The AskDotty Podcast – where you can get your questions answered about websites, social media, and doing business Online.

Episode 6 is all about Video Marketing!

Why consider Video Marketing?

Here are a few stats ~

• Recent studies found that 57% of Online consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video demonstrating the product.
• Studies show the retention rate for information both seen and heard is 80%
• Video can help you connect with your audience better than other media.
• Video is SEO Gold ~ You can get found in more ways once you start using video in your marketing.

Would it be helpful to do videos on common procedures? This question was asked by Terri of Glass Fusing with Friends. 

So to clarify – you teach classes where people learn to make things with glass – and you want to know if creating how to videos would be helpful?

Terri – yes – like how to cut glass for example.

Dotty – Yes – what you can do is create short how to videos that have only 1 topic in them. Then have them on your website so when they register for the classes they could watch the How To videos before coming to the class. This will make them more prepared for what they will be doing in the class. Would that help your classes flow better?

Terri – I would think so – they would come into the classes being a little more educated and no more about what to expect.

Dotty – They could also get more done in the class if they are not concentrating so much on the basics. You would be able to teach them more cool stuff. Do you think you will be able to make these short videos?

Terri – How do you do them? Is it super expensive?

Dotty – I would tend to do it yourself on something like this instead of hiring a professional video person. I would use what you already have – your smartphone. Use the video camera on your smartphone to make a short clip – 30 seconds or so. Just use what you have and have fun with it!

Video Marketing Tip: There are many different types of videos you can use.

For the people that do not like to stand in front of a camera and talk – there are other options out there for you. If you are showing something Online you can use a screencast program. This is a program that records your screen. The one that I have used is Camtasia. There are also programs Online that can animate things, record slide shows, etc. There are options of the camera shy person as well.

What kind of equipment is needed?

For a quick DIY video I would use your Smartphone. Do practice with it first. Smartphones have programs in them that will turn the video upright from any direction. Computers do not have these programs. It is possible to video someone and when you load it on your computer they are standing on their head. I do not suggest buying an expensive camera for DIY videos – just use what you already have.

Mikki from MMM Productions – Now that my clients have an awesome video – how do they utalize it to get the best SEO?

One of the things video does is give you something more than your website to get ranked. Videos that are professionally created usually go on the website. They also need to go on a YouTube account, Vimeo account, sharing it through Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest – all over the place.

When someone is searching for whatever the topic of the video (businesses main keywords) the hope is that the persons website will come up, but most likely what will come up first are the thumbnails of the videos showing in the search results. The thumbnails draw attention and get clicked on before people click on an actual website link.

One of the huge benefits of video is that it gives you more than 1 instance of actually showing in a search result.

Mikki – Is there a certain order for posting that is better?

Dotty – When adding video to social media it is better to post directly into that platform instead of sharing into the platform. For example, upload directly into Facebook and do not share into Facebook from Youtube. Videos uploaded directly into Facebook will play automatically and videos shared do not.

Upload into YouTube then embed into your website to create the link connecting YouTube and your website. I would also create a blog post for the video – if you are adding it to your home page then it would show up twice on your website. Doing all of these things will help to get your business better search engine optimization.

Question from the Talk Board – What are the price points we should expect to pay?

This is a great question – and it is all over the board. If you have a professional video created you can expect to spend from $1000 – $5000 and up – depending on how long the video is and how it is going to be used. If you are talking about short DIY videos then you can do them yourself for free. There are also programs Online that vary from $10 a month to a few hundred dollars. These programs vary in what they offer – some you have to upload your own video clip then you can add text and your branding using their tools. Others have stock video clips you can use to make your video. Some limit how many you can make in a month and others are unlimited.

Few more Video Marketing Stats:

• Did you know that the open rate on an email that has the word video in the subject line is 19% higher than emails without the word video.
• Video emails have a 65% boost in click-through rates.
• Visitors who watch video stay on the website twice as long and visit twice as many pages verses websites that do not offer video.

Video makes a huge difference in the performance of your website and the performance of emails that you send out for marketing your business.

How many different types of videos are there and what should I use in my business?

There are a lot of different types of videos – off the top of my head I can think of about 20 different types.

As far as what you should use in your business – it depends on what your business goals are. What you are willing to do – not willing to do, and what your budget is.

Let me go over a few video types that I have used in my business:

• Introduction video – I have had great success with this one. It tells people who I am, what types of websites I like to create, who my ideal customers are. The feedback that I have gotten from that video is that it allows people to know me before calling. It sets them at ease. If you are a larger company you might also do so key employee bios.
• Testimonial | Reviews | Social Proof videos – These videos work rally well. If you google “reviews for Premium Websites” you will see several that pop up for me. People that are potential customers like to listen to what other people have experienced before engaging in my services.
• Product | Service | Demonstration type videos – These videos show people how a product works. People will by if they see a demonstration. Demonstration videos for products are priceless for a business.
• Sales Call Questions | FAQ videos – If there are questions that everyone asks you – make a video and send them to your website to get the answer.
• Landing page videos – If someone buys something it would be great to send them to a page with a thank you video on it. A video that talks about the benefits of the product – they will have a great feeling about buying that product.
• Bad Fit video – this is a video that talks about what you do not want in your company. This is the opposite of the good client video. These allow people to self-eliminate before calling you.
• The claims we make video – these are videos that talk about the claims you make about your product or services. These videos explain why we make that claim. Why use me or why by this type of a video.

Video Marketing  Tip: Here are a few different Online video creation tools:

• Slide.ly – recently rebranded to Promo. This website has video stock clips that you can add your branding and message to.
• Adobe spark – this is the one I use. It is 10 per month and can create as many videos each month that you want. Slight drawback – you have to have your own stock video or get them from a website like pixabay or pexels.
• Animoto – this website has been around many years. It creates videos from images or uses real video.
• Wave.video
• Powtoon.com – this website will create animations that get put into video.

Video tip – always put a call to action on your videos – phone number, website, something you want the person to do.

What if I am a little camera shy?

There are alot of things you can do – depending on the type of video you are going to create. Product videos do not need to have you in them because it is all about the product. There are screencast videos if you are showing how to do something Online. You can choose to do the animated videos or use one of the tools mentioned before to create marketing videos using stock videos.