It’s no secret that video content has been thriving over the last several years. There are no signs of this slowing down in the near future.
Today, in 2021, approximately 82% of all web traffic is tied to video consumption.
From news to entertainment and educational tools, the world is watching more videos online than ever before. According to Statista, 85% of US Internet users watch videos online.
As a business owner or an individual trying to build their personal brand online, this information is critical. There’s no way around it—you must produce video content.
Building authority with video content could be intimidating if you’re starting from scratch. Regardless of you’re situation, I’ll explain how to have success in this space.
Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube is the most logical place to start. That’s because YouTube videos can easily be repurposed across other channels and rank in Google.
Taking a video from YouTube and embedding on your website, blogs, and email content is simple. You can even take clips from YouTube and share them on social media.
So if you don’t have a YouTube channel, start one today.
Aside from your other marketing channels, YouTube in itself is an outstanding way to build authority with your video content.
YouTube has two billion monthly active users. On average, one billion hours of videos are watched on this platform. Roughly eight out of ten Internet users have a YouTube account.
Getting started on YouTube is easy.
You can create an account in minutes. Uploading new content, managing your videos, and engaging with other users is very straightforward. Nearly every piece of video content that you create should be uploaded to YouTube.
Prioritize Quality
Don’t make the mistake of rushing through this process. When it comes to building authority, poor quality can do more harm than good.
You don’t want your videos to look like a local access TV commercial that was filmed back in the 90s. While the cameras on our phones are great, you should make an investment in some video equipment.
Add these items to your shopping list:
- Decent quality camera
- One or two microphones
- Lighting equipment
- Tripods and other accessors
Be reasonable. You don’t need to go crazy and spends tens of thousands of dollars here. But if you’re serious about creating high-quality videos, the equipment will make a significant difference.
Consider where you’ll be filming and what you’ll be doing before you buy anything.
For example, if you’re planning to walk around outside and interview people, you’ll need some portable microphones. Carrying heavy lighting equipment around might not be realistic. But if you’re filming inside your home or office while sitting at a desk, a high-quality light or two would be appropriate.
There are also lots of new ways to make video using online tools. Loom and Squadcast are just two examples.
Repurpose Your Old Content
Lots of people want to build authority with video content, but they don’t know what kind of videos to create. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Repurpose your old content into video format.
Have you been using blogging to build authority? Take one of your blog posts and turn it into an informational video.
Check out this example from Neil Patel’s YouTube channel. Neil is one of the most well-established authority voices in the digital marketing industry. His YouTube channel has over 560,000 subscribers and 22.7+ million views.
This video has nearly 280,000 views. It’s about how digital marketing will change in 2019.
But this concept wasn’t built from scratch. He has a blog post on his website that covers the exact same subject.
Take this page out of the playbook of an expert on building authority. Go through your most popular content and turn them into videos.
Are you recording podcasts to build authority? Simply place a camera in the room so you can upload those videos to YouTube. You’ll create double the content without doing any extra work.
Go Live
You’ll definitely want to leverage social media to build authority with video content. One of the best ways to do this is with a live broadcast.
- Facebook Live
- Instagram Live
- YouTube Live
- Periscope
82% of people would rather watch a live stream than read a post on social media. 63% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 watch live streams on a regular basis.
Facebook Live videos are watched three times longer than a pre-recorded video.
79% of viewers say that a live video gives them a more authentic interaction with the creator. An additional 63% of people say that live streams add a human element to digital marketing.
I could continue listing statistics all day, but I think the point is clear—go live.
Add Captions
Adding captions to your video content is one of the best ways to drive engagement and build authority. There are several different reasons for this.
For starters, 78% of video content is watched on a smartphone. Why is this important?
92% of people watch mobile videos with the sound off. That’s right. If your videos require audio to get the message across, people won’t be engaged with your content. Adding captions is the easiest solution.
As you can see from the graphic, videos with subtitles have a greater chance of being watched to completion. Furthermore, studies indicate the following about videos with captions:
- 15% more shares
- 17% better reactions
- 26% more CTA click-throughs
The numbers don’t lie. Add captions to your videos.
Final Thoughts
Overall, creating and distributing video content is one of the best ways to build authority online.
This holds true for small business owners, startups, individuals, and well-established brands. You just need to find your niche and figure out what type of content resonates with your audience the most.
Videos that are informative, educational, and instructional are some of the best ways to build authority. You can even try to add some entertainment to your content.
Mix it up. Your first video will not be your best. But you need to start somewhere.
Make sure to get the content transcribed and add that to the closed captions in YouTube and also below the embedded video in the blog post version of each video. This helps with SEO.
Even if you have zero videos uploaded online right now, you can still build authority by following the tips and best practices in this guide. It all starts with creating a YouTube channel. Then just slowly go from there.