this golden rule.

It sends a positive signal to YouTube.

More importantly, when you interact with your audience, you’re bonding with them.

It’s like a relationship within a community where you know everyone and it’s so easy to get along with them. 

Another exciting advantage of interacting with your audience is that they will provide you plenty of free ideas on what to create for your next videos.

Use keywords in your video titles and define your niche

Did you know that YouTube videos also show up in Google search results?

Here’s an example from the search “how to make banana bread”. 

 

This means that your videos are likely to pop up in a traditional Google search 

There is a ‘but’ though.

YouTube videos will appear in search engines when they contain keywords viewers are looking for.

Just like using keywords wisely when writing a blog post, you must do the same for your YouTube videos.

This helps promote your videos’ viewership and make them appear in search results faster when your audience searches for keywords tied to your videos.

For example, if your YouTube channel is focused on car sales, repairs, and maintenance, doing a keyword search before uploading your video might reveal what your audience is searching for.

Queries such as: trading up your old car or should you repair your car before selling it, might pop up.

Tube Buddy is a fantastic way to manage your YouTube channel:

You can use this to create more content that meets the demands of your audience, boosting your online presence and no. of subscribers.

Some of the best YouTube SEO practices that’ll get you more subscribers are:

• Add target keywords in your video title and description
• Don’t forget to mention target keywords in your YouTube videos. Saying target keywords in your videos will help YouTube understand what your content and channel is all about.
• Improve your keyword research and target your audience effectively by using Google Adwords Keywords Planner.
• Use tags in your video post, even in thumbnails. Tags are words or phrases which determine the context of your site, regardless of how they are arranged. Tags like any other keyword will boost your online presence, increasing your number of viewers and at the same time your subscribers.

Create YouTube videos playlists

Over time your YouTube videos will be all over your channel.

This is good.

But, if they’re scattered all over, it becomes difficult for your target audience to navigate through your channel and find the video they are looking for. 

Eventually, they will get frustrated and look somewhere else.

You don’t want that. For this reason, organize your videos in playlists.

It’s simple.

Just like you organize your songs in folders in your favorite music app, and give them a title, it’s the same technique as the one on YouTube.

Not only do playlists afford you the ability to organize your videos in a folder-like manner, but they also appeal to your viewers’ desire to binge-watch them.

Step it up a little by adding cool themes and popular videos.

Since playlists are good for YouTube SEO, you can organize videos with similar keywords and titles together with another with similar descriptions.

This way you create a perfect algorithm that catapults your videos to the top of search results when viewers search for your keywords, increasing your YouTube videos views and ultimately your number of subscribers too.

Extra Ways to Get more Youtube Subs

There are some other ways that, over time, can help you get more subscribers.

Here are some of these ways

Use the Auto Subscription link

Rather than sending people to your channel in the hope they click the subscribe button, put this at the end of your link

?sub_confirmation=1

To use the above modifier, you must add it to end of your channel URL like so:

1. Go to your YouTube url/channel name. This is an example of this. https://www.youtube.com/user/adampayne75

2. Copy and paste or type in the modifier ?sub_confirmation=1 at the end of your channel name to look like this: https://www.youtube.com/user/adampayne75?sub_confirmation=1

3. Use this link which goes to your channel with a pop up that they ned to click to see your content. Once they do, they’ll be subscribed.

To make the link look nicer, Pretty Links works brilliantly for WordPress users.

Add your subscribe button to your thank you page

You should be using YouTube for Lead generation as it’s one of the best traffic sources if done right.

Here is a video on this:

Naturally, when people opt-in to get your lead magnet, they’ll be redirected to a thank you page like the image below.

This is a perfect chance to get some more subscribers by adding a button that asks them to subscribe.

Add your subscribe button to your website

Whenever someone visits your website you’ll want to give them at last an option to subscribe to your channel like the example below:

To get this widget, you first need to go here: https://developers.google.com/youtube/youtube_subscribe_button

Enter your channel name or ID and if correct, it should populate automatically.

From there, just copy the code and paste it onto a page or place on your website that allows for it.

Conclusion

Growing a YouTube channel from scratch can be challenging, but it’s doable.

With persistence and the guide above, your channel can reach and maintain an upward trajectory.

And in return, you should be rewarded with your ROI goals and even become an authority in your niche on the platform.

PS…If you enjoyed this post about How to get YouTube Channel subscribers, then please share it on Facebook or give it a Tweet.

Last updated on September 25, 2020

Personalization is one of the many approaches used in branding.

Recently, we‘ve seen a growth (and recorded success) of personalized videos for brand promotion, marketing, and sales.

In the latest Evergage trends in personalization report, 98% of marketers agreed that personalization helps advance customer relationships.

70% of these marketers also claimed that personalization has a “strong” or “extremely strong” Impact.

Videos have been used for a while now as a way to engage with people, add dynamism to content and to reach a wider audience.

People enjoy watching videos, but that doesn’t mean that they would be happy to watch any video.

The audience is becoming more preferential in what they would like to see from brands.

Specifically, they want, now more than ever, content that relates to them.

An eMarketer report showed that 93% of internet users said that they weren’t getting any relevant marketing communications, and almost as many as 90% were annoyed by irrelevant messages.

This shift in audience preference is why personalization in videos should be a necessary addition to your strategy.

Personalized videos are changing the industry of content creation in a unique way.

In the past, it used to be that brands created a message that appealed to a certain demographic of people and hoped for the best engagement.

Today, brands are trying to interact with every single person who comes in contact with their content.

The needs, views, opinions, and decision making processes of each person matter.

And rather than delivering broad messages, individual-specific messages are developed and deployed.

Some examples of personalized messages include geo-targeted offers, recommendations based on user history, and other smart ways to use data.

Such personalized messages can be integrated into the video.

This is important because video is proving to be the most effective content driver for engagement among audiences in most target groups.

Is Personalized Video Scalable?

With text content, it’s pretty easy to execute personalization in marketing.

For a basic strategy, all you need is a customer’s data (such as name, position in company or geo-location), your message framework, and software to ensure that every message reads “Hi *customer’s name*”.

Even product recommendations and sales offers can be personalized easily because they are automated.

With videos, marketers may feel stuck on personalization tactics.

How do you make a personalized video for your thousands of customers/audience members?

Personalized videos are scalable, but the technology works a bit differently.

Of course, you can’t remake the same video thousands of times to say “Hi *customer’s name*”.

However, you can create for highly specific groups containing people in the same demographics with the same pain points.

The implication is that your team will be producing more videos than the average brand marketing team.

The benefits come into play when you have a diverse library of videos that can be used to reach all the demographies in your leads list.

Benefits of Personalized Video

Interpersonal appeal to consumers

Personalized videos allow you to connect with (potential) customers in an interpersonal way.

Watching the video should leave them with the impression that you were speaking to them directly.

In fact, the customer should be left wondering, “This product/service was made just for me”.

This type of personal connection leaves an impression.

Its effect is longer lasting than the hundreds of ad videos they come across every day.

Since you will be using platforms with high ad traffic (such as YouTube or Instagram), your content needs the power to stand out.

Personalized videos are still uncommon enough that they should make viewers stop mid-scroll and pay attention.

Improve engagement

According to Planable.io, personalized videos have a 16x higher click-to-open rate and around a 4.5x increase in unique click-throughs.

They’ve been proven by marketers to drive up engagement such as click-through rates, sharing, and even conversion.

It’s important to remember that customers are tired of seeing the same old messages.

Being creative and personal is the best way, right now, is the best way to gain their attention.

People are also motivated to take action when your information is tailored to their needs.

For example, let’s assume that your company offers extermination services.

You can create generic videos promoting your services, or you can create different videos for potential clients in various industries, such as restaurants.

When I, a restaurant owner, sees your video, I’m more inclined to believe that your team is specialized in removing pests from restaurants.

I may trust you, an exterminator who works with restaurants, better than I trust a generic exterminator (even if they also work with restaurants).

The more you personalize your videos, the better you’ll stand out from the competition and win engagement.

Drive conversions

Videos deliver messages clearly and quickly because viewers can passively watch and still get the needed information.

This makes it easier to promote your call-to-actions and improve conversion.

With personalized videos, you have another advantage; you’re delivering highly-specific content to the viewer.

With personalized videos, you can achieve the following conversion goals:

• Capture new leads
• Build brand trust
• Make a direct sale
• Or collect more data for better targeting

Build better relationships with your audience

Data from Evergage shows that 98% of marketers agree that personalization helps to advance customer relationships.

Your audience and customers want to know that they’re important to you, rather than another name in your spreadsheet.

81% of people say that they want brands to get to know them and understand when to approach them.

With personalized content, you can show (potential) customers that you’ve spent some time learning about them.

This will also hint at the potential of your product or service for solving their specific needs.

Even after the customer makes a purchase, personalized videos can still be used for retention.

As a business, you don’t want to consistently spend the bulk of your budget on customer acquisition.

By retaining customers, you can always upsell them or create new offers to suit their needs.

How to make Personalized Videos

Now that we understand the benefits of personalization, the next step is learning how to make it happen.

Specifically, how to add personalization in videos.

The most important tools are your creativity and access to consumer data.

With both, your team can start testing out personalized video types and strategies.

Switch out your introductory call for a video

If your team usually starts its interaction with a new lead through a phone call, personalized videos offer a better strategy.

Most people are now wary and frankly tired, of promotional calls.

Instead of doing this, ask your agents to make one-minute videos stating the lead’s name and showing their interest in speaking to them in the future.

When you think of it, they may spend less time making those videos than they will on call and wait periods.

You can either do this using a person or through illustrations.

Like the example below.

In this example, the brand’s designer already had a video template.

All they had to do was edit a second’s clip to show the client’s name.

With this template, they may have reached thousands of clients and left a lasting impression.

If this proves too time-consuming or expensive for your team, you can make simple videos using a person.

The important thing is to show that a real-life person from your company knows the lead’s name and has taken their time to leave a personal message.

Doing this alone can make a potential customer feel some obligation to your brand before they even make a purchase.

Separate your target audience into specific groups

As you study the data collected from your customers and audiences, you will start to find details that can be used to group them into specific categories.

These details are usually known as audience demographics.

These groups are found in every business’ audience for two reasons.

First, it could be that your marketing efforts are targeted at certain demography.

If you market towards students and people in your early 20s, those will most likely make up the majority of your customers.

However, there’s the second group of people who will seek out your brand.

They may want your solutions but not for the reasons you expected.

For example, you may develop a mobile tech repair business for young people who are used to having products and services that come to them.

However, you may be receiving inquiries from aging people who need devices fixed, but aren’t mobile.

It’s important to take all contact points into account when creating a personalized video strategy.

Once you have the details in a spreadsheet, start assigning leads and customers to groups.

You can have as many groups as needed.

Remember that the whole point of this exercise is to avoid generic marketing messages.

Each group should be set up in a way that every video created (for them) is relevant to all members.

With groups in place, you can start the creative process.

Create unique video content for each group

Depending on the products and service you offer, your team can start the creative process of writing out marketing messages and their accompanying visuals.

There are several examples to draw inspiration from if you’re stuck.

Here are two of them:

This clever Marketo summit video offered a fun twist; your name right there on the tab.

Also, seeing your name right beside Ann Handley and Will Smith was obviously all the convincing their leads could have needed.

If you want to create a video like the one above, explore video personalization tools such as HippoVideo and SundaySky.

With these tools, a seemingly manual process can be automated easily.

Personalization doesn’t only occur on the marketing and sales level. It could also happen as post-sale support.

An example is what Elementor, a website builder product offers.

Their YouTube page contains dozens of short tutorials showing users how to navigate the issues they might come across while using the product.

This is their way of saying, “We knew that you may have this problem. Here’s the solution we already prepared for you.”

On one hand, they’ve managed to take a lot of stress off their sales team.

On the other hand, users can feel relief at the sight of the needed solution, created by the company, when they type their issue into the search bar.

Use audience targeting tools for video ads

Both Facebook (for Facebook and Instagram) and YouTube ad platforms have very robust targeting tools.

Advertisers can use both to determine who exactly sees their video ads.

You can create micro-targets using demographics, interests, behaviors, location, languages, and so on.

This offers you better control, so you’re sure that each advert gets to the right group.

While conversion is usually the goal for targeted ads, make sure to use these ads to the most benefit.

By this, I mean to analyze the data from your analytics tab.

Which ads performed better? Where did you get the most clicks?

Where did you get the most conversion? Which demography does the highest engaging group fall under?

All these details can be helpful when tweaking both paid and organic marketing efforts for better results.

Personalization in marketing is data-driven, so always collect and analyze good data when possible.

Personalize your team too

We’ve talked about personalization from the point of the customer, but it also works from the point of the company.

Buyers no longer want to interact with nameless, faceless organizations.

They want to know who is behind a company, their level of diversity, their values, and so on.

So don’t be scared to put your team in front of the camera.

Lush cosmetics has a good strategy for this.

Their social media and YouTube pages are filled with videos of their staff at work.

You can see people mixing ingredients, hand molding products, packing it up, and so on.

They also make YouTube videos where staff members pick out some bestselling products and tell customers how those products are made.

This level of behind-the-scenes access almost makes you feel like you know exactly what is going on, even if you don’t.

Using this strategy may improve the level of trust and loyalty which your customers feel for the brand.

It also offers immediate evidence of credibility whenever a potential lead finds your brand.

Conclusion

By adding personalization to videos, you’re going a step ahead of the competition to prove value to your audience.

From market trends, we can tell that video is currently the most important type of content.

But that means everyone is currently doing video.

To gain a competitive advantage, adding personalization in your videos is a great strategy to adopt.

Last updated on September 25, 2020

In the early days of online marketing, brands were able to toot their own horns and earn the trust of their target customers.

Today, customers no longer fully trust brands’ marketing messages.

In a HubSpot study, 55% of respondents said that they now trust companies less than they used to.

And this number keeps dropping.

So who do customers trust? 

The answer is other customers.

We’ve seen increasing growth in people’s dependence on reviews and recommendations in their purchase decision process.

84% of customers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

While about 81% of customers trust recommendations from family and friends over those from companies. 

If your customers trust reviews so much, then your marketing efforts should be directed towards putting out as much positive review content as possible.

In this article, we’ll be explaining how to do this with videos. 

Review videos are very popular, and many internet marketers use them on different platforms like YouTube, brand websites, and social media.

This is because review videos offer proven benefits when included in a company’s marketing efforts. 

Benefits of Review Videos

Review videos explain to the audience better.

Users want more information about the various products that they consider buying.

The best way to understand how a product works and the available features before making a purchase is by finding a few reviews. 

While there are reviews in article format, videos can show them the product in a way that is more detailed than an article.

The creator of the video can explain the features of the products, test it in front of the camera, and check if it works as expected.

Of course, every niche is different, but the main concept is the same.

Video reviews are more detailed and informative than any other type of review.

Brand exposure

If you want to build a brand, these videos offer a decent strategy to gain attention from a targeted audience.

This involves users who may be interested in buying products in your niche because they searched for these products.

Some may convert immediately, while some of them will follow you on different platforms or just remember the name of the brand if they see it again.

The more exposure you get for your brand, the better results you will get in the long term.

Videos help to build trust 

When people see your videos and hear your opinion about different products in your niche, you will start building a reputation as an expert.

People trust experts, and you can get results faster if you do your research on each product and can give the information they want.

Building trust has multiple rewards for every content creator or marketer.

You can get more followers, engagement on your videos, new leads, and more sales, which is the final goal of every marketing strategy.

Product reviews can be profitable 

While the benefits listed above are for brands, you could also be an independent creator who makes review videos.

Many online marketers/creators create product reviews because they want to make money from their reviews directly.

The audience of these videos is really targeted, and the marketers can easily add a few affiliate links to a product page.

Videos have better viral power

Virality is not predictable nor easy to achieve.

But if there are many people who are interested in a specific product, it can get a lot of shares and views on the internet.

There are several factors that can influence the success of your videos. 

If we assume that your pool of potential buyers is large, you need to create a quality video review and promote it on different platforms.

Good timing can be extremely helpful as well.

As a content creator, creating one of the first reviews on a specific product could give you a better chance of visibility or even virality.  

How to Create Review Videos

As a business, I would advise that you do not use your branding too heavily in review videos.

It’s best to encourage your loyal customers to create review videos that offer an organic appeal.

 

You can work to make the needed resources available to them but stay away from scripted content.

Your target audience wants to know that these videos are real accounts of people’s experiences with your brand. 

You can also work with content creators and influencers who make a living from publishing review videos.

These creators have a good idea of what their audience wants, so they may be better detailed when explaining features or functionalities. 

If you’re a content creator, here is a guide (or checklist) on how to make a good quality review video. 

Choose a product of interest to your audience

The first step is to choose a product for your review.

If you plan to create many of these videos in the future and have the budget, you can choose an entire category of products.

What you choose will determine a few critical factors like the competition and the audience.

When you review a popular product, the chances are that many marketers have created similar videos.

So, you may not rank very high in the search results.

On the other hand, the traffic from highly searched products could find your video and push it upwards in the SERP.

The best way to achieve this result is by reviewing products (in your niche) that have gained a significant boost in attention recently.

Google Trends is one of the best tools to find such product searches.  

Outline the structure of the video 

A script or a cue page could make all the difference in the quality of your video.

In both cases, you have a plan for the video.

You know what you’re supposed to say and the sections to emphasize.

It’s also harder to forget an important point when you’ve already noted it down.

If you try to figure it out while you film the video, it is possible to lose the message or structure behind the video. 

Use good quality filming tools 

The quality of your videos portrays the quality of your brand.

And if you’re making a paid review video, you will also be portraying the quality of the advertiser’s brand.

With this in mind, your visuals and content should be of an impressive standard.

You don’t need all the high-end equipment to get started.

A good quality smartphone camera or DSLR camera should be enough.

If you can’t afford light tools, film outside or in front of the window when the sun is at its peak.

You can also get creative with your microphone and use one of the many free editing software available to put your work together. 

Put a face to the voice, if possible  

You have the option to show a product without showing yourself.

These videos can also work if you do a good job.

However, you will get the best possible results if you put yourself in front of the camera.

Viewers tend to trust people on the internet that they can see.

For this reason, many marketers add images of themselves, even on blogs and social media.

It’s all about building trust that will result in better results.

People buy things from people that they like, and it is easier to achieve this result when they can see you.

Explain everything

Your viewers want to learn the details of the product.

The best way to give them what they want is by explaining everything.

You can assume that they know nothing and help them to understand the product.

When they know how exactly it works and what to expect, they are more confident to take action.

Also, it’s important to mention the negatives of a product and not only the positives.

If your viewers buy a product and find issues that you did not mention in your video review, you may lose their trust. 

Lastly, you want to show them and not just tell them.

It’s easy to forget to show the things that you mention and explain.

It can confuse them or create even more questions.

When you show the features of the product or how it works, you can eliminate most of the questions and doubts regarding a product.

Add a Call-To-Action

Online creators and marketers should have a goal for every piece of content that we create.

Your goal may be to build an email list, improve brand awareness, or make direct sales.

However, the viewers of a video do not know your expectations for them.

By adding a call-to-action, they know what to do after the video stops playing.

For example, if you want to get sales from your video reviews, you can mention the affiliate link in the description section.

For subscribers or followers on social media, you can add the relevant link as well.

It’s completely fine to ask, at the end of the video, that viewers take a certain action. 

Publish on the right platforms

Ensure that your preferred platform(s) are also favored by your target audience.

Conduct your research beforehand to know where your audience ‘hangs out’ online.

The structure of your content also matters. Long-form videos tend to perform better on YouTube and Facebook.

Short videos do better on Instagram, and increasingly, TikTok.

Also, a rectangular video is better for YouTube, while square and vertical videos are better suited for social media apps. 

How to Improve the Reach of Your Review Videos

Publishing your review video is just one part of the work. Next, you will have to promote the video to improve its reach.

About 300 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube alone every minute.

Think of how much more goes online on other social sites.

If you don’t give your video the best chance possible, it may get lost in the noise. Here are a few tips on how to promote your review videos. 

Optimize for search engines 

Every platform has its own search engines with its unique algorithm rules.

Videos can get ranked on search engines and get traffic for a long time.

They could also never appear on the top search pages.

 

Whether you use YouTube, Google, Instagram, or other social platforms, take some time to study how their algorithms work.

You should learn a few tweaks that could make your videos perform better than they already do.

Keep in mind that these rules change often, so keep your ears open for notifications on algorithm changes in your preferred publishing channels. 

Share your videos more than once  

Upload your videos to as many relevant platforms as you may have access to.

You can also break up the content to highlight different sections.

This way, you’re passing along new information with each upload, even though it’s technically the same video.

Quantity works on social media because of the big number of users and posts.

The more content you create, the better your chances of reaching a wider audience.

Use interesting titles and descriptions 

A captivating title can make a huge difference in your engagement metrics.

If we assume that the quality of the videos is good enough, the titles and descriptions can improve the clicks to your videos.

Your titles should not be misleading because it would create the wrong results.

However, you can include power words, numbers, and try to create emotions with your copy.

On some platforms, you can add thumbnails that help the visitors to understand more about the video.

This is another opportunity to get more clicks by using relevant images and quality graphics.

Engage with your audience 

Social network platforms allow you to engage with other people.

You can read their reactions to your videos, answer questions, and provide further information.

This is an opportunity to add even more value.

Engagement is important because you prove to the audience that there’s a real person behind the brand or the account.

This human connection is important for establishing trust.  

Fake Reviews

Despite all that we have written about so far, the internet is, unfortunately, full of fake reviews.

Many people who review a product have not actually seen it, and are only trying to get an affiliate commission.

While this is unavoidable, potential buyers should do as much due diligence as possible.

After watching a video, you can then read both the 5 star and one star reviews on Amazon if this is where the product is sold.

if the video is reviewing a digital offer or something not on Amazon, then there are clues to whether the video really has your best interests at heart.

Things to watch out for

An unnatural view count.

There are many videos online that have several thousand views while other videos for the same product have a few hundred.

For products that are not so well known, it’s not possible for the view count to be what is is on some videos.

Add to that the hundred plus likes and it’s easy to spot a faker.

Many black hat marketers use tools or services to bloat the view count and even go as far as using proxy accounts to write their own comments using fake personas in the hope that you’ll be tricked out of a commission.

Now, the other argument is this method helps smaller brands get to the top of the search engines to put good offers in front of people’s eyes.

Ultimately, it’s up to the viewer to make the choice as to whether they want to buy or not.

Conclusion

The scope of video marketing grows with each day.

Right now, customers want to hear the truth about brands from other customers.

They’re even willing to give their trust at face value as long as the person speaking is just another everyday consumer.

As a brand or content creator, this offers you a whole world of marketing possibilities.

Using video reviews, you can reach these potential customers, speak the language that they understand, and achieve your marketing targets.

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