Gated Video Content Strategy Strategies to Increase the Potential of Success (+Platforms)

If you've ever attended an online webinar or enrolled in an online class for free, you might've noticed that it was required to input your email address, name and username (and perhaps other data) before getting access.

Video-based content that is housed within leads capture templates are known as gated video content -- and they're efficient in helping businesses get new customers.

In this guide, we explore:

•         What is gated video content?    
•         Benefits of gated video content
•         Types of gated video content
•         Content strategy for gated videos      
•             SEO is the process of promoting gated video content
•         Best practices for gated videos
•         Gated video platforms      
•             Selecting the best security-enabled video platform
•         Evaluation of the performance of your strategy to create gated videos
•         Make your company more efficient with gated video content
•         FAQ

What is the meaning of gated content on video?

Gated content consists of free video material that people are able to view after submitting their personal information, such as the email address and name by filling out the contact form. Based on the type of the content, as well as the product(s) the business provides, the lead capture form might ask for more information than a simple name and email address. They may also inquire about your job title or organization's size as well as industry.

When users submit their personal information to you they are granted access to user-specific data and can tailor your communications with them. If you can make your customers think that your messages are specific to them, they'll be more likely to read your messages and connect with your brand.

The benefits of gated video Content

Video content can be one of the best strategies a business can employ in order to grow its customer base. Here are some reasons why:

Lead generation

Gated video content, however can be hidden by a form. Many people aren't happy with an inbox full of emails, so when someone gives you their email address for access to your content, that's a good signal that they're interested in your company. They are likely to be receptive to your marketing efforts than visitors who merely stumbled onto your site.

Audience segmentation and content personalization

The ability to tag your videos lets you segment your audience and create marketing materials with these segments in their minds. Through your lead capture form you will be able to gather user data such as the name of the user, their email address as well as their demographics, location, company size and the industry they work in, giving you insights into your audience's interests and interests.

It is possible to use the information to create buyer personas for each subset of customers. This gets rid of any guesswork. You'll know precisely who you're targeting which helps you create content that addresses their needs, solves their problems, making their lives simpler.

Perceived value increased

Website visitors often place more worth on content with a gated access because they're providing their details to gain access to it.

Between one's longing to satisfy their desire to know more, being able to access exclusive content, as well as other benefits you can offer to your email subscribers, access to content that is gated can be the perfect way to improve your brand's image. If executed properly, it can help you increase leads that are of high-quality and increase trust among your customers and make you appear as a professional in your industry.

However, there is a caveat. If you're asking people to provide your contact details and information, they're expecting high-quality material in return. Therefore, if your video information isn't stuffed with useful facts, you're at risk of alienating the people who watch it and damaging your brand reputation.

Analytics and data collection

Gated videos offer you a structured way to collect data on viewer behavior. Metrics like time to engage, click-through rates and completion rate help you figure out which types of videos resonate with your audience. With this data it is possible to improve your marketing and content to get better results.

Better ROI on content

Gated videos can help you gain a greater ROI (ROI) in the production of content as well as marketing. Since they are concealed in a form, you have a straightforward way to assess their effectiveness, including the number of leads that they create and the way they move throughout the funnel of sales.

Types of Gated Videos Content

Content from Gated videos is available in many formats. A few of these formats comprise:

Webinars

With webinars, you can present other experts in your area, instruct individuals how to meet their goals in real-time and interact with the audience and promote your product and generate leads of high quality. These events often have limited spaces available, which can create a sense of FOMO (fear of not being able to attend) which drives people to register.

In this case, Hotjar is hosting a live online event in which experts in web strategy will teach participants how to design a high-converting site using Hotjar and HubSpot.

On the landing page, Hotjar explained the importance of the topic as well as what attendees will gain from the webinar if they choose to participate. After that, they added the lead capture form, where individuals can submit some personal information about themselves and get a Zoom invitation sent directly into their email.

Online courses

For the best value the online learning experience, pick an area of expertise or subject that is in line to your overall marketing strategy and then create detailed videos explaining that topic. This not only attracts prospective customers as well, but it may help people familiar with your brand further along the sales funnel.

In this case, Semrush, the SEO firm, collaborates with experts in the field to design marketing-based courses, like this one by Brian Dean.

The landing page explains the audience that will be attending the course, how they'll learn, and the course arrangement. The page concludes with a questionnaire to be filled out by interested participants in order to access the course for free.

Exclusive interviews

Similar to webinars, exclusive interviews provide engaging conversations with experts from the industry as well as thought leaders or key stakeholders. Not only do these conversations assist in building your brand's credibility, they also boost brand recognition by drawing the audience of the expert(s) that you're talking to.

If you're interested in creating the kind of content that will inspire your business, performing exclusive interviews is a great option because you'll get first-hand experiences of analogies, cases studies that aren't available elsewhere. Additionally, you'll be able to increase the engagement of your audience by asking your interviewees to answer your viewers' most pressing queries. The idea is to encourage people to sign up, check out the video, and then send in questions.

Tips: A few firms such as Omniscient Digital interview subject matter experts, then publish the audio interview on their podcast as well as video interviews on their website and YouTube channel. This is an effective technique to reuse the interviews you have recorded.

Product demos

Demos of products (or demonstrations) show how a product or service functions, highlighting its features functions, capabilities, and advantages users get if they purchase the product/service. The main objective of product demonstrations is convincing potential buyers who may be unsure that your product is able to meet the needs of their customers and resolve their issues better than competitors'.

Demonstrating your products through a product's demo can help you collect leads from prospects at the bottom of the funnel that are keen on the product. As an example, Demio, a company which offers webinar software to marketing professionals, offers interested customers the possibility of scheduling an opportunity to demo your product.

By gating its demo, Demio only gets high-quality leads that are willing to take part in a one-on-1 conversation with a Demio expert.

Case studies and success tales

Though most firms offer their case studies for free available, publishing a portion of them is an effective way to gather prospects who are looking for particular use cases.

The rationale behind the reason for this is because case studies are a highly compelling type of content since they present real-world instances of how your services or products have benefitted customers from the past or present. They provide the answer to a question each potential customer must answer prior to purchasing a product: "Will this product deliver on its promise?"

Gating your case studies can be extremely effective in filtering potential customers, particularly if your product/service caters to a specific kind of audience.

Content strategy for gated videos

If you're looking to block your videos There are a few steps you should take to ensure you reap the maximum benefit the use of this tactic to market:

Define your goals

Prior to recording videos or arranging events, you must define your objectives. In accordance with the initial CoSchedule research, companies that have goals set have 376% greater chance to succeed.

When you are defining your objectives make sure you are specific. For example, if you're planning to organize webcasts, your aim might be to get 100 participants. If you're planning to launch an online course, the goal might be to get 1,000 people to take it in the span of six months. Be specific about your objectives helps you know what you're trying to accomplish when it comes to advertising your videos that are gated.

Identify your target audience

GA offers demographic data about your audience including their age, gender, hobbies and even their place of residence. It also shows you the pages that people are visiting frequently on your site and can prove helpful in brainstorming topics for your video. If you're on any social media platforms, you could take a look at your analytics on social media sites to get more insights.

Examining your competition's target audience is also an effective method of identifying the audience who you must focus on, their demographics and the way they shop. So, you are able to make content that is tailored to their needs and solves their problems better than your competitors.

Choose the best video content topics and types

Based on the research you conducted about your audience You can brainstorm ideas for content that align with your goals and resonate with your target audience.

Analyze the data of every promotion channel that you utilize, which include search, social media, and emails, in order to determine which topics your target audience is engaged with the most. If you've got sales and customer service teams, get their input about the issues that current as well as potential customers try to solve with your product.

In the case of example, if your service is a web creator, you can create your own mini-course that shows people who don't have any programming experience how to utilize your drag-and-drop site editor to make a fully functional site. Also, if you find that your customers or prospects frequently inquire from customer service on about how they can integrate their existing technological stack with your products, you could host a webinar to show the people how.

Once you've selected your topics Choose the content format that best deliver your message. These include webinars, online courses, videos, tutorials, and interviews as well as behind-the-scenes (BTS) video.

Create compelling content

After you've chosen your topic(s) and content format(s) that you're going to use, it's time to create value-packed material. These are some suggestions to consider:

• Utilize a top-quality camera record your videos. Cameras don't need to cost a lot, but it should be. If you're not able to purchase professional cameras, then using an iPhone and a tripod with great lighting, will work.
• Provide value to your viewers. The first few minutes of video content will determine whether viewers will stay with the content until the close of the video. It is possible to use stories, analogies, or shocking facts to draw people in from the beginning of your video. You can then add more value throughout the entire video(s) by including expert insight, research that is original or proprietary data as well as a detailed explanation of the process, if applicable.
• Hire professional editors, animators and graphic designers, when possible. They'll be well-versed and access to quality editing and design programs and will produce an impressively designed video that viewers will love.
• Integrate interactive elements in your video content. If you're developing an online class, interactive quizzes questions, tasks, and polls are excellent ways to get your viewers engaged in the process of learning. If the course is a webinar the Q&A sessions allow you to engage with attendees and offer value with real-time interaction.

Design a landing page

The most effective landing pages include three aspects convincing copywriting, engaging design, and a strong calling-to-action (CTA). An excellent example is the page that CXL uses to promote its Brand Marketing mini-degree.

The black-white-red color palette immediately stands out, the most striking thing is the hero section outlines everything that you'll gain from the minidegree, and shows those who will be teaching the course, and why they're qualified for the job.

Next, the page outlines benefits of registering to CXL, followed by a form that allows users to see pricing plans as well as request a trial. The page concludes with a comprehensive FAQ section, which answers most common questions that prospective customers might ask.

Just like CXL's landing page Yours must contain an online contact form (or CTA) that users have to take action on before accessing your video.

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

Once your landing page is online and your video safely gated, it's time to promote your video. There are a variety of marketing channels to choose from, such as:

• search: While Google's algorithms cannot crawl content with gated access but they will search the content on your dedicated landing page and rank it for the right keywords, which will improve the visibility of your site and bring more visitors to your page.
• Social media: You could increase the momentum of your gated video before you create the video. Let your viewers be part of the video creation journey and describe the benefits they'll receive from the final product. This way, when the landing page becomes live, there'll be people ready to sign up.
• Pay-per-click: Creating momentum via the organic search engine optimization and social media marketing may be a lengthy process. If you'd like to see faster results, and you have the budget, consider running pay-per click (PPC) ads on the site's page for social media and search engines.

Analyze and iterate

When you begin to see emails that convert from your gated video content Monitor your results with analytics tools. Monitor the most important metrics of performance (KPIs) such as viewing retention, conversion rates as well as the quality of leads.

Utilize the information you collect to refine your strategy, whether that's improving your video creation techniques or adjusting the content type or distribution channels or revising your targeting.

Doing SEO on restricted video content

The algorithms of Google don't crawl and index content that's within a form. So, if you block your videos and it doesn't appear on the search engine results pages (SERPs). You can, however, make use of SEO to increase the exposure of your gated videos by

• Optimizing your specific site for the search engines
• Embedding the lead capture form in unaltered, SEO-optimized material like blog posts
• Enhancing the video itself

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

On-page SEO

The process involves conducting keyword research to identify appropriate, high-volume keywords with low competition that the target audience is likely to use when searching for content related to your film.

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. image alt texts, meta (and video) descriptions and URLs, when appropriate.

When Google's algorithms crawl your site, these terms will give them some background so that they can rank your web pages for the correct search terms/query.

Off-page SEO

It is argued that backlinks are the most important aspect of off-page SEO because Google sees them as the primary ranking factor. A strong backlink profile fulfills the "T" in E-E A-T (trustworthiness) that is the basis Google uses to assess the content quality of a site.

Building backlinks involves getting reputable websites to provide a link to the website or blog that allows people to join your newsletter for gated video content. In the event that this happens, Google's algorithms interpret this to indicate that your offer is relevant to the user's needs and is valuable. It also fulfills the search criteria.

Technical SEO

The term "technical SEO" refers to improving the technical parts of your site to improve your rank on SERPs. This means making your site mobile-friendly, increasing your page speed of loading, adding video/website schema markup, sending your website/video sitemap to Google, creating an SEO-friendly web structure and fixing content that is duplicate.

Some of these techniques (like the improvement of site speed, and making your site responsive to any device) ranking aspects, they also make it easier for Google to index and rank your website.

Pro-tip: Make your videos even more usable to people as well as search engines by providing accurate transcriptions and closed captions.

Guidelines for gated videos

When you are creating gated videos, here are some best techniques to remember:

Make sure videos are at the optimal length

It's not possible to control all these factors, but there are some that you could improve on, like your sales funnel and the format of your content.

In this case, people at the stage of awareness in your funnel may just be hearing about your brand for the first time so they're likely not ready to sit through a long video. People in this stage often prefer un-tagged content, such as blogs and video clips on social media.

But, those who are considering your product or weighing up the value of your product against that of competitors will be willing to attend your professional-led webinars, purchasing online courses, watching success stories, or booking demos of your product.

The lengths for these different videos differ too. As an example, videos that make up an online course can be 3 - 20 minutes long while the course itself taking a bit longer. Exclusive interviews and webinars typically run for 1-2 hours. Likewise, case study videos are usually between 5 and 10 minutes in length.

Pro tip: Create multiple edits. After your first recording, you'll end up with lots of video. You'll need to edit it multiple times to get rid of fluff, off-the-tangent commentary, filler words, etc. It is also possible to create animations and additional interactive and engaging components in the clip.

Make compelling thumbnails and titles

Your thumbnail and title are the first elements users see upon visiting your landing pages or blogs where you have embedded the video you have gated. These components must catch your readers' attention and entice users to sign-up for access to the video.

You can create your own thumbnails if are a skilled graphic designer. If not, it's best to get a graphic designer or a marketer who has design expertise to do it for you.

Pro tip: Don't use clickbait titles. Your title should accurately represent the contents of the video. If not, it'll create an unpleasant user experience damaging your brand's credibility and image.

Streamline your lead capture form

Some companies just ask visitors to provide their personal information as well as email address to gain access to their restricted content while others ask for additional information, including job title the size of the organization, as well as the industry. Some even ask their visitors to take a quick survey before they can gain access.

The name-and-email address approach works pretty well because it permits you to create personal (by name) messages to subscribers' inbox. However, if you're trying to separate your subscribers' email by industry or job title, you should request that information as well. This allows you to create contents that are tailored to the specific segment. This will increase your chances of getting people to engage with your brand and buying your products.

Pro tip: A lengthy form often turns people away. So if it's not necessary use the name-and-email-address method.

Include clear calls-to-action

For your landing pages Use persuasive and clear words to stimulate action. e.g. "Access professional insights right immediately" or "Download the course today". In your video, you might encourage people to visit your social media site or website, or to subscribe to the YouTube channel, in accordance with the goals you want to achieve.

Whatever the CTA is, make sure that it's clear, actionable and accessible. Place them in strategic places on your landing page and video, especially if those materials are lengthy.

Pro tip: Consider offering incentives like discounts, downloadable content, or access to a private group to make the offer more appealing and encourage opt-ins.

Run A/B tests

When you are evaluating your results, conduct A/B tests on different elements of your video content gated strategy, which includes the titles, thumbnails and content formats, messaging and CTAs. These will provide insight into what variations work most well with your target audience. It will also assist you in optimizing the conversion rate over time.

Gated video platforms

If you're wondering what methods you can employ to make gated video, we've compiled a guide to four of the top gates for video, along with their features and pricing.

Choosing the right security-enabled video platform

If you feel confused about which type of gated video platform to use, here are some suggestions to assist you in choosing the right one that best suits your goals and needs:

Determine your requirements

Prior to deciding on a video platform consider what it is you want the platform to accomplish. Your answers will help you select the right tool for your specific needs.

For example, if you are looking to create leads, Vimeo is a great choice because it has lead generation tools and can integrate easily with marketing tools for email. If your goal is to generate organic traffic through SEO, Brightcove and Sproutvideo could be better options.

Consider your budget

The price tiers provided by the platform can be a good starting point to figure out the price you're able to pay however, you must consider any additional costs such as bandwidth charges or transaction costs, since these can impact the overall affordability of the platform.

Consider possibilities for customization

The video platform you choose must allow you to have control over the appearance and functionality of the video player. Look for features that allow you to customize the branding, player design, and interactive elements like CTA buttons.

Consider integration capabilities

If you're planning to execute an approach to gated content, chances are you have numerous other devices that are part of your stack. To simplify the process of creating content, you'll need to select a video platform that integrates seamlessly with your existing tools and platforms.

This includes your website, your content management software (CMS) and CRM software, customer relation management (CRM) software, email marketing services, marketing automation platforms, payment gateways, and every other piece of software that is essential to your company.

Review security and privacy functions

If you're working with sensitive or sensitive data, make sure that the media platform you choose has robust security features. SproutVideo, in particular, is a fantastic tool to use to accomplish this because it offers features such as security for passwords, geo-restriction protection, IP address restriction, and encryption protocols to protect the data you store.

Analyze analytics and reports

Reports and analysis that are thorough are essential for monitoring the effectiveness of your content that is gated and knowing how people interact with your company.

Check out platforms that give you detailed insights, such as time-to-view, click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rates, audience demographics as well as other KPIs that are relevant to your business. The insights you gain from these will allow you to develop your strategy for content and improve engagement.

Look for scalability

If you are a manager or employee for a growing company, the video platform that you select should be able to handle increased video uploads and higher numbers of users without jeopardizing efficiency. That is, the platform should scale according to your requirements.

Therefore, consider factors like availability of storage capacity, bandwidth options, and support for high definition (HD) video, to ensure that the platform is scalable and your investment remains relevant when your company grows.

Demos as well as trial period

A lot of video platforms provide product demos and/or trial periods to benefit from to gain hands-on experience with the application. In addition, you'll know whether the platform meets your needs, but you'll also learn how to use the platform should you choose to make use of it.

Evaluation of the performance of your content creation gated strategy

For assessing the performance of your gated video content strategy, here are three things you should do: track important indicator of performance (KPIs), use analytical tools, and continue to iterate continuously.

Key performance indicators

A few commonly used KPIs to track include:

• Conversion rates: These measures the proportion of users who have provided their information to access protected content.
• Click-through rate (CTR) on CTAs: This shows how frequently users click on CTAs in your landing page or in your videos. This is a measure of the efficacy of your CTAs in generating desired actions.
• Engagement metrics: Monitor measures like the average length of time a viewer watches as well as video completion rate as well as video interactions (likes comments, likes, or shares). These indicate how your content is resonating with viewers.
• Lead generation is the quantity of new leads that are generated by the restricted content. It indicates how compelling and convincing your content.
• Lead quality: This measures how likely your new leads can be converted into paying customers. This can be assessed as a KPI via lead scoring or the qualification requirements.

Utilize Analytics tools

Analytics tools retrieve and organize the data from different sources in order to give you a better knowledge of the overall operation. Some common analytics tools you can use include:

• Google Analytics (GA): This platform assesses user behavior on your site, records the performance of landing pages, and monitors the sources of traffic, among many other features. Through GA it is possible to create goals and set events to specifically measure interactions related to your content that is gated.
• Video hosting platforms: Platforms such as Vimeo, Wistia, or YouTube provide detailed insights into video's performance. When integrated into lead form forms they can monitor metrics like play rate or engagement as well as conversion rates.
• Platforms for marketing automation: Products such as HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot provide analytics tools that allow you to track how leads behave after engaging through your content that is gated.
• CRM software: CRM tools like Pipedrive and Salesforce will help you monitor leads that are generated by gated video content and monitor their progression through to the sale funnel.

Continuous optimization and iteration

Create regular reporting intervals to monitor the performance of your video content gated strategy. After that, you can compare the data over 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 to inform the changes you need to make to your approach for maximizing the lead capture form, using different types of video content, or switching distribution channels.

Change the way you do business by using the security of video content

Accepting content from gated video can be a great way to supercharge your marketing strategy. When you offer valuable information in exchange for details, you're not just making leads, you're also creating an immediate line of communications with a receptive crowd. This allows you to deliver specific messages that nurture potential customers through the buyer's journey.

The content you create with your gated videos helps you showcase your expertise, position your company as an source, and establish the impression of exclusivity as well as the value to your customersand ultimately, this drives brand advocacy and conversions.

Plus allows you to establish and manage communities that are exclusive to help build an even deeper relationship with potential customers, sell your offerings, boost conversions, and generate revenue for your business.

FAQ

    What is gated video content? And why is it so important?

"Gated" videos refer to content that is accessible only after the viewer has provided specific information about themselves, like their email address or specific demographic information. This marketing tactic allows businesses to acquire and maintain lead prospects with high-quality, personalized emails and targeted marketing efforts.

    What are the benefits of gated video for marketing?

Utilizing gated video in marketing allows businesses to identify leads, collect vital customer information and deliver personalized content which builds confidence in their customers and results in increased conversions.

    How can I create an effective gated-video strategy?

This is a step-bystep guide to developing a profitable gated video content strategy:

• Define your goals
• Identify your target audience
• Choose the appropriate video content and type (e.g. webinars, video courses, product demos, etc. )
• Create compelling videos
• Make a special landing page
• Promote your gated video content
• Iterate and analyze Based on the information gathered

    What are the best ways to make captivating gated videos?    

When you are creating restricted videos, here are some best techniques to remember:

• Maintain videos at an optimal length
• Create appealing thumbnails as well as titles
• Streamline your lead capture form
• With clear calls to action
• Run A/B tests to improve your plan

    What gated video platforms would be best for my business?    

The most popular platforms which you can utilize to make secure videos that are resonant with the viewers you are targeting can be:

• Vimeo is a well-known site with a variety of customization options and high-quality video playback.
• Wistia: Offers customizable video players, capture email forms and more detailed analysis.
• Brightcove: A robust platform that has lots of capabilities for large corporations and media companies.
• SproutVideo: Platform for video hosting with an emphasis on security, with options like domain restriction and password protection.

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

The two methods to monitor and analyse the performance of your videos that are gated:

• Tracking important metrics of performance (KPIs) that include conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR) as well as engagement indicators (likes shares, likes comments)
• Utilizing analytics tools such as Google Analytics  or video hosting platforms, CRM tools, and marketing automation tools
• Check KPIs against industry averages for more context about your results