You probably already know how adding videos to your blog posts can help you to increase engagement and traffic. According to a study conducted by Cisco, video will respond for 69% of all consumer traffic by 2017.
But, if you are more of a blogger than a vlogger, you might be struggling with it. Your strength is writing, and maybe be on camera isn’t the most comfortable thing for you. So how can you conciliate both things?
Well, you can use videos to promote your posts, instead of making of them the star of your blog. This way, you will have the best of both worlds.
And how you do it? By following the suggestions below:
Tip #1 – Add [Video] to your headline
For starters, no matter what you are going to do and which type of video you will add to your blog post, remember to add the word video to your headline.
Stats say that people would rather watch a video than read online, so your chances that people will click on your post will increase if you do it.
And, as you won’t be really publishing a video, but it will be one of the resources in your posts, the best and honest way to highlight is by adding [Video] at the beginning of your headline. For example
[Video] 10 ways to save your marriage
You can add it to the end of it as well, but then you need to need to make sure that your headline is as strong as possible (so they will read it in full) – if you need any help here, you should consider hiring an online writing service, such as Trust My Paper, or a freelance writer.
Tip #2 – Publish tease videos on a YouTube channel
Don’t worry; nobody is going to say here that you should become a vlogger and stop writing altogether. You know what you are good at, and it probably wouldn’t work well.
But what you certainly can do is create a channel on YouTube and publish tease videos about your posts on it.
Think about it as TV news headlines. You can tell your audience in less than 1 minutes which kind of stories they will find on your blog this week, give them a brief, and add the links to your posts if they want to know more about it.
It will certainly increase the number of people who will read your posts.
Tip #3 – Create a behind-the-scenes video
Another thing that your audience will love is a behind-the-scenes video. You can add to your post a very short video (less than 30 seconds) showing how you created your post from research to interviews.
If you went to cool places to collect information, it is even better, because you will have interesting images to add. But if you did everything from your desk, you still can create something really cool.
Showing them screenshots of the websites you used in your research and footage of your interviews over the phone or video calls. Less editing you make, the better results you will get.
It will help you to show a bit of your personality and create a stronger bond between you and your audience.
Tip #4 – Make video interviews
And what about transform part of your written content into a video? Interviews, for example, can be published as videos, instead of you having to transcribe everything, etc and etc.
As you will be talking to the person anyway, ask them permission to film it and publish it to your blog. There are plenty of apps and tools ready to help you to edit and publish it in no time so that it won’t be a problem either.
Then later, you can write your post, as usual, talking about your point of view, and showing new angles of the topic in question, and then add the video interview to it.
It will bring new life to your posts for sure. And the person you interviewed will probably share the video as well, increasing your traffic with no extra effort.
Tip # 5 – Write a post with curate videos
Another easy way to use videos to promote your posts is by creating a curate videos’ posts. Just choose a topic and, instead of writing about it out of the top of your head, do some video research.
Make a list of videos from reliable sources and write a post just commenting about them. Tell your audience with what you agree or disagree, make comparisons, and give context to it.
Don’t forget to ask permission to the author to use their videos, and not only to avoid copyright issues. If you create something good, they will also be happy to share your post when it is ready.
Tip #6 – Create a video tutorial
If your post is a how-to of any kind, chances are that it would be much better explained through a video. It is especially true if you are talking that involves manual work, such as cooking or DIY.
So, yes, write your step-by-step as you will, but also consider creating a video to show how it happens in practice.
And, as you might know, this kind of video is one of the most shared on the internet, so your post will be very well promoted through it.
Tip # 7 – Partner with a vlogger
Another thing that you can do is to partner with a vlogger, as in you promote their videos, and he or she promotes your blog.
You will have to find someone whose target audience is similar to yours and that deal with a related topic, as it doesn’t need to be exactly the same necessarily.
For example, if you write about yoga, and they publish videos about meditation, you are in the same industry. But it is also OK if you both talk about yoga, as you both aren’t offering the same type of content.
The idea here is that you add their videos to your posts and that they mention your posts in their videos.
Of course, the partnership should be clear to your audience, even if there is no money involved, or they might sense that there is something in the air – except if it is just a one-time thing, so there is no need to make it go into details.
Tip # 8 – Create Snapchat or Instagram videos
If you have an audience on Snapchat or Instagram, you can also create short videos just teasing topics that you have written or will write.
It follows the same idea suggested about the YouTube channel, only that here they will be even shorter – up to 10 seconds on Snapchat and up to 1 minute on Instagram (but you should try and keep it under 30 seconds).
Go straight to the point and be yourself. Don’t try to stage anything here. Just say what you need to say, give them the link to your post, and that is it.
In Conclusion
So here are eight ways to promote your blog posts by using video resources. You can create your own videos or just teasers. Or you can use somebody’s else videos as well.
In any case, videos are a proven way to increase traffic and engagement. So choose your favourite way and make the most of it.
