Traditionally, video has been used for advertising efforts. Still, as social media grows, we see an influx of businesses, industry leaders, and more shift their focus from traditional networking to video networking.
Video is now a tried and true method for businesses to connect with their audience and network within their industry.
Benefits to Video Content Creation
When YouTube launched in 2005, it caused a ripple effect on how brands and businesses connect with their audience.
As video creation becomes more manageable and accessible, it's now increasingly popular for marketers, coaches, and industry leaders to create videos to speak to, educate, or entertain their audience.
Video is one of the dominant forms of communication today, with "people watch an average of 16 hours of video every week (Wyzowl)." So it's no surprise that video content creation is important.
In addition to the hours of video content consumed, here are five reasons why video content creation is beneficial:
1. Encourages social shares
2. Increases engagement
3. Improves SEO
4. Educational tool
5. Available to any company of any size
Benefits to Networking
Did you know that "the closing rate for customers obtained through business networking is 40%? (Apollo Technical)" Networking is critical to our business development and growth.
It truly does not matter what size your business is - networking is essential!
While sales is one benefit (a big benefit) to networking, there are so many more advantages to networking your business.
Through networking, you can:
Share knowledge
Ask for Feedback
Discuss ideas
Learn about different perspectives
Earned opportunities (referrals, partnership requests, etc.)
Through networking, so many businesses can build a reputation as a knowledgable and reliable asset. It's a natural way to build connections with people in your industry and gain exposure for yourself and your business.
Now that we know the importance of video content and networking, how do we mix the two? I'm sure we all noticed an inflow of businesses using video networking, specifically in 2020 when we all had to pivot how we connect with our industry and customers, but so many people have been using video networking for years.
Here are five ways you can use video content creation to network your business:
The Tried and True - Long-Form Video Content
Long-form content is always a great strategy; YouTube is one way to create long-form content online. Of course, there are other long-form video types (even TikTok is testing 10-minute videos!)- I prefer YouTube for networking.
YouTube videos open you and your business to a new audience and community. With YouTube, you can optimize your videos for SEO, allowing you to reach a more targeted and relevant audience.
Additionally, the people watching YouTube are actively looking for videos to watch. They're interested in longer video content instead of short content that's faster to consume, like Instagram Reels or TikTok.
Tabrizi Tip #1: Ensure you take the time or optimize your videos for SEO when creating YouTube content. You can:
Rename your video file using target keywords
Insert keywords into the video title
Optimize your description
Use a custom thumbnail
Add subtitles
Repurpose Your Long-Form Content
Once you have a long-form video, you can pull valuable snippets of that video and repurpose them for other social media platforms.
By creating engaging and shareable video content, you can connect with your audience and even their audience if they share your content!
Social media accounts are pushing video content, so creating videos on Instagram Reels, TikTok, etc., will help you reach new people and network digitally.
Go LIVE!
In the same vein as social media, definitely go LIVE. Social media loves live videos. It's a non-formal, more authentic way to reach your audience.
Potential customers love seeing a business's personality and Instagram Live, LinkedIn Live, or even TikTok Live shows that. You can create quick educational content with live videos, communicate with your audience, introduce yourself or your team, talk about your industry, and build deeper connections.
Backlinks, Backlinks, Backlinks
Backlinks are hyperlinks that link from one webpage or site to another. If you're in marketing, you know the benefit of backlinks and their importance for our digital presence. But did you know that your video content can also be backlinked?
By creating YouTube videos that are educational or relevant to your industry, people within your industry may reference that content on their website or YouTube account and link back to you.
Backlinks are essential for SEO because they indicate to Google that your website is a good resource. For example, when your YouTube video is backlinked, it shows that your video has credibility, especially for search engines.
Tabrizi Tip #2: If you're trying to gain video backlinks, start sharing educational content. Additionally, when you share snippets on social media, reference back to the long-form content. You want to get as many eyes on it as possible so that people remember you when creating similar written or video content! :)
Stitching on TikTok
Lastly, start stitching on TikTok. This is different from going Live or creating short-form content. Stitching is unique to TikTok, and it's essentially new content. A stitch is essentially a response video.
For example, if you are a restaurant specializing in vegan food, and you see someone talking about how they're looking for vegan restaurants, you can stitch that video and respond with your content. A stitch will show a few seconds of the original post and then your response.
Video has changed how businesses share, advertise, and connect. According to Hubspot, 68% of video marketers plan to use LinkedIn video this year, and that's because video networking is one of the main ways to connect now.
If you want to start creating video content and network online - Tabrizi Productions can help!
Tabrizi Productions is a boutique video production company that aims to make video accessible for all. We offer authentic, affordable video storytelling for companies large and small.
We are locally serving Oakland, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Jose, San Mateo, and the surroundings of the Silicon Valley area.
If you're not ready, or you'd like to try video content on your own, check out my #DoItOnCamera courses to help you show up better online!
