Optimizing Video Content for Social Media Sharing at SES Chicago #seschi #socialmedia

Did you know that the amount of videos shared on Facebook has grown 250% since last year? I didn’t until I attended a Social Media Session yesterday at SES Chicago moderated by Jonathan Allen (SearchEngineWatch) and with presenters Greg Jarboe (SEO-PR) and Mark Robertson (ReelSEO).

It’s no surprise that video content is becoming more popular as videos go viral and search engine indexing improves, but how do companies optimize video content? According to our moderator and presenters, the strategies to optimize video content are similar, but not identical, to SEO and SEM best practices:

• Unique content is key – don’t repurpose commercials
• Be realistic; most videos receive a few hundred views within YouTube. Your goal should be to create a video that can be shared, not necessarily to go viral.
• Develop a video content strategy. Set up a schedule for posting new videos and stick to it! (Some advertisers have reported a 300% in earnings simply by have a regular video schedule.)
• Grab viewers’ attention immediately – with the first 15- 30 seconds. Save company information until later in the video.
• Strategically develop your video title incorporating important keywords. Continue this effort while developing your video tags and description.
• Create a script for your video and make it available or incorporate it for Closed Captioning.
• Use annotations within your videos to link to important content or other videos. This can be highly useful when you have a sequence of videos for your customers.
• Include a call to action within your videos.
• Promote your videos to your employees and among your various business and social networks. (Promotion should be an external-only activity.)
• Investigate content networks and determine if they are right for you and your online strategy.
• Share videos that you may not have created when they are relevant to your industry or users.

Keep in mind that a video worth sharing is different than a video worth watching. A video worth sharing will generally fall within one of the below four categories:

• Inspiration – stories of courage and bravery
• Entertainment – humorous and funny
• Enlightenment – documentaries
• Education – How-to’s (soup-to-nuts)

Have you used videos as part of your content strategy? If not, are you considering it now?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more SES Chicago coverage both here on the blog and via Twitter.