Big news for any sites creating online video content. Though videos seem so old-fashioned when it comes to social mediums like Instagram and Twitter, the demand for this segment of digital media is clearly high. This week, Walt Disney agreed to acquire online video producer and distributor Maker Studios for $500 million in cash.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal, which has been expected for several weeks, gives Disney “a strong foothold in the burgeoning but financially uncertain market for channels on Google Inc’s YouTube.”
Skillcrush writer Amber Horsborough pointed out earlier this year that web videos are all the rage. YouTube has more than 1 billion unique visitors per month, and by 2017, video traffic will account for 69% of all Internet traffic. Maker has 55,000 channels, 380 million subscribers and 5.5 billion video views a month on YouTube. Its audience is largely made up of the young, digital-first demographic watching less television and other traditional media.
So what does this mean? This means that if you have a business or are proposing ideas for your company’s site or just want to build an amazing blog, you need some original web video content. It can be a very effective marketing tool that will help companies relate to and engage with their customers and potential new ones. It is also a perfect platform for interaction.
So how do you approach doing this when you don’t really know what you are doing? Try these starter tips:
1. What is your objective?
What is your objective? Plan your video content around that. What do you want your brand to say? How will you include your logo? How will you advertise within the video? Are you educating your viewer? Is this an endorsement? What will the CTA be? How long will it be? Will it work on mobile?
2. Use what’s out there.
Sites like Vimeo, Groovy Gecko, Brainshark, Filmbinder, Amazon and many more provide the technology and tutorials to help you learn to create and upload videos. If you want to produce your own videos, two options are Adobe Visual Communicator and QuickTime Pro.
3. Create an on-demand video, and post it on your website.
Once you learn how to make a video, start slow. According to TechRadar.com, try creating an on-demand video, but stream live with live Q&A. That way, the video part is still on-demand, giving you full editorial control, but you give the audience the feeling of it being live. And you can interact with them through the Q&A. Don’t go live immediately. When you feel comfortable, then do some live segments.
4. Use a CDN.
Always use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for delivery. According to TechRadar, CDNs have server clusters around the world and essentially move the video files as close to the viewer as possible. This makes the experience for the viewer so much better.
5. Have quality presenters.
If you are using actors, spokespeople or even a voiceover, you need to make sure they are professional, knowledgeable and know what your message or CTA is inside out.
6. Measure the results.
You need a clear objective with web videos for your site, but then you need to measure your success. It can’t just be click metrics. The number of views, conversions and gross rating points (GRP) also need to be looked at too. That is what will show what kind of impact you are making on your viewer.
7. Share it.
Spread the video love. After uploading it on your site, be sure to share it on YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, RSS feeds and Social media sites.
This piece was written by Meredith Lepore and is republished by permission.
Image Credit: CC by Ronaldo Ferreira
