Video is pivotal for businesses who continue to utilize it as a tool to promote their brand. However, what about those people who aren’t just using video to build a brand, but rather, video is their brand? When video is the product, there’s an added pressure to choose the perfect video distribution strategy. If placing video advertisements on the right platform can yield significant results, imagine the potential outcomes of choosing the right distribution for your video content, especially if you take advantage of an OTT solution t o streamline video options. In order to truly thrive as a video business, you must put significant effort into data analysis, SEO and audience development along with developing a video distribution strategy.
1. Data Analysis
Ponder this for a moment: you’re constantly trying to reach a larger audience for your daily news show, yet can’t seem to gain any momentum. You have no idea what you’re doing wrong! How do you know if what you’re doing is working?
Video is a tricky medium because there are so many variables that go into analyzing performance. Sure, having robust analytics will absolutely help, but a lot of your video’s performance depends on how and where it is distributed. Does the OTT platform have a discover feature? What is the audience reach and ecosystem? How do you think your content will perform on each OTT platform? These are all questions you must consider for the best possible video performance. Feel overwhelmed by all of this? It might be time to look into using an OTT solution that provides powerful tools for video content management, audience management, and distribution.
2. Optimize Your Video for Search Engines
When video traffic comes from search engines on the web, it’s likely that your potential viewers have no idea what the video is about unless you explicitly provide them with the relevant information.
Metadata
The best way to start optimizing your video for web search engines is through the use of metadata, transcripts, and closed captioning. You’re probably already familiar with metadata….you know you want to keep your meta-titles concise with necessary keywords, include detailed descriptions with more keywords, add a category for your video in your CMS, tags, and non-generic filenames. You’ve got the basics down, but few people really dive into one of the most powerful SEO strategies of all: optimizing schema.
Schema
By keeping your schema to the point, search engines will not only pick up what type of content is on your page, but any associated acts as well. As search engines become more familiar with the searcher, those videos with great schema will climb the rankings, even for keywords they are not actively targeting. For example, if your short film has an actor named Juan de Pico Gallo and you note your cast in schema or somewhere in your metadata, your film will pop up when someone searches for Juan de Pico Gallo.
Transcripts and Closed Captioning
The simplest, but often most forgotten, way to let search engine crawlers know what is in your video is to add a transcript directly to the web page.
Adding a text track for closed captioning is a great way to accomplish this and add value to your video. This is exceptionally important if you are distributing your video through social media platforms where people are more prone to watch videos if they have the option to keep it on mute and understand what is being said.
3. Audience Development
Say you’re amazed by a street performer. You may happily drop a few bucks in their bucket, but realistically, you probably won’t see the performer ever again.
Let’s circle this back to video and audience development. Sure, you might be able to make a modest income from traffic alone. You might even be able to optimally position yourself and get access to more traffic, like a busy street corner or the top of a search engine page… but does this sound like a sustainable business model? Regardless of your access to traffic, you’ll never truly have access to your audience unless you can consistently communicate with them. Like Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia said, “video is the single most important content marketing strategy today ”. In order to make the most of video, you have to make a conscious effort to develop both your video and audience, so traffic is intentional, not coincidental.
Don’t get us wrong, the coincidental traffic that the street performer earned is a great awareness tool, just like a content creator having his or her video go viral. In fact, these untargeted efforts are great for building a real fan base and identifying passionate fans who are willing to pay for content, which is your end goal.
The Bottom Line
By finding methods that work for your niche and taking advantage of macro trends not only in video, but tech overall, you will be on the side of video history that gets clicked and watched instead of being unknown and unseen. By analyzing your data, truly developing your audience and optimizing SEO alongside a strong distribution strategy, you’ll see your video business flourish.
Zype makes it easy for content owners to connect directly with their audiences. Request a demo and see what we can do for you today.