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A Few Quick Steps to Video Integration

Video integration sounds huge, but it’s really quite simple. Think of it as distribution for your video. Just as movies do not become hits without distributing, your video is unlikely to find an audience without proper integration online.

youtubeConsidering how easy it is, and how great the potential benefits are in terms of sales and brand recognition, there’s no reason not to.

Your first step, of course, is to make your killer video. Once that’s done, you need to treat your video with the same care as a professional producer.

Post it to YouTube. YouTube is second only to Google for search. However, videos are not inherently searchable – only the words written about them, what we call the metadata. For this reason, it’s important to include search engine optimized wording in the three fields below: title, description, and tags. You can complete these upon upload or do it after, using the Edit feature.

Title: The information in your title is what shows up first in a Google or YouTube search, so make sure it’s descriptive but also succinct (25-50 characters). Your main keyword needs to appear in the first three words of your title. Think about how a person might do a Google search for the benefit or service you are offering. Some sources also recommend you include the word “video” in it, as that turns out to be the most popular search term for videos (imagine that  )

Description: The description is an important but often underutilized component of the YouTube platform. You are entitled to 500 words, which means a large-sized net to cast among search engines. Google favors quality prose, so do not simply fill it with catch-phrases and search terms. And be sure to begin with a url for the product, publication or website at the top of the description field then hit return after entering the url, so that it becomes a clickable link right below your video. If you do not have time to write 500 words for each video, we recommend you make a transcription, which can be outsourced or made using inexpensive software, but make sure you clean it up so it reads as written prose.

Tags: We recommend using 12 tags or more and the entire 120 character limit of this field. These tags should describe all of the subjects your video covers or references.

Embed your video. Find the embed code that is available to you – and everyone else once you’ve made your video public. Do this by clicking Share below the video, then Embed and select the size, code type and style of embedding you prefer. You can embed your video on your own site and encourage others to do this as well in blogs and newsletters. You can even embed your video in emails using gmail plus the YouTube url.

Allowing others to share your video on their websites and blogs is the essence of video integration. It’s like having your movie play on screens around the world; the more this happens the greater your potential “box office.” YouTube recently changed its rules so these offsite viewings do not get registered as YouTube views when “autoplay” is engaged (only when someone clicks a play button), but a view is still a view.

Create a newsletter, blog post or other outreach with the video embedded, and push the video out through your social media channels. Many of the newsletter/email campaign services offer full integration of your newsletter content with social media. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other social sites are also ideally suited to embed video and share. The richness and quality of video can trump other forms of social media content and the speed with which they can be viewed and shared are ideal for integration. You can also create a link, or use apps to further optimize your video shareability.ReelSEO has a good list of apps and Facebook offers their own as well.

Finally, send PR to the relevant press, bloggers and other media partners.

A couple of final tips. Be sure to engage tools on your website and social media to capture responses and info from viewers. Also, don’t forget that live opportunities to view your video are quite valuable. Ask if you can show your video in the lobby at trade shows or other live events.

Integrating video doesn’t have to be a daunting process. As with all marketing practices, know your goal and then build a plan to achieve it. If you have further questions or need help with any of the above forms of integration, don’t hesitate to send us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Integrated Educational Video Media