SEO Video Marketing: The Most Eye-Opening Guide Of 2020

As social media has become more popular and people have become more used to getting their information as quickly as possible, the use of videos in companies’ digital marketing strategies has increased tenfold.

In 2020, 92% of all marketers say that video marketing is an important part of their overall strategy. 

Image via HubSpot

That is not all- it is also estimated that the average consumption of video-based media is going to be around 100 minutes per person every single day by 2021. That means that your target audience is going to tune into video-based content. Shouldn’t that content be yours?

So, in this guide, I am going to walk you through how you can use video-based media in your marketing strategy. But first, let us start with-

5 Powerful Reasons You Definitely Need To Use Video In 2020

Blog content and podcasts have their pros and cons but why is video-based content the way to go? Here are 5 important reasons why you should be including video-based content in your strategy.

• Video is NOT competitive (compared to Google): Every time you create a blog post, it has to outrank every other website that created a post with a similar topic. Google is a brutal platform where only the fittest survive and sometimes. You may not be able to rank for a particular topic. According to BrainShark, video is 50 times more likely to rank in Google than plain text results. 
• Video boosts Conversion & Sales: Content can be boring and hard to relate to. It feels like you are being lectured to at the best of times and can be too boring at the worst of times. Video, on the other hand, builds trust and conveys emotion. 97% of video marketers reported that video helped user understanding of a product.
• Video Content has great ROI: Video content has an impressive return on investment with conversions rates on websites with video increasing by up to 80%. Ranking better, getting more leads, and bringing in more customers means better ROI!
• YouTube is the second largest search engine: Let us assume you simply cannot rank for a topic on Google, what is your backup plan? YouTube. Depending on another platform to reach your viewers is never a bad idea. With video content, you can connect with your customers on your website as well as on social media.
• You’ll reach new audiences: A recent study showed us that 85% of millennials have purchased a product after watching a video. Not everyone wants to read an article or listen to a podcast. Creating video content means opening your brand to a new audience.

So, let us get into the step-by-step guide that will help you dominate search rankings and up your video SEO game. This means more views, conversions, traffic, sales and money.

Step #1: Video Keyword Research

Video keyword research is very different from blog content keyword research. 

The first thing you need to understand when it comes to keyword research is that most people are going to discover your videos via YouTube’s ‘suggested videos’ section or through YouTube search so it is important you optimize for your audience.

Let us talk about three ways in which you can do keyword research for videos-

YouTube Suggest

Much like the Google auto suggest keyword research technique used in the blogging world, YouTube Suggest is a great way to unearth keywords that people are literally searching for.

So, for example, let us type in the word ‘marketing’ to see what people are interested in-

This is a whole list of keywords that are worth targeting that people are searching for every single day. 

TubeBuddy

Video keyword research has its only set of tools and chrome extensions that are worth looking into. One of them is TubeBuddy. A YouTube certified chrome extension that helps you research keywords that are worth creating content for.

Once you download this chrome extension, you will have access to a host of different features such as suggested tags, keyword explorer, and even a feature that helps you publish at the best times.

The one we are going to talk about is keyword explorer. You simply type in a keyword that you want to create a video for, and TubeBuddy will give you a list of related keywords you should include along with anything that is trending at the moment.

Along with this, they will include the score analysis of the keyword you are targeting which will include competition and search volume.

Here is an example-

Image via TubeBuddy

YouTube Studio

If you have a few views coming in every month but want to amp it up, YouTube Studio is about to be your best friend. YouTube Studio is the home dashboard for YouTube creators. It includes analytics and insights that can help your account.

If you are on your Youtube Studio dashboard, go over to Analytics, and select ‘Reach Viewers’. Now, select ‘YouTube Search’ in the list of traffic source types to see what keywords you are ranking for.

You can use these keywords to create new content that you have a great chance of ranking for.

Step #2: Create Amazing Videos

What do I mean by an amazing video? An amazing video is one where the total watch time of the video is as high as possible and the percentage of the video watched per viewer is close to 100%.

The total watch time is the total number of minutes your YouTube video has been watched. This is why longer videos normally rank better.

Second, the amount of your video watched means how much of the video did your viewer watch before leaving? The better your video is, the longer people will stick around.

Here are a couple of ways to increase the percentage of the video watched-

1. Focus on the first few seconds of your video. These are the defining seconds that will be what convinces your viewers to stay or leave.
2. Cut to the chase- Do not take ages to get to the point. Your audience will get frustrated and annoyed and leave your video.
3. Create content that your target viewers are going to love. Interact with your loyal subscribers/ viewers and ask them what they want to see.
4. Try to recreate old videos of yours that have good metrics on your analytics dashboard on YouTube Studio. Don’t mess with success right?

A good example channel is Jon Olsson who creates inspirational videos on YouTube. Never a dull moment through his videos.

Step #3: Optimize Your Videos (Video SEO)

We have covered keyword research so far which is a contributing factor to how your video ranks. Now, let us talk about other SEO tips you should be aware of to optimize your videos-

• Create an eye-catching title– Peak the curiosity of your potential viewers with a good title that makes them want to click ‘Play’. Also make sure to include your target keyword in the title!
• Video Description– Make sure to create a keyword rich description that explains to YouTube what your video is all about.
• Video Tags– Adding a few relevant tags to your video is always a good idea.
• Thumbnails– Make sure you create a great thumbnail for every video. This is an important factor that affects your CTR (Click Through Rate). Try to make your thumbnail eye catching and descriptive.

Most importantly, create content that is interesting, actionable, motivational, inspirational, educational, unique and more than anything else- different.

A good example of a channel that stands out in all the right ways is Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell.

Step #4: Promote Your Videos Like A Pro

Now that you have your video up and running, make sure you utilize your current audience by promoting your video through social media, your email list, your blog, and maybe even your podcast.

You could also promote related videos at the end screen of your video. This is a step by step article that shows you how to do that.

Ahrefs does this on most of their videos to improve their total watch rate by getting viewers to move to another video of theirs. 

Step #5: Repurpose Your Video Content To Dominate Social Media

If you have a video that is killing it on YouTube that you consider to be one of your best pieces of content, you should consider repurposing it on other platforms.

This idea comes from Gary Vaynerchuk’s Content Model where he goes on to say- “Once you have pillar content you can repurpose the best of it into many pieces of ‘micro content’ and dominate all channels out there.”

This means that if you create a long and thorough video that describes a topic in great detail, you can take elements of it and create micro-content to share on other platforms. 

Let us say you have a video called ‘Video Marketing- 2020 Guide’ that covers every topic there is to cover about video marketing. You can then create micro pieces of content such as-

• How to create a video social media strategy 
• Measuring your videos
• My top five video editing tips
• Video content templates
• Video equipment checklist

This can even be done by your team or a freelancer which will save you loads of time.

Conclusion

According to Google, six out of ten people would rather watch online videos than television. This means if you choose to follow this guide and invest your time in video marketing, you already have an audience. 

If you are looking for more conversions, sales, and traffic- videos could be what your marketing strategy needs.

Will you integrate ‘video’ into your marketing mix in 2020?

Burkhard Berger is the founder of awesomex™. Follow him on his journey from 0 to 100,000 visitors per month on www.awesomex.com. He gives intensive insights into his growth hacking strategies, digital scaling tactics as well as his successes and failures. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.