(919) 960-1222 hi@storyboardmedia.co

4 Reasons to Clean Up Your Video Library

video-content-audit

 

I don’t think I’ve ever really done a “Spring cleaning” since moving out of my parents’ house in my early 20’s. I’m more of a “clean it juuust before (or after) it reaches overwhelming” kind of guy. Like, “where did all these empty Amazon boxes come from?” Or, “I haven’t worn this sweater in six months, but it’s going to start getting cooler soon, so…”

And as irresponsible and juvenile as that sounds, it feels like that’s how a lot of companies treat their video libraries. Even the term “video library” sometimes implies a bit more organization than is really going on.

But a disorganized video library, whether it’s on your website, YouTube, or wherever, can keep your prospects and customers from finding the content they need to work their way through their journey. And if you’re not making it very easy for them to find what they need, they will go somewhere else.

So whether you’re reading this in the Spring, just before the end of the year, or during your summer downtime, there’s never a bad time to clean up your video library. Vidyard has a great post on the 5 Steps to a Successful Video Content Audit if you need to know how to get started.

Let’s take a look at four reasons to get your video library nice and tidy.

1. Boost Successful Content

While you’re assessing your existing content (Step 3 in Vidyard’s guide), some of your videos will likely jump out to you as being more successful than others. Maybe it’s got a high view count. Maybe it’s captured the most leads. Maybe you can attribute revenue to that particular video.

Whatever the metrics that matter to you, you’re going to want to double down on some of those videos.

Get creative with how you can share that useful content in a new way to a larger audience. Can you run a LinkedIn paid campaign driving a new audience to that video? Can you share (or reshare it) with a targeted segment of your email list? Can you run a Pre-Roll campaign with it on YouTube?

The bottom line is that this is your opportunity to really assess what’s worked and is working and to get that successful content on new channels and in front of new eyes.

2. Optimize Your Content

All too often I come across videos on YouTube channels, embedded in websites, or shared on social channels where the name of the video is “explainer_video_ver2c_final2-h264.mp4.” That’s not helpful. That’s a file name, not a video name.

Imagine how hard it is for someone to find that video on YouTube. What keywords is it helping you rank for on Google? Congratulations, you’ll be the first search result if someone types “explainer_video_ver2c” into their search bar.

Instead of using the file name, change the title to something more descriptive. Perhaps, “Competitation | The Ultimate Competitive Meditation App” – if, in fact, you’ve developed the ultimate competitive meditation app (dibs on that idea).

It’s also just as important to approach your video’s description and tags the same way. Treat these as opportunities for your video to rank high in search results – whether you’re posting your video to the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube, or embedding on your site to increase the likelihood that your page can rank on the first page of search results by 53 times (Forrester).

For a good read about integrating video into your SEO strategy, check out my colleague David’s post here.

3. Organize Your Content

If you’ve adopted the principles laid out in our manifesto, and you’re creating specific, purpose-driven video content, you’ve probably got a bunch of different videos – each speaking to a specific persona, or prompting a specific action.

In fact, Vidyard (yep, them again) reports that “businesses have published 377 videos on average and are publishing 33 new videos every month; their video libraries will double within 12 months.” It’s worth noting that their report is based on their active customers, who are investing tens of thousands of dollars a year on their video hosting platform, but it’s a data point.

It’s easy for that amount of video content to get disorganized very quickly. And if you’re creating content to help guide your prospects and customers through their journey, it’s got to be easily accessible. As I stated earlier, they will go elsewhere if you’re making it complicated for them.

Playlists are one of the easiest ways to get video content organized on a platform like YouTube. Their original function was to group videos together in a sequence to be watched back to back. But we’re lucky if we get a viewer all the way through one video at a time, much less watching multiple videos in one sitting. With playlists we can group like content with like, targeting specific personas per playlist, structuring playlists to a buyer’s journey, or for distributing episodic content.

If you’re looking for more control, to keep visitors on your site, or just to keep them from getting distracted, Wistia’s channels feature and Vidyard’s hub feature are kind of like having your own branded, controlled YouTube channel, completely integrated into your website and entirely controlled by you.

4. Eliminate Old or Irrelevant Content

Imagine if your app, Competitation (remember the ultimate competitive meditation app?), is on version 3.2, but the explainer video you made during version 1.0 is still on your YouTube channel. Not only is that video competing with your most recent video content (for attention, SEO, whatever), but it doesn’t reflect the app’s current capabilities, such as showing you where you rank among your fellow meditators, or how much time you have left until you’ve reached enlightenment. Delete it.

It may sound strange, but people sometimes get very attached to some videos. Sometimes it’s because a video has performed very well, or put a brand on the map, or was really expensive. But if it doesn’t help you today, it’s got to go.

Businesses change. Products change. Goals change. That’s exactly why it’s so important to keep your video library up to date. No matter how much you may have invested in a particular video – emotionally or financially – you’ve got to consider whether it’s still relevant.

And with your responsibility to guide your prospects and customers through their journey, if your video content (or any content) no longer serves that journey, it’s just getting in the way. If it doesn’t help you, it’s hurting you.

Whether you’re publishing 33 videos per month or only 3 per year, chances are your video library could use a little sprucing up. So roll up those sleeves and get in there. Put in a little sweat equity and you’ll get more out of your investment in video content.

If you feel like you’re overwhelmed by your own video library, or just want someone with more expertise in video to help you clean it up, check out “The Mr. Catalyst” | Video Activation Plan. Our team will review your entire video library to assess the video you already have, identify the video you still need, and eliminate the video that’s doing you more harm than good.