Give Your Marketing Videos Maximum Reach With This Distribution Checklist
You‘ve poured your heart, soul, and marketing budget into creating an incredible video. It‘s engaging, it‘s compelling, it perfectly encapsulates your message. You uploaded it to YouTube, eagerly anticipating the views, shares, and conversions to come rolling in.
But after obsessively checking the stats every hour for a few days, the view count isn‘t even close to what you‘d hoped for. What gives?
The hard truth is, even the best, most high-quality video content won‘t generate results if you don‘t put some serious effort into distributing it. Just posting a video is not a video marketing strategy.
Consider this: 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. 55% of people watch videos online every day. And by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. With so much video content out there vying for attention, the competition is fierce. You need a solid plan to cut through the noise and get your videos seen by the right people.
That‘s where this comprehensive video distribution checklist comes in. Follow it to the letter every time you create a new video to ensure you‘re maximizing your reach and ROI.
Video Distribution: More Than Just Views
First, let‘s talk about why video distribution matters so much. Sure, racking up millions of views on your latest brand film feels great. But views alone aren‘t enough – you need the right views from people likely to take the next step and become customers.
HubSpot found that 97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service, and 76% say it helped them increase sales. But that only happens when you get your videos in front of relevant, qualified audiences – not just your college roommate and Aunt Sally.
Effective video distribution is all about reaching your target buyer personas where they already spend time online. It‘s about offering valuable, entertaining content that pulls them into your brand story and guides them along the path from prospect to customer.
And make no mistake, it takes work. You can‘t just blast your video out to every channel and hope for the best. Each platform has its own best practices, audience preferences, and culture. One size definitely does not fit all when it comes to video distribution.
Setting Your Videos Up for Distribution Success
OK, you‘re bought in on the importance of having a video distribution strategy. But before you start sharing, there are a few key things to do to set your videos up for maximum impact:
1. Optimize for search
YouTube is the world‘s second-largest search engine, so treat your video titles, descriptions, and tags just like you would SEO for your website. Use relevant keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing. And keep titles under 70 characters so they don‘t get cut off in results.
2. Craft compelling thumbnails
Your video thumbnail is your first (and maybe only) chance to grab a potential viewer‘s attention. Make sure it‘s clear, eye-catching, and features a compelling visual that encapsulates the video content. Avoid clickbait-y or misleading images.
3. Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
What do you want viewers to do after watching your video? Subscribe to your channel, download an eBook, book a demo? Whatever it is, include a clear CTA at the end of the video and in the description. Make it easy for viewers to take the next step.
4. Add transcripts and captions
Not only do transcripts and captions make your videos more accessible to hearing-impaired viewers, they also provide additional text content for search engines to crawl and index. Win-win!
With those best practices in place, you‘re ready to start working your way through the video distribution checklist.
The Ultimate Video Distribution Checklist
1. Your website
This is prime real estate for your videos, so make the most of it! Embed relevant videos on your homepage, product pages, blog posts, resource center, and dedicated landing pages. An EyeView study found that videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%.
For SEO bonus points, accompany embedded videos with transcripts. This gives search engines more content to index while providing an alternative for visitors who prefer reading to watching.
Video Distribution Pro Tip:
Use Wistia or another video hosting platform to embed videos on your site rather than just embedding straight from YouTube. This lets you access advanced features like video SEO tools, lead generation forms, viewer analytics, and customizable player branding.
2. YouTube
I know I just said not to rely on YouTube embeds, but that doesn‘t mean you should ignore the platform altogether! YouTube has over 2 billion logged-in monthly users. If your audience is on the internet, they‘re probably on YouTube.
But succeeding on YouTube requires more than just uploading your videos and calling it a day. Organize your channel with playlists, create custom thumbnails, include subscribe CTAs, and engage with your community in the comments. Consistency is key – aim to publish on a regular schedule to keep subscribers coming back.
Video Distribution Pro Tip:
Repurpose your video content into multiple formats optimized for YouTube. Turn a long webinar into a series of shorter tutorial videos, or edit customer testimonials down into bite-sized social clips. More content equals more opportunities to be discovered.
| Element | Best Practice |
|---|---|
| Title | Under 70 characters, includes primary keyword |
| Description | 200+ words, includes keywords and CTA |
| Tags | 5-8 relevant tags, lead with most important |
| Custom Thumbnail | 1280 x 720 px, under 2MB, compelling image |
| End Screen | Add subscribe CTA and links to related videos |
| Cards | Link to relevant content on your site |
(Example YouTube video optimization table)
3. Social Media
The average person spends nearly 2.5 hours on social media every day. That‘s a lot of opportunity to get your video content in front of your ideal customers! But just like any other type of content, video should be tailored for each platform.
Here are some tips for the major social networks:
- Upload videos directly to Facebook rather than sharing YouTube links (native videos get 10x more shares)
- Keep videos under 2 minutes
- Add captions since 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound
- Use square or vertical videos to take up more real estate in the mobile News Feed
- Share short teaser clips in Feed posts to drive viewers to the full video on IGTV or your site
- Add captions to Story and Feed videos
- Include a "tap for sound" CTA in Stories
- Post at peak times when your audience is most active
- Upload videos directly to Twitter for the best engagement
- Aim for 45-60 seconds max
- Include descriptive copy and 1-2 relevant hashtags in tweet copy
- Tag any featured influencers/thought leaders to encourage them to amplify
- Upload videos natively for 5x the engagement of YouTube links
- Grab attention with a compelling hook in the first 3 seconds
- Focus on industry trends, professional tips, or behind-the-scenes content
- Use the introduction text to start a conversation and encourage comments
Video Distribution Pro Tip:
Create unique "social-first" cuts of your video content specifically optimized for each platform. Edit key quotes, stats, or takeaways into snackable graphics to share across channels. And don‘t be afraid to put some paid advertising budget behind your most important videos to amplify reach.
4. Email
For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42. Not too shabby! Bring some of that ROI-boosting power to your video distribution by featuring videos in your email campaigns.
Just using the word "video" in an email subject line can increase open rates by 19%. Try it out in your next newsletter or product update. Instead of just linking to the video, embed an eye-catching thumbnail with a play button. This can boost clicks by 300%!
Video Distribution Pro Tip:
Have your sales team include links to relevant product videos in their email outreach to prospects. And encourage all employees to add a link to your latest brand video in their email signatures to organically spread the word.
| Metric | Video Emails | Non-Video Emails |
|---|---|---|
| Open Rate | 19.8% | 14.2% |
| Click-Through Rate | 65% | 39% |
| Conversion Rate | 4.8% | 2.9% |
(Example table showing impact of video on email metrics)
5. Paid Promotion
Organic reach will only get you so far, especially on increasingly crowded and competitive platforms. That‘s where paid promotion comes in. Even a small budget can go a long way in boosting your video views and engagement.
Consider running paid campaigns on:
- YouTube: Promote your video with in-stream ads, discovery ads, or display ads
- Social media: Boost high-performing organic posts as paid ads or create video-specific campaigns
- Google Ads: Run video campaigns across YouTube, Gmail, and the Google Display Network
- Native advertising: Publish sponsored video content on popular industry blogs and publications
Video Distribution Pro Tip:
Before you put money behind a video, make sure it‘s fully optimized and aligned with your campaign goals. Use audience targeting to get the video in front of your key demographics. And keep a close eye on performance metrics so you can adjust bids, audiences, and creative accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Consistently executing this comprehensive video distribution checklist does take a significant investment of time and effort. But when you consider that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video (compared to just 10% when reading it in text), it‘s clear that video is worth the extra hustle.
So the next time you finish a new video, don‘t just post it and pray. Methodically work your way through each of these distribution channels, optimizing your content for every platform. The right distribution process turns your video from an expensive nice-to-have into an revenue-generating, lead-converting machine.
I‘ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from video marketing expert James Wedmore: "Stop thinking of video as video, and start thinking of video as a deployment tool for your message." Now get out there and deploy!
