How to Repurpose Video Content to Increase Value
Create additional marketing content by reusing and repurposing your video footage.
A great video marketing strategy should include ways to repurpose video content as well as create fresh content from scratch.
There are many reasons why this is a sound approach. Repurposed video content can:
- Help you maximise the value of each video you create, especially if you invested in a professional shoot
- Attract more views across multiple platforms
- Reach a wider audience
- Reinforce your brand messaging
- Boost your search engine optimisation (SEO)
After investing the time, energy and budget into creating video content that is perfectly targeted to your ideal clients in whichever relevant stage of the customer journey they're in, it would be a waste to use it once and then park it.
Video can keep on delivering value and increasing its return on your investment (ROI). It can also continue to build brand awareness, engagement and customer retention.
But how?
There are many ways that you can keep your existing video content working for you:
- Reuse footage from your content library in new videos
- Recycle and refresh older videos for a new audience
- Repurpose video content across multiple platforms
Remember, it is important to plan the different ways in which you can use a piece of footage before production if you are to do this successfully.
You’ll find some ideas below for recycling, reusing and repurposing your video content.
Pull out short snippets from longer videos
While long-form video is great for platforms like YouTube and will be well-watched by its intended audience when properly targeted, there may be times when shorter 30-second videos would perform better. This will depend on which platform you plan to use.
If you have a long-form video, review it to pinpoint quick snippets that you could use for shorter videos.
For example, you might want to take a few soundbites of a client talking from a case study video and turn them into 30-second reviews or testimonials.
Reuse your "universal" footage
Look for "universal" footage in your videos, such as views of your premises, your long-established products or services, location, etc. This is footage of the constant, evergreen elements of your business that won’t quickly go out of date.
You may be able to use this universal footage in a range of different videos – mixed with fresh content - without having to pay for multiple shoots of the same scenes.
Refresh your old videos
Always keep track of what’s in your video archive.
For example, a video that attracted plenty of engagement two years ago may never have been seen by your newer customers. It could make sense to bring this old content back into circulation.
Another approach is to update the narration of old footage or edit fresh content into a video you’ve used before.
You could even go back to the original raw footage and see if there is content that you discarded before that could be used now.
What are your most popular videos? You could bring them back into circulation by adding an update.
Extract still images from your videos
You can make a video part of a wider campaign by using screen captures as stills for your posters, adverts and other promos.
This can be a strong way to create cohesion across your marketing materials.
High-resolution professional filming will help you here as you should be able to capture crystal-clear stills that display well in a range of sizes.
Create a transcript of a video
Although search engines are getting better at understanding video, it’s helpful to give the search bots some text information about video content so they know what they’re crawling.
A transcript of a video is the ideal solution when posted with a video on your website.
As well as the SEO benefits, transcripts have other positives too.
Someone visiting your website may not always be in the position to watch a video immediately. It could be that they’re in public or at work. A transcript provides a written overview that explains the video without it having to be viewed.
Like closed captions, transcripts also improve accessibility for viewers with hearing impairments.
Reuse the audio
Just as we can review a video for shorter visual snippets, audio snippets of the content can be repurposed too. For example, you could use audio from a video – a testimonial is ideal - as the basis for an ad on a podcast.
Create slides and presentations
As we’ve seen in previous blogs, video is one of the most engaging forms of visual media, which makes it ideal for keeping people’s attention.
Instead of filming something new for a presentation, could you use a video from your archive?
For example, a professional services firm could use footage from a client case study in a presentation about applying new legislation to client cases. Or footage from a training video could be used to show how your company is supporting health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Create GIFs for social sharing
GIFs are a series of images or soundless video that will loop continuously and doesn't require anyone to press play. They are hugely popular on social media because anyone can watch them at any time. They also provide a good middle ground between text and video but go a step beyond a static image.
It’s possible to take short clips from your videos and add text to them. GIFs are highly shareable, especially if they’re humorous or visually impactful.
Repurpose your video webinars
If you have pre-recorded video webinars, there are several ways you can get more value from this session.
For example, you could pull short snippets from a webinar and turn them into a series of 1 - 2 minute video clips containing advice or information for your audience (just don’t forget to include a call to action with each clip).
You could turn short clips into teaser-style videos encouraging people to book on to future webinars. Alternatively, you could package the webinar so that it’s available for purchase via your website or only downloadable to be viewed in the customer’s own time once they sign up to your mailing list.
Compilation videos
People love compilations whether it’s a "Greatest TV Shows of the 80s" style programme on Channel 4 or a blog rounding up the best posts of the year.
Your archived videos might lend themselves to a compilation too. For example, you could take the highlights of your most recent footage to tell the story of ‘Our Year in Video’.
Key takeaway
When you’ve invested in video content, it should work as hard as possible for you to deliver greater value and increase your ROI.
By considering how you can repurpose content as part of your video marketing strategy, you can organise the video shoots more effectively to capture footage that you’ll need months and, sometimes, years in advance.
I’d always recommend that you work alongside video production professionals to design a video strategy and capture your video content. This is because professional companies will understand how fresh and repurposed content can be used to its full potential, extracting as much mileage as possible from every frame of footage.
Developing a strategy for using video in your marketing mix can be confusing if you haven’t worked extensively with video before.
If you want to make video a profitable part of your business, you must have a video marketing strategy that extends beyond your normal digital marketing or content marketing strategy and maximises the impact of the videos you produce.
Don’t know exactly what you need?
Get in touch for some free advice and discover:
- What videos will have the greatest impact on your bottom line
- The best way to have your videos produced, based on your needs and budget
- The video marketing channels that will deliver the greatest reach and engagement for your brand
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Video metrics and why they matter to you
How we measure whether your videos are delivering the desired results.
Producing a successful video is not just about making something that looks good but also about making something that actually delivers results.
But, how do we know if a video has achieved the results that you’re looking for? Well, we track the video metrics that matter!
The approach of combining art with science is at the heart of any good video marketing strategy.
But what are the video metrics that matter and what do they mean for your videos?
Five main types of data for video
There is a huge array of data available to assess how a video is performing and whether it’s achieving the goals you have set for it. Different platforms offer different video metrics that, when put together, can help you build a deeper understanding of your audience and how you could use video even more effectively in the future.
Broadly speaking though, all of the available metrics will fall into five different categories:
- Reach
- Engagement
- Conversion
- Retention
- Audience
Let’s look at these in more detail.
Reach: How many people have seen the video?
The data in this category helps us understand how many people may potentially have been exposed to your video content.
This doesn’t necessarily mean people who viewed the video in its entirety – or at all! – but instead, the number of people who may have seen it in a social media newsfeed, for example, thus registering as an ‘impression’.
Each platform varies in how it measures reach and impressions. On Facebook, a video just needs to appear on the screen – even without playing – to count as an impression.
Reach data can be a helpful measure of brand awareness and impact and it is the first metric that we look out for. Without reach there will not be a lot of other data to measure but, it is only the start. To get a fuller picture you’ll have to dive deeper. What actions have your audience taken as a result of seeing your videos?
Engagement: How interested in your video was your audience?
For marketing of any kind to be effective, it needs to attract engagement.
In other words, people need to like what they’re seeing and interact with the brand in some way. We might measure this by looking at metrics such as:
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
- Watching with the sound on
- Watching the video to completion
- Repeated viewings
Generally speaking, the higher the level of engagement in a video, the more effective the video is.
This is reflected in YouTube’s algorithms, which use ‘watch times’ rather than ‘views’ as an important positive ranking signal. After all, a view can be a matter of seconds whereas longer watch times suggest the viewer actively choosing to consume the video content.
Facebook, on the other hand, uses average completion rates – i.e. the per cent of each video your audience watches – to rank video content in newsfeeds. The more people who watch from start to finish, the better for your visibility.
According to Facebook, 48% of all video watch time can be attributed to social sharing, which is why stats relating to likes, comments and shares are relevant.
It’s worth keeping an eye on average view durations too. This measures the total watch times of a video divided by the number of watches. This can help us build up a good sense of the ideal video length for the audience – if people keep dropping off 30 seconds into a 45-second video, it could be an indication that the video needs editing or that future videos should be shorter.
Data covering repeated viewing is also helpful. Are there particular sections of a video that people keep re-watching? If so, this could be a sign that this portion of the video is of greater interest to your audience.
The above metrics are all positive signals that your video content is striking a chord with its intended audience. People want to watch, they’re interested in what you have to say.
If, on the other hand, you don’t see much in the way of engagement, this could be a sign that you’re reaching the wrong audience or that your message needs fine-tuning before it will resonate.
Negative feedback such as how many people hide a video or unlike your Facebook page after watching will give you a clearer view of what videos just aren’t a good fit for your customers.
Videos comments tend to provide softer, qualitative data about how people feel about your videos or brand. This can give you some powerful insights into what matters to your audience.
Conversion: How many people are doing what you want them to do after watching the video?
As we saw in my previous article where I detailed How to create a video marketing strategy it is essential to have clear goals for your videos.
Most often, a goal will include something you want people to do after watching your content. This might be visiting your website, signing up to your mailing list, making a booking, or buying a product or service.
For this reason, most businesses concentrate on conversion metrics.
This is the data that tells you about sales, new leads, lead quality, site traffic, clickthroughs and conversion rates.
Stats such as your clickthrough rates can give you great insights into how your call to action is working. Does it need repositioning within the video or would different wording work better?
Also, conversion stats can help you understand how video is best used on your landing pages. Again, does the position make a difference? Or the length? Are people more likely to make a purchase on a sales page with or without watching a video?
Retention: What happens to the customer after they buy from you?
If you’ve read How to use video content throughout the ‘customer journey then you’ll remember that the journey doesn’t end with a purchase.
Every business should focus on retaining as many customers as possible. Research shows that as few as 8% of your customers can account for 41% of your revenue – these are your repeat customers!
So, retention metrics are those that help you build up a picture of how many customers are returning, how long they stay a customer, how often they buy from you and how they rate your service. You might also want to look at referrals and customer complaints in this category too.
The videos you create for the retention or loyalty/advocacy stage of the customer journey will have a different message to your earlier-stage videos. Retention metrics will help you to craft and refine this message.
Audience: Who is watching your videos?
The final broad category of video metrics is relevant at all stages of the customer journey and will be core to your video marketing strategy.
These are the audience metrics that help you understand who is watching your videos.
As well as providing demographics such as gender, age, location, socio-economic background, location, device, etc. of your audience, these metrics can also help you answer different questions.
For example, are your videos resonating with the right people? Or are they reaching an unexpected audience? What type of videos seem to resonate most strongly with your audience?
Why the metrics matter
What gets measured gets improved and no online marketing campaign can be successful without measuring and analysing performance. One of the real strengths of digital video marketing, as opposed to traditional video advertising, is the amount of useful data available to help determine the effectiveness of the video in achieving your desired goal. But, it’s important to know which video metrics matter so that you can refine your video marketing strategy moving forward.
By taking time to reflect and track the results of each video you publish you can strengthen your video marketing strategy. In turn, this will boost your visibility, develop your voice, build your audience and improve conversions.
Do you need help in creating an effective video strategy for your business? At Reach Video we provide the strategy, content and ability to connect to your target audience, drive them to action and deliver tangible, profitable results.