Improve Your Use of Video with These Seven Takeaways from Video Marketing World

It was two days of influencers, personalities and subject matter experts. Video Marketing World was a conference as diverse as the video content on the internet. Everywhere you looked, there were Rode microphones attached to DSLRs and iPhones, capturing the experience from each creator’s perspective. But, this wasn’t just a conference for the next (insert YouTube star of the moment), there were takeaways for all marketers. 

Here are seven that stood out for me:

1. If your content marketing plan doesn’t have a video component, you don’t have a content marketing plan. Every presenter started with data that consumers want video content, watch video content and are more likely to buy from brands that provide video content. No matter how painful it seems, video is essential to reaching your costumers.
2. Thumbnails are the new subject line.  Thumbnails are the highest determinant of click-throughs for your YouTube video. It’s not about a refined design style. To put it simply, people click on thumbnails with faces, everything else is debatable and up for testing.
3. If you don’t customize your video content for the channel, it will fail.  My favorite quote came from presenter Carlos Gil, “Don’t be mad at Facebook that your marketing sucks. ” Social media companies exist to make money. They want people to engage and stay on their platform. If you constantly post content that directs them away from their site, the algorithm will punish you. As Carlos says, “We’re all playing on rented land.” We have to play by their rules but, in order to win, you have to be smart with your content. Lastly, if the channel isn’t right for your audience, stop wasting time. Focus your energy on the sites that will give you results.
4. Don’t neglect your own website and its content. Your website can be the best place to start your video content strategy. An explainer video on your homepage is an excellent point of entry for producing video content. Plus there are video hosting services other than YouTube that generate data on who’s viewing your content. On your own page, you don’t have to worry about the next recommended video.
5. It’s time to incorporate video into your email marketing and sales. Data shows that emails with video have a better open rate and overall conversion rate. There are excellent tools like GoVideo and Soapbox that make it easy for your sales team to produce custom videos for clients from their desktop.
6. There are huge growth opportunities with LinkedIn video.  Two of the most exciting panels were about LinkedIn video. A relatively new offering, LinkedIn video allows businesses and individuals to reach a large audience and gives you great data about who’s viewing your content. As Michaela Alexis said, “LinkedIn is the largest networking event in the world, and it's going on 24/7.” Adding video to the party can only help you stand out.
7. Just post it. This is a hard thing for long-time video professionals like me. I want it to look perfect with good lighting, graphics and editing. What really matters is that you have good content. Don’t let not having a professional camera and studio lighting prevent you or your company from creating a video content strategy. Share your iPhone videos, (as long as they have good audio) and see what happens.

Did you attend Video Marketing World? What were your takeaways? What other marketing conferences do you recommend? Let’s talk!