6 Best Practices to Leverage Video Content for Your Business

I know why you’re here.

You want to use videos to skyrocket your ecommerce sales, don’t you? You’re on the right track. Ecommerce store owners who use videos the right way are generating views and engagements, which ultimately takes their online sales to nauseous heights.

And so the question becomes, what strategies can you employ to get meaningful results out of your video marketing initiatives.

In this guide, we’ll cover eight video marketing best practices.

1. Use videos to answer FAQs.

Address your customers’ common questions in an engaging way using videos.

Since humans are visual, they love watching videos and prefer it over purely textual content.

In your FAQ pages, mix up narrative versions of your responses with the right video content.

For instance, if the question is about how to use your product, publish demonstrative videos, so your audience can see the application of your narrative answer.

For queries on the right amount of your products to be applied, produce GIFs or animated icons illustrating the answer. You can even leverage robust customer success software to track customer interactions and get information from chatbot conversations, giving you a 360-degree view of your customers. It can  help shape and inform your FAQ videos. 

2. Optimize your video content.

Visual content marketing has a huge impact on your overall marketing effort. This makes it crucial to optimize your videos to increase your videos’ ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

The higher you rank, the more customers are likely to see and click your video content first instead of other posts appearing in social or Google search pages.

First, target the right keywords. Uncover them through keyword research tools such as Hypersuggest.

This tool lets you check your keyword performance on Google, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms, and set your location and preferred language.

I typed in a sample keyword “denim jackets” for YouTube in the US, and Hypersuggest yielded these results:

Hypersuggest recommends some keywords and shows their potential search volume (PSV) according to the ranking these phrases get on YouTube (or your chosen platform). Select your keywords and integrate them into your video file name, tag, title, and description.

The keywords can also help you write amazing content and optimize your web pages for organic search. 

Additionally, embed your videos instead of uploading them, so you preserve your site’s loading speed and user experience. This is a good practice to adopt if you want to optimize for mobile-first indexing and improve your SEO ranking.

3. Include videos on your landing pages.

Insert relevant, conversion-boosting videos into your landing pages to persuade your customers better.

Use videos that share your customers’ success stories with your products, explain what your upcoming webinar is about, and others.

Crossrope, for instance, features its founder to share the story behind their Heavy LE equipment and motivate their buyers to get one:

You can even maximize video backgrounds instead of photos and images to enhance the vibe and capture your customers’ attention more effectively.

Additionally, you can leverage videos on your landing pages to direct visitors to your social media channels, and, in turn, help increase your Instagram followers, for instance. 

Remember to include your marketing videos in your content tracking strategy to assess and measure their performance. 

4. Convey your message in less than 10 seconds.

Research claims that 20% of viewers click away from a video in 10 seconds or less. By 30 seconds, you lose one-third of them, 45% by a minute, and 60% by 2 minutes.

That said, convey your video’s main message within 10 seconds to ensure your audience hears it. Within that time, answer your viewers’ question, “Why should I watch it?”

For instance, one of the engaging social media interaction posts to establish your skincare items’ credibility is to feature life coaches sharing why they recommend your product at the video’s onset.

Reebok shows us another perfect example:

Reebok published a video called “Unlocked” and tells us what it is about on the seventh second: it’s their new loyalty program that the brand is inviting viewers to sign up for.

Notice how Reebok used catchy, upbeat tunes, bright colors, and energetic clips to grab its viewers’ interest. 

If Reebok didn’t flash the message within 10 seconds, its viewers could have clicked away without getting it, and Reebok would have lost potential conversions.

Leverage the same approach in your other marketing, promotional, and social media content, including your compelling IG poll questions in your Stories.

5. Include CTAs and links.

Include CTAs in your video to tell your viewers what their next steps should be, whether it’s to purchase your product, sign up for a free demo, discover more video content, or buy blog articles to boost your content marketing efforts. 

Make your CTAs visible the way Barbie did:

Barbie used a color distinct from the background but still matching its branding. It also made the “Subscribe Now” icon sizable enough to be noticed.

Additionally, to direct viewers to your landing pages and act on your offers conveniently, add clickable links into your video content.

For instance, on YouTube, you can insert video and link cards inviting and leading audiences to more videos, your site, or social channels.

Display your CTA buttons prominently to lead customers to your desired actions, increasing your sales and conversions. CTAs play a crucial role in increasing your conversions, whether on your social media videos or online course platforms such as Kajabi, Teachable, and Ruzuku. 

6. Exhibit consistency.

Consistency helps you showcase your branding identity and style and build your customers’ trust in your ecommerce store.

Exhibit consistency in your videos by using similar or complementary colors, font styles, placement of elements in your thumbnails, etc.

Look at how Nike did that:

In its training tutorial video thumbnails, Nike flashed the label “Good Form” in bold, white font styles and with grayscale backgrounds. It also featured real people at the center.

You can also exhibit consistency by uploading a video series telling stories that reflect your brand values or contain similar themes and messages.

With consistent video content and thumbnail designs like these, you help your customers know you more deeply, urging them to consume more of your content, patronize your brand, etc.

If you’re posting on your website, apply a neat layout for publishing your videos. You can integrate them into your blog section or publish a separate one (named “Videos,” for instance). 

Maximize themes and templates provided by user-intuitive ecommerce platforms since they come with pre-built layouts and blocks for your content. This way, your page will look professional and visually appealing.

Also, use reliable content calendar software to streamline creating and scheduling your videos, from the planning to the distribution stage. 

Final Thoughts

Video content can help upgrade your ecommerce business’ competitive advantage --if you do it right by applying these and other best practices.

Remember: plan your video production, align them with your business goals, optimize, and broadly promote your video content on various platforms to capture more viewers and buyers.