While the majority of brands are creating videos, many neglect to develop a video strategy that earns traffic, leads, and revenue.
Today, 93% of businesses have a video marketing strategy in place, and 95% of marketers believe video is crucial to their overall strategy, 7% higher than 2024, showcasing the increasing reliance on this approach to get results.
Dennis Ngin, EVP of Digital Experience, is going to do a deep dive into video content marketing, including the trends impacting it today, which platforms to use, how to build a video marketing strategy, and how to approach each platform.
What’s Covered:
- What’s Working in Video Marketing Today?
- Where Should You Create Video Content?
- Tools for Video Marketing
- Building A Video Marketing Strategy
- Platform-Specific Video Marketing Strategies
- FAQs
What Is Video Marketing?
Video marketing is a strategy that involves using video to connect with target audiences through short- and long-form videos and video ads across platforms for brand awareness and promotion.
Video marketing tactics can work as part of a holistic digital and offline strategy to capture and convert leads.
Why Video Marketing Matters in 2026
The benefits of video marketing are only increasing over time, with around 93% of businesses now using video in their marketing.
In fact, 95% of marketers view video as an integral part of their overall strategy, and that number appears to be increasing.
Other stats further illustrate the myriad benefits of video marketing for business, such as the fact that over 3 billion people watch downloaded or streaming videos every month, and that 92.3% of users watch videos on the internet every week.
In short, video marketing is more important than ever if you want to capture and retain your customers, serving as a core element in any digital marketing strategy.
Also, keep in mind that performance creative is especially crucial in video marketing today, not just production quality. Unique and appealing creative elements that help you stand apart will significantly boost your videos’ performance.
Expert Insights on Video Marketing
Video is the most engaging and persuasive medium today. It grabs attention faster than text or static images and connects emotionally in a way few formats can match.
With mobile usage and social platforms prioritizing video, it’s no longer optional for brands that want to stay competitive. Video marketing isn’t just a trend, it’s a powerful storytelling tool that strengthens brand presence, boosts engagement, and drives measurable results.
Success comes down to more than just production quality. Strategy matters just as much. You need to understand where your audience is and tailor content for those platforms, whether that’s social media, your website, or email.
At Ignite Visibility, we’ve seen this firsthand. One telecommunications client struggled to convert traffic into quality leads. By adding a “How It Works” explainer video and improving navigation, we achieved a 45% increase in phone call clicks.
Creative execution is also critical. From strong hooks and clear CTAs to pacing and authentic messaging that keeps viewers engaged and converting.
Pro tip: Short-form video is exploding. Use platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts to showcase products and services in a fast, engaging way.
Video Marketing Trends Marketers Should Prioritize
To get the best results from your video marketing efforts, you need to know what’s working. Before we get into the specific trends, it’s important to set certain benchmarks when developing a video marketing strategy. Here are some key stats to help you establish those initial goals:
- 73% to 96% of consumers today prefer short-form videos when searching for business offerings.
- By the end of 2026, brands are predicted to spend 50% more on video marketing.
- Having a digital video strategy can increase conversion rates by as much as 80%.
Ultimately, video marketing is essential today, making it crucial to know exactly how to develop a video marketing strategy that really works. Watch this video to learn more:
Wondering what trends to follow when building a video content strategy? Here are some examples of what’s working for many brands in the video content marketing space:
Short Vertical Videos
One of the most successful types of video content is the short vertical video, which is what people see on their smartphones in social media feeds.
These videos are optimized for mobile viewing, which will appeal to mobile users, but they can also work on desktop platforms.
Keeping these vertical videos short will give many users the ideal viewing experience, and you can create a lot of content using this format.
UCG & Raw Content
Another type of content worth using is user-generated content (UGC) or raw content. This content entails getting audiences to create their own content, which you can then repurpose for your own marketing campaigns.
An example of this would be Jones Soda Co.’s promotion of UGC, which the company encourages people to develop for its soda bottle labels.
The Jones Soda UGC gallery features tons of raw, user-generated content from its many customers, allowing people to vote on the best images.
Raw content could also refer to genuine content that users or brands can create, including behind-the-scenes footage of teams at work, giving a human face to companies.
AI
One of the latest video marketing trends today is artificial intelligence (AI), which can help create and optimize videos.
AI can help with video creation and publishing in numerous exciting ways, from automating video editing processes to recommending videos to users based on their tastes and viewing histories.
AI can also give you insights into users and help anticipate their behavior, which can assist in producing personalized videos.
Video for Franchisees
For businesses with multiple locations, video content is an absolutely crucial tool. It serves as the protector of your brand identity across every single franchise.
Franchise video marketing is all about maintaining consistency and earning local trust. You can use videos to ensure that every location communicates the same positive brand message to the community. These messages should be warm and authoritative, showcasing the friendly, local face of each store.
For example, a franchisee might share quick, high-quality videos that introduce their staff. They can also highlight involvement in local community events. This strategy is also ideal for standardizing operations across a wide system. Simple training videos can be shared with all new staff for easy onboarding. This guarantees that customers receive the exact same high-quality service, no matter which location they visit.
A successful video strategy for franchisees will help you build recognition and drive traffic directly to the nearest store.
Webinars
Webinars can contribute a lot to your video marketing efforts, blending presentations with live streaming and interactive Q&As, polls, or other content to drive real engagement.
You can target existing audiences with webinars or connect with new prospects to generate both awareness and leads.
Webinars also lend a more human touch to your brand, especially if you have a personable host behind it and feature other industry experts to provide viewers with a rich experience.
Going Live
You could also go live with live-streaming videos that connect with audiences in real time. If you want to create a sense of urgency and fear of missing out (FOMO) with your video marketing strategy, you’ll do well to use live streaming.
Platforms like Twitch and Facebook Live allow you to engage with audiences at the moment, whether you want to take the opportunity to show off new products, answer questions from viewers, or educate or entertain your audience.
Educational & How-To Videos
Want to teach your audiences with your videos? Create educational and how-to videos that establish you as an authority in your industry.
Educational videos are particularly beneficial for B2B video marketing today, as many business owners are seeking guidance from other businesses while looking to trust providers of business products and services.
A good example of a source of educational videos of all kinds is Khan Academy, which is a nonprofit dedicated to educating people of all ages on myriad topics. This source has also integrated its videos with an AI-assisted tutor that helps people get the most from their education.
Interviews
You could also create videos around interviews, which may entail meeting with experts in your industry and asking them questions your audience would want to ask.
Not only could this help you create compelling content and further establish you as an industry authority, but it could also give you insights from the people you interview, educating you in the process.
Interviews could also integrate with live streaming, allowing audiences to interact with the interviewee by asking questions.
Case Studies and Testimonials
Let people know what your customers or clients think of you based on past experiences through video testimonials or case studies.
Explore a particular problem that you helped a client overcome in a narrative case study video, or have a customer speak about their experience in a very human testimonial video.
You can post these case studies and testimonials on social media, and you can develop dedicated pages on your website to showcase them.
Repurposing With Atomized Videos
Depending on the content, you could atomize videos, which means taking a longer video and using it to create multiple pieces of content.
For example, you could post a full interview with a subject on your YouTube channel and then break that interview up into segments for YouTube Shorts, Instagram, or other channels.
In turn, you can benefit from a source of endless content to reuse and repurpose.
Building A Video Marketing Strategy
With a better idea of what video marketing is and why video marketing is so crucial, you might want to learn how to develop your own strategy.
Here are some basic video marketing tips to follow in your production journey.
Here is a video marketing guide on some of the best video marketing tactics to inform your strategy:
Step 1: Define Your Business Goals
To start with, determine precisely what you want to achieve with your videos, which will give everything from production to distribution and measurement some clear direction.
There are several goals you might have for your video strategy, such as:
- Building brand awareness
- Generating leads and driving sales
- Enhancing credibility and gaining trust
- Improving customer engagement and retention
- Refining your brand image
Step 2: Identify Your Audience
The next step in our video marketing guide involves finding your target audience. In doing so, you can conduct market research and look at your existing customers.
Also, segment your audiences based on certain demographics, viewing behaviors, and interests, assigning a unique audience persona to help define each segment.
Step 3: Determine the Right Content for Each Funnel Stage
Once you’ve pinpointed and segmented your audience, you need to determine where that audience is in the sales funnel.
The type of content you push will depend on where people are in the customer journey. We’ll get more into the different types of content that work best for each funnel stage below.
Step 4: Develop Your Message
Figure out what you want your videos to say.
Do you want to inform audiences about a certain pain point they may be experiencing? Maybe your message is “how to” complete a certain task in a convenient tutorial.
Other videos could serve the purpose of exploring the “why” behind what you do with explainer or behind-the-scenes videos and emotional storytelling.
Step 5: Choose Your Video Type
Based on your audience, message, and goals, you can then choose the right video for the job, which could include any of the following:
- Explainer videos that simplify a specific product or concept
- Short-form social media videos like YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, and Instagram Stories
- Webinars comprising long-form presentations or live streams
- Product demos showcasing how a product or solution works
- Launch videos with announcements
- UGC videos created by your customers
- Live streams
- Expert interviews
Step 6: Select Your Channel
With a video type selected, determine the right platform for it.
Some videos will work better on a dedicated video channel like YouTube, while others might be better suited for social media channels.
Meanwhile, video ads could supplement image ads across websites for brand awareness and retargeting.
Step 7: Put Together a Creative Brief
Before producing your videos, decide on all of the creative assets you’ll need for them in a detailed brief.
This brief could detail:
- The project name
- A company or brand overview
- The “why” explaining the goal of the video
- Your target audience
- A specific problem the video intends to solve
- The key message and its tone and voice
- Visual style
- Deliverables, including every version needed
- Dimensions
- A CTA
- Must-have elements like logos or disclaimers
- Deadline
- Budget
Step 8: Create a Production Plan
To keep the production process smooth, put a plan in place to guide your team.
This plan should cover:
- A script or outline to go by
- A designated production space
- Lighting for live-action videos
- Set design requirements
- Equipment testing
- Editing steps to develop all deliverables
Your team will then be able to begin production. Make sure you get plenty of footage to use for editing, including B-roll footage as backup.
Step 9: Establish Your Distribution Plan
After producing your videos, you need to distribute them effectively on all relevant platforms.
You might distribute content through:
- Owned Channels: Your website or blog, email campaigns, or customer portals.
- Social and Shared Channels: YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms where your audience is.
- Paid Distribution: Social ads, YouTube ads, or influencer partnerships.
You should also determine what frequency to post and which content goes where, engaging your audiences while preventing fatigue.
Step 10: Develop a Measurement Plan
Based on your goals, create a plan to consistently track and measure performance using relevant metrics.
Some of these metrics might include:
- View count for brand awareness
- Play rate
- Watch time
- Click-through rate for CTAs
To measure these key performance indicators (KPIs), use a combination of integrated tools, including native analytics like YouTube Analytics and third-party platforms like Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4.
Step 11: Implement a Repurposing Plan
Finally, get the most from video marketing for business by repurposing your content to use across your marketing strategy.
Start with your completed video and break it up into smaller snippets for use on YouTube Shorts, social media, and other channels as “previews” or “summaries.”
Other repurposing video marketing tactics include converting videos into blog posts and email content, potentially creative dedicated watch pages, which we’ll explore here a little later.
The Need for Top-Quality Performance Creative
As we’ve discussed earlier, performance creative is one of the most important elements of any video production. In fact, it’s just as vital to a video strategy as production quality in encouraging more views and post-video action.
Creative also goes beyond production, functioning as a business lever that can contribute to your overarching strategy. The best video strategies today use a blend of media, creative strategy, user experience (UX) optimization, and conversion rate optimization (CRO) to connect with audiences.
Now, here’s some guidance on how to get the most from your creative.
Creative Testing Frameworks
Let’s start by getting deeper into creative testing: Try out various hooks in the beginning of your video to see which ones yield the longest watch time. Also, test different CTAs to identify which drive the most conversions.
Another way to go about creative testing is to try various messaging angles to see which emotion or tone resonates most with your audience; for example, they may want you to focus more on a specific pain point in an explainer video that shows how you work to resolve it.
Additionally, try to get pacing just right. You don’t want your videos to feel too long, nor do you want them to go by too quickly, especially if you’re trying to relay complex ideas and information.
Matching Creative to the Right Funnel Stage and Intent
All of your creative needs to correspond to the right funnel stage based on user intent.
For instance, you might use creative in the following ways at each stage:
- Awareness: People will want to learn new information or discover a brand at this stage, so your creative should capture people’s attention and hold it through storytelling, humor, or emotional hooks, including easy-to-consume short-form content like high-level teasers.
- Consideration: Viewers here will want to do a bit more evaluation and research on a topic and brands, which is why your creative should focus on building more trust and demonstrate your expertise with more in-depth content.
- Decision: When people are ready to make a buying decision, use content like customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes footage, or limited-time offers and promos to encourage viewers to convert.
Conduct Iterative Creative Optimization
To perfect your strategy, you must also iterate creative optimization over time using performance data.
If you notice people are dropping off at certain points, or if your CTAs aren’t getting the clicks and conversions you want, you can optimize each element as needed to improve performance.
In addition, to get the most from your creative, you should develop creative systems and repurpose assets to enable efficient content scaling. In the process, you can begin defining your videos’ and brand’s overall aesthetic to create content that’s instantly recognizable as yours and yours alone.
Where Should You Create Video Content?
There are many places where you can post your videos, and there are different types of videos you can publish on each platform.
Making the most of each channel will help you develop a solid video content marketing strategy that resonates with audiences and builds authority.
Here are some mini-guides on how to use each major video marketing platform:
YouTube
YouTube is the best platform for video marketing SEO efforts, as it is the primary platform that appears in Google search results, being that YouTube is a Google property.
Over time, you can take steps to grow your YouTube channel and increase rankings to drive more organic traffic. Be sure to write search engine- and user-friendly titles and descriptions to optimize video marketing for SEO, and you should encourage people to subscribe to your channel in each video.
Shorts, Reels, and TikTok
With short-form social video marketing now more popular than ever, it’s crucial to create YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok videos.
YouTube promotes Shorts along with regular YouTube content, treating it as its own feed. You could convert your conventional videos into Shorts that supplement those videos and link to them, potentially boosting your reach and views.
Meanwhile, Instagram Reels could help you connect with audiences on that platform to connect with Meta users, and TikTok continues to be a hugely popular platform, especially among younger audiences.
These platforms are also great for aligning video content with marketing objectives through influencer marketing, helping you connect with audiences via many personalities out there with loyal followings.
Meta
You can use all kinds of Meta video marketing content to help you reach your audiences through Facebook and Instagram.
When developing a video marketing strategy on Meta, take advantage of all features, posting videos to your feed, publishing Stories, and using paid video ad content to extend your reach and engagement.
If you’re in a B2B industry and want to reach professionals with your video content marketing strategy, you would want to target LinkedIn. Using this platform, you could develop topical videos establishing you as an industry expert, conduct live Q&A sessions, or push video ads.
Email and Site Video
You can also experience the benefits of video marketing in your emails and on your website.
Email content could include embedded videos to boost engagement, while videos on your website could supplement blogs and other text content. Everything from explainer videos to customer testimonials could get you in front of audiences and keep people on your site.
Over-the-Top (OTT)
With a growing number of people watching streaming content on connected TV (CTV) and other devices, many brands can benefit from an OTT video content marketing strategy.
Streaming advertising breaks tend to be shorter than traditional TV commercials, making people more likely to keep watching ads rather than moving around at home.
Platforms like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and many others offer plenty of opportunities for advertisers, with detailed reporting on video marketing results.
Video Types by Funnel Stage
Regardless of the platform you use, your video content must appeal to people at various stages of the funnel.
Here is a little video marketing guide to match content with specific funnel stages:
- Top of Funnel (Awareness): Short-form social videos, brand story and introduction videos, educational and explainer videos, and teasers.
- Middle of Funnel (Consideration): In-depth explainers, product demos, case studies and testimonials, webinars, and behind-the-scenes videos.
- Bottom of Funnel (Decision): More detailed case studies and testimonials, comparison videos, personalized sales videos, and FAQ or onboarding videos.
Tools for Video Marketing
Just as there are many places to put your videos, there are many tools that can help you create, edit, and publish high-quality videos.
Many platforms like Facebook and Instagram have built-in tools to help you with video production, editing, and publishing. You can also use other external tools, including professional editing software, high-end cameras, and animation software to develop high-quality videos.
If you don’t have in-house resources and want to simplify video production, you could also turn to a video marketing agency for reliable video marketing services.
Some specific tools to use for video content strategies include:
| Feature | Vidyard | Wistia | Vimeo | Brightcove |
| Hosting | Professional and sales-focused hosting | Enterprise-grade hosting without ads | Ad-free, high-quality hosting with live streaming capabilities | Scalability for enterprises with live and video on demand (VOD) streaming |
| Analytics | Offers in-depth reporting on video marketing results in real-time, especially regarding engagement | Also provides detailed insights with effective CRM integration for more compatibility | Advanced analytics and engagement tracking | Rich data regarding engagement and retention to help track key performance indicators for video marketing |
| Editing | Basic trimming and editing with more emphasis on creation | Limited editing features with a bigger focus on aligning video content with marketing objectives | Includes AI editing features along with basic editing tools | In-platform editing with basic capabilities, but allows third-party integrations for advanced editing |
| Personalization | Enables effective personalization in video messaging for outreach | Dynamic personalization that tailors to viewer data and lead capture forms, helping measure key performance indicators for video marketing | Limited personalization | Allows for easily customized branding but does not allow for personalization of viewer data |
| Captioning | Supports closed captioning | Supports video marketing SEO through embedded transcripts | Automated transcription available with paid plans | Enables multi-language captioning |
You can also use a variety of other tools to help with video creation and marketing, including ChatGPT and other generative engines for brainstorming ideas, Canva for creating thumbnails and other visual assets, and OBS Studio for live streaming and screen recording.
Many of these tools are affordable when creating video marketing content on a budget.
Live Content
On channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, you can create live streams that actively engage your audiences, with features like polls and Q&A sessions that encourage interaction and show that you value your audience’s input.
Be sure to promote your live streaming events on social media and your website to get more people on board, creating a sense of urgency and fear of missing out (FOMO) in the process.
User-Generated Content
UGC is also critical to engage your audiences and get them more involved with your brand.
Hosting contests and giving people incentives like offers and freebies could inspire people to create their own content, which you may then be able to repurpose for your video marketing efforts.
Creating branded hashtags could also help centralize all of your UGC and make it easier to connect it to your company more exclusively.
Product Demos
Create product demos that showcase your offerings and how they work. These can help with the consideration stage in your video content marketing strategy.
In your demos, you can address specific pain points that your product can resolve or features that competitors’ offerings don’t have, effectively differentiating your brand from the competition.
Explainers
Toward the top of the funnel, you can push explainers that discuss your brand and offerings, informing your audience of what it can expect from you.
These videos are often short and simple, introducing people to a company or specific offering in a way that’s easy to understand and grasp.
Paid Video and Amplification Strategy
Next in our video marketing guide, let’s look at some specific ad formats and how to maximize their reach with paid amplification.
Skippable Ads
These are ads that viewers can typically skip after a period of about 5 seconds. To keep people from skipping these ads, it’s important to hook viewers as early as possible, ideally with engaging visuals and direct messaging.
When bidding for these ads, use cost per view (CPV) or maximum conversions/target cost per action (CPA) bidding, which will ensure you only pay when people view your ad for a set amount of time or engage with it.
Non-Skippable Ads
These are ads that people cannot skip before watching the underlying streaming content. Here, you would use target cost per thousand impressions (CPM) to get your ad out there across a broad audience while only paying for impressions.
These ads should be impactful and paint a fuller picture of your brand and offerings than skippable ads.
In-Feed
These ads are crucial for discovery as they naturally blend into people’s feeds on YouTube and social media platforms. Use thumbnails and copy that really help you stand out in the feed, keeping people from simply scrolling past.
These ads typically use CPV bidding due to their attempts to drive engagement.
Shoppable Ads
Another essential ad for ecommerce brands is the shoppable video ad, which makes it easy for people to buy a product right through the ad.
Shoppable ads should have high-quality images and videos that link directly to your product catalog. In the process, the video should highlight specific benefits and features, with transparent pricing and a compelling call to action.
When bidding on these ads, focus on return on ad spend (ROAS), seeing as these ads have the main goal of driving more sales.
Source: Instacart
How to Amplify Your Paid Content
In this video marketing guide, we also want to touch on amplification strategies to get the most from your video ads and maximize your reach.
The following are some video marketing tactics to try for paid campaigns:
- Creative Testing: Before going with any creative assets, be sure to test them with different variations, ideally using A/B split testing to change out a single element, such as a thumbnail with two different sets of text. You need performance creative that works specifically for your paid campaigns, keeping in mind that good ad content could look considerably different from videos in your organic strategy.
- Audience Segmentation: Segment your audiences into different personas to target the right videos to the right audience at the right time, taking into consideration each segment’s unique interests based on CRM data like product views.
- Retargeting: Bring people back to your site with retargeted video ads based on specific pages they visited and through personalized messaging, maximizing engagement.
- Sequencing: Use video ad sequencing to show viewers a series of ads over a specific period, e.g, 7 to 30 days, which will keep the ad experience fresh.
- Frequency: Establish a target frequency that gains more exposure without culminating in ad fatigue.
- Hook Testing: Your video hooks should capture audiences within the first three seconds; try out various types of hooks in your tests, such as questions, certain claims, and social proof.
- CTA Testing: Develop and test specific CTAs that focus on certain benefits and offers, with consistent placement either at the end of your ads or with a CTA button throughout the video.
- Matching Creative to the Funnel: Match your ad content to the right funnel stage, e.g., educational and short videos at the top of the funnel and direct-response ads toward the bottom.
Platform-Specific Video Marketing Strategies – Strategy, Ads and Best Practices
Depending on where you want to publish your video, you’ll want to approach your strategy the right way. Here are some quick video marketing tips for each major platform:
Short-Form
When exploring video marketing best practices, short-form is one of the best tools to use, as it develops short and effective videos that grab people’s attention, often at the awareness stage. Here are some of the platforms you can use for short-form video content that can help you realize the benefits of video marketing.
TikTok
You can use TikTok for different types of video content, including short videos, TikTok ads, and influencer videos. This platform has many influencers who can collaborate with you to produce unboxing videos, endorsements, and other video content.
TikTok Strategy:
- Select a topic with lots of value
- Keep your video short
- Hold your viewer’s interest with creative editing, effects and filters
- Use suggestive actions
- Follow trends & attempt ones that align with business
- Engage with your audience
- Collaborate with influencers
Ad Types:
- In-feed video ads
- TopView ads
- Spark ads created from your own or other creators’ videos
Best Practices:
When using videos on TikTok, it’s important to use features native to that platform. For instance, you would want to use its selection of voiceovers, overlays, and duets that make your videos fit right in on the platform.
Also, keep your videos short and snappy to engage viewers. People on this platform want quick and entertaining content, so align your videos with other short-form and appealing content.
This platform is another popular social media tool. Using Instagram, you can post videos to your page and get them to appear in people’s feeds.
You can also use the Instagram app to conveniently produce Reels and share them in Instagram Stories or your feed.
Instagram-specific video content ideas:
- Tutorials
- Sharing Stories
- Product Highlights
- Shoppable Content
- Interviews
Ad Types for Instagram:
- Instagram Reels ads
- In-feed ads
- Instagram Stories ads
- Instagram Explore ads that connect with users based on interests
Best Practices:
If you want to post videos on Instagram, staying on top of the platform’s trends is critical. Trends are always changing, so you’ll want to keep up to ensure your content is relevant.
Mobile-optimized ads are also essential for Instagram and other social media platforms.
Long-Form
You’ll want to use the following to develop high-quality long-form video marketing content.
YouTube
YouTube is the biggest video streaming service today, and you can produce many videos for it. Post longer videos to your channel, which can attract many views and get your brand on Google.
In addition, you can live stream videos on the platform and run ads that reach people through other videos.
YouTube Shorts have more reach than the normal YouTube feed. It’s a way for anyone to turn an idea into a chance to connect with new audiences anywhere in the world. And all you need is a smartphone to get started (the Shorts camera lives in the YouTube app)!
Maximize Video SEO on YouTube:
- Title: 60-70 characters
- Description: 5000 characters max
- Thumbnail: 1280 x 720 px
- Tags: niche, middle funnel, overall themes, etc.
- Related Videos: follow the same template
YouTube Ads:
- Skippable video ads
- Non-skippable ads
- Bumper ads, i.e., pre-roll ads that play before, during, or after a video
YouTube Video Marketing Best Practices:
YouTube can be a great tool for videos, but you need to take the right approach. One key step to take on YouTube is to choose the right channel name and niche, which will help you reach your ideal audience.
Additionally, post consistently to keep your audience engaged. Channels that don’t post frequently enough can quickly fall behind and lose audience interest.
Other Social Media Channels
Here are some other platforms and video marketing best practices to follow on each:
This tool is particularly helpful for B2B video marketing, allowing professionals to connect through compelling and often informational video content.
Upload videos to your main LinkedIn feed, live stream content such as interviews with industry experts, or run ad campaigns that connect with people across the platform.
You can post ads, product demos, or value-adds (like free classes you want to push).
A great example comes from Accenture. They keep their color scheme on point and have a clear branded template that simplifies the video creation process.
You can see this video has a lot of stock footage, Zoom recordings, and a good editor that uses a nice selection of music. You can do this even with a small business and a short timeline. Make sure to use an effective strategy and build a storyboard.
LinkedIn Ads:
LinkedIn is more limiting when it comes to video ads, with brands only allowed to play video ads through Sponsored Content offerings. These videos would appear as native ads on the platform.
LinkedIn Best Practices:
When producing B2B video marketing content on LinkedIn, you should think of ways to stand out among other businesses on the platform.
Think outside the box with your content and decide on topics that competitors aren’t necessarily covering. Doing so can easily differentiate you and help build authority with your videos.
Also, be timely with your content, which LinkedIn easily allows by enabling users to upload videos straight from their mobile devices.
As the most popular social media channel, Facebook will likely be a useful platform for your video marketing campaigns. On this platform, you can post main videos to your brand’s page or even include a video on the cover of your page.
Additionally, you have the ability to post videos in Stories, stream live video, and run ads.
Facebook Ads:
- Feed ads
- In-stream video ads
- Video Feed ads
- Facebook Stories ads
Facebook Video Best Practices:
If you want to use Facebook for video content, one way to optimize your videos is to write succinct descriptions. Audiences want quick and simple descriptions that tell them what they’re getting with your video.
Indicate when you’re going to post content to encourage more of your followers to come back to your page and watch their feeds.
For in-depth guidance on how to fine-tune your strategies specifically for the largest social network, check out these tips for facebook video marketing strategy. This resource provides actionable steps tailored to improving your video’s reach and engagement on Facebook.
X
X can also help with video campaigns, allowing you to tweet videos to audiences. This platform also allows you to post live-streaming videos and video ads.
X Video Marketing Ads:
- Standalone video ads that appear in people’s feeds
- Video ads with direct CTA buttons
- Video ads with buttons leading to app store pages
- Video ads with other conversion buttons that drive action
- Video ads with polls
X Marketing Best Practices
Twitter is all about bite-sized content, so you’ll want to make your videos as appealing as possible to capture people’s attention in a brief window.
In your videos, use bright colors, vibrant images, and motion to your advantage. Your copy should also be short and to the point to engage users.
Video SEO Checklist
To maximize the visibility of your videos in traditional search results and generative engines like Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, you should implement the following best practices for video marketing in your strategy:
Indexable Watch Pages
These are pages that feature an embedded video as the main content piece. They’ll appear on your website and supplement the video itself with other components, including the below elements.
For instance, you might create a blog post featuring a particular YouTube video with an embed at the top, along with additional copy discussing the video topic below.
Metadata
One of the main elements to optimize is your pages’ and individual videos’ metadata, including the title tag and meta description that will appear in search results.
Title tags should be within 60 characters to appear in full, while meta descriptions must be under 160.
You can optimize metadata directly on your website, whereas your video title and description on YouTube and other platforms will function as the metadata in most instances.
Transcripts
Your watch pages can also include transcripts of your videos, which effectively convert your videos into blog post content. Tools like Designrr can assist with the transcription process, allowing you to automatically turn audio into text.
Captions
To make your videos more accessible to impaired users, be sure to include captions within your videos. While automated tools like YouTube’s editor can help with caption generation, it’s best to perform a manual review to ensure all audio is accurately captioned.
Schema
Structured data in the form of JSON-LD schema markup can give search engines more context regarding what kind of content your pages contain.
Specifically, your watch pages would include VideoObject schema type to indicate that your page features an embedded video. From there, you can add code detailing specific video features like actor, caption, and transcript.
Thumbnails
Another critical element is the video thumbnail, which should immediately capture the viewer’s interest and inspire them to hit the play button.
Thumbnail best practices include adding short, relevant text that contrasts against visuals, using recognizable branding to set your videos apart, and including a featured personality within the video when applicable.
Also, split test your YouTube thumbnails to see which generates the most engagement.
Chapters
Break your videos into chapters covering specific subtopics, which will help with SEO and direct people to various sections of a video that speaks to their particular needs and interests.
Sitemaps
You’ll be able to improve the indexability of your watch pages by incorporating them into an XML sitemap. Search engine crawlers scan these sitemaps to more efficiently find, index, and rank pages.
Page Copy
Add text copy to your watch pages that helps optimize videos for good SEO, potentially integrating an embedded video into a blog post exploring the topics discussed with greater depth. Your copy should optimize for relevant keywords that apply to each topic and subtopic, but avoid stuffing and make sure the text reads naturally.
Internal Links
Another key component of good on-page SEO is the use of internal links. Your video pages should link to other relevant pages where appropriate, including service pages and other main navigation pages along with blog posts discussing certain topics.
An effective internal linking strategy will help improve link equity across your site and encourage people to continue exploring beyond that watch page.
Search Console Monitoring
Regularly track the performance of your watch pages based on your goals with Google Search Console.
Here, you can use the video indexing report to see how many indexed pages contain one or more videos and identify any indexing issues.
Meanwhile, the performance report with the video filter can help you track clicks, impressions, average position, and other metrics.
In addition, see whether your videos appear in rich results based on structured data implementation with the rich results report.
How to Measure Video Marketing ROI
There are plenty of key performance indicators for video marketing to measure, aligning video content with marketing objectives.
Some of these metrics include:
Attribution Models
A couple of effective attribution models to measure include:
- View-through Attribution (VTA): This model gives credit to video ad impressions that ultimately lead to a conversion, regardless of whether the viewer clicks on the ad. It’s particularly helpful in measuring brand awareness campaigns
- Assisted Conversions: You can use this metric to identify touchpoints leading to a conversion without being the final course of action. For instance, someone might eventually convert after clicking on an ad, engaging with an email, or conducting a search on Google.
Video Engagement Metrics
Video engagement metrics might include the following:
- Watch Time: This calculates the total amount of time viewers spend watching a video, a metric that’s especially important on platforms like YouTube for indicating whether audiences find your video worth watching.
- Average View Duration (AVD): Indicates the average length of single viewing sessions, with a good benchmark being around 60-70%, which could show that your video is keeping viewers’ attention for most of its duration.
- Audience Retention: Shows the percentage of viewers who continue watching at various points throughout a video, potentially indicating where people are dropping off. Expect retention to naturally decline throughout the video, particularly for longer videos.
- Heatmaps: Determine which parts of a video people wath, skip, or rewatch, helping to figure out which parts are the most (and least) engaging.
To give you a better idea of what to track in your video strategy, here are some metrics to measure at various stages of the sales funnel and based on specific objectives.
| Funnel Stage | Business Goal | Primary Metrics/KPIs |
| Top of funnel (TOFU) | Awareness |
|
| Middle of funnel (MOFU) | Engagement |
|
| MOFU | Traffic |
|
| MOFU | Lead generation |
|
| Bottom of funnel (BOFU) | Sales |
|
| Post-Funnel | Customer retention |
|
| Post-Funnel | Support reduction |
|
FAQs
1. What is the best platform for video marketing?
While YouTube is the most popular video marketing platform available, the best one to use for your video strategy will depend on where your audience is and other relevant factors, such as when creating video marketing content on a budget.
2. How long should marketing videos be?
You should use a blend of short- and long-form videos to get the most from your video marketing strategy. The ideal length will depend on the type of video and the platform, but you can experiment with different formats to determine which length is best to keep people watching.
3. How can AI be used in video marketing?
You can use AI in a number of ways to optimize video creation and marketing. For example, you can implement AI editing tools to help put together the final production, while AI analytics solutions can provide you with in-depth insights into viewer behavior to help predict how a video will perform.
4. How can one video be repurposed?
There are many ways you can repurpose a single video to use for various types of content. One way is to cut up a longer video into short-form clips for YouTube Shorts or social media posts, and you can use video transcripts to create text blog posts, newsletters, or articles, for instance.
5. How do you optimize videos for SEO?
It’s important to optimize your videos to help you achieve higher rankings in search engines, which you can do by using keyword-rich titles and descriptions, tags, metadata, and video schema markup on your web pages, along with timestamps and chapters that can highlight specific subtopics within your video.
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