We all know that people like watching videos. Creating informative, funny, educational or ‘behind the scenes’ videos of your business increases your Internet footprint and is a fantastic way of engaging with your audience.
It can, however, be difficult to drive viewers to take the next step in your purchase funnel. Up to now, you have been able to include annotations with a link to your website or include the link in the description of the video. However, these always felt awkward and not easy to use for lead generation. They also didn’t work on mobile devices
Now, you can use YouTube cards to include a link to a page on your website – from the video on any desktop or mobile device and they are free for anybody to use so long as you have an account that is in ‘good standing’.
What cards can you use?
There are five types of cards available:
Merchandise Card – Link to an approved external site where you sell products (e.g. Google Play, Shopify, iTunes, etc.)
Fundraising cards – Link to an approved external fundraising site (e.g. kickstarter, subbable, patreon)
Video or playlist card – Link to another public YouTube video or playlist which will be of interest to the viewer.
Associated website card – Link to a page on an associated website. This is the one that I will use most.
Fan Funding card – Let your fans show appreciation for your videos by making a money contribution directly on the video page.
How do I set up a card?
To set up a card:
1. Visit Video Manager
2. Edit the video you want to add cards to
3. Click Cards in the top tab bar
4. Click Add card
5. Click Enable (to accept terms and conditions and set an associated website in the case of a website card). From then on, click Create.
7. Enter a valid URL that is supported for the chosen card.
8. Add an Image (square), a title (50 characters), call-to-action (30 characters) and teaser text (30 characters).
9. The teaser text will be displayed in the top right-hand corner of the video.
When viewers click on the teaser, the card is displayed (while the video is still running).
The teaser is displayed on the top right of the video for a few seconds, it is then replaced by an ‘i’.
10. A video can have up to 5 cards. Each time the video is played, the teaser text from a different card is displayed. Have a look at this in practice by watching this video.
How can I use cards?
- Create cards that will send your viewers to appropriate pages on your website based on what your video is about.
- Get viewers to sign up for your email newsletter in return for a download
- Send viewers to additional content that is related to the subject of the video
- Send viewers to a product or service page on your website. Include a discount code in the video card to encourage visits and help to track leads.
What do you think?
Are you going to change annotations to video cards? How will you make use of them? Do let me know in the comments below.