You may be noticing a lot more videos and visual marketing platforms online these days. With video becoming increasingly popular, and the choice of most online users, it’s no wonder hosting sites like YouTube and Vimeo are trying to out-compete for your attention.

With video taking over the online content world, social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat have jumped on the bandwagon and made edits to their platforms.

Facebook edited their algorithm to favor video over text content. They also added a Facebook live feature which allows live video recording.  

Instagram added a feature allowing users to now post videos to their feeds and create live video in their IG stories feature.

Snapchat, a video texting app, raised to the top of the social leaderboard in 2016 and again in 2017.

Pinterest created a feature to allow pins to be videos instead of still images.

With all these edits and the content world going video, what does that mean for you?

It means if you haven’t already incorporated a solid YouTube and video marketing strategy into your current marketing efforts, so you can get noticed, rank in Google, and start to establish yourself as the expert of your niche, then set aside a few hours this week and create a plan that does incorporate video marketing!

Video Marketing Stats:

• According to Forbes, videos receive 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines
• Search Engine Watch states that by 2019, video marketing will drive 80% of all traffic  
• Hubspot calculates that 1/3 of online activity is spent watching videos
• 59% of executives prefer watching video than reading text

How to Create a YouTube Marketing Strategy

While it may seem simple to write down a few video creation ideas, record and upload – there’s much more to creating a YouTube marketing strategy than simply recording and uploading videos.

Here are 5 simple steps to creating an effective YouTube marketing strategy that we recommend:

1.      Research your niche and others who are on YouTube currently.

a.      See what topics are gaining the most attention.

b.      See which topics are left out.

c.       Write all options down and use these as inspiration for what you should focus on.

d.      Create a list of 10 videos that you could record in less than 5 minutes.

2.      Do keyword research and make a list of which keywords you’d like to rank for.

3.      Pick video titles.

a.      If you’re not sure how to title your video – check back on the research you did in step 1 and see which style of writing gets the most attraction. Use that as a starting point for creating your video titles.

b.      Don’t forget to include keywords from step 2.

4.      Before you record your first official video, practice recording yourself in front of your camera or on your phone so you can see which light and angle works best for you.

a.      Be sure to have the light facing you. Not above or to the side. This creates bad shadows

b.      Be sure the background does not distract the user from paying attention to you and what you’re saying.

5.      Once you’ve uploaded your first video, add keywords into the title + description. Remain consistent and continue to post on a weekly or monthly basis.

Remember: Consistency is key with any social or marketing effort.

For more advice, tips, and help on creating an effective video marketing strategy visit the Amazing Women Entrepreneurs Network blog. If you’d like access to leading courses created by the AWE Network mentors, Thrive Circle is now open and offers a paid membership with access to live training, video courses, free resource, and coaching!