Everything you need to know about video distribution

What is video distribution?

Video distribution is the process by which video content is made available to people through various channels, such as television broadcasts, streaming platforms, or social media. Video distribution also includes the process of encoding, transcoding, and packaging of videos. Today, more so than in the past, this step is decisive: video files must be “packaged” to be compatible with different devices and always offer optimal streaming quality.

How has video distribution changed with the advent of digital platforms?

Digitization changes the way video distribution takes place: not only does it become simpler and faster, but in order to adapt video to different media, it must allow for content to be utilized in a wide range of formats, each with different technical characteristics. To understand the differences between traditional video distribution and online video distribution, let’s take a closer look at each type.

Traditional video distribution

In the case of “traditional” video marketing, video distribution constitutes the final stage of the creation cycle during which the content is scripted, shot, edited, and transferred to a physical medium such as film or DVD. Video distribution coincides with the process of transferring the video from one physical location to another: the content is stored on the medium and is transported to various outlets to be viewed or purchased.

Online video distribution

With digital video distribution, the process becomes much shorter and more straightforward. After being edited, converted, and encoded according to various style options, the video is uploaded to a video hosting platform (which in this sense replaces the traditional distributor). The video does not physically reach a theater or video store, but is directly sent to a user’s computer or television and can be viewed immediately.

Today, the main mode for enjoying video content is online video distribution, the way that is most suitable for meeting pure entertainment needs and achieving communication goals within work, education, and consumer contexts. 

With the ability to reach selected audiences in real time, online distribution (in which video is uploaded to hosting platforms) plays a strategic role both in simplifying and making internal communication more incisive and within companies’ video marketing plans.

Online video: internal video distribution and external video distribution

Today, organizations can use video both to enhance institutional messaging systems and to establish a connection, including an emotional one, with their customers. In the case of internal communications, the video is uploaded to an intranet or private video host. If the content is directed externally and is part of broader marketing initiatives, the video appears on the company’s website or social media.

• Training courses, company presentations, updates on company policy and values, and human resources bulletins are just some of the content you can convey through internal video distribution channels, for example, by embedding videos in company emails or uploading them to intranets and private servers. 
• Videos distributed outside the company increase viewer engagement and help focus your brand and products, making them recognizable and memorable. If the goal is to expand brand awareness, for example, a video embedded on your website pages or shared on one of your social media outlets is likely to attract more traffic.

Video is an extremely effective medium for conveying service communications to the rest of the organization and to all stakeholders in general. It is also the type of content that, more than other types (e.g., written text, infographics, events) succeeds in getting the message across loud and clear to carefully segmented customer audiences. 

A video distribution strategy must identify the techniques, tools, and methods by which to succeed in delivering high-quality content, investing in digital platforms (including social media, websites, and third-party sites) that can intercept users and generate value for the brand.

What channels absolutely cannot be missed within your online video distribution strategy?

Online video distribution: the most important channels

Sharing videos on all the channels that your company presides over might seem like a move with essentially no downside, useful in any situation and context. On the other hand, are there any negative effects that could be created by expanding the reach of our video distribution?

The fact is, it makes no sense to distribute videos in the places your potential customers would never visit or happen upon, except by accident. The risk is wasted time and resources. The golden rule of video distribution is first and foremost to be efficient, and then: make strategic and selective decisions and always measure results. This means experimenting on different platforms based on previous analysis, preferably after you have defined your buyer personas and, once you have figured out which video distribution solution works (which digital initiatives or applications perform best), quickly integrate it into your video marketing strategy.

Website

Improving your website’s overall ranking on search engine results pages (SERP) is an intermediate goal that also allows you to achieve other and more important communication goals such as driving traffic, promoting brand awareness, and creating new connections. 

Incorporating videos on relevant pages, such as your homepage, information section, product sheets, pricing section, or support pages increases another important factor for search engine optimization (SEO): the amount of time people spend on a page. If users stop by your site to watch a video to the end (say two minutes long), it will increase the likelihood that your site will appear in Google search results for that particular query.

If we consider that in B2B almost 70% of the buyers’ process is conducted independently through self-service modes (consulting forums or brands’ social accounts, etc.) and that only later does the user establish direct contact with sales, we can get an idea of the importance of video distribution that is not only widespread but also targeted. Product video tours featured on your site can guide visitors as they pursue their personal research.

Landing pages

Landing pages are built to host specific communications, usually related to a product, service, or promotion, and are used successfully within campaigns of all types. Whether landing pages are part of your website or hosted on a separate platform, video content can make them more powerful, especially if placed above the fold.

Incorporating video into landing pages can engage visitors and help increase conversion by 86%. Follow these guidelines to take full advantage of video on this distribution channel:

• make sure the video is relevant (If a user arrives on a particular landing page, it is because they think they are finding an answer to a specific question they have. Being confronted with a generic video could disappoint him and you would risk losing his attention and, more seriously, his trust);
• make sure that the video is unquestionably the main element on the page (avoid crowding the space surrounding it with text or graphics that might confuse or distract your viewer);
• make sure your video contains the elements necessary to motivate and convince people to perform a particular action. On the other hand, this is precisely the significance of landing pages.

Email

Video email marketing is increasingly being used to engage communication recipients and generate clicks. According to Vidyard, including the word “video” in the subject line of an email would increase open rates, and including a video in the actual body of the email would lead to higher click-through rates. 

Including a video in emails — best as part of automated email marketing efforts— produces an overall increase in engagement. There are some best practices that can optimize the use of video in emails: including a video thumbnail (perhaps looping GIFs) and making sure it uses automatic playback on the landing page to which the email links, (to reduce the number of clicks required to trigger the display). Video used at the top of the funnel should be between 30 and 90 seconds long, and longer (even much longer) if targeting recipients further down their purchase path. It’s important to compose your calls to action (those in the email and those within the video) so that they are compelling but never imposing.

Interactive videos offer additional possibilities for engagement: they not only encourage action but also allow immediate participation in the narrative unfolding and work very well whether you want to invite your users to view additional content, share the video on social media, or fill out a contact form.

Blog

The blog is the section of your website where you should include valuable content, insights, and articles that cover topics of interest or provide relevant information for your target audience. Videos can be especially effective on these pages for the same reasons as those cited for websites: they are exciting, easier to enjoy, and more understandable than written text. To employ them successfully within contact generation processes for example, you should always add a description, perhaps stating the key phrases of your video. Google and other search engines don’t know what your video is about, and if you want your posts to appear in searches, you need to provide the data necessary for it to be indexed.

Social networks

A video distribution strategy must include social networks. According to Wistia’s 2023 report, State of Video: “LinkedIn and YouTube are the most effective social media channels for businesses heading into 2023. Customers said they saw fewer results from Meta, and are beginning to experiment more with content for TikTok.”

So while YouTube and LinkedIn are the social platforms that businesses should continue to invest in, don’t underestimate the power of other video channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok. In any case, regardless of the channel chosen, a video will ensure the best performance only if it is appropriately tailored with respect to the technical and tone-of-voice characteristics of each social network.

Other channels 

Finally, if you don’t want to risk overlooking even one video distribution opportunity, you might also consider these other channels:

• Sales assets: reuse relevant video content within materials designed specifically for sales teams.
• Press releases: include your videos in online articles to “humanize” the often standard language used in press releases.
• Partner blogs: appearing among the pages of third-party blogs, chosen for their authority, could trigger a mutual reinforcement mechanism.
• Video ads: this can be a powerful option to use in Google Ads, paid social, or other advertising channels.

How Babelee can help you get the best out of your video distribution processes 

Today, there are platforms that enable you to get the best out of your video distribution: the most advanced technologies available, such as Babelee video platform, offer comprehensive solutions for creating video content for online publication.

Thanks to the potential of Babelee’s automated video production, with just a few simple steps, you can make all the types of videos you need: summary videos, news videos, animated infographics, personalized videos. You can easily automate large-scale, data-driven video content creation and quickly distribute it to blogs, e-magazines, online newspapers, web pages, and other channels so you can monetize the web traffic you’ve generated. Whatever type of video content you have created with Babelee, you will be able to easily incorporate it into your web page and start engaging your users and readers even more effectively.

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