Video content like content with images seems to perform better in all industries. This is the reason for the rise in popularity of platforms like YouTube.com. People love sharing video, and they especially love watching it on their mobile devices because it’s easier to watch something than read it when it’s on a small screen.
The fact is, most of your website visitors are not going to spend much time getting to know you if you don’t grab their attention. Studies show that using more video will improve your conversion rate exponentially.
To get people to sign up for your list people use a tactic that involves using content of all types to help build the list via a combination of open and gated content. Video has proved to be very powerful in helping build an email list with high-quality buyers who are ready to make a purchase.
There are reasons for this. Video is seen as high quality and easy to consume. If your target audience member really feels as if the topic is relevant enough to download and watch the information, they’re probably going to end up buying from you too because they perceive the value you provide as high.
There are some ways to ensure that your video marketing builds your list with quality leads, let’s go over these ideas.
Trick Out Every Offer
When you create a video for any use, put as much into it as you can. You want every viewer to understand the value of the video, the point of the video, and to clearly see and follow the calls to action.
For example, with a YouTube video, there is a lot you can do to make it convert at a higher rate. Let’s look at a few.
- Annotations – You can add clickable annotations to YouTube videos that go to any site or other video that you want to go to. You only get one link back to your site within each video so make sure you make a landing page for that link.
- Verbal Call to Action – When you create a video, it should have a specific purpose, as well as corresponding goals. For list building, verbally point out the location of the link or the CTA area. State the action you want them to take. Explain why they need to take it and what to expect when they do.
- Full Description – If you look at any YouTube video, the description area can encompass a lot of information. Use this area effectively by providing the most important information. Add the link to your freebie at the top so that it can be seen without clicking “read more.”
- Head Shot – If your video is a screen share or a video of someone else talking, consider adding in your head shot. When people can see you, they will grow to trust you more quickly because they’ll feel as if they’ve been in your presence.
Use every SEO strategy you can think of. Name your video with keywords in the file name, give the video a title that speaks to what your audience will learn, include annotations, callouts and more to get and keep the attention of your viewers. They’ll be more likely to accept your call to action.
Get Creative with Site Videos
If a video’s home will be your website, you have open to you a lot more features that you can do with video than if the video is only for YouTube or Facebook Live. Let’s look at some options for you.
- Opt-in Form Videos – Using the right technology you can add an opt-in form to your videos. Look for this type of technology within the editing software but also some landing page software may offer the ability to add forms to your videos too.
- Landing Page Videos – Video landing pages aren’t new, but a lot of people still don’t use them. It’s a shame because they do work better than long form sales pages. Having video included in your landing pages will make a huge difference in retention, signing up, and buying.
- Grab Attention — When you create any video think about how it’s going to look to the viewer. For example, if it’s a live video on Facebook they may not see the beginning, and they may not have their volume on. Do something to get people’s attention and make them want to turn their volume on. Wave at them, create a pop up that says Turn on Your Volume, do something to get their attention. If it’s a recorded video adding callouts, pop-ups and more also gets people’s attention.
- Pop-Up Words – One way to get people’s attention in a recorded video is to add some of the words you say in pop-ups, with sound and all. When you add visual interest like this it gets their attention and covers more learning modalities.
The more creative your video appears; the more effective it will be in your list building efforts. People who watch the video are more likely to answer your call to action. Make your CTA clear, exciting, and beneficial.
Use Video Everywhere Allowed
Once you decide to implement video marketing to grow your email list, you’re going to want to start including video everywhere that it’s allowed. What’s interesting is you can cut up longer videos to include in places you may not have considered. Let’s look at a few ideas about this.
- Social Media Video Updates – When you think of a post you want to make on social media that’s short and to the point and not enough for an entire blog post, why not do it as a video? On Facebook, you can simply go live whenever you have a message. The system records it and makes it available to people who miss the live broadcast.
- Blog Post Video – Make a video instead of a text blog post but add it to your blog post by adding the video and a transcript of the video as the blog post. This is going to get a lot more attention from search engines due to the existence of both text and the video.
- Email Video – You can also send an email with an embedded video or an email with a link to a video. How you accomplish this will depend on who your audience is and whether they have the technology to watch them. Most people can watch a video in email. If it’s small enough to send, it’s likely okay.
- Banner Video – Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social platforms allow you to put a video in your cover photos and banners. When you can use video to grab attention, do so.
Because video tends to get more engagement, more shares, more likes, more comments and so forth it’s important to include video in your list building strategy. Using video in almost every way that you can is not only effective it’s fun. Creating content is faster and video is easy to repurpose so that you can get more from each effort.
Host Webinars
A fast way to create video content is to host and record webinars. All you do is choose a hot topic, choose what you want to promote, create a simple outline, and go for it.
- Promote Webinars – When you’ve come up with the subject, time, and place, start promoting it. You don’t need to have everything done before the promotion starts. You want to promote your webinars as much as possible so start the moment you have the information needed to start telling people.
- Offer Incentives – When your audience comes to your webinars, you want them to be fun. You don’t want them to be able to go on a jog or read a book while your webinar is playing. You want to ask for responses, give out prizes, and call out people from the audience to ask questions and more.
- Incentivize Sharing – Using technology you can incentivize sharing. For example, if you choose a hashtag for your event and ask people to share during the event what they’re learning using the hashtag, all people who use the hashtag can be entered in a contest to win something.
- Repurpose the Video – Don’t forget that when you record your webinar you can keep using that video as it is, but you can also repurpose the video by transcribing it, breaking it up, and turning it into something else that can be used and repurposed.
- Collect Email Addresses – Don’t forget to collect email addresses. How you do it will depend on the platform. If you’re using software like Zoom, you can collect information upon signing up for the webinar. If you’re on Facebook Live, you may want to offer a downloadable to follow along that requires an email address or other freebie.
Hosting webinars is one of the most effective forms of list building. Webinars are a time-tested strategy for list building. If you can get the right subject and offers for your audience, webinars can be the main form of list building that you use.
Create a Video Lead Magnet
You can also make a recorded video as your lead magnet. A video lead magnet will help all sorts of learners to use the information you’re providing. Video is easy to digest, fun to watch and works on most devices.
This is exactly what you need to create an effective lead magnet. An effective lead magnet is easy to consume information that helps your audience solve a nagging problem.
- Under 10 Minutes – A video shouldn’t be too long. Keeping a recorded video under 10 minutes is important to keep on topic and move to the solution quickly. You want them to watch the video and implement the solution that fast.
- How Tos – A good type of situation to use for a video is teaching your audience how to do something. Whether it’s how to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich or to have the right form next time you do a chin-up showing your audience how to do something works well with video.
- Case Studies – A great way to use video is to do a case study. This might be longer than ten minutes; but, if you keep it interesting, your watchers will be okay with it. Interview someone who has been successful in doing what you’re promoting.
- Webinar Excerpts – Another good way to create an opt-in offer is to reuse an older webinar video by cutting it up. Put the relevant parts in the video that teach something to your list member.
Using video in your list building efforts will work. That’s why so many YouTube stars have made it to stardom or financial stability. They make money in multiple ways by simply building their audience providing the content their audience needs and wants.
Remember that all the content you create in your business should work together. Each should build off the next. The content should enhance the other content and vice versa. The content is so interrelated that you should easily be able to shout out in a video about another bit of related content that your viewer might like too.
Using video to grow your email list is a no-brainer. It’s something you should be doing if you want to build an effective and responsible email list full of people who really want what you’re offering.