Video Content Strategy: From YouTube to Short-Form Social

Why Video Should Be a Key Part of Your Marketing Strategy

We're now moving toward an era when video seems to be the dominant way that a lot of social platforms want us to communicate. So if video isn't already part of your marketing strategy, it's time to consider it.

Audiences' needs are changing and our attention spans seem to be getting shorter and shorter and people are also looking to consume information differently. On top of that, video itself is an SEO strategy, and we all know how important SEO content can be to an overall marketing strategy.

With all of the exciting things going on with short form-video, it's important to also remember the benefits of long-form content and being found by search engines through that content. If you really think about a video marketing strategy, YouTube is like a sleeping giant. As a platform and resource, it goes largely overlooked, which leaves a huge opportunity for marketers and businesses.

The strategy we'll be discussing centers around creating long-form video content for YouTube and then repurposing it as short-form content for other social channels like LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and/or Twitter. It might sound like a paradox to mention both our shrinking attention spans and making longer videos in the same article. The truth is if your longer videos are engaging, people will stick around longer.

If you're in a conversation with your audience for 20 minutes, that gives you a lot of time to show who you are and build the all-important know, like, and trust factor. With shorter content, viewers aren't going to have the same opportunity to get to know you or really drive that deeper conversation.

The benefits of repurposing your longer video into short videos are building awareness of your brand, getting in front of people who may not know who you are otherwise, and getting more mileage from one piece of content.

Of course, the success of this strategy is largely going to depend on the type of content you create, how engaging the content and your edits are, and your audience's preferences about what they like to watch. So you'll want to experiment with some different content formats until you find what works best for your audience.

While this is a multifaceted video content strategy, that doesn't mean that it has to consume all of your time. Here's how to break it down into a manageable process.

#1: Choose Relevant Video Topics for Your Target Audience

The first step is to identify your content pillars for video. Content pillars are groups or buckets of the primary topics or keywords that you plan on creating to support your overall message.

This is an important step that shouldn't be skipped because by doing this, you'll be able to avoid resorting to a scattershot approach of throwing things against the wall and ending up all over the place. The goal is to get people to look at your videos and associate you and your business with whatever topic you're trying to become known for.

Once you've identified your content pillars, dig even deeper to zero in on a specific keyword. Your content should be designed to get you ranking for that keyword while also building brand awareness around your content pillars.

As you brainstorm a list of topics, keep your audience in mind. Think about the questions they're asking, what they're looking for when they search YouTube or Google, and the type of information they need. For example, if you type in “social media manager” on YouTube, you'll see a lot of Latasha's videos pop up. That's done by design through titles, metadata, and video descriptions because that's an audience she wants to target.

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At a very high level, your content will be a little broader, still related to your services or products but much more in the awareness stage.

Then once people know about you and your business, you can move them down the funnel with more product- or service-specific tutorials, demos, Q&As, and similar content that starts touching on some of your goals. This content helps your viewers become followers and your followers become not just customers but also advocates for your business and content.

#2: Create and Upload Long-Form Video to YouTube

Once you've planned out what topics you'll focus on, it's time to start creating and uploading your videos.

Start by creating the long-form content that will go up on YouTube. It's a lot easier to clip and repurpose long-form content into short-form content than it is the other way around.

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Additionally, YouTube is a Google product, and while Google is working with TikTok to start indexing those videos, that's still off in the future. So you want your long-form content up on YouTube as quickly as possible so it can be indexed by Google and displayed in search results for your keyword.

As you're outlining and recording your videos for YouTube, consider that the ideal length seems to be somewhere between 8 and 30 minutes. One of the benefits of recording your video with the goal of repurposing it is that you'll learn how to strategically outline and record so it will be easier to clip it into bite-sized pieces that stand on their own.

#3: Repurpose Your YouTube Content Into Short Video for Other Platforms

The process of repurposing your YouTube video for other channels doesn't have to be arduous. Video editing software like Descript can do the heavy lifting for you.

Descript lets you pick the dimensions of your video and edit the words on-screen. Just tell it the length you want and it will provide a shortened version of your video. You can also add captions, graphics, and the like.

Once you've created all of your shorter videos from your YouTube content, build out your content calendar and upload the videos to your chosen platforms. When you upload your short video to Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or LinkedIn, you may even want to add a call to action inviting interested viewers to watch the complete video on YouTube.

#4: Encourage Video Viewers to Take the Next Step With You

When you're creating value and a pleasant viewing experience for your audience, they'll naturally want to learn more about you and see more about what you have to offer.

It might feel necessary to include a call to action to your business, your landing page, or your offer on every video that you publish to YouTube; however, this can also work against you. People don't go to YouTube to watch ads, and if something feels too much like an ad, they're more likely to skip over it in favor of a more educational or entertaining video.

One strategy that has been proven to work is to give the audience the entertainment and educational content they're after, and use the video description to add a call to action to your free opt-in or your landing page.

And of course, once someone reaches your landing page and opts into your email list, then you can nurture and sell through your email list. So developing a lead magnet that works with your video content strategy on YouTube can really help bolster your business.

In fact, if your YouTube content is entertaining enough to draw in a crowd and valuable enough to get people to scroll down through the description to see what else you have to offer, that one mention inside the YouTube description can be enough to fill your funnel. Because of the evergreen nature of YouTube, one video can continue generating leads for years.

Other Notes From This Episode

• Check out the videos Latasha mentioned at LatashaJames.com/SME.
• Find out more about the tools AnswerThePublic, BuzzSumo, and Descript.
• Connect with Michael Stelzner at @Stelzner on Instagram.
• Watch exclusive content and original videos from Social Media Examiner on YouTube.
• Tune into our weekly Social Media Marketing Talk Show. Watch live on Fridays at noon Pacific on YouTube. Listen to the replay on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.