So you’ve just had the final files of your amazing corporate video delivered and you want to show the world. You upload it to your company website and YouTube full of optimism. But then after a while you realise that it’s not getting any views. So how do you get people to watch your video and get more views.
There is such a saturation of video content in the internet these days that it can be difficult to make your own stand out. Whether your video is appearing in a YouTube search results list or on your website, you need to do all you can to stop people scrolling past your video.
Whilst there are no guarantees with these things, there are a few things that you can do to get people to stop and watch your video.
“There’s no definitive way to guarantee more views, but there are some things you can do to improve your chances.”
Choose Your Thumbnail Carefully
Believe it or not, the thumbnail is crucial in getting someone to click on your video.
One big mistake people make is that the thumbnail is an after-thought and they let the computer pick one at random. Think of the thumbnail as the videos ‘front cover’. It either needs to be a ‘wow’ shot from the video or a representation of something that is key to the story.
Pick a Sensible and Relevant Title
Keep it short, keep it sweet and keep it relevant. There’s no point in giving your video a ridiculously long and confusing title. It will only really discourage people from watching it.
It’s also worth keeping SEO in mind when giving your video a title. Giving it a title with a few key search terms in will really help people when it comes to finding your video.
Speaking of SEO…
Tags/Labels/SEO
The importance of optimizing your video for SEO cannot be overstated. If you don’t, people won’t be able to find your video. It’s as simple as that. Come up with some key search terms for your video and then weave them into the description and the title. Make sure that they’re honest and relevant terms. So if your video is about a specific product or service; then that’s your key search term.
If you’re putting your video onto video hosting sites, such as YouTube, then you’ll need to add tags too. Tags are, essentially, alternative search terms that people will use. So think like your audience, what other terms would they use to try and find your video?
It’s all about Timing
Think about when your audience is going to be online and active. There’s not much point in posting your video at 10pm. Unless, of course, you’re targeting an audience in a different time zone. This is especially relevant if you’re posting your video to social media. If you’re posting your video to Facebook for example; then post your video at peak times. So either lunchtime, or early evening when everyone gets home from work.
At the end of the day, there’s no guaranteed formula for ensuring people watch your video (unless you buy clicks from a click farm!). But if you follow these steps and have got a professional video production company to make your amazing corporate video; then you’ve given yourself every chance.