The world of marketing is always evolving. If you’re not willing to adjust your strategy, you’re going to get left behind.

These days, video marketing is one of the best things you can do to expose your brand to a larger audience. But, you have to do it the right way. It’s not enough to just throw a random video up on YouTube every couple of weeks and hope for the best.

Listed below are five common video marketing mistakes that businesses make. If you’re guilty of any of these, fixing them could significantly increase the number of people who see your videos.

1. You Focus too Much on the “Hard Sell”

This year, tons of businesses are taking a page from social media influencers’ books and jumping on the vlogging bandwagonjumping on the vlogging bandwagon. The goal of this movement is to create more of a relationship with viewers and treat them like people rather than always promoting products.

If you’re guilty of this, your obsession with the “hard sell” could be hurting your marketing videos.

Remember, people don’t like feeling like they’re constantly being marketed to. Don’t just list off a bunch of facts about your product. Find ways to tell stories, let viewers in on behind-the-scenes aspects of your company, and treat them as people first, not just customers.

2. No One Can Find Your Videos
Search engine optimization isn't just for written articles!

Even if your video content is amazing and inspiring, it doesn’t mean anything if nobody can find your videos online.

Make sure you’re maximizing SEO to bring in as many views as possible. These tips are a good place to start:

Focus on appropriate keywords and search terms when titling your video
Don’t forget to include a keyword-optimized video description
Create a video sitemap to let search engines know more about your videos
Use YouTube’s auto-suggest tool to your advantage to title your video accurately and get ideas for future videos

3. Your Videos are too Long

Like it or not, we live in a world where just about everyone has a tiny attention span and wants instant gratification. This means that a 15-minute marketing video isn’t going to do your company any favors. Even five minutes might be too long.

Instead of putting up one long video, think of ways to break the video up into shorter, easy-to-digest segments. For example, start with a two-minute video, then follow up with three one-minute videos (or even six 30-second ones).

With this approach, you’ve still got five minutes of content, but you’ll be able to spread it out over a longer period of time, and you’ll be more likely to keep viewers’ attention and cement yourself in their memory.

4. You Rely too Much on YouTube

YouTube is a great option for video marketing. But, there are plenty of other options out there that can be just as effective. Make sure you’re posting videos on all social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Remember, too, to upload every video natively. This helps you get more shares and views than if you just share the YouTube link around.

5. You Forget the Call-to-Action

Many businesses are guilty of focusing too much on the hard sell. But, the opposite can also be problematic. If you’re posting interesting content but not giving viewers a specific call-to-action -- visit our website, sign up for our email list, check out this product, etc. -- you’re making a big mistake.

Give viewers clear directions so that, if they are interested in your product or services, they know exactly where to find you. People don’t want to have to hunt around for this information. If it’s not readily available, they’ll just move on and buy from a brand that gave them clear steps to follow.

Wrapping Up

Are you making any of these five common video marketing mistakes? If you are, don’t panic. Keep the tips discussed above in mind as you reassess your marketing strategy, and you’ll be able to turn things around in no time!

Resources

https://www.pixelproductionsinc.com/30-insights-need-know-video-marketin...
https://www.pixelproductionsinc.com/marketing/seo-copywriting-services/
https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2343365/10-video-seo-tips-that-...
https://keywordtool.io/youtube
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/site...

Author's Bio: 

Natalie Thongrit is a freelance writer who focuses primarily on fitness, health, and wellness-related content. You can connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn, or check out her portfolio to read more of her work.