5 Tips to Optimize Your Video Marketing Efforts

Let's face it, video has taken the online world by storm over the last few years and we're really only just beginning to learn how to best harness its power. Furthermore, the technology, data and tools being made available to retailers with respect to video are changing at an even faster pace. So while it may be premature to discuss best practices at such an early stage, here are five imperatives for working with video:

1. Get on board with video now. Video is everywhere; it will be the No. 1 way you engage consumers online. YouTube's Vice President and Global Head of Content Robert Kyncl said that video would soon be 90 percent of all internet traffic. If you're not using video now, you're being left behind.

2. YouTube is your best friend; you're just using it wrong. You don't want the video content on your website to be hosted by YouTube. That's a direct path off your site. That said, YouTube is the second largest search engine and one of the strongest customer acquisition tools available to retailers.

Just ask Home Depot, which has created tons of do-it-yourself (DIY) videos on YouTube. Search for "how to install a toilet" and Home Depot's video comes up first. In the video, Home Depot directs viewers back to the DIY section of its own website.

If you haven't already, create your own branded YouTube channel. Then, using effective teaser content and YouTube annotations, push the traffic your channel gets back to your website and even specific conversion pages.

3. If you're just using video to "play a video," you're wasting 95 percent of its value. Video player technology is growing faster than video content itself. New player technology can enable retailers to build calls to action or even entire retail transactions into their videos.