5 Great Ways To Promote Your Videos Across The Web

When you upload a video to the web you can cross your fingers and wish on a star that it will become an instant viral hit, but odds are you will have to do a bit of promotion to help get things moving if you want to get the big views. Fortunately, it doesn't take a huge amount of time or effort to promote your videos across the web. Read on for some simple tips that can help you to gain exposure and views for your online videos. Optimize Your Metadata A big part of promoting your video comes before the first viewer watches your clip, and that part is optimizing your metadata. It's important to optimize your tags, titles and text in order to boost your traffic. Make sure to include tags and keywords that people will search for in order to discover your video. If you don't pay attention to these tiny details when you upload your video then nobody will find it in search results. Tap Your Personal Social Networks What are friends for if not to help you out? There's a good chance you already have a Facebook and Twitter account. Use these sites to promote yourself! If you've just uploaded a new video then post a link to your Facebook account and tweet about your new video on Twitter. Your friends are want to know what you are up to and what new projects you are working on - otherwise they wouldn't be a part of your Facebook network or following you on Twitter. Share your videos on any social bookmarking sites you are a member of as well, such as Stumble Upon. Ask your friends and contacts to share your video with their friends if they like it, and do the same for them when they share links with you. When you post videos on Facebook and Twitter you start building your base of views. Your friends will watch the videos because they know you and, if they enjoy your content, they might even share it with their own networks. Just keep in mind that you don't want to take a spammy approach to your friends. Posting a link to your newest video on your own Facebook wall is fine, but when you start posting your video to all your friends' walls or tagging all your friends in your videos it can get real old real fast, and could lose you some friends. However, share subtly and your personal social networks can be a great beginning to spreading your videos online. Don't Underestimate The Power Of Video Sites When you look at your profile on YouTube or Vimeo or whichever online video site you are using, if you see that you've got zero friends or contacts then you are going about things in the wrong way. One of the best places to promote your videos is on the video sites themselves, through your fellow video creators. If you don't have a network in place on your video site yet then get started. This will take a little bit more time than sharing links on Facebook and Twitter, but is definitely worth it in the long run. You also don't have to do it all in one sitting. As you see other online videos that you like, add the creators to your contacts. Comment on their posts, send them messages telling them you like their work and start building relationships. You will quickly discover that these creators will start watching your videos as well, commenting, "liking" and sharing with their own friends. This can lead to a boost in your video views, not to mention the fact that it will lead to creative inspiration as well as help you to grow and thrive as part of the online video community. On YouTube you can also promote your videos through video responses. Find a popular video that is about a similar topic and post your video as a response in the comments field. Your video will appear directly below the popular video clip, and viewers can click to check it out. Reach Out To Bloggers If you are looking to get a lot of views on your videos in a small amount of time then one of your best bets is to reach out to bloggers. Search for bloggers that cover the sorts of topics that you are making videos about. For instance, if you have created a series of cooking videos, in which you share your favorite recipes, then you can contact food bloggers to let them know about your project. You may never hear back from them, but if you are lucky they could write about you and embed some of your videos on their blog. Reaching out to bloggers can be frustrating at times, as it can be difficult to find contact information and you could email fifty bloggers and only hear back from a few. However, if you take the time to share your work with relevant bloggers it could pay off. On a side note, when contacting bloggers it's always best to personalize it. We know when you've just copy-pasted a form email to us, but if you seem to really know about us and about the content that we have covered in the past then we will be more likely to get back to you. Share Your Videos In Niche Communities In the same manner in which you share your video with niche bloggers (such as food bloggers for cooking videos), you should search for niche communities, groups and forums to share your videos as well. If there is a Facebook group for bread lovers then join it and post a link to your bread baking video; if you discover a forum for people who make ice cream then share a link to the video in which you share your recipe for cherry chocolate truffle milkshakes. Just keep in mind that different groups and communities have rules about sharing links and videos, so check first to make sure that you are complying with the rules and don't be spammy. It is important to only share your videos in relevant forums and communities that you think will gain something from viewing your content. By using these simple tips you can quickly increase the view count on your online videos. How have you promoted your online videos in the past? Were the methods you have used effective?

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5 Great Ways To Promote Your Videos Across The Web

Megan O'Neill

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Megan O'Neill