5 smart ideas on how to use video for your blog

If you own or manage a blog site, then most likely multimedia is on the list of things to do as part of your content marketing strategy. But did you know that videos are often an overlooked part of of an overall content strategy?

This puzzles me because videos are viewed at an alarming rate according to YouTube sources (and there are other video streaming sites too). Daily views of video is at 2 billion per day, per this infographic on Mashable. That’s an insane statistic, and it gets more insane when you consider that video sharing via social media is also very high. So it makes sense to add multi-media to your blog and to do it in the form of video. Let’s take a look at five ways to use video on your blog site.

1. Reviews – one of the best ways to explain an idea, service or product is to have it come alive via video. You can do it yourself or hire someone to film and produce a high quality video that reviews your concept like nothing else can. Keep it short under 2 minutes and make it fun, interesting or controversial.

2. Customer Testimonials – are your blog readers, customers or visitors praising you left and right? Best capture it on video and let your new audience see the praise. Video testimonials are all the rage on epic shopping sites such as Amazon. Why? Because people love to watch video and what better way to showcase what someone has said about you, your company or your service than with a live representation.

3. Interviews – is there someone in your blog niche that you wish to interview? Perhaps a fellow blog owner that is releasing a shiny new product your readers should know about? Whatever the case, make sure video is at the forefront of what or whom you seek to interview. This can be a super simple set up where you meet with the intended person and ask a series of questions live on the scene or you can send your questions over email to the interviewee and have him or her set it up and and send it your way.

4. Contests – who doesn’t love a fun contest with an awesome giveaway? Many blog readers and visitors will do just about anything to win the big prize, including submitting wacky videos of themselves in all sorts of situations. For your contest, make it the point of entry. In order to win, have the contestant submit a video he or she made at home. This could be a great way to attract traffic to your blog, not too mention keep visitors on longer. Since everyone will want to watch all the videos the others have submitted. The more fun everyone is having, the better your chances of making it a successful video contest. Go big!

5. Product Showcase – you can describe a product via text and do it justice, however words cannot describe, show and tell quite like a video can. Wouldn’t you agree? Why do you think commercials are so effective at getting people to a store to try out the latest toy, electronic, gadget, etc. Just think of the “Old Spice man” and his uber successful videos. He has managed to bring back a franchise my dad was into, a brand no one in the last decade ever thought or talked about anymore. Now it’s become a household name again. The power of video at work.

So aside from the fact that using videos on your blog is good for traffic, it’s also good for any of the five ideas mentioned above. Be creative, be daring, be controversial, be inspiring. Just don’t side step it any longer, try using video on your blog today.

/Search Engine Journal/