It's time to get your videos watched!
But first, let's talk about the elephant in the room: You're not getting the views you want. Or are you?
The truth is, there are a lot of reasons why no one is watching your videos. It could be that they're all so good that people are saving them for later, and they keep missing their release dates because they get distracted by other content or forget to check back. Or maybe it's because they're so bad that people don't even know what to do with them—there are so many other good videos out there, so why bother?
Either way, we've got some tips for making sure your videos get seen.
Video length is too long
We're not going to beat around the bush here: people have a short attention span. But you know what? That's okay. It's good, even.
Because if you're like us, you've realized that focusing on a single thing for too long can lead to boredom and frustration. So when it comes to video content, we want to make sure we're not wasting our viewers' time.
That's why we think keeping things short is key -- especially when it comes to video content! After all, research shows that people have an eight-second attention span, and two-thirds of consumers prefer videos under one minute in length.
So if you want your viewers' brains on loan, be respectful of their time and keep it short!
You're targeting the wrong audience
If you want to create a successful video marketing strategy, you need to start with a clear idea of who your audience is and what they want.
Then ask yourself this: “What the heck does this have to do with my brand?” And while there might be a way to incorporate a puppy into that, it has to be relevant to your audience.
If you can answer those questions, then you’re on your way to creating visual content that will actually help your business grow.
Wrong channel for your videos
You may be wondering how you can get the most out of your video marketing strategy.
If you want to get your message out there, it's important to make sure that you're using the right channels. If you're just posting on YouTube, for instance, and ignoring Facebook -- well, you might be missing out on a key portion of viewers.
But where should you post videos? It depends on who you want watching. For example, Generation Z -- one of the youngest online demographics -- “can’t live without YouTube” and is over 1.4X more likely to consume content on that channel than on Facebook.
Finding the right place to share your videos is important, but it can be tricky if you don't understand which channels are best for your brand.
That's why it's helpful to figure out where different segments of your target audience spend their time online -- which can help dictate what kind of video content you create and where it will be shared.
Forgetting to promote them on other channels
If you’ve got a video that you think is worth sharing, don’t just leave it on Facebook.
You can take that video and repurpose it for other channels to drive traffic and engagement.
For example, if you have an original video on Facebook, don’t just leave it there -- because that limits its viewability. But also don’t try to make a new video from scratch for something like this, either. You can take the most attention-grabbing 15-second clips of your longer video, and use them to build a cohesive series of shorter videos to use as Instagram Story segments to drive traffic to where you want visitors to go, whether that’s to a full-length video or other content.
Video title is misleading
Don't be a clickbait.
If you're going to give your video a click-worthy title, make sure it actually describes the content! If it doesn't, you'll be punished for it (and even if it doesn't get you removed from social media channels or lower your SERP ranking, it'll tarnish your brand).
This is where video strategy comes handy. If you want to attract new customers, here are 5 reasons why video strategy is a must.
Forgetting to optimize your video
We've talked about how to optimize your videos for other sites like Facebook and Twitter, but today we're going to talk about optimizing them for YouTube.
YouTube is the second most visited site in the US, with over a billion visitors each month. It's also one of the best ways to get your message out there and get people talking about your brand or product.
Giving your video a clear and concise title is just one part of optimizing it. Here’s where YouTube becomes a major player again since it provides one of the most detailed levels of optimization of most video-sharing platforms.
Watch: How to optimize videos for the web
Your videos lack emotion
If you want your videos to be successful, they need to make people feel something.
We all know that making video content is hard, but there's one thing that we think makes it even harder: the fact that most people don't really know what they want to feel when they watch a video.
So here's our advice: focus on making sure your videos have a positive effect on the viewer. If you can do this, everything else will fall into place.
When you're creating video content, it can help to have an impartial audience preview it before you make it public. For example, asking a friend or colleague from a different department to watch your video and give you feedback.
Ask them what they thought of the video, and how they felt while watching it. If their answer lacks enthusiasm, that's a good indication that you might want to start over with your project.
If you want to gain more knowledge and skills on creating professional videos, you can join our online course.
