Content Video Trailers: Promote your Content with Short Videos

What is a content video trailer and how do you create them to promote your latest blog, podcasts, or video content? Here’s an example I made for this.

Video trailers are part of my own content process and I’d like to share it with you so you can try it out for yourself.

What do I Mean By Content Video Trailers?

We’re all familiar with movie trailers right? Those trailers that delay you from watching the film you’ve actually gone to see at the cinema (actually…I really like watching the movie trailers at the cinema!).

TV networks will always run trailers of their shows. Netflix play trailers of their top shows and movies too. There’s no doubt that they can be effective in spreading the word and enticing people to watch.

So…why not create video trailers for your content?! And by trailer, I simply mean a short less than one minute video explaining what your content is about.

The video trailer could be for your latest blog post, podcast episode, video, or livestream. Basically, you are promoting your core content.

How to Structure Your Content Video Trailers

The best time to record a content video trailer is immediately after you’re done recording or writing the content that it’s promoting. That way, it’s fresh in your mind and you won’t need to refer to anything while you record.

Give yourself no more than one minute to summarise the podcast episode or blog post. Be enthusiastic and look excited to be able to share your content with the world!

Introduce the topic, cover a few of the key points, and cap it off with a call to action by telling everyone where they can go to find the full content.

Keep it to under a minute and you’ll be able to share it on any platform. Bonus points if you manage it in one take, but also don’t feel bad if you have to edit. There’s no shame in doing a few jump cuts!

Why Video Trailers Can Enhance Your Content Marketing Strategy

The great thing about content video trailers is that they can be recorded very quickly if you film them while your content is still fresh in your mind, yet they have the potential to bring disproportionate results.

They Make You Personable

If you’re normally an audio-only podcaster, your audience would love to put a face to the voice. Even more so if you tend to only write blog posts, putting a face and voice to your written words can really make a difference.

Watching you introduce your content makes your audience feel as though they’re getting to know you even more. A lot of personality comes through in non-verbal communication, which you cannot get with audio-only content.

Social Media Platforms Love it!

Social media platforms are really crowded, and video helps you stand out. Fact.

Beyond that, they love video so much that their algorithms actually favour video content over other forms. Facebook video ads, for example, are lower cost than just text and image ads right now. This means it doesn’t cost you much to give your content video trailers a boost when you add them to Facebook.

It Will Improve Your SEO

If you place your video trailer at the top of your piece of content on your website, e.g. at the start of a long-form blog post, you are likely to improve the SEO value of your blog post.

Why? Because having a video at the top of your webpage greatly enhances how long someone is going to stay on the page. This then sends warm and fuzzy feelings to the SEO bots that people like you and your content! The longer people stay on your webpage the more SEO brownie points you will get (Andy Crestodina talked all about this in episode 45).

You Get Another Fresh Way to Attract Your Audience

A content video trailer is not just more of the same, it gives you an additional content tool in your toolbelt. You don’t know how many people may have not noticed that you have a new piece of content for them to consume until their saw your trailer!

How to Promote Your Content Video Trailers Properly

Once you’re done filming, what then? How do you maximise the potential of your trailer?

Add Captions

A great idea is to burn captions onto it or get a captions file generated and add it to the platform. I use a great service called Rev.com. Since your trailer will be less than a minute long (if you’re intending to post on Instagram), it’ll only cost one dollar to get a transcript file generated for it. It’s well worth it.

Create a Nice Thumbnail

Before you upload it to YouTube, consider making a stylized thumbnail on Canva or a similar graphics software, or take a posed photo while standing in the same position as you are in your trailer. If you try taking a screen grab from the middle of the video it’s hard to find a frame where you’re not pulling a funny face (or does that only happen to me!)

Post it wherever you can. YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and upload it individually to each one (social platforms love it when you do that).

Embed it on Your Site

Finally, embed the video at the top of your blog post on your own site, so it can serve as a little intro.

Not only will your readers appreciate it, it also helps your SEO as mentioned above.

Conclusion

I’m going to keep you posted on my video tips. I found it pretty fun doing the trailer for this post.

If you give this a go please do let me know in the comments below or reach out to me on Instagram or Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

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Originally published at https://www.content10x.com.