Online marketers across the web have been using Internet video in their marketing strategies to try and boost their SEO, increase their conversion rates and improve traffic to their website. Although, just because they are attempting to use Internet video in this way, doesn’t mean they’re being successful. So, how do you use Internet video successfully? The following article explores the real ins and outs of Internet video, and how you can use it to benefit your marketing goals for your brand, business or blog.

Understand The Nature of Video

In order to create and market Internet video successfully you have to understand what makes Internet video tick. Why is Internet video popular as a medium? Why do online users watch over 2 billion YouTube Internet videos a day? The answer is quite simple, it’s because audiences enjoy video.

Video by nature is an incredibly engaging form of media. It has a fantastic ability to convey complicated messages and communicate information simply and efficiently with its viewing audience. Audiences find video content very easy to relate to, connecting with the on screen activity taking place between real individuals and vibrant animations. It is these qualities that video possesses that makes it such a popular and easily accessible medium to universal online audiences.

Research What Videos Work Well

Internet videos don’t automatically receive a popular and interactive online audience. In fact many Internet videos fall completely flat and become virtually unmarketable. If you want to use Internet video successfully you’re going to need to research what videos actually work well online.

Online users turn to video for two reasons; for entertainment and for education. The Internet is rich with instructional, how-to videos, giving audiences quick access to information they can understand easily. If you can create a video that can cater to the needs of audiences in your niche, and help them to better understand or better use a service/product you’ll be able to ensure your Internet video begins to receive a receptive and appreciative audience.

Viral videos ranging from exciting flash mobs, engaging interactive videos and peculiar dogs on skateboards, all come to receive such widespread viral statuses due to their entertaining content. Internet users love to be entertained, whether it’s amazing them with creativity, making them laugh or baffling them with magic. If your Internet video can entertain a wide audience, or just captivate your niche, then you’ll be rapidly putting your video on the track to online success.

Market Your Video Socially

One of the biggest ways to generate a successful Internet video is to embrace socially active websites. Sharing and promoting your video on social media sites like Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn are great ways of getting your Internet video a high viewership and a large abundance of interaction. The more interaction you can stir up around your content the more shares, Likes and Comments it will receive. If you can ‘wow’ a social media audience you’ll be able to get those users passing on your content to their audiences, where your video could reach an almost limitless social audience.

Don’t forget, social medias aren’t the only social hotspot for Internet video. Video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo are full of users Liking/Disliking, Commenting, Video Responding and Subscribing to all kinds of Internet video content. Engaging with the social video communities on these websites will work wonders for the social marketing of your video, and the interaction it receives can even help it climb up the YouTube and Google search engine rankings.

Track Your Videos Performance

The only way you can achieve success with Internet video is to determine and measure what ‘success’ actually means to your marketing campaign. Are you trying to boost your social media Likes and Followers? Are you trying to increase your search engine ranking? Or are you trying to improve your conversion rates? The only way to know the true success of your Internet video is to track it.

If you’re determining the success of your strategy via video views, geographical brand awareness and directing viewers to your video content, then free video analytics from the likes of YouTube Insight and Tube Mogul are the best tools for the job.

Social media growth can be an essential piece of data to track for brands, businesses and bloggers as it can help to show brand awareness, audience interaction and how many users are talking about what you do to other users. Great ways of tracking this type of data is through Facebook Insight and Hoot Suite. Facebook Insight is a quick, informative free tool, whereas Hoot Suite will cost you a few pennies for its very efficient service.

Perhaps the most important piece of data to track if you’re all about ecommerce and increasing traffic generation, is the analytics of your website. Google Analytics is one of the best free tools for locating this information, although it has just released a very extensive, and very expensive Premium package for larger companies. Google Analytics allows you to track traffic to your site, where users found your website, how long they stay on your page, and how many leads turn into real transactions.

Only by monitoring the performance of your Internet video on a regular basis can you really know if it’s becoming successful. Keep a careful eye on the goals your video has set out to achieve, and allow time to make amendments to your content if your tracking is showing up some marketing red flags.

Summary

By understanding the true nature of Internet video, by learning what videos work well online, and by marketing it on the most prosperous and engaging platforms, you can make your Internet video a real success on the web. However, only by managing a thorough and consistent tracking schedule will you be able to determine if your video strategy is staying on track, and how it’s progressing towards your much sought after goals and marketing targets.