When you’re growing your brand, you need a powerful way to get your voice heard.
So, you’ve filmed and edited an awesome video that shares your services with the world. Now, you need to learn how to use social media marketing to promote your video. If you’re not equipped to understand the algorithms of modern platforms, you could be on a fast track to content purgatory.
Now for the good news! It’s not difficult to learn a few basics that can dramatically boost your engagement. Tortuga Marketing has your back with a few top-notch pointers sure to get your video buzzing.
1. Identify your outcome goals
This can seem like a no-brainer, but you’ve got to be 100% clear on exactly what you want your audience to do after watching your video. You need to ask yourself, “what do I want to gain from this video?”
A great way to solidify those goals is by using the marketing sales funnel. A marketing sales funnel looks like this:
Your followers (and potential customers) all stand at different points in this funnel. This funnel is a great way to tailor your social media marketing to the people that see it! Some of those people are just getting their first impressions of you, while others have known about you for a while. Some are just seeing your landing page for the first time, while others are deep in your website, waiting for that sign that will encourage them to purchase your product or service.
Make sure you have content for those different scenarios, and place that content where those people are likely to be. Be bold, specific, and short and sweet on who you are to those just visiting your profile, and dig into more specific topics in deeper portions of your social media pages, such as IGTV or Facebook videos.
You might want to grow your following on your social platforms, gather emails for your newsletter, or boost your word-of-mouth presence. To reach your goal, you’ve got to focus on how this outcome will benefit the viewer. Your content should give information or entertainment to your audience, as well as portray you as an authority in your specific niche. While social media marketing, speak to that perspective with a clear “call-to-action” and your audience will be much more likely to listen. You’ll use this when you’re optimizing your video later.
2. Choose the right platform for social media marketing
At this point, you’re browsing your options for promoting your video. You’ve got Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… but don’t forget Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok. Are your eyes glazing over yet? To make it more challenging, audiences engage with each platform differently, but understanding one clear trend can make it really simple.
These platforms want to keep people in their ecosystem as much as possible, so use the native video hosting everywhere you post. As an example, Facebook uses built-in features like autoplay to boost consumption of Facebook’s native video content, but they don’t offer the same to third-party videos linked from YouTube and Vimeo. That means you shouldn’t be lazy and link back to your YouTube videos on your Facebook page – instead, upload that same video directly to Facebook as well as YouTube.
In addition, their algorithm actually prioritizes visibility of native videos over third-party! You can use multiple platforms, but native hosting is essential when deciding how to promote your video.
3. Optimize your video for social media
Finally, if you modify a few smaller features of your video, you can easily catch the eye of your audience when they’re whipping through their social media feed.
Your audience will most likely be on a mobile phone, and they’re scrolling through miles of content to find something that connects with them. So you need to be direct and eye-catching, while showing a little personality of course! The title and description need to be compelling and brief, and you must avoid the bait-and-switch or you’ll quickly gain a bad reputation. If you’re focusing too hard on selling, you will turn off potential customers.
Also, viewers resonate with posts from people, so write like one! Use a colorful thumbnail with a little text and maybe even a smiling human face. These are all proven to increase chances of people checking out your video.
4. Are you prepared for shifts in social media trends?
Social media is constantly evolving, so it’s essential to constantly keep tabs on it. If you need to chat with a team who truly gets this growing space, you’re in the right place.
Tortuga Marketing’s team is full of savvy digital media and video marketing experts. We work daily to simplify our field so any business owner can understand, and we can’t wait to help you get a strong ROI on all your content efforts.
