Strategic Content Management for Gated Videos: Strategies To Unlock the Potential of Success (+Platforms)

If you've attended a webinar or taken an online class for free You may have noticed that it was required to input your email address and name (and perhaps other data) in order to gain access.

Video-based resources that are housed behind form forms for lead capture are known as gated video content -- and they're efficient in aiding businesses in attracting new customers.

In this document We look at:

•         What is gated video content?    
•         The benefits of gated video content
•         The types of gated video content
•         Content strategy for gated videos      
•             Doing SEO for gated video content
•         Best practices for videos that are gated
•         Platforms for gated video      
•             Choosing the right secure media platform
•         Evaluation of the performance of your strategy to create gated videos
•         Make your company more efficient with gated video content
•         FAQ

What is gated video content?

Gated content consists of videos that are free and which users can access after they submit their contact information like your email address and name by filling out the lead capture form. The nature of the content as well as the product(s) that the company offers in the lead capture process, it may ask for more than just a email address and name. The form may also request the name of the person's employer, organization size, and industries.

When people submit their email addresses they are granted access to important user information that allows you to customize your interaction with them. When your email subscribers feel that your content is specially designed for their needs, they'll be more likely to read your messages and interact with your company.

The benefits of gated video Content

The ability to access video content is among of the greatest strategies that a business can employ to expand its client base. There are a few reasons to do this:

Lead generation

Video content that is gated, in contrast it is concealed behind a form. Many people aren't happy with full email inboxes, so if someone provides your email address in order to gain access to your content is a sign that they're interested in your company. These people are more likely to be receptive to your advertising efforts than people who just stumbled across your website.

Segmentation of the audience and content personalization

Gating your video content allows you to segment your target audience, and develop marketing tools with them in their minds. With your lead capture form it is possible to collect data such as names, email addresses as well as their demographics, location, the size of your organization, as well as industry, which gives you information about your target audience's needs and habits.

It is possible to use the information to build buyer personas of each subset of clients. This gets rid of the uncertainty; you'll be able to identify exactly who you're targeting, making it easier for you to design material that meets their requirements that solve their problems and helps them live their lives more easily.

Increased perceived value

Website visitors often place more importance on video content that is gated since they're providing contact information to get access to it.

A desire to satisfy their curiosity, the feeling of getting exclusive content and the advantages you provide your customers who sign up for emails, offering access to content that is gated can be a great way to enhance the image of your company. If done correctly, it can help you get more leads of high quality and build trust with your prospects and establish yourself as a professional in your industry.

However, there is a caveat. If you're asking people to provide your contact details, they expect high-quality material in return. If your video's gated information isn't stuffed with useful details, you could alienate your viewers and damaging your brand reputation.

Analytics and data collection

Gated videos provide a method to gather statistics on the behaviour of your viewers. Measures such as the duration of engagement, click-through rate, and completion rates help you figure out which types of videos are popular with your target audience. By using this information, you can optimize your marketing strategies and content for better results.

Increased ROI of content

Gated videos can help you get a higher return on investment (ROI) in the production of content as well as marketing. Because the videos are concealed in a form, you are able to determine their impact, including the number of leads they bring in and the way they move throughout the funnel of sales.

Types of Gated Video Content

Gated video content comes in a variety of formats. They comprise:

Webinars

By hosting webinars, you'll be able to feature other experts in your field, show people how to achieve their goals live and interact with the audience as well as promote your services and collect high-quality leads. These events often have limited slots available, which creates the feeling that of FOMO (fear of being left out) that motivates people to sign up.

In this case, Hotjar is hosting a live virtual event where Web strategy experts will show attendees how to build a highly-converting web page using Hotjar as well as HubSpot.

The landing page Hotjar described the significance of the topic as well as what attendees will gain through the event if they attend it. After that, they added the lead capture form, where users can fill in some details about themselves in exchange for an Zoom link invite delivered straight to their inbox.

Online courses

For the best value of online courses, choose an industry-related skill/topic that aligns with the overall marketing plan and create a series of in-depth videos on the subject. Not only can this attract potential customers as well, but it may be a way to get people familiar with your brand further into the funnel of sales.

As an example, Semrush, the SEO firm, collaborates with experts from the industry to develop classes that are based around marketing, such as this one created by Brian Dean.

The landing page provides the audience that will be attending the course, how they'll be learning, as well as the course structure. The site concludes with a form that interested students must complete to gain access to the course at no cost.

exclusive interviews

Like webinars, exclusive interview sessions feature productive conversations with industry experts as well as thought leaders or the key players. Not only do these conversations aid in building your brand's authority, but they also increase brand awareness by attracting the audience of the expert(s) you're conducting interviews with.

If you're interested in creating ideas that inspire others to your brand, conducting exclusive interviews is a great method to follow since you'll gain first-hand experience as well as analogies and instances that cannot be available elsewhere. Furthermore, you'll improve the level of engagement among your viewers by having your interviewees to answer your viewers' most pressing questions. The idea is to encourage people to sign up, check out the video and fill inquiries.

Pro tip: Some firms like Omniscient Digital interview subject matter experts, then publish audio versions of their podcast, and also upload video interviews on their YouTube channel and website. This can be a good technique to reuse the interviews you have recorded.

Product demos

Product demos (or demonstrations) demonstrate how a particular product or service operates by highlighting its strengths, functionality, and the advantages that users can enjoy when they decide to purchase the item or service. The primary goal of product demos is to convince prospects who are unsure that your product is able to meet their needs and solve their issues better than rivals'.

Demonstrating your products through a product's demo allows you to gather leads from people at the bottom of the funnel who are actually keen on your product. For example, Demio, a company which offers webinar software to marketing professionals, offers interested customers the possibility of scheduling the opportunity for a demo of their product.

In limiting the demo it offers, Demio only gets high-quality prospects who will sit on a 1-on-1 meeting with an Demio specialist.

Case studies and successful stories

Although most businesses make their case studies freely available, making a few of them is a great way to collect leads that are interested in particular use cases.

The reason for this is that the case studies are an extremely compelling type of content since they provide real-world examples of how your products/services have benefitted customers from the past or present. They answer the question that any potential buyer must ask before buying: "Will this product deliver what it promises?"

Gating your case studies can be extremely effective in filtering potential customers, particularly when your service or product is targeted to a specific kind of audience.

Video content that is gated

If you're looking to restrict your content Here are some actions to follow to make sure you reap the maximum benefit the use of this tactic to market:

Define your goals

Prior to recording videos or planning an event, establish the goals you want to achieve. According to original CoSchedule research, companies that set goals are 376% more likely to succeed.

When you are defining your objectives make sure you are specific. For example, if you're planning to organize webcasts, your aim could be to attract 100 people to attend. Or if you're releasing an online course, your aim could be to reach 1000 students within 6 months. Specificity in your goals helps you know what to aim for while promoting your gated video content.

Identify your target audience

GA provides demographic details regarding your viewers, including age, gender, hobbies, and location. GA also provides information on the web pages people visit the most often on your website and can prove useful for brainstorming topic ideas to use in your videos. If you're active on social networks, you may take a look at the analytics of your social media to get more insights.

Analyzing your competitors' target customers is a great way to know the people you should target, their demographics, and their buying behavior. In this way, you will be able to develop content that meets their requirements and addresses their problems better than your competitors.

Choose the best video content topics and types

Based on your audience research, brainstorm content ideas that are in line with your mission and resonate with your target viewers.

Analyze the data of all the promotion channels you use, including search as well as social media and emails, in order to determine the topics that your customers interact with the most. If you've got customer service and sales teams solicit their opinion regarding the challenges that your current and potential customers are trying to resolve with your service.

For example, if your product is a website creator, you can create your own mini-course that shows people who don't have the ability to code how to use your drag-and-drop site editor for creating a fully functioning website. Or if you learn that your customers or prospects frequently inquire from customer service on how to integrate their current tech stack with your product, you could host a webcast to teach users how.

Once you've selected your topics After deciding on the topic, choose the video format that is most effective to communicate your message. This includes webinars, online courses, tutorials, interview, as well as behind-the-scenes (BTS) video.

Create compelling content

When you've settled on the topic(s) and the content format(s) you'll be using, it's time to create value-packed material. Below are a few tips to remember:

• Use a high-quality camera to capture your video. Cameras don't need to be expensive, though. If you're not able to purchase a professional camera, using an iPhone or a tripod with great lighting, will work.
• Offer value to viewers. In the first couple of minutes of your video content will decide if viewers be interested to watch until the very end. You can use analogies, anecdotes, or shocking facts to entice viewers at the beginning. In the next step, add value throughout the entire video(s) with expert insight, research that is original, proprietary data, as well as a detailed explanation of your process, if applicable.
• Hire professional editors, animators as well as designers, if you can. They'll have extensive knowledge and access to high-quality editing and design tools and will produce a well-put-together video that your audience will appreciate.
• Incorporate interactive elements in your videos. If you're creating an online class, using quizzes, assignments, and polls can be great methods for your audience to take part during the learning process. If you're hosting a webinar, an interactive Q&A format allows participants to interact with the attendees and offer value in real-time.

Design a landing page

The most effective landing pages include three aspects convincing copywriting, engaging design, and a strong CTA (CTA). An excellent example is the CXL's landing page Brand Marketing mini-degree.

While the black-white-red hue instantly stands out, but it's the way the hero section outlines everything that you'll gain from the minidegree, and shows you who'll be teaching the class and how they're competent to teach it.

Next, the page outlines the benefits of subscribing to CXL, followed by a form that allows users to see pricing plans and request a demo. The landing page closes with an extensive FAQ section which addresses the most common questions that prospective customers may have.

Like CXL's page for landing Yours must contain the questionnaire (or CTA) that people have to take action on prior to accessing the video.

Promote your content for video that you have made available to the public

After your landing page has been put up and your video is safe to be accessed, you're now ready to market it. There are a variety of marketing channels you can use including:

• Search: Even though Google's algorithms can't crawl gated content, they can scan the content of your dedicated landing page and determine its ranking for the right keywords, which will improve its visibility and drive visitors to your page.
• Social media: You can build momentum by posting about your gated video prior to the time you make it. Let your viewers be part of the video creation journey and describe the benefits they'll receive from the final product. So, once the landing page goes online, people will be waiting to sign up.
• Pay-per-click: Creating momentum via organic SEO and social media marketing may require time. If you want quicker outcomes and have a budget, run pay-per-click (PPC) ads on the landing page on websites and on social media.

Analyze and iterate

If you are beginning to receive emails through your video content that is gated, monitor your performance using analytics tools. Track metrics and the most important performance indicators (KPIs) including viewing retention, conversion rates, and lead quality.

Use the insights you gather to refine your strategy for improvement, be it improving your techniques for creating videos or adjusting the content type, changing distribution channels, or revising your targeting.

Doing SEO on gated video content

Google's algorithm doesn't crawl or search for content hidden behind a form. That means that if you gate your video content, it won't rank in the results of search engine pages (SERPs). It is possible to use SEO to boost the visibility of the videos you have gated by

• Optimizing your specific landing page for search engines
• Embedding your lead-capture form inside non-seo-optimized, unrefined content such as blog articles
• Making videos more efficient

For maximum visibility, you'll need to apply the three different types of SEO that are available: on-page SEO off-page SEO and technical SEO.

In-page SEO

The process involves conducting the research on keywords to determine appropriate, high-volume keywords with low competition that your target audience is likely to use to search for relevant content to the video you are making.

To optimize your blog, landing pages, articles, or videos, you should include these words in the title tags. Also, include (sub)headings and page copy. images alt text, meta (and video) descriptions and URLs, when appropriate.

When Google's algorithms crawl your site, these terms will provide them with some background so that they can determine if your site's content is relevant to the right search term/query.

Off-page SEO

It is argued that backlinks are the most significant part of off-page SEO since Google regards them as an essential ranking element. A strong backlink profile fulfills requirements for the "T" in E-E-A.T. (trustworthiness), which is the standard Google utilizes to determine the quality of content of a site.

The process of building backlinks is to get reputable websites to link to the landing page and/or blog post through which people can subscribe to your exclusive video content. In the event that this happens, Google's algorithms interpret this to indicate that your offer is relevant, valuable, and fulfills the search criteria.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO involves making the technical aspects of your site to improve the SERP ranking of your website. It includes making your site mobile-friendly, increase your page load speed, adding website/video schema markup, submitting your video sitemap and website to Google and creating an SEO-friendly web structure and fixing content that is duplicate.

Not only are some of these methods (like the improvement of site speed, and making your website responsive on all devices) ranking elements, they aid Google to index and rank your website.

Pro-tip: Make your videos usable to people and search engines alike through accurate transcriptions and closed captions.

Guidelines for videos that are gated

When you are creating gated videos Here are the best practices to keep in mind:

Make sure videos are at the optimal length

There is no way to manage every aspect, however there are certain aspects you can improve, such as your sales funnel as well as the type of content you choose to use.

For example, prospects in the Awareness stage of your funnel could hear about your business at first, thus they're probably not prepared to watch a lengthy video. In this phase, people typically are more benefited by untagged media, including blog posts and short videos on social media.

However, prospects who are considering a product from you or weighing the value of your product against that of the competition will be inclined to join your experienced-led webcasts, taking online classes and watching stories of success and scheduling product demonstrations.

The lengths for these different video content formats differ, as well. The videos in the online courses can range from between 3 and 20 minutes and the whole course taking a bit longer. Interviews, webinars, and special events typically take between 1-2 hours. cases study videos usually run five to ten minutes long.

Pro tip: Create multiple edits. Following your initial recording will result in lots of footage. It's necessary to edit the video several times in order to eliminate any fluff, off-the-tangent commentary, filler words, etc. It is also possible to create animations and additional interactive and engaging components into the film.

Make appealing thumbnails and titles

Your thumbnail and title are the first elements visitors see on your landing pages or blogs on which you post your gated video. They must grab your visitors' attention and convince visitors to join your mailing list to gain access to the video.

Create your thumbnail yourself if you have great graphic design skills. If you don't, it's better to get a graphic designer or an expert in marketing with design talents to create your thumbnail for you.

Pro tip: Don't use clickbait titles. The title you choose to use should be true to the content in the video. In the absence of this, you'll cause an unpleasant user experience damaging your brand's credibility and image.

Streamline your lead capture form

Many companies only ask people to enter their names as well as email address to gain access to gated content, and some ask for more details, such as job title, organization size, and the industry. Some even ask their visitors to fill out a brief survey to gain access.

The name-and-email address approach does a great job since it permits you to create customized (by name) emails to your subscriber's inbox. But, if you're looking to separate your subscribers' email by industry or the title of their job, it is best to inquire about that information as well. This allows you to create content that is tailored specifically to each segment, which, in turn, improves the chances of people engaging with your brand, and ultimately purchasing the product.

The best advice: a long questionnaire can turn people off. If it's not needed, take the name-and-email address method.

With clear calls to action

When you are creating your landing page Use persuasive and clear words to stimulate action. e.g. "Access the latest information now" or "Download the course today". Then, in your video, you could encourage viewers to go to your site/social media pages or sign up to your YouTube channel according to the purpose you want to achieve.

Whatever the CTA is, ensure that it's clear, actionable and accessible. Put them in strategically placed places on your landing page and videos, particularly if the resources are long.

Pro suggestion: Consider offering incentives like discounts, downloadable resources, or a membership to an exclusive group to make the offer more appealing and make it easier for people to sign up.

Run A/B tests

When you are evaluating your results, conduct A/B tests of different components of your gated content strategy, including the titles, thumbnails, messages, formats for content, and CTAs. These will provide an insight into the variations that resonate most well with your target audience. It will also assist you in optimizing the rate of conversion over time.

Gated video platforms

If you're wondering what software you could use to create gated videos, this article will provide a list of four of the most effective platform for gated videos, including their pricing and features.

Selecting the best secure video platform

If you are stuck on which type of gated video platform to use, here are some guidelines to help you choose the right one that best suits your needs and goals:

Set out your needs

Before choosing a video platform take a moment to think about what you'd like the platform's capabilities to help you accomplish. Your answers will help you select the right tool for your specific needs.

If, for instance, your goal is to generate leads, Vimeo would be an excellent choice because it has leads generation capabilities and works perfectly with email marketing tools. But if your priority is to drive organic traffic via SEO, Brightcove and Sproutvideo could be better options.

Consider your budget

The pricing tiers offered by the platform can be a good starting point to figure out whether you are able to afford it however, you must consider any additional fees such as bandwidth charges or transaction costs, since these can impact the overall affordability of the platform.

Look into the possibility of customizing

The video platform you choose must allow you to have control over the appearance and functionality of the player. Also, look features that let you to personalize the branding, player design as well as interactive features like CTA buttons.

Consider integration capabilities

If you're planning to execute an approach to gated content there's a good chance you've got many other tools within your technology stack. In order to streamline your workflow, you'll need select a platform that seamlessly integrates with the tools you already have and systems.

It includes your site's content management system (CMS) and CRM software, customer relationship management (CRM) software as well as email marketing services marketing automation platforms Payment gateways, as well as every other piece of software that is essential to your business.

Review security and privacy options

If you're dealing with confidential or sensitive information, ensure that the video platform that you select has strong security safeguards. SproutVideo, in particular, is a great tool to use for this as it comes with features such as password protection, geo-restriction, IP address restriction, and encryption protocols that protect your data.

Review analytics and report

Reports and analysis that are thorough are crucial for tracking the effectiveness of your gated content and understanding how your customers interact with your company.

Look out for platforms that give you detailed insights, such as time-to-view, click-through rate (CTR), percentages of conversion, audience demographics as well as other KPIs that are relevant to your business. This information will help you improve your content strategy and improve engagement.

Verify scalability

If you run or work at a fast-growing company, the video platform you choose should be able to handle increased video uploads and higher traffic volumes without compromising on efficiency. That is, the platform should scale to meet your needs.

Therefore, consider factors like the available storage space, bandwidth options, and support for high-definition (HD) video in order to make sure that your system is flexible and will remain relevant when your company grows.

Demos as well as trial period

A lot of video platforms provide demonstrations of their products and/or trial period, which you can avail to gain hands-on experience with the platform. You'll not only determine if it meets your requirements, but you'll also learn how to navigate through the platform, should you decide to make use of it.

Monitoring the effectiveness of your video content gated strategy

To measure the success of your content-gated strategy, here are three things you should accomplish: monitor important performances indicators (KPIs) and use analytical tools, and continue to continue to improve your strategy.

Monitor key performance indicators

Some common KPIs you should track include:

• Rate of conversion: It measure the amount of viewers who supplied their personal information in order to access the gated content.
• Click-through rates (CTR) for CTAs: This is the amount of time that viewers click on the CTAs on your landing pages or videos. This indicates the effectiveness of your CTAs to drive desired actions.
• Engagement metrics: Measure the metrics of average time to watch, video completion rates, as well as video interactions (likes comments, likes, as well as shares). These indicate how your video content is engaging the viewers.
• Lead generation is the amount of leads created by gated content. It reveals how persuasive and persuasive your content.
• Lead quality: This measures how likely your new leads will convert to paying customers. It is possible to assess this KPI via lead scoring or qualifying criteria.

Use Analytics tools Use analytics tools

Analytics tools can retrieve and categorize information from various sources to give you a better knowledge of the overall operation. Some common analytics tools you could use are:

• Google Analytics (GA): This platform assesses user behavior on your website, monitors the performance of landing pages, and analyzes traffic sources, in addition to many other features. With GA, you can create goals and set specific events that measure the number of interaction with your gated content.
• Video hosting platforms: Platforms such as Vimeo, Wistia, or YouTube give detailed insight into video's performance. In conjunction with lead capture forms they can monitor the play rate, engagement, and the conversion rate.
• Platforms for marketing automation: Products like HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot offer analytics tools that allow you to track lead behavior after they engage in your content gated for them.
• CRM tools: CRM tools such as Pipedrive and Salesforce allow you to track leads generated from gated video content and monitor their progression throughout the funnel of sales.

Continuous optimization and iteration

Create regular reporting intervals to monitor the performance of your gated video content strategy. Compare your data across period of time (including data generated from A/B tests) to determine patterns and trends.

Make use of the data you collect from your data for making informed changes to your plan such as optimizing the lead capture form, using different types of video content, or switching distribution channels.

Transform your business with the security of video content

Accepting content from gated video is an excellent way to supercharge your marketing plan. In offering quality material in exchange for users' information, you're not only making leads, you're also creating a direct line of interaction with your crowd. This lets you send personalized messages and nurture potential customers through the buyer's journey.

Your gated video content also allows you to showcase your knowledge to establish your company as an authority authority, and build the impression of exclusivity as well as value for your audience -that ultimately leads to sales and brand loyalty.

Plus also allows you to establish and manage exclusive communities to help build an even deeper relationship with your prospects, upsell your offerings, boost conversions and increase revenue for your business.

FAQ

    What is gated video content? Why is it crucial?

"Gated" videos refer to video content that can be accessed only after the viewer has provided personal information, such as their email address or specific demographic information. This strategy for marketing lets businesses to capture and nurture quality leads via specific emails as well as specific marketing campaigns.

    What are the advantages from using videos with gated access in marketing?

Using gated videos in marketing gives businesses the ability to capture leads, gather important customer information, and provide content that is personalized which builds confidence in their customers and leads to increased the number of conversions.

    What can I do to create an effective gated video strategy?

The following is a step-by-step guide to developing a profitable security-based strategy for video content:

• Define your goals
• Identify your target audience
• Select the best video for your content and type (e.g. webinars, video courses, product demos, etc. )
• Create compelling videos
• Make a special page for landing
• Promote your content for video that you have made available to the public
• Iterate and analyze using the insights you have that have been gathered

    What are some best practices for creating captivating gated videos?    

If you're creating restricted videos, here are some best techniques to remember:

• Make sure videos are at the optimal length
• Design captivating thumbnails and titles
• Streamline your lead capture form
• Include clear calls-to-action
• Test A/B to improve your strategies

    What video streaming platforms will work best for my business?    

Some popular platforms you can use to create video content that is gated and resonates with the viewers you are targeting include:

• Vimeo: Known for extensive possibilities for customization and top-quality video playback.
• Wistia offers customizable video players, email capture forms, as well as extensive statistics.
• Brightcove: A robust platform that has lots of capabilities for large corporations as well as media firms.
• SproutVideo: Video hosting platform with a strong commitment to security. attributes like domain limitations and password protection.

    What is the best way to measure the efficacy of my video content that is gated strategy?    

There are two options to analyze and track the effectiveness of your gated videos:

• Tracking important indicator of performance (KPIs) such as the conversion rate, click-through rates (CTR), and engagement indicators (likes shares, likes, and comments)
• Analytics tools for example Google Analytics , video hosting platforms CRM tools, as well as tools for marketing automation
• Comparing KPIs with typical industry standards to gain more insight about your results