As of 2015, 211 million pieces of online content are supposedly created every minute. Every minute, 1,400 new blog posts are published. YouTube users upload 72 hours of new video. 216,000 new photos are posted to Instagram. And this was two years ago, which means that it’s more important than ever that your content stand out. But not everyone has a dedicated in-house production team for videos and vlogs. If you’re dependent on a Los Angeles video production company for your videos, and you only have a project with them every three or four months, how do you make sure your existing video content stays relevant?
Review and Update Text Around your Video
As is the case with all types of SEO, the words you use are extremely important. Take a moment to review the titles, descriptions, and tags of your YouTube video. Do they accurately summarize your current message using relevant search terms and target keywords? Is it succinct and snappy, or generic and dragging? Define what you want your viewers to know/see about your company, and then weigh that against your title, descriptions, and tags. Also remember that you have competition for keywords.
If your company specializes in reviewing smartphones, and your title is something along the lines of “LG P10 Smartphone Review,” you might want to consider throwing in a couple extra words to make it stand out. Appeal to the casual viewer and consumer by opting for exciting, entertaining, or engaging descriptions instead of formal, highly-scripted ones. And don’t be afraid to use quirky one-liners and unique descriptions.
Just stay far away from keyword stuffing. 55% of SERPs feature videos, and Google’s ever-updating search algorithm has made it so that keyword stuffing can get you knocked down a rank or twelve.
Follow Your Audience
When YouTube was the only video hosting site/social network platform around, it was pretty much a sure deal that your intended audience would find you once you posted a video there. Now, however, there are obviously several more platforms to choose from. Investing in Los Angeles video production also means investing in the process. That process involves hosting, posting, and redistribution.
Tubular Insights recommends taking a step back and understanding where your target viewers are hanging out. Are they on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or scattered across all three? You can find this out through good old-fashioned market research. Check your video’s referral traffic numbers, post reach per platform, and source channels.
If most of your views are coming from Facebook, try optimizing your videos for Facebook playback. Since Facebook automatically mutes the sound on videos as they’re scrolled upon, consider adding captions or video cards to make the video watchable even without audio. Look into the best video orientation, size, and fps for Facebook. This isn’t to say that you should neglect your other social media platforms, but you’ll yield better results if you build where your (consumer) base is strongest. You can tackle other areas once you’re main source of views and engagement is secure.
Repurpose and Re-distribute
It’s always better to release new content—or at least, that seems to be the general agreement. Online influencers and social media celebrities like to keep their accounts active by posting at least once every day. Paid YouTubers often release a video or two every week. Instagram-famous artists aim for one to two pictures every day. Constant activity is a huge factor for platforms algorithms when they pull recommended channels and accounts. Constant engagement is another.
But if you’ve yet to contact your Los Angeles video production company and you don’t have any new content to work with, what’s the alternative?
Re-editing and repurposing videos is one way to keep your content stream updated and active without having to start from scratch. You can cut up a ten-minute video into shorter two-minute or three-minute segments to create a video series, with one video posted to Facebook every day. Alternatively, you can try gathering the highlights of a fifteen-minute product review and setting it to energetic, upbeat music to create a new three-minute highlight reel. “Dressing up” your old videos by adding on-screen text, video cards, or even a brand new intro is also a great way to revive old content.
Once you’ve re-edited, start discerning when it would be best to host and best to post. Hosting the new content to your website would mean limited reach overall but more customization in terms of playback and aesthetic. Posting it to different video-hosting website—and later on to different social media platforms—means a larger and more diverse range of engagement. Both obviously have their pros and cons, which means it’s down to you to organize redistribution for best results. Part of Los Angeles video production is using your best judgment to decide which video gets hosted and posted.