How to Use Videos to Engage Readers as an Author
You may have noticed, I've been writing marketing procedures to help you sell more books, or to sell anything. This Quick-Start Guide gets into the power of video.
If you've been following me at any time over the past 20 years, you've heard me beat a very loud drum about communicating. If I were to encapsulate what I've been asserting with regard to communication, it would be this...
The more you communicate, the more successful you will be.
This is probably the most important thing I can ever get across to you. It is a powerful statement that can make you extremely successful, extremely effective with the impact you want to make upon others and the world.
Simply put, if people don't hear from you, they will forget about you and what you're about. McDonald's is the largest restaurant food chain in the world and still, they communicate every day, everywhere. This is proof of this fact.
Video For Marketing
Video for marketing is a great way to get the word out to your audience.
Video in Marketing
Video in marketing is powerful. Video is one of the forms of communication. What's good to know is, video marketing is one of the most powerful and effective ways of communicating. And it would be a brilliant thing to do as an author.
Videos are an excellent way to grab anyone’s attention. Videos provide authors and entrepreneurs with an attractive, versatile and easily shareable medium to reach potential readers/followers.
It has been said that 74% of users who watch an informative video about a product subsequently purchase it. This can directly lead to an increase in your book sales, since those who watch videos are 1.81 times more likely to purchase than non-viewers.
With video being such a shareable medium of content, you’re more likely to get the word out faster.
Video Marketing Definition
Video Marketing simply means the action of making a promotional video of your product or services, and marketing it by submitting the video on one or multiple video sharing sites.
Video for marketing is an ideal way of product promotion to increase traffic on your website and drive traffic to your book page. This type of marketing has become very popular, and it's highly effective when you do things the right way. It can also help you in creating a large and interested audience.
I always look for the path of least resistence or one that has the most potential for the greatest return on your investment of time, effort and money. Video for marketing is one of those paths.
Videos are generally used by Internet marketers to sell their products and services using a video explanation of a product. You, as an author or entrepreneur, need to be Internet marketers too by engaging with your potential audience to build a list, create loyal fans, optimize your book sales and more.
Videos are generally used to build brand awareness of companies, persons and/or products/services. These videos are mostly to increase customer interest in the brand with less focus on selling the actual product.
People are more likely to buy things, like books, when they watch an online video of that product instead of reading the reviews and specifications. This means you can utilize the power of video to create a lot of interest. Without interest, nothing can be done because interest is the initial place people need to be in order to continue the conversation all the way to the sale.
So you can work on solidifying your brand or selling products… or anything else in between. Video is a powerful medium to communicate whatever you want.
It is vitally important to understand that books do not sell themselves. We hear of them going viral, but so do people win the Lottery. The chances of your book selling on its own, powered by the masses, is slim to none.
In fact, it's foolish to think anything will move on its own power. THAT is a recipe for certain failure. The more real it becomes to you that it is YOU, and only you, who will cause book sales, the sooner you will start to see incredible success!
Why Video Marketing?
Amazing Benefits for Offline and Online Businesses:
Easy to Access: People are now able to access videos with their mobiles and smartphones. The audience from your niche market can see your videos from all around the world. Because of this level of availability, you are able to reach your potential buyers with your products and services.
Informative: Most of the people take interest in video to receive information quickly. If you create an informative video, it will give you more targeted results. If you present your product and services on video in an effective way, people will want more from you.
Multifaceted: You can use videos to provide your brand information, product promotion, educating or training your clients and much more. You can use your video on social sites like Facebook and Twitter but you have to be sure that your website is connected with your social networking sites.
Brand Reputation: People prefer to do business with those they trust. Video helps prospects get to know you much more easily than ordinary words can, and once they get to know you, they’ll hopefully learn to like and trust you, as well.
Low cost: Video marketing is cheaper than other methods of advertising. When you compare the cost of video with the value, you will find the expense is minimum and the results are better. You have to create it once then it can be viewed anytime and as many times as your audience may want.
Apart from the crowd: Video marketing is easier and more affordable than ever before, so including an engaging video on your website increases audience awareness about your brand to set your company and the product apart from the crowd. A video enables you to gain an extra edge over other marketers.
Demonstrations: Product Demonstration with video is also the best way to introduce your product to your audiences. Reviews, case studies, product promotion videos and examples should be included in video to increase sales.
Emotional Influence: The classic horror movie is a great example of how the audio has an emotional effect on us. The creepy music comes in, immediately cluing you in that something bad is about to happen. Now, imagine combining that audio with powerful video cues to influence the emotions of the listener and create a much more compelling message than with just text alone.
Go viral: Today everyone wants to go viral. Audiences are always looking for viral sensation. For your marketing you can create an awesome and buzzing video explaining to them the uniqueness, benefits, and core values about your product and services.
Relationships: With all internet based businesses, personal connection with your clients is the biggest selling factor in your niche market. When you are creating a video for your potential buyers, you have to remind them that you care for them. Nurturing your client with building and maintaining relationships takes time but a video can do more in less time.
A wow factor with buzz: Video adds a punch to your marketing that text marketing can’t. If videos are impressive and effective, they provoke viewers in such way not possible with text. When viewers find your video interesting or useful, they show your video to others. This shows their interest in your product and services.
Traffic: People are watching 2 billion videos on YouTube alone. If you do not market your business you will miss those 2 billion visitors. Google gives high priority to rank YouTube videos in their search results. Video marketing provides the best opportunity to reach millions of potential customers.
Real-time feedback and interaction: People love to comment on videos, you can learn about your customers that way. So you can decide for your next video from the comments and response of the audience according to their need.
Soft selling: You can create an informative video of your product and services and include your message in video. When you upload a video online, it decreases your efforts and increases your success rate. While viewers play your video it will reveal the information and links with the message.
Understand that good writing is never boring. And although we mentioned in the above video that people can become bored with the written word, that is just with the way people typically write. Now imagine using great writing, like you've been learning here at Author Utopia, and combine it with video, sprinkled here and there, well then you've got a very powerful tool for communicating!
As a powerful marketing tool, videos allow authors and entrepreneurs to not only create compelling content but also allow them to engage with their audience.
We have a list of examples for you below. These examples will inspire you and help you decide what types of videos you could create for your promotion and marketing efforts.
1. Use Videos as a First Impression
This video gives a direct appeal about a product. If you've been here at Author Utopia for even a short while, you know that you must have an impressive website; one that influences visitors in a precise way.
A powerful place to use this type of video is the first video on your website's home page. It is used perfectly for personal and promotional videos. You can use it to advertise your book(s), your business and/or yourself.
But ONLY choose ONE concept at a time. If you mix topics and try to promote more than a singe item, you will get no results. This is because you will confuse your visitors. Thery won't know what to do, so they'll click away at the first sign of uncertainty.
This is where expert advice and website services is crucial. You could waste a lot of time and money doing things the wrong way—the way most aspiring authors sadly do things!
NOTE: If you need help with anything about your book or being an author, contact our mother company Writer Services, LLC at: https://writerservices.net/contact-us/ about having an effective author website or what ever you need. If you're not aspiring to be a serial author and more interested in other types of information products, we can help you to have a website aligned with your goals just the same.
2. Use Videos to Answer Questions
Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares, sits down with Waterstones for a Youtube video, answering fans’ questions. It’s a 10-minute video talking about a variety of topics such as where Taylor gets her inspiration for plots, questions about her actual characters like their origins, along with the quirky question of why she chose pink for her hair color.
Videos like these allow authors to answer questions that pique the curiosity of their audience. Any questions the fans may have about the video can be addressed in another video.
3. Use Video as a Teaser
Katie Ward uses her platform to talk about the book she is working on. In the 13-minute video, she talks about her plans and the original plot that she had in mind and asks for her subscribers’ opinions on it by letting her know what they think of it in the comments.
This is a good way of testing out the waters as an author. Especially if you already have a following, asking your audience in the early stages can greatly increase the chances of you creating a book that they like because you got their responses.
3. Use Videos as a Book Title Reveal
Wendell Huckaby Jr. shared his book’s title to the world through a short 1-minute video. This is a great example of how much freedom you have to create any kind of video you want. Check out his simple, but effective video:
Huckaby doesn't even speak in this video. That could be a comforting thought for many of you who, as we all do, have a little stage fright in the beginning.
4. Use Video to Reveal a Book Cover Design
Authors usually reveal their covers through blog posts, but author Sasha Alsberg used her platform to share her newest book cover for her novel.
In the video, she takes full advantage of her audience by quickly describing the plot of her story, creates intrigue about her cover while creating suspense by not revealig it right away and other brilliant things. She also discussed what she loved about the cover and the reasons for the different elements of her book cover.
Her bright and bubbly demeanor is only one of countless ways you can present yourself. Also know that she has been doing video for a few years now and her first ones, like for everyone, were clumbsy and nervous. So don't be intimidated by her great personality.
You will find your sweet spot and be just as good with YOUR personal way of doing things. Just remember to be yourself and you'll do fine.
5. Use Videos to Introduce Your Characters
Suzanne Blooms reveals how she creates her characters...
You may have noticed that some of the videos have music overlays. Music can add mood and aesthetics to a video. It's very easy to do but not a requirement.
6. Use Videos to Announce a Book’s Release or Arrival
Like Kerry Gibb, you can make a video when your book arrives for the first time. She shares her excitement about her book with viewers. You can do something similar in announcing that your book is now available.
7. Use Videos to Announce Giveaways
Ethan Renoe took to Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook to reveal that he was giving away the PDF version of his book for free! Videos are a great way to announce a giveaway. In his video, Renoe brilliantly is buildiing a contact list while generating Reviews for his book on Amazon.
By integrating videos and cross-posting them on different platforms, you get to receive feedback from different people simultaneously and start building your network faster since people are inclined to acquire anything that’s free. It's a great way to get things going or to revitalize your book if it has become a sleeper.
8. Use Videos to Encourage More People to Buy Your Book
Liana Ramirez shares 50 reasons why her audience should read her book. This is a good marketing technique because, as an author, your goal is to get as many people to read your book as possible.
By giving them these 50 reasons why they should read her book, Ramirez was able to answer some internal questions her readers and prospects might’ve been asking, such as “Why should I read it?” “What is it about?” “What will I get from it?”, etc.
9. Use Videos as a Book Trailer
Book trailers, in a word, are EPIC! Just like a movie trailer, you can really entice your readers to get excited about your book. Done right, they almost lose sleep over the excitement of your upcoming, soon to be released, book.
Our mother company, WriterServices.net, created a book trailer for Dr. Robert E. Marx's third book of his "Deadly" series. Deadly Game: The Horns of the Rhino — https://amzn.to/2KGO2cC — was a big hit. His book became a bestseller within a few weeks of its launch.
Here is the long version of this epic trailer:
Yes, this is a professionally produced trailer. But sometimes it's important to know what your strengths are and when to seek professional help from people who are experts at what they do.
10. Use Video to Provide Tips
This is one of the most popular video genres. It is ideal for improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and also establishing your presence on YouTube or any of the newer up-coming video venues like BitChute and others. Tips videos can be a great tool in building your credibility and showing that you are an expert in your specialization or niche.
Famous British chef, Jamie Oliver, shares his Spelt Spaghetti Recipe from his book Everyday Super Food. He creates a recipe from his book and shows his viewers how he personally makes it.
This is a good way to interject tips to share to your readers/audience. By seeing how the author does what is in the book, the audience will have a better look at how certain things are done such as the roasting process, what the ingredients look like, etc. This is especially helpful for those readers who don’t understand a certain part of the recipe/tutorial. With a video like this to show them how, they’d become more informed of the proper way to do it.
11. Use Videos to Put up Book Writing Updates
Meg Latorre on her iWriterly channel on Youtube shares a book update with her followers. The 22-minute video talkes about what the current updates are about her book and some challenges she was facing and the sentiments she had about her book. Notice that she clearly asks visitors to subscribe to her channel.
This is a good way to humanize yourself as an author to your readers. Your audience often only sees your name as an author but have no background about the process behind the book writing. By sharing content like this, you’ll be able to tap into a more humanized version of yourself for your readers.
12. Use Videos to Show Behind-the-Scenes Footage
You can take your followers with you on your book tour or dramatic happenings that occur behind the scenes. The video can be as long as you want or segmented into smaller ones that cover your trip, the actual program of your tour, the people you meet, the activities, and more. Here's an example of one way to do this:
Videos like these help viewers get a glimpse of what a day in the life of a book author might be like so your readers can know what to expect.
13. Use Videos to Self-Criticize Your Work
Here you can talk about a book you've written or are writing. In the video, you can talk about, for instance, all of the mistakes you made and how you could have improved your style. After all, there's always room for improvement. And you learn with every book you write.
This is a hard-learned lesson about not knowing the right way to write and edit and publish a book. Thankfully, Mel learns from her mistakes and it will make a better writer and author out of her. But far too often, people give up on their book dream.
This may sound like a plug, and maybe it is, but the fact remains that if Mel had Author Utopia to learn the right way to be an author, perhaps she would have avoided her embarrassment and the pain of failure.
Back to this kind of video, at the end of the video, you could announce that you're writing a new book. You can end your video by telling viewers why you're grateful for the opportunity to be able to exercise your freedom of speech with your own published book or how your experiences have inspired the book you are currently writing.
This is also a brilliant way to clear your name because, usually, when you publish a bad book, that's the end of your career.
You can do a million things at the end, but know that it is an opportunity to create interest in your next book.
14. Use Videos to Interview Other Experts
You can use Skype or Zoom to create interview videos. The interview can focus on two people – that is, the interviewee and the interviewer – or can be in the ‘news style’ format.
News style is where you are the interviewee on a subject on camera with an interviewer off camera. In this sense, you can simply look to the left of the camera and pretend that you're speaking to someone. It's a simple as that.
15. Use Videos to Recommend Other Books
In this type of video, authors can be asked to give their book recommendations/the books they’ve been reading. These are books that have been helpful to them in terms of inspiration. These authors talk about what they loved about the book and why you should read it too.
This is a great way for authors to become more human. In a way, you’d be sharing what everyday looks like for you and how you personally feel about things. It's a great way for people to really get to know you. Moreover, your audience may find a book they’ve been reading on your list and in some way relate to you.
These are just some of the ways videos can be used to engage and pique the interests of readers. As authors, you are not bound by the pages of your book. There are different media you can use to extend your presence to your audience, letting them have a glimpse of more than just your final product. If you haven’t started integrating videos as a part of engaging with your readers, maybe it’s time to rethink your strategy.
I hope you enjoyed this Quick-Start Guide I wrote for you. There is a lot more to learn about video marketing and all things authorship. This Guide is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, you can spend a lifetime learning to become a mega-successful author/entrepreneur. We have tons of writing topics available here at Author Utopia, so don’t forget to check them out.
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