How to Make Video Soar on Social Media

So you've gone and created an awesome video for your business, congrats! Not only is video the most engaging way to connect with your audience, but you've also gone and opened the door to a world of opportunities.

The next step should be to promote it on your social channels. But how do you make sure you're doing it right? Check out these top tips to make sure you're not missing out on all of the benefits that video brings...

YouTube

As the second largest search engine in the world, and one that relies solely on video, it makes sense to kick things off with YouTube. Optimising your video for YouTube is very important. You need to give it a good description that explains what your video is about, why people should watch it, and end it with a link back to your website.

Next step is to add tags because they help place your video in the right category. Think about what people would search for and use that as a basis for your keywords. Another great tip is to add closed captions to your video, to make it more accessible and to improve SEO rankings, as Google can't yet read video content, but it loves to read text!

· Give your video a description

· Tag your video with apt keywords

· Upload closed captioning

· Don’t forget CTA

Facebook

Until recently, Facebook didn't really dedicate much time to videos and it was difficult to get your audience to see it, let alone watch it. But times are changing and they have been testing a feature that will automatically play a video, if you're viewing from your mobile phone. Only time will tell if it will be a success, but the aim is that more people will start paying attention to videos.

On the whole, Facebook seems to prefer images over videos so in order to combat this problem, take a screenshot of the best part of your video so that you can attach it to your post, plus a link back to your video.

The good thing about Facebook is that it gives users the ability to Like, Share and Comment, meaning there is plenty of engagement. So when you're about to post your video, make sure you create a discussion and find out what your audience thinks of your masterpiece.

· Take a screenshot of your video and add it to the post

· Create discussion's to keep engagement high

· Promote your video post to target a larger audience

Twitter

Twitter is great because it's so fast paced meaning you can post the same content more than once. When it comes to this social platform, you need to be making the most of hashtags. Now I'm not saying go hashtag crazy, but think about what your audience will be searching for and add a hashtag accordingly. Then, try and grab them with an engaging line on why they should watch your video and add the link.

Go back through your notifications to see what time people have replied, retweeted and favorited your Tweets. Once you've got all this information at hand, you can work out the best time to post your video.

· Hashtag relevant keywords

· Find out the best time to post your video

· Grab your audience with a reason why they should watch it

Now you may not think of Linkedin as a place to promote a video but you could be missing out on some serious opportunities! As a networking site, Linkedin can help you find new business partners or employees, so make sure you create a video with that in mind.

LinkedIn is also a site that lets you join in with discussions so don't be afraid to join one that's relevant to you and post your video. You can even start a discussion, ask people what they think of your video and create engagement that way.

· Create and join in with discussions

· Post your video on your feed

· Invite people to give feedback on your video

Instagram

Since Instagram unveiled video as a brand new feature to their app, brands have been trying their best to create killer videos for all of their followers. The problem with Instagram is that you need to create the video within the app, so it's time to roll up those sleeves and get creative. You've only got 15 seconds to play with, which is perfect for keeping the attention of the audience, so think about what sort of video you want to create.

Once you have created the video, you need to make it easy for people to find it and the way to do that is to hashtag it with relevant key words. The great thing about Instagram is that you aren’t limited to the number of hashtag's you use, so make sure you add in any words that your customers might be searching for.

· Hashtag with plenty of keywords to gain maximum exposure

· Get creative with your 15 seconds

· You can also share it on your Twitter and Facebook

StumbleUpon

This is a site that works on the basis of users bookmarking their favorite webpages. To help you make the most of your video marketing, you can add the page of your video, assign it to an appropriate category, tag it with useful keywords and give it a description.

The more people that vote on your link, the more chance it has got to be seen by a huge audience. You can also pay for clicks and it doesn't cost very much to do so! You can also target people based on their interests, location and demographics. Plus, integrate it with Google analytics to find out how well it's doing for your business.

· Target customers based on location, demographics and interests

· Give appropriate keywords to your video

· Integrate it with analytics to find out if it's working

GooglePlus

Google+ gives so much opportunity for businesses to promote, making it a great social site for you to share your video. The best way to help make your video soar across the Google+ spectrum is by joining communities. Find out what community your customers would hang in and start creating conversations. You can then add your video and find out what they all think.

Another reason to use Google+ for your video promotion is that it is great for SEO. The more people that +1 your content, the more likely you are to move your way up the search rankings.

· Join communities and post your video

· Create conversations using your video as the subject

· Follow plenty of users to get a larger following

Speak to Wyzowl
So there you have it, some top tips on helping your video soar on social! If you need help creating your video then Wyzowl are the people to go to! From animated videos, to screen recorded app and website demos, Wyzowl offer professional videos, at an incredible price.

[This article is contributed by Sarah Quinn.]