If you’re not communicating with your audience using video, chances are, you’re not communicating with your audience at all. If you want to deliver a message, video is key, and more people will actually retain that message when you use video to deliver it.
Does that mean you should use video anywhere and everywhere you can? Well, yes and no…
There are times when video can work for you or against you – it’s up to you to figure out when those times are for your business. You might need to add video to your homepage, you might want to publish video on your ecommerce pages, and you might want to test video on your landing pages. But when it comes to providing top-of-funnel informational content like you’d find on a blog, is video necessary?
It definitely depends on a few factors, but it’s rare to find a blog that wouldn’t benefit from the addition of video. Whether it adds to your subscriber base, increases your time spent on page, or actually leads to more conversions, video can be a welcome bonus to any blog post or resource page.
Still, video can sometimes require certain resources, including time, money, and attention, that your company just might not have. We’re here to help you figure out the right balance and determine once and for all, should you use video on your blog?
Should you use video on your blog?
The short answer is yes – you should definitely use video on your blog!
Whether you create unique, branded video content of your own, or link to video content from others, video is one of the most engaging types of content available to you, and adding it to your blog articles is an easy way to increase your engagement metrics.
The most important takeaway when it comes to adding videos to your blog is: Do your research! Don’t add videos to articles without a sense of what your readers are most curious about. If they aren’t interested in the topic to begin with, it’s likely adding video to your posts won’t have much of an effect.
Instead, do keyword research and find out what your audience is searching. What questions do they have? What information can you provide that will educate them and make them more interested in your brand? Once you have a good idea of your audiences’ areas of interests, you can begin to craft blog articles and video content that will attract and engage them.
As you do your research, keep an eye on a few things. One, you’ll want to focus on topics that lack video representation. You might find a topic that’s generated a lot of buzz, a lot of articles, or a lot of discussion, but may not return any video results. That means there is a huge opportunity for you to create a video and earn that number one search engine ranking. And two, keep an eye on topics that maybe return a lot of video results, but the videos are low-quality, uninformative, or generally unengaging. That means the topic may be oversaturated with content, but none of the content is doing a good job of actually answering users’ questions. If you create the right high-quality video, you could break through the noise and become an expert in your field.
If you happen to work in a highly visual industry, say fashion, food, design – anything along those lines – your blog definitely needs video. These industries couldn’t survive without visuals like video and photography, so make sure you’re providing the video content your audience wants to see.
If you work in a less visual industry, like software, tech, sales, or similar, creating video can be extra beneficial, since these industries don’t typically rely on this method of communication. Coming up with video ideas here might be a little more difficult, but they have a much higher payoff. Work on animating graphics, or create a simple voice-over video that illustrates the main points in your blog article.
Keep your resources in mind, though. You might be able to create a fantastic and relevant video using your cellphone camera and a plain backdrop, but if you want a higher quality production that’ll result in video you can repurpose and use indefinitely, you might want to dedicate a few more resources to creating it the right way. Weigh your marketing goals against your resources. If you have zero to spend on a video initiative, use screen capture software to highlight your main point or record yourself on a smartphone. If you have a little more to dedicate to video, create a voice-over with plain graphics. If you an ample video budget, consider a more developed video on location with actors and a storyline or an ongoing video series you can host on your blog.
What type of videos work best on blogs?
Typically, the goal of your blog will be to educate and inform your visitors. You don’t want to be too pushy when it comes to making a sale and you don’t want to use your blog as a brand soapbox. You do, however, want to provide valuable content that will be memorable and useful to your target audience.
Though video can be in almost any style or format, here are the most common types of video you can use on your blog.
Educational Videos
These videos aim to educate the viewer on a specific issue or area of interest that relates to your company, product, or service. They should be focused on educating your viewer and not selling your product.
How-To or Tutorial Videos
How-to videos hone in on a specific task or activity and explains it in a clear and concise step-by-step format. These are great for providing guidance on an industry practice and provide customers with the best possible experience by getting in front of any questions they might have about your product, service, or your industry in general.
Creative and Social Videos
Have something fun to share? Use video to get your message across in a fun and memorable way. These can include tips and tricks, fun facts, company updates, and more. Though this content can live on your blog, it can also be shared independently on social media and more.
Interview or Q&A Videos
Interview an expert in your field or a company executive on camera. Ask questions your users would want to know and make the recording available on your blog.
Case Studies
Do you have an exemplary case study you can highlight via video? Use these videos to highlight stats and figures about your industry or your company in particular.
There’s really no limitation on the types of videos you can use on your blog. The only thing to keep in mind is that this video content should be informative and provide real value to your visitors. Outside of that, feel free to post any video on your blog – the more, the merrier!
What type of brand video is right for you? Take our quiz to find out!
6 Tips and Tricks for Optimizing Your Blog with Video
If you are including video on your blog, be sure to follow these tips, which will help your blog posts perform better and help your video be seen by more eyes.
1. Include the word Video in your blog article or resource page’s title.
Just seeing the word video in a subject line can increase email open rates by over 7 percent. Give your blog articles the same boost by including the word “video” in every post that includes video.
2. Include the video transcript for an SEO boost.
If your blog doesn’t include much written content, be sure to include a transcript of your video’s audio. This will give search engines something relevant to crawl, since videos alone are virtually invisible to site indexing.
3. Sound makes all the difference.
Invest in a lavalier microphone for optimal sound – there are special mics that can connect via USB port or headphone jack to Apple and Android phones.
4. Include a call to action.
Even though the videos on your blog should be educational and informative, you still want to provide an actionable CTA that will help guide your viewers through the marketing funnel.
5. Be attention-grabbing in the first eight seconds of your video.
If you don’t hook the viewer in the first few seconds of your video, chances are high you’ll lose them altogether. Grab their attention quickly with bright visuals and your best line.
6. Use a person’s face if and when you can.
Nothing brings a viewer in like a person’s face. People need something they can relate to, so – even if your video is fairly low budget – use a person in the video thumbnail and at some point throughout the video if you can.
If you’ve been thinking about whether or not your blog would benefit from the addition of video advertising and distribution, your mind is in the right place. You know video is changing the digital landscape, and more and more brands are now using video to communicate directly with their users. If you’re not using it on your blog at all, your missing out on more engagement, more views, and more site visits than you might imagine. Get started today! See how we can help you create the video your blog needs.