Using videos to optimize engagement in search-driven buyer journeys

Author

Ann Smarty

Date published July 14, 2022

Categories

The process of acquiring a lawsuit begins with your archetypal contact. There are respective stages a user goes done earlier becoming a lawsuit and past a loyal customer. A purchaser travel starts with identifying oregon expressing a need. This request past has to beryllium fulfilled successful immoderate mode oregon the other. 

With over 8 billion searches per year, existent purchaser journeys are analyzable and whitethorn instrumentality weeks oregon months. However, to simplify things, present is simply a snapshot of the cardinal stages a idiosyncratic goes done to go your customer. Since astir 68 percent of online experiences statesman with a hunt motor each these stages tin precise good hap successful Google itself:

• Awareness: erstwhile a user finds retired that you person a solution to a problem, they privation to beryllium solved. In galore (but not all) cases, this searching travel starts with a “how to” query. 
• Consideration: erstwhile a user adds you to the database of prospective solution providers
• Decision: erstwhile a user believes you person the champion solution and becomes a paying customer.

Businesses request to assistance consumers marque the close determination by providing information, assistance and instilling spot successful your marque done the process.

With video contented showing up each implicit hunt results, it makes consciousness to usage videos for each these 3 stages successful the consumer’s journey. The champion happening astir videos is that they fertile incredibly well, particularly if you big them connected YouTube and signifier video optimization.

The 2 chiseled sections wherever video tin assistance your imaginable customers astatine each signifier of a buying travel are:

• Featured snippets: When Google includes a video successful a featured snippet, that’s a beardown awesome that radical are searching for a video tutorial to lick their problem. If that’s your people hunt query, creating a video is simply a must, particularly erstwhile optimizing for the “awareness” signifier successful the funnel.
• Video carousels: Google includes video carousels erstwhile a video intent is implied. It is not astatine each hard to fertile your video there, particularly erstwhile it comes to circumstantial (low-search-volume) queries, similar brand-driven queries.

Here’s an illustration of some of these sections ranking connected the precise apical of the hunt effect page, pushing integrated results mode beneath the above-the-fold portion of the screen. Notice a very-well branded video by Lowes being featured for a precise applicable – albeit longtail – query. I stake this generates rather a fewer leads for them. There’s besides different marque – The Home Depot – ranking its video successful the carousel below. Looks like, some of these brands are doing their homework well:

There are galore antithetic kinds of video contented that tin beryllium utilized astatine each circumstantial stage.  These videos assistance to promote the user to proceed their travel with you alternatively than with your competitor.

Awareness

As the sanction suggests, this video optimization strategy ensures that your people customers go alert of your brand.

The types of video selling contented that enactment champion astatine this signifier of the funnel include:

• How-to videos
• Q&A videos (especially based connected People Also Ask boxes)

Make definite your videos are well-branded to physique recognizability: Use your logo and colour palette connected your video thumbnail, arsenic it is going to amusement up successful hunt results.

Once the consciousness has been created, it is clip to consolidate each that effort and modulation your user to the adjacent signifier of consideration.

Consideration

You tin heighten your lawsuit acquisition astatine this signifier done videos that presumption your merchandise successful a mode you privation it to beryllium positioned. A bully crushed to usage videos astatine this signifier is that they enactment your merchandise successful a real-life context, that is, they amusement precisely however different radical are utilizing your product.

The astir effectual videos for this signifier are:

• Explainer videos to present your user to the merchandise and picture what you connection successful detail. The explainer videos present the problem, sermon however your institution tin beryllium the solution and item the features of the merchandise and its benefits to the consumer. Think of these videos arsenic lead magnets: You privation them to supply value, not conscionable speech astir your product. 
• Product demo videos to explicate however a merchandise oregon work works successful detail. They item each the advantages of utilizing the merchandise successful an casual to recognize format. They often usage measurement by measurement instructions to amusement however to usage the merchandise and whitethorn see immoderate innovative ideas astir wherever to usage it. A bully publication and fantabulous presumption marque it a standout merchandise demo videos of each time. It is simply a bully thought to make an on-site video gallery connected your tract to stock these demos with your tract visitors. Videos bash dilatory down your pages, so caput your page load time erstwhile utilizing embedded content.
• Storytelling videos to amusement a lighter broadside of your business, humanize it to marque it link with the consumer. These videos archer a communicative astir your business, its hopes, aspirations, and values. Usually, institution employees and executives talk astir the company, their experiences with it and their work. They are designed to make an emotive effect that volition fortify the consumers’ narration with your company.

As each of these videos are expected to beryllium ranking successful Google, marque definite to lucifer them to the existent hunt queries that person higher commercialized intent.

Decision

The 3rd signifier of the consumer’s travel is convincing the funny user that your merchandise oregon work offers the champion solution to their problem. 

This is the signifier wherever the user is already committed to bargain and needs a gentle nudge successful the close direction. This is the clip erstwhile you request to stress connected trust-building truthful the user trusts your marque and buys your product. The astir effectual videos astatine this signifier are adjacent testimonials and reviews.

• Video testimonials: These are the champion types of videos for spot and confidence-building successful your imaginable customers and a indispensable for the last signifier of lawsuit acquisition which is pb conversion. 
• Customer-driven storytelling videos showing however your customers usage the merchandise successful a much originative context.

Your people hunt queries for these types of videos include:

• Your merchandise and your marque name: If you person an established marque (or if you are moving towards that), your marque sanction is being searched successful Google, and these videos volition guarantee you’ll person yet different plus you power successful brand-driven SERPs. If you are doing a good occupation tracking your brand successful integrated search, you already cognize your important brand-driven hunt queries.
• Competitor-driven hunt queries: These are hunt queries exploring your competitors’ alternatives and comparing 2 competitors.

These videos should besides beryllium reused successful 2 important ways:

• Embed them connected your cardinal landing pages: Video contented is simply a well-known mode to boost conversions but successful this lawsuit it is simply a bully mode to assistance your customers consciousness astatine location arsenic they volition spot the aforesaid video connected the leafage aft clicking the nexus connected YouTube. It is besides a bully thought to curate these videos connected your dedicated lawsuit reviews page.
• Use these videos for your remarketing campaigns. You tin usage retargeting on YouTube to service them to radical who already went done signifier #2 successful the buying travel but haven’t converted yet.

Conclusion

Using videos successful your integrated hunt strategy to prosecute customers astatine each large signifier of their buying travel is 1 of the champion examples of how SEO and income tin help each other. Include videos successful some SEO and CRO strategies and you volition apt spot overmuch amended results connected some fronts.

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Ann Smarty is the Founder of Viral Content Bee, Brand and Community manager astatine Internet Marketing Ninjas. She tin beryllium recovered connected Twitter @seosmarty.

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