Author: rifmahmood

Video helps to build trust, allowing people to connect with you and what you do. It improves web search by up to 50%, delivers fantastic ROI, increases engagement and is the most shared type of content on mobiles. Most importantly, research shows that up to 90% of consumers claim that videos help their decision making process.

Right now, nearly 75% of internet traffic is video, which is a good thing.  But there is a downside.  It means that to cut through the immense amount of content being shared and posted it’s crucial that you understand how to effectively promote, target and use your video to achieve the desired results.

Google love video. They love it so much that by simply having videos featured on your website their search bots will recognise your site as having a high degree of relevancy and therefore improve your ranking when someone searches for terms related to your business.

Here’s a link to a great article by SearchEngineLand explaining how effective video is and how to use it to improve your site’s ranking.

Many years ago Google hijacked the phrase “help, hub, hero” to describe the optimum approach to your video marketing strategy.  It was originally help, hygiene, hero and was stolen from a system newspaper editors used back in the day, but that’s another story.

Essentially they were describing three different types of video that have very specific and very different functions, but that used together will ensure that you give yourself the very best chance of increasing site visitors, growing your audience and promoting your business.

Now keep in mind that these guidelines were originally developed to help large brands manage their content strategy but, and this is what makes them so useful, they are just as relevant for small businesses or someone creating their first video.

The approach helps you to think about what kind of video to make, who the video is for, what you want it to say and what the objectives are for your business.

Lets outline the categories in more detail:

Help Video

Popular videos in this category include “how to” videos, explainer films and unboxing videos for example.  They are designed to have utility and will avoid a specific reference to your products or services but of course be related in some way. They are useful in a customer’s journey as they provide needed advice, tutorials, or reviews and put the publisher in the position of being a trusted resource for help.  They perform two key functions however.  They increase loyalty to your brand and are a great gateway to introduce new customers to your business. They are also particularly important as part of the overall search process.

Hub Videos

This is a harder category to define but essentially these videos are about engagement. Primarily this category is about frequency and pushing content that is relevant to your audience’s experiences, interests and passions. Hub content can be made to promote a specific event or aspect of your business but it’s primary function is to be sharable. It might be a mini documentary, behind the scenes footage, interviews, or a video about a cause related to your business.

Hero Videos

These are your typical adverts – describing you, what you do, what you stand for and are designed to increase awareness of your business or service.  They could be viral campaigns, brand films, or your main video featured on your website, for example. These usually deserve some investment to promote online and will be used longer term and won’t need to be updated so often.

So, by using these categories as useful guides you should be able to answer the key questions related to your video:

• What is it’s function?
• Who is it for?
• How will your audience benefit?
• What results are you hoping for?
• Where will you put it?

Here’s a useful link to Youtube’s Playbook that outlines everything you need to know about establishing a channel, using video effectively and how to maximise your investment.