Using the Top B2B Video Channels to Reach Customers and Achieve High Viewership

If there’s a silver lining to so many people being forced to work from home during the past 12 months, it’s that B2B tech marketing pros have more opportunities to engage with prospects online. While it’s critical to make connections through multiple channels, videos are now playing an increasingly important role—particularly with 5G technology driving higher-resolution capabilities to mobile devices.

As you develop a strategy for producing and delivering videos to your target audience, consider the three main channels through which you will distribute your videos:

• Your website
• Video platforms
• Social media sites

Any video you produce needs a home on your website, and ultimately, that’s where you would like prospects and customers to watch—so they are just one click away from contacting you or buying your products and services.

Be sure to set up links on appropriate pages to each video throughout your website, and then build a library to archive videos for as long as the content is relevant and useful.

To that end, be sure to review your video library from time to time to know when it’s time to take videos out of circulation, such as for a product you no longer sell.

Complementary strengths from two video platforms

While posting videos on your website is a good first step, getting it viewed means attracting viewers to your site. So it’s important to “hit the road” with your video, too. That means posting it to a video hosting site.

YouTube and Vimeo are the leading players, and to maximize exposure, it’s ideally best to use both platforms. YouTube has the largest audience and a great search engine that makes it easier for people to find you—but remember to keyword it for SEO! 

Alternatively, Vimeo provides analytics that help you determine where viewers come from, what search phrases they use to get to your video, and how much time they spend watching your videos. Vimeo also offers video tools to produce high-quality video, making it a one-stop shop for production, distribution, and performance analytics.

Find out where prospects and customers hang out

But don’t stop there—expand your distribution channels as much as possible to attract the size audience you need to convert prospects into customers. The next places to post your video are the appropriate social media sites based on their audience demographics.

Related: Driving Self-Service Buying Experiences With Video

This includes Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The key is to analyze where your customers for each product hang out the most. The videos you post on social media will also typically be linked to your YouTube or Vimeo channel. And within each video, make sure the audience has a way to easily contact you or get to your website.

Audio system manufacturer reaches 35K views

At AtlasIED—a global electronics manufacturer of audio, communications, and security solutions—the marketing team regularly uses Vimeo and YouTube to host videos.

Gina Sansivero, the vice president of marketing and corporate communications, recently recounted the story of one of their most successful videos, which relied on animation, used lots of colors, and ran for just under two minutes.

“We were very successful because we targeted a specific audience that included education administrators and IT directors,” Sansivero says. “All the language and visuals were related to how they use audio systems and their pain points.”

To promote the video, AtlasIED also partnered with Emerald, which launched a re-targeting campaign and posted the video on the Emerald YouTube channel, which drove traffic to the video based on social media messaging to the target audience.

“We achieved 35K views and increased the average engagement time on the video,” says Sansivero.

Don’t have to be everywhere

Sansivero is a big proponent of leveraging social media platforms to drive traffic to B2B video marketing content.

For other companies looking to do the same, she advises, “Each platform has different user demographics, and each one varies in how long videos can remain on the platform along with different criteria for what and how you can post. It’s vital to use the platform that best matches your video preferences and connects with your target audience.”

As you establish your website, video platforms, and social media sites as channels for your videos, Sansivero adds, “You don’t necessarily have to be everywhere. It’s better to be strong in one platform or social media site rather than diluted across many. The key is to base your channels on your target audience.”

Can’t just post it and forget it

Also keep in mind, it’s not a case of just posting your videos and assuming you will generate high viewership. You also need to take extra steps such as promoting videos through your other marketing channels—email, texting messaging, and social media posts.

And track your results with as much detail as possible. That way, you will know what’s working well and what isn’t. With a continuous feedback loop, you can be sure the next video is always better than the last!