Here’s Why No One is Watching Your Video Content

You’ve made a really great video and posted it online. Now…all you have to do is relax and watch the views, likes and shares stream in. As much as we want these sweet words to be the truth, it isn’t the way video content marketing works. You probably know this already because you’ve experienced it first-hand, but you likely don’t know WHY it’s happening. Many marketers face the same problem, so we’ve outlined some major factors that prevent your videos from being seen and shared.

Your videos are too long
A recent HubSpot study found that 52% of all videos published in the last year were less than 2 minutes long. Why? Well, it’s hardly new knowledge that our attention spans just keep on decreasing— we’re now down to a mere 8 seconds. This doesn’t mean that all your videos have to be 8 seconds long, but it certainly means that you should aim to capture your viewer’s attention within those first few seconds of your video.

You’re catering to the wrong audience
Before you start making videos, make sure you understand your audience and the types of content they already love. Don’t create cat videos just because you know they can go viral. Think about what is relevant to your brand and the best way to share your message with your target audience.

You’re not utilizing all the distribution channels
If you’re only posting your video content on YouTube, you are not reaching the widest possible audience. YouTube is the consumers’ leading source of video content around the world, so you’re not wrong for posting on that channel, but you should also be considering other platforms. Facebook is the second leading source of video content and is the most popular social media channel. Understanding your consumers and where they spend most of their time looking for content will ultimately help you get your video content in front of a wider audience.

You have bad SEO
If you’re not optimising your content for high SEO rankings, then you’d better start. Search engines are always looking for the most engaging content, so follow these steps to make your video content SEO friendly.

• Catchy titles: Only the first 60 characters or less will show up on YouTube. Keep your titles short and catchy. Avoid clickbait and misleading titles or your SEO could be seriously jeopardised
• Add keywords to the description: Keep descriptions short and sweet and always include a link to your website
• Use tags: Use a combination of different keywords and think about what people could be searching to get to your video
• Visually appealing thumbnail: This is the first thing people look at, so make sure you have a high-quality and visually appealing thumbnail to capture your viewers’ attention

Your videos are lacking emotion
Videos that make viewers feel an emotion (happy, sad, hopeful, motivated) are more likely to be shared. These videos leave a lingering impact and help foster a memorable experience of watching that video content. A recent study found that individuals that have a positive emotional association with a brand are 8.4 times more likely to trust the brand. Emotional intelligence is one of the determining factors for videos that go viral.

GLUE Content is a Melbourne based video content production and animation agency, producing content for some of Australia’s leading companies, brands, agencies and sporting organisations.