What can you do if you’re producing quality videos, but no one is watching them? Promote your videos!
But effective promotion doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money. Check out these tips on spreading your videos without much of a budget:
1. Pin Your Videos
Facebook gives you the option to place a featured video in the “About” section of your page. Sitting on the left-hand side of the page, just below your profile picture, this featured video is one of the first things people will see when visiting. And with an alluring “play” button, you can expect it to catch their attention.
Similarly, Twitter’s “pinned tweet” feature lets you dictate the first thing someone sees when visiting your Twitter page. Put that exposure to work by pinning one of your videos to the top of your feed. It’s been found that conversions for a tweet increase ten-fold when it is pinned. That means a lot more views for your video.
2. Pitch video in your newsletters
Anyone subscribed to your newsletter is an engaged, interested member of your audience. They want to hear what you have to say, which means they’re ready to check out your video.
Sharing your videos with those subscribers adds more value to that newsletter and strengthens the brand/audience relationship. Depending on the service you use to send out your e-blasts, you can link readers through to video via still images or GIF files.
3. Include a “share” CTA
This is an easy one – always drop a “share” call-to-action at the end of your videos!
Not every viewer is going to follow your CTA, but that’s ok. Those who do share your video are most likely part of your target audience, with networks populated by that target group, too.
4. Be social
Don’t just drop your videos into your social feeds, use them to engage with your followers and trending conversations. Using the right hashtags will bring interested viewers to your video. You can also promote your videos by linking or embedding them within responses and comments.
By participating in the conversation on social, you both raise the profile of your brand and develop connection with users. That feeling of a personal relationship between a follower and your brand leads to greater and ongoing engagement with your content.
5. Pay to promote your videos, but keep it focused
Organic reach is very slim on Facebook, but there are low-cost advertising options on both Facebook and Twitter. Even with just a few dollars, you can pull off a huge uptick in views by intelligently targeting your audience with a campaign.
Both platforms allow you to be very specific in who will see your promoted posts – down to things like age, interests, and location. You know your target audience, so by focusing on them when you promote your videos, you are likely to get the very eyes you want on your content.
Another great idea to successfully promote your videos is to post them when your audience is most likely to see them. Learn more on that here: What’s the best time to post on social?
