One of the defining moments for your brand is when your efforts towards promoting video are finally acknowledged, and your ideal audience discovers you. That is the biggest goal for many businesses across the globe.
But think about this – when’s the last time you really noticed a highway billboard with an unfamiliar brand? This is how your audience experiences social media, and they won’t stop for just any piece of content.
Each platform encourages a different style of engagement, so the key is to find the socials that suit your video marketing goals. It’s time to save yourself from obscurity by learning exactly what apps and websites will be best when it comes to promoting video.
Pick your platforms! When you’re marketing and promoting video through different social media platforms, you’re presenting multiple messages to different groups of people. Your audience is going to vary with and within different platforms. It’s definitely not smart to promote the same posts to everyone.
Deep dive into knowledge about your different target audiences. Get specific with your messages and make sure they align with the target demographic that they are shown to. TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat will have generally younger audiences, while Facebook and LinkedIn have older audiences. Aside from age, there are many different interests people on these apps have. Do some research on each platform and its typical audience, and see if it matches up with your goals.
If you’ve already identified your outcomes, check out this quick rundown of the modern internet experience.
Auto play Optimization
Video autoplay is a pivotal feature in today’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds. There are two main ways a video will automatically play:
- It will play as a viewer scrolls past it in their media feed (usually without sound).
- It will play after a viewer is done watching a related video chosen by the platform’s algorithm.
If you want video on these platforms you need to prepare it for within-the-feed auto play. That means it has to make sense without sound. It should tell a simple visual story (and maybe at least include text captions) or your audience will scroll right past it. Alternately, if a viewer disables auto play you’ll need a pretty video thumbnail ready to attract their eye. One of the best methods when it comes to promoting video is having a quality video to begin with.
Downsizing Content
What do Snapchat and Instagram have in common? You guessed it, videos under a minute. Micro-video is a new norm. Even Twitter’s maximum clocks in at 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
For your content to live there, you’ve got to make it like a Halloween candy: fun-sized and quick to digest. Specifically, Snapchat and Instagram are largely Millennial-dominated, so short video plays nicely with their engagement behavior.
If your video is longer, no worries! To start promoting video, you can edit down a teaser for your longer-form video hosted elsewhere (like Youtube). Speaking of teasers, let’s segue into…
Promoting Video by Linking To Your Website
Engagement with your content is great, but you really want people going to your website. External links are a valuable tool for promoting video and website engagement. The trouble with modern social platforms is not all of them are built to be link-friendly. When you promote your video, use the platforms that make it easy.
YouTube makes it easy to see and follow links by embedding them into the video itself. Facebook allows you to include links in video descriptions. Other platforms like Snapchat and Instagram aren’t best for external links, so don’t expect phenomenal returns there.
Video Interaction
Most importantly, you should note how you’d like your audience to interact with you. If you’re aiming for building a community, YouTube is a great choice. With longer videos and video series, you’ll get your specific audience watching and commenting frequently for a deeper insight on them.
Just don’t expect to go viral: Youtube is way too noisy for you to get heard over billions of hours of video. While Facebook won’t build your community as easily, it’s a better bet for viral content since it’s geared towards sharing. One of the best bets for viral content nowadays is TikTok, and we have a complete 5-step guide for making TikTok the place for your brand to flourish.
Still Need Tips On How To Promote Your Video?
We get it. Brands face a huge challenge when a platform’s stock can plummet due to a Kardashian tweet (see: Snapchat). Trends shift, and you need pros that know this space.
When Tortuga Marketing works with you, you’re getting an expert team that knows this generation’s social media inside and out. Set up a chat with us and you’ll instantly see how effortless your video marketing can be. Also, check out our YouTube channel and blog for tips and guides on how to find and use social platforms to build your brand!
