Online video is a rapidly growing marketing channel. Here are our top tips to create engaging videos that reach (and resonate with) your target audience.

1. It’s massive: Video is set
to make up 69% of all
consumer Internet traffic
by 2017, according to Cisco.
It’s expected: 64% of
marketers project video will
dominate their strategies.
It’s shareable: Videos
are shared 1,200 more
times than links and
texts combined!
YouTube: The king of
online video – and actually
the second largest search
engine in the UK! YouTube
offers the best search
optimisation results for
videos and is most widely
recognised in terms of
shareability.
Vimeo: Often seen as
a more professional
platform than YouTube
with more high quality
video content.
Self-hosted: If you are
concerned about privacy,
copyright, or confidentiality,
consider hosting your
videos on your own server.
Length: Aim for a middle
ground. If you make a video
too short, it will seem like
an advert – but if you make
it too long, you could lose
viewers’ interests.
Story and script: Base
your video on a strong
story and make sure this
is communicated clearly
in the script, storyboard
and final product.
Quality: Online videos
don’t need to be of Super
Bowl advert standard, but
they do need the right look
and feel for your brand.
Tagging: The more relevant
tags and keywords you use
to describe your video, the
easier it will be for people
to find your video.
Smart pixel: A piece of
code added to your site to
give you analytics on your
visitors. You can retarget
this audience group, e.g.
for YouTube advertising.
Time of release: Think
about when your target
audience is most likely to
watch your video – if it’s a
light-hearted and tongue
in cheek piece of work,
release it on a Friday
afternoon for some early
weekend entertainment!
YouTube in-stream: These
ads are shown before other
video content. The user can
watch in full or skip after
five seconds. Advertisers
are only charged if the
viewer watches 30 seconds
of the ad.
YouTube in-display
(formerly in-display and
in-search): Ads shown
next to videos on the
YouTube watch page, as
part of a YouTube search
result or within other
website content.
Promoted tweets: Include
a link to your video in the
tweet and it is automatically
embedded when the tweet
is shared for easy viewing.