Once you’ve made your B2B video marketing masterpiece, it’s time to get some eyeballs on it. In this guide, we cover how to find the right channels, the right formats, and the right strategies to get your marketing video seen by the masses – and how to measure it.
Distribution Channels for B2B Video
If you’ve invested the time and money in creating a good B2B video for your brand, you’re probably expecting a solid return on your investment. A multi-channel distribution strategy is the best way to ensure you reach as many right audiences as possible.
- LinkedIn is an excellent platform for your B2B video because it focuses on connecting professionals across different industries. Video is particularly suited for the platform: LinkedIn posts that contain video get three times as many views as posts without video (Vidyard).
- YouTube and its short-form video section, YouTube Shorts, offer a long reach and lots of engagement potential. Every year, YouTube’s mobile video consumption grows by 100% (Linearity), so it’s a platform well worth using.
- Instagram and Facebook are also top channels for B2B video distribution, especially via sponsored posts and targeted advertising. With one in every five minutes spent on mobile on either Instagram or Facebook (Meta), these sites offer plenty of opportunities to impact your audience.
- TikTok, while primarily associated with consumer content, can also be used effectively for B2B video marketing. Craft creative but concise videos that convey your key messages for this platform. According to a recent study (Brafton), 72% of respondents who use TikTok to get their brand in front of new audiences say the platform is working.
- Other platforms, such as Vimeo and Pinterest, can give you access to more niche audiences, letting you better target your B2B video content to specific demographics. Consider this: 94% of Pinterest users go to the site for help with purchasing decisions, and 44% of millennial “Pinners” have purchased a product they saw on LinkedIn (LinkedIn).
Advanced Targeting
Paid ads offer options for getting your video in front of more viewers. With YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social and video-sharing platforms, you can use advanced targeting criteria to reach more of the right audiences for your video.
Some common criteria that you can use to target different audiences on these platforms include:
- Thousands of “likes” categories (hobbies, pastimes, etc.)
- Job and Position Title
- Salary and Income
- Location (typically zip code)
- Shopping Habits
Focusing on these specifics can ensure that your B2B video ads are seen by decision-makers and those most likely to take your desired actions, such as making a purchase, taking a survey, or signing up for a webinar.
Cutting Down Videos for Social Ads
Video cut-downs, or condensed versions of longer-form videos, are another effective way to narrow your B2B video strategy’s focus. These clips, which can be 15 to 60 seconds long, can be used as teasers to interest viewers in watching the full-length versions.
Your approach should be “snackable” content that catches the viewer’s attention without overstaying its welcome. This content should tease the targeted content, whether a full video version or another related content.
Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are good choices for cut-down distribution, as they’re designed to share bite-sized content across organic and paid channels. Additionally, LinkedIn makes it easier to integrate links to organic video cut-downs in direct marketing channels like InMail or Conversation messages (LinkedIn).
A/B Testing
A/B testing, in which you compare two different versions of something to determine which is more effective, is critical to refining your messages for various market segments.
By experimenting with various ad iterations–such as headlines, calls to action, and images–you can pinpoint which resonates best with your products’ buyers. A/B testing lets you optimize your ad campaigns across channels, improving lead generation and ROI measurement.
Other Distribution Avenues
- Email distribution: Use email marketing campaigns to distribute your B2B video content directly to target audiences. Segment the email lists based on industry, job title, or previous engagement with another one of your videos to ensure relevance. Remember to include interesting subject lines and thumbnails to boost open rates and encourage views. In fact, including the word “video” in your subject line could boost the email open rate by 19% (Covideo).
- Partner distribution: Collaborate with others in your industry, including influencers, partners, and/or affiliates, to extend your B2B video reach. Consider co-creating or sharing video content. If you do, you’ll benefit from your peers’ audience networks and increase your brand awareness. For example, after jewelry and accessory company Daniel Wellington partnered with influencer Kendall Jenner, its Instagram following skyrocketed more than 311% annually, from 850,000 to 3.5 million (FasterCapital).
- Event platforms: Showcase your brand’s B2B video content during webinars, virtual conferences, and trade shows. Sponsor events or participate as a speaker; you’ll get access to attendees, promote your videos, and drive conversions. Webinars have an average conversion rate of about 55% (Cvent).
Innovative Distribution Tactics
- Live streams on supported platforms: Engage your audience in real time with live video broadcasts that include interactive discussions, Q&A sessions, and/or product demonstrations. Some popular choices include LinkedIn Live, Instagram Live, YouTube, and Facebook Live.Why do it: 92% of webinar attendees say they want live Q&A sessions at the end of these events (Medium).
- Dual video/podcast publication: Repurpose B2B video content into podcast episodes to reach audiences who would rather listen than watch. Conversely, having video versions of podcasts (especially those with visual elements that set that video apart from the audio) can help you get engagement from video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.Why do it: In 2023, nearly half of all Americans had listened to a podcast within the previous 12 months (Pew Research Center).
- Chatbots: Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots can be used to personalize B2B video recommendations. Rather than embedding a single video into a landing page, you can use these bots to lead customers to webinars, product demos, and other videos as needed.Why do it: People who interact with product recommendations are 4.5 times more likely to purchase those who don’t (Boost).
- Geo-targeting: Besides the fine-tuned and granular controls in most PPC platforms, geo-targeting is becoming an increasingly important tool for B2B marketers. It helps marketers better define ads for specific locales and eliminate customers in areas that won’t provide the same ROI.Why do it: 84% of marketers say geotargeting helps increase customer engagement (Improvado).
- Smart TV and OTT video advertising: Streaming advertising will be a massive channel for all marketers, not just those in the B2C industry. MarTech predicts that OTT advertising, with tight audience controls and increased delivery of professional content, will also be an essential tool for B2B marketers (MarTech).Why do it: TV screens drive 60% more advertising recall than mobile or tablet, and 34% more than computer screens (Marketing Beat).
Measuring Success with Analytics
To measure how your B2B video marketing efforts are working, here are some good KPIs to track:
- Views: Views are the total number of times users have accessed your video. While it offers a primary measure of your reach, it should be interpreted alongside other metrics for a fuller view of audience engagement.
- Time Viewed: This is how long users actively engage with your content. The higher the number, the more impact your content has.
- Impressions: Impressions refer to the number of times a piece of content is displayed and whether it gets clicked. Impressions are a solid measure of your visibility and potential reach in your target audience.
- View-Through Rate: Your view-through rate calculates the percentage of users who look at your ad and then take a desired action—such as visiting a site or making a purchase—without actually clicking on it. It’s a helpful way to determine the effectiveness of display advertising.
- Shares: These tell you the number of times users have redistributed your content across various platforms and channels. High share counts suggest resonance with your audience.
- Conversions: Conversions represent users’ desired actions, such as purchasing or filling out a form. Tracking them gives you a direct look into the effectiveness of your overall campaign and ROI.
- Consideration Lift: The consideration lift shows the difference in positive reactions to your brand between users who saw your ad and those who did not. It helps determine the impact of your marketing efforts on changing consumer perceptions.
- Favorability Lift: A favorability lift assesses the change in brand favorability or positive sentiment among those exposed to a marketing campaign. Tracking favorability lift lets you evaluate how well your messaging is working to create brand affinity.
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