Learn how to Use Video to Book More Meetings for your SaaS Business?
How do you reach out to your target audience with your video content in 2022 and beyond?
Your only hope is to produce quality content and devise an effective SaaS video distribution strategy that considers all relevant factors and helps your business stand out from the competition.
“The primary requirement for a successful distribution strategy is to make sure your video content is relevant, well-produced, and focused.”
By doing so, you can reach not only more people but also those who are more receptive to your content and likely to share it.
This guide will examine the various factors that should be taken into consideration before sending out your content.
Before we discuss how to create an effective video distribution strategy, let us see why video is the future of content. If we look at social media, it is easy to see that more and more people are sharing videos. In fact, videos are being regarded as the content that will drive the social media world in the future. What are the reasons for videos gaining in popularity? They are:
Video is becoming an essential part of how we communicate with each other. The fact that almost a quarter of all internet traffic is video should give you an idea about where we are headed, and why you should have an effective video distribution strategy.
The rise of online video began with the video-sharing website, YouTube. Since then, online video content creators have been breaking the record with an average of 1.1 billion monthly active users. This number is only set to rise and shows no signs of slowing down.
With a growing number of consumers choosing to turn away from traditional TV and magazine advertisements in favor of watching online videos, it is no surprise that the online video market is thriving.
What is video marketing exactly? It is the process of generating and distributing videos that advertise, promote, or sell a product.
With the advancements in technology and the world of media, online video has quickly become a feature that is changing the face of internet media. With an increasing number of users turning to online video for a solution to their problems, it is important for brands to understand that video marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing mix.
A key statistic to consider is that video marketing is 6 times more effective than paid ads. Here is an example of a product marketing video we created for pipe.
Video distribution is an umbrella term that applies to the process by which video content is distributed online in a streaming format, typically in a peer-to-peer manner.
The market is increasingly crowded with options such as iTunes, Steam, browser-based advertising, or navigating pop-up video sites and apps.
Streaming services are becoming a popular advertising tool for many businesses. With many people now having access to more streaming services, the challenge will be to service current clients and keep new customers onboard.
Your video distribution strategy in 2022 should take into account how to face many challenges such as:
1. Determine the aim of your campaign: Engaging with the audience, selling/demonstrating a product or service, onboarding, or explainer videos are how you can use video. If you are a SaaS company looking to Increase User Engagement.
2. Determine the scope of the campaign: This should be based on at what stage of the marketing funnel the target audience is currently in. Here is a useful resource on how to do that:
3. Determine the type of content: Producing the right type of video content is the next step because video content is not homogenous.
A variety of video content like sales videos, demo videos, review videos, and FAQ videos can be used to promote a brand, showcase products, features, and benefits, how to use the product, improve brand recognition, or educate customers by answering their questions:
Here is an example of an onboarding video we created for Newsela, a platform that takes real and new content from trusted providers and turns it into learning materials that meet State standards.
4. Determine the distribution channel: While devising an effective video distribution strategy, you should choose the right platform to deliver your content to the right audience. i.e. for hosting and promotion:
Hosting: As video marketing becomes more prevalent, it will only become more difficult to find a place to host your videos. You can opt for video-sharing platforms as these platforms are set up specifically to share a video.
Your options include YouTube, Vimeo, and other video platforms. If you are promoting a service or product, YouTube should probably be your best option.
Promotion: You can share videos on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as video marketing is becoming more popular. You can also promote the videos by embedding them on your website.
5. Determine what metrics will measure the success of your campaign: A marketing campaign, no matter how carefully designed, needs to have its ROI Measured and Tweaked, depending on the response it generates.
Over half of global internet traffic is video, and it is projected to reach 79% by 2022. It is no wonder so many channels are making video content. And your video distribution strategy should study the relative merits and demerits of each channel.
There are several options for distributing videos to meet the demand for video content, many video platforms have sprung up. They provide filmmakers and business owners to monetize their videos, others help businesses to distribute their content.
Some of the biggest names in the industry are YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Netflix, and Facebook. Each video platform has its own set of features and its audience.
YouTube is the obvious pick when it comes to video platforms. YouTube holds billions of users, and it is by far the most popular video platform. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it has a wide variety of users and anyone with access to a computer and an internet connection can upload content.
YouTube is Google’s number one property and has a massive number of algorithms designed to maximize the number of views that content receives. This means that content creators need to be focused on producing quality content that meets the needs of their target audience.
YouTube is massive when it comes to video advertising and that is why it should be on the top of your video distribution strategy. Google processes billions of video views every day. These video views help Google to determine who to target with their advertising. According to Statista,
Vimeo is another popular medium-sized video streaming platform. It has a relatively smaller number of users and branding compared to YouTube. But that is no reason to leave it out of your video distribution strategy. In fact, it is well suited for filmmakers and content creators who do not want their videos to get lost in the sea of content on YouTube. So, depending on your use case, you can Choose Between Vimeo and YouTube.
One of the reasons that Vimeo is popular is because of its focus on video quality. Vimeo produces its videos in H.265, a codec that is designed to optimize video quality for watching videos on lower bandwidth connections.
Instagram is a social networking site for sharing photos and videos. Instagram is one of the fastest-growing video platforms in the world. Instagram has released many features designed specifically for video.
For filmmakers, Instagram creates a hub where they can share videos with other filmmakers. For businesses, Instagram helps businesses curate content.
With over 2 billion users, Facebook is an attractive option for video content distribution. Facebook is the best platform for marketing and sales because no other platform allows you to target users as precisely as Facebook does.
Netflix is a video-on-demand service and is the most popular streaming platform in the world with millions of subscribers. They produce their own content and have quickly become the go-to place for original programming.
They are the dominant player in the streaming market. Netflix has several features designed specifically for video. They produce a number of original shows and movies with many production facilities all over the world including Los Angeles, New York, and London.
One of the best ways of creating an effective video distribution strategy is to start small. Quite often, small businesses are wary of producing video content because they feel as though it is something that requires a lot of preparation and skill. This is far from the truth. The same is true of content distribution.
Before wrapping up, let us summarize using four important factors that will ultimately decide the success of your Marketing Campaign.
1. Decide who your target audience is: It is very important to choose an audience that is likely to have an interest in your product or service. If you are creating a video to promote a service or product, it is important to think about the potential customer. Is your target audience male or female? How old are they? What are their interests?
2. Decide what you want to say: Your videos should be designed to educate your viewers. Think about how you plan to present the information. Your videos should tell a story. The storyline should be well thought out and should effectively convey the message of your product or service.
3. Decide how long your content should be: It is important to keep your videos short (5 minutes max). No one wants to watch one that is longer than 5 minutes. Although you may create longer videos, it is important to keep the interest of your target audience.
4. Decide what hosting and distribution platform to use: Depending on the specific needs of your business that best meets your requirement.
Finally, What are the Costs Involved to Produce a Video? Suffice to say, video creation does not have to be an expensive exercise because eventually the video pays for itself.
Choosing the right channel depends on where and how you want your content consumed. If your intent is mass consumption, then go for YouTube. If it is selective and meant for a niche audience, picking Vimeo makes sense. If you want to make it available to an exclusive audience, your company website is the place.
What makes your job easier is the fact that people like to watch videos instead of text content. Apart from hosting it on your company website, YouTube, and social networking sites, you can make your email and press releases interesting by including a video.
If budget is not a factor, going through paid distribution channels makes sense. You can use Paid ads, sponsored content, or Influencers to distribute your content. But monitor their performance periodically and decide if they are performing as per your expectations.
The trend is to have a video embedded on your company website to give visitors an overview of your company, products, and services. Depending on the nature of the content, you can use videos in blogs, resources/help pages, or tutorials/learning pages.
You can use direct marketing to take your video marketing to the next level. Email and chatbots are fast becoming popular for video content distribution. Statistics prove that email with video has a higher chance of being opened. Chatbots use videos to answer commonly asked customer questions.
