How to Get Started With Video Marketing

How to Get Started With Video Marketing. Make a plan (and track it) Go with what you know Start creating Search matters Team up with influencers Use ads to their full potential Okay, enough small talk. Make a plan (and track it) Before you dive into the world of video marketing, it’s important that you start with a plan. But can you tell me why your video content worked? Assuming you don’t have completely overlapping audiences, if you want to be sure that you’re reaching every one of your followers, you’ll want to post on all your social media accounts. Honestly, this is an easy enough question to answer if you’ve already started making other types of content. If you’ve been creating educational content for your audience on your blog, your best bet would be to start with educational video content and see if that resonates with them. Start creating Okay, now that we’ve gotten all the planning out of the way, it’s time to dive into the fun part. It’s the cornerstone of truly effective marketing, and it’s especially important when it comes to video marketing. Now that you’ve collected enough information on which platforms work best for your video marketing content, it’s time to put that data to use.

So, you want to get involved in video marketing.

I don’t blame you. It’s where more and more attention is heading these days.

Just take a look at these stats that HubSpot published on the state of video marketing this year.

That’s right, 500 million people on Facebook watch videos every day, and 10 billion watch them on Snapchat!

And it’s no surprise why. Video content is some of the easiest to consume.

There’s just one slight issue.

When you don’t know what you’re doing, it can also be one of the hardest types of content to create.

But if you want your marketing campaign to be successful, you’ll want as much attention as possible.

And having a video content component to your marketing campaign is a guaranteed way to ensure that you’re maximizing your outreach potential.

In fact, you might even see some of your videos go viral if you play your cards right.

So, you’re ready to take your first steps into this brave new world.

If you’re completely unfamiliar with video marketing, you’re bound to make quite a few mistakes along the way.

That’s why I decided to put this guide together. I’ve pinpointed the 7 most crucial components of any successful video marketing campaign.

The sooner you master these, the sooner you’ll be on your way to dominating the digital media landscape with your amazing video content.

Feel free to hop around the list below if you see anything that you’re worried about specifically.

Once you’ve done that, I recommend you come back and read the entire article from the beginning.

Even if you think you’ve got everything else handled, I’m sure that my breakdown will present you with some fresh insights.

Make a plan (and track it)
Go with what you know
Start creating
Search matters
Team up with influencers
Use ads to their full potential

Okay, enough small talk. Let’s get started!

1. Make a plan (and track it)

Before you dive into the world of video marketing, it’s important that you start with a plan.

I know, this section looks like the forced section of every guide-style article where you’re told that you need to create a plan before you continue.

But honestly? That’s actually pretty good advice!

The way I see it, any consistently effective marketing campaign is defined by consistent growth.

And how the heck are you supposed to measure growth if you’re not tracking your progress?

That’s right, it’s not enough to just write down your goals. You need to hold yourself accountable.

Did you achieve those goals? Fantastic! But can you tell me why your video content worked?

If it didn’t work, do you know why it flopped?

For reference, take a look at the Smart Insights SMART goals.

If that’s too intense, here’s a condensed cheat-sheet version for when you’re creating goals for your brand or business in the marketing world.

Is this goal specific? General goals like “get more subscribers” or “increase traffic” don’t give you much insight in the long run.
Is this goal achievable? There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, but expecting to get 1 million subscribers on YouTube in your first 6 months might be a bit much.
Is this goal trackable? The sweet spot of goal-setting is a realistic goal that you can track. Whether you achieve it or not, you’ll end up with valuable data by the end.

If you started creating video content today, and six months from now, you had no definitive idea on the future direction of your content, I’d argue that your campaign was in serious trouble.

Achieving consistent growth with video content comes down to two things:

Finding what works and recreating it in future videos, and
Finding what doesn’t work and making sure that it’s not in your future videos.

Those are the basics of consistently increasing the effectiveness of your video content.

Everything that you do as it relates to creation needs to be serving one of those two purposes, one way or another.

As it relates to promoting your videos and ensuring that you’re maximizing your outreach potential, having a strategy in place can make a world of difference.

Let’s say you’ve just made a great piece of video content. You could just let it sit on your website and hope that people will find their way to it.

But I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Like any form of marketing, being proactive is mandatory.

Post your video on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest…anywhere that you can.

Especially if you’re working with a modest marketing budget (or no budget at all) like I talk about in the video below.

You’re doing this for two reasons.

As far as short-term goals go, this is going to ensure that you have the biggest possible audience.

People who follow you on Instagram may not follow you on Facebook, and vice versa.

Assuming you don’t have completely overlapping audiences, if you want to be sure that you’re reaching every one of your followers, you’ll want to post on all your social media accounts.

In the long term, posting to all your social media accounts will give you a better idea of where your video is performing best.

It might seem like a minor detail, but this small piece of data can influence where you choose to invest more time and energy promoting your videos. (But more on that later.)

2. Go with what you know

Speaking of video creation, there’s one major question you need to answer before you actually start creating anything.

What style of content should you be making in the first place?

There are three widely-accepted forms of content in the marketing community.

Educational Videos

These are the types of videos that are built around either actionable steps that your audience can follow today or thought leadership that your audience can incorporate into their lives tomorrow.

I often make educational videos, such as this one: