Is Video the Key to Social-SEO Success?
With the demands of the almighty search engine and social media network gods changing what can seem like every day, it is tough to keep your brand's online marketing efforts up to par.
You should always be in-the-know as to whether the content you are producing for your brand's online channels is what is going to get it the exposure and engagement that it needs to succeed.
Facebook now places heavy priority on video content.
Currently, video makes up about 64 percent of all internet traffic, and by 2019 is expected to grow to 80 percent of all traffic. Plus, the television advertisement industry is one worth $70 billion in the United States. Of course, the social networking giant wants to deem video content king and fight for the right to that lucrative prize.
You should incorporate video into your brand's social media marketing strategy in order to remain competitive in your industry. Use it to be seen and to be relevant.
Why specifically do my brand's social media accounts need to include video content?
Posts containing links and content that contains images are simply not enough anymore. To avoid getting your brand lost in the sea of the latest Facebook algorithm, you need to include video content in what it is doing online.
Facebook now takes note of how much time users spend on any given piece of content, and spreads out the content that is posted by a single publisher. Because of these two things, video receives preference and can be used by your brand to best engage its audience.
This algorithm favoring video content comes as part of Facebook's Feed Quality Program, an effort to improve people's user experiences by allowing them to rate their time on the site and provide their feedback. Facebook has been able to recognize that generally, a video attracts the attention of a user and encourages them to spend more time with it than would be spent with other types of content.
With 65 percent of people being visual learners, information they are able to gather via video messaging will more easily be retained than information they read or hear.
One single minute of online video is equivalent to the effect of 1.8 million written words. This works to a brand's advantage now that Facebook not only prioritizes time spent on content pieces, but spreads out content published by a single brand as well. What you otherwise might have to break up into several pieces of content (that would get spread out by Facebook's algorithm and may not end up being seen by your followers), you can instead put all into one video that will display itself in the news feeds of users.
What elements do my videos need to include?
When it comes to deciding what type of video you should create for your brand's social media and what personality you want it to showcase - before ever thinking about the SEO of it all - you have options. You can make your video an educational resource for your audience, giving them helpful information. You could make a video that is humorous and serves as entertainment. You could even put together a video to inspire, featuring someone who is relatable and has a great story to tell. Just make sure what you choose includes the following elements.
Professionalism
Be sure to film your video in good lighting and to edit it cleanly. A dimly lit video and/or one that is choppy and poorly put together will lessen the credibility of your brand. Plus, people will be far less likely to view the video in its entirety if it has not been done well.
Catered to the Autoplay feature
On the news feeds of those who have Facebook's Autoplay enabled, your video will begin to play from the beginning when they scroll to it in their news feed. Make sure that the first couple seconds of your video include some movement so that it catches people's attention as it begins to play automatically.
A good thumbnail image
Be sure that the thumbnail image for your video is one that is relevant to what the video is about and that will entice social media users to press play and watch it.
How can these videos boost the online reach of my brand?
The videos that a brand develops for social media play a much larger role in the marketing efforts of a brand than what may first meet the eye. Repurposing the videos can allow them to provide both SEO and referral traffic boosts.
SEO
Positively contribute to the SEO of your brand by keeping a few simple things in mind as you develop video content for social media:
Integrate video to your website
When ranking sites, search engines look for those that are rich with media, will provide value and be of interest to users. Consumers expect video content from brands online, and including it on your site will demonstrate to search engines that your site is one of quality and rich in its media/content.
Use keywords
Simply stuffing keywords into the video description does not work as well as it once did. Even so, using relevant keywords in your video title, description, and tags can be helpful for increasing exposure.
Include a transcript of the video
Along with the use of proper keywords, having a transcript of your video will aid in the rankings your brand gets from search engines. Be sure that the transcript has titles, headlines and subheadings for maximum SEO value.
Interconnect promotion
Whenever you share media on a site like YouTube, also share the video on Facebook, mention it on Twitter and send out a related Instagram post. These are all quick steps that over time can add up to increased visibility. Just like a blog post, you should promote your video far and wide to maximize exposure.
Content marketing
Content marketing reigns supreme, being utilized by a whopping 88 percent of B2B marketers. Make sure your brand has a solid content marketing strategy to keep it from falling behind, and be certain that strategy includes video. The use of video in content marketing can lead to engagement and conversions on which your brand can not afford to miss out. Get the videos your brand develops to do these things for you by having them:
Give value to the viewer
Engage viewers and encourage conversions by giving your video's audience what they want to see. Entertain them, answer a question that they have, or show how what you have to offer could directly benefit them.
Give an identity to your brand
Make anyone who sees your video content recognize what your brand is about and remember it in the future. Use your video to promote your brand identity.
Don't be left underestimating the power that video holds within the world of digital marketing. Develop video content that is true to your brand and its target market, and then help it live up to its full potential through strategic promotion.
