How to Use Videos to Promote Your Small Business and Drive Website Traffic

How to Use Videos to Promote Your Small Business and Drive Website Traffic?

Earlier this year we posted tips on how to use YouTube to grow your small business website and how to use videos to drive traffic to your website. Today, let’s dive a bit further into what you can do to help your videos stand out, drive additional website traffic and grow potential fan base.

While there is no magic formula available for determining which videos will become viral, you can take some steps to ensure your video has a fighting chance. Here are a few elements to consider when creating your promotional videos:
Superb Quality + Originality = SHARES, LIKES, and COMMENTS

Quality: When creating videos, it is important utilize good equipment that produce video quality which will not distract viewers from the content you are trying to convey. Think about investing in an HD quality camera and selecting an area for taping that is low on ambient noise which can interfere with sound recording.                                                                                                                                   

Originality: Make sure the content you are creating is both entertaining and straight to the point. On average you might only have about 15 seconds to capture someone’s attention before they move on to another video. Thus, try to start your videos with a BANG.
Need some ideas on what to post?

   1. How-To Tutorials: Create tutorials that explain how your customers can get the most out of your products/ services. You can even post answers to commonly asked questions about your products.
   2. Be Trends Savvy: Keep an eye out for the latest trends that are impacting your industry. For instance: the ‘cinnamon challenge’ is a current trend that is receiving overwhelming amount of views. If you owned a restaurant, it would not be a bad idea to create your version of the ‘cinnamon challenge’.  When you post your video title it “(Restaurant Name) Attempts Cinnamon Challenge”, and post it as a video response to as many ‘Cinnamon Challenge’ videos as possible.
   3. VLOG: Create a video blog (VLOG) that gives consumers an inside look into your business. Use this opportunity to establish your expertise within your industry. The goal is to make your business feel more personable.
   4. Keep it Rolling: You never know when you may catch some footage that would turn out to be a great video, so make sure you always have your camera ready.

Additional Video Recording Tips:

   1. Prior to creating your video, write a script to help organize your thoughts and prevent you from stumbling over words when recording.
   2. Speak in a calm and clear tone.
   3. Double-check lighting source. Don’t sabotage all your great information by making it harder for viewers to see you/your products.
   4. Try not to make your videos too long; most videos should be no longer than 3-4 minutes.
   5. Lastly, the key to driving brand value is consistency! Get in the habit of allocating some time a week just to focus on your video marketing campaigns. Get in the habit of letting viewers know when the next video will be released and sticking to that commitment.