As we move further into 2022, content accessibility is becoming ever more important. Whether you’re a blogger, a social media influencer, or a professional marketer, relying on multimedia has never been more essential. It’s no longer enough to write blog content, optimize it for healthy SERP ranking and call it a day. 

Integrating various types of content into blog posts, videos included, has become the norm around the web. Videos can lead to better SEO, higher user engagement, and subsequently convert more leads for your business. Here’s how you can use videos to your advantage as a blogger.

Perks of Using Video Content in Blog Posts

Creating video content to supplement your blog posts can be beneficial for several objective reasons, not the least of which is content diversity. In the age of lightning-fast information access and influencer marketing, no one wants to read long-form blog posts without flavor added to them. And while adding images or infographics to blog posts may work in the short term, video content is where you can truly explore fresh new content ideas. Here are some of the perks of using video content in blog posts: 

• Improve dwell time and increase conversion odds for your visitors

• Boost your search engine ranking thanks to content diversity

• Increase the accessibility and shareability of your blog posts

• Retrofit your video content for social media publishing from day one

• Improve your brand perception and visitor trust through videos

• Make your blog posts more appealing for smartphone and tablet users

• Increase your return on investment (ROI) from producing videos

Image source: Unsplash.com 

Tips on How to Use Video Content in Blog Posts

1. Create Original Videos to Avoid Copyright Infringement

Firstly, plagiarism is just as bad in video content as it is in blog content and writing. This means that you should never take someone else’s video content and freely post it on your website. While you can use stock and royalty-free videos from reliable platforms, this too is a legal minefield. The best way to stay safe from any legal issues is to produce video content in-house and use it in your blog posts.

2. Diversify your Video Content Types to Retain Visitors

Video is a very dynamic medium that can help you create dozens of different content types. As such, you should use video content in blog posts to enrich the visitors’ experience in various ways. Here are a few video types to use:

• Tutorial videos

• Product demo videos

• Testimonial videos

• Q&A videos

These are only some of the videos you can create and subsequently integrate into your blog posts. Keep in mind that there are no rules as to what works and doesn’t work in the video – it’s all about communicating your message properly. Likewise, you should aim to create videos that are closely related to whichever blog topic you’re covering.

3. Host your Videos on a Third-Party Platform

To make the most out of your video content’s SEO, you should avoid hosting it directly on your web hosting platform. Don’t upload videos directly to your website no matter how good your hosting is or how confident you are in your site’s stability. 

It’s always a better idea to use external platforms like Vimeo or YouTube and then link it back to your blog post. That way, people with slow internet will still be able to access your pages fully and simply choose not to click on videos at all. Adding alt-text to your videos will further improve their optimization as search engines will tag videos with alt-text and be more accessible than others.

4. Share your Video Content Beyond the Blog Posts Themselves

Lastly, once your videos are up on your website, nothing is stopping you from using them elsewhere. The more platforms you share your videos on, the more you will increase engagement of your content and website as a whole. Here are a few options for you to consider for video content sharing:

• Social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

• Email marketing (videos embedded into funnel newsletters)

• Paid ad placement (social media, YouTube, etc.)

• Product pages, landing pages, and other pages on your website

By placing calls to action into your videos and their captions, you will be able to direct viewers to your website from other sources. This will bring them a step closer to converting into subscribers or customers and effectively make them a part of your funnel going forward.

Wrapping Up

Utilizing video content to bolster your blog posts can significantly improve your articles’ SEO and lead to far better leads as a result. While you’ll need to put some effort into creating a video content marketing pipeline together, once you do, the effort will pay off in spades. Start by exploring what kinds of videos you can create for your blog and whether or not you can film/edit in-house. 

You may need to hire new staff or look for freelance editors online, in addition to writing scripts for each video. The video content you create will have a very long shelf-life and you’ll be able to repeatedly use it in different blog posts (based on the subject’s relevance). Don’t wait for your competitors to take the lead and think about how to use video content in blog posts in 2022 as early as today.