Are videos really a useful online marketing tool?
Having had in the past a video production agency myself and being one of the first people to really push audio and video tours for property in the UK Estate Agency industry then my thoughts are that videos are a great tool for the industry to embrace. Though using videos is good, we need to make sure that we use this marketing technique correctly to avoid both wasting money or even damaging our own brand.
Youtube would no doubt be the first word that people associate with videos online and rightly so for many reasons, but I would say that since Google has got hold of the ownership of this platform things have somewhat deteriorated in that it now involves too much advertising. Though placing your video on the Youtube platform you have an audience of millions that could potentially see your video, many millions of videos are added daily so you must be aware that the likelihood of your video being even seen by one or two eyes is difficult enough, let alone gaining a healthy number of natural views or a viral video success. Youtube is still down to the effort you put in to make the right video for the right audience, correctly described and then of course being given the marketing push your end to gain the audience.
Advertising on your videos with Youtube? If you use Youtube and have advertising placed across your videos, think about not doing this as it will affect the amount of views your video will have. Youtube insanely now allows these very annoying 30 second video ads (skip after 5 seconds) or worse those set 20 second adverts from currently the likes of 1and1 domains or Marks and Spencers…. This turns people off watching your videos as I am sure many readers will have visited Youtube to watch that special music track they want to listen to and have simply skipped the advert after 5 seconds or looked for another similar video as you are not prepared to watch a 20 second advert in order to watch a 3 minute video (I mean that is nearly as annoying as that advert break for Coronation Street lovers).
Vimeo, Vine, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc all allow videos so make sure you investigate all these options when you have a video to share far and wide as it is said that social media updates gain much more interaction when accompanied by images and videos.
So, if you are about to do a video or have already one ready to promote, think about the following:
- Place the video on as many social media platforms that allow videos, ie Youtube, your business page on Facebook, shorter clips to Instagram/Vine etc.
- Do not spoil your video by having adverts on them as you may deter people from even beginning to watch the content you have prepared.
- Describe your video correctly with appropriate keywords.
- Make sure that you make a video that will impact on the audience you are looking to attract. Millions of videos are added to social media daily so make yours stand out by putting in that extra effort and investment to make something that stands out from the majority of the rest. If you are doing property videos, make sure they are quality videos over simple free to make image and music options (try and stay clear of free video making softwares that sticks a watermark across your videos).
- Social media updates work better with video links – Whenever you can, when placing an update on your social media account, think about including either a link to your own video or a video that helps to enhance your post.
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