Gated Video Content Strategy: How To Unlock Success (+Platforms)

Jan 12, 2024

If you've attended an online webinar or enrolled in a free online course You may have noticed that you typically had to provide your email address, name and username (and possibly other information) prior to accessing the course.

Video-based resources that are housed within form forms for lead capture are called gated content for video -- and they're effective at aiding businesses in attracting new customers.

In this document We look at:

What is gated video content?

Gated video content refers to free video material that people are able to access once they have submitted their contact information including your email address and name via the request for leads. Based on the type of the content as well as the product(s) that the company offers, the lead capture form will ask more than just email address and name. The form may also request the user's job title or organization's size as well as industry.

When users submit their contact information and provide their contact information, you gain access to user-specific data that allows you to customize your interaction with your customers. If your subscribers are able to think that your messages are specially designed for them, they'll be more inclined to open your emails and interact with your company.

Benefits of gated video Content

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

Lead generation

Gated video content, in contrast can be hidden by a form. The majority of people do not like having large email accounts, therefore when someone gives you their email address for access to your content it's an indication of their interest in your company. They are likely to be receptive to your advertising efforts than people that just came across your website.

Audience segmentation and content personalization

By securing your video content, it will allow you to categorize your viewers and design marketing tools with them in the mind of your audience. Through your lead capture form, you can collect user information like the name of the user, their email address as well as their demographics, location, the size of your organization, as well as industries, providing information about your target audience's needs and habits.

You can use this information to build buyer personas of the various subsets of customers. This takes away the guesswork; you'll know precisely who you're targeting that makes it easier to create information that is tailored to their needs that solve their problems making their lives simpler.

Increased perceived value

Web users often place greater importance on video content that is gated because they're providing their contacts to gain access to it.

A desire to satisfy curiosity, the feeling of getting exclusive content, as well as other advantages you provide your customers who sign up for emails, offering restricted content is the perfect way to improve the image of your company. If done correctly this can allow you to increase leads that are of high-quality, increase trust among your customers and establish yourself as a specialist in your area.

There's a caveat, though. If you're asking people to provide their email address They expect top-quality content in return. If your video's gated information isn't stuffed with useful details, you could alienate your audience and ruining the reputation of your business.

Data collection and analytics

Gated videos provide a structured way to collect statistics on the behaviour of your viewers. Measures such as time to engage, click-through rates, and completion rates will help you determine which types of videos appeal to your viewers. Based on this information, you can optimize your marketing and content to get better results.

Increased ROI of content

The use of gated videos will help you get a higher return on investment (ROI) to produce content as well as marketing. Because the videos are concealed in a form, you are able to determine their impact in terms of the amount of leads that they create and the way they move through the funnel to sales.

Types of Gated Video Content

Gated video content comes in a variety of formats. Some of them are:

Webinars

By hosting webinars, you'll be able to feature other experts in your field, teach individuals how to meet their objectives in real time engage with your viewers, promote your products, and generate leads of high quality. These events often have limited slot availability, creating an atmosphere that of FOMO (fear of missing out) that drives participants to sign up.

For example, Hotjar is hosting a live event that will let Web strategy experts will show attendees how to design a high-converting website with Hotjar as well as HubSpot.

The landing page Hotjar explained the importance of the topic and the things people can learn through the event if they attend it. They also included the lead capture form, where people can provide some information about themselves and get an Zoom link invite delivered straight to their inbox.

Online courses

To get the most out of online classes, select an industry-related skill/topic that aligns with your broader marketing strategy and then create detailed videos explaining that topic. It's not just a way to attract potential customers, but it can help people familiar with your brand further along the funnel of sales.

As an example, Semrush, the SEO firm, collaborates with industry experts to create marketing-based courses, like this one created by Brian Dean.

The landing page provides who the intended audience is for the course, what students will learn, and the course structure. It ends with a form to be filled out by interested participants in order to access the course for free.

Interviews with the stars

Similar to webinars, exclusive interviews provide engaging conversations with experts from the industry and thought-leaders, as well as the key players. Not only do these conversations assist in building your brand's and authority, but they improve brand visibility by attracting the audience of the expert(s) you're conducting interviews with.

If you're looking to develop ideas that inspire others to your company, doing exclusive interviews is a great route to take as you'll be able to gain personal experiences as well as analogies and cases studies that aren't found anywhere else. Furthermore, you'll boost audience engagement by getting the interviewees to address the most important queries. The idea is to encourage people to sign up, watch the videos, and send their questions.

Pro tip: Some businesses such as Omniscient Digital interview subject matter experts, then publish the audio version on their podcast, and also upload the video interview on the YouTube channel and website. This can be a good way to repurpose your interviews.

Product demos

Demos of products (or demonstrations) show how a product or service operates, highlighting its features functions, capabilities, and advantages users get if they decide to purchase the item or service. The purpose of these demos is to convince prospects who are on the fence about whether your product will meet your needs and address their problems better than your competitors'.

Demonstrating your products through a product's demo will allow you to collect leads from people in the lower reaches of the funnel that are attracted by the product. For example, Demio, a company that offers webinar software for marketers, provides interested buyers the opportunity to book the opportunity for a demo of their product.

Through limiting its demo, Demio only gets high-quality leads that are willing to take part in a one-on-1 conversation with an Demio specialist.

Case studies and success tales

While most companies provide their case studies free of charge accessible, gating some of them is an excellent way of gaining prospects who are looking for certain applications.

The reasoning behind this is that cases studies can be a very compelling type of content since they provide real-world examples of how your products/services have benefited existing/past customers. They answer the question that each potential customer must answer prior to making a purchase: "Will this product deliver what it promises?"

Gating your case studies can be extremely effective in filtering potential customers, particularly in the case of a product or service that targets certain types of customers.

Content strategy for gated videos

If you're planning to gate your video content There are a few steps to follow to make sure you reap the maximum benefit of this strategy for marketing:

Define your goals

When recording video or planning an event, establish the goals you want to achieve. Based on the original CoSchedule research, marketers who establish goals have 376% greater chance to be successful.

When you are defining your objectives, be granular. In the case of, say, if you're planning to hold an online webinar, the goal could be to attract 100 people to attend. If you're planning to launch an online course, the aim could be to reach 1,000 students in the span of six months. Be specific about your objectives helps you know what you're trying to accomplish when it comes to marketing your video content that is gated.

Identify your target audience

GA provides demographic details regarding your viewers, including age, gender, interests as well as their location. GA also provides information on the web pages people visit the most on your site and can prove helpful in brainstorming topics to use in your videos. If you're active on social platforms, you can take a look at your analytics on social media sites to gain more insight.

The analysis of your competitors' market is also a good method to determine the types of people who you must target, their demographics, and the way they shop. So, you are able to develop content that meets their needs and solves the problems they face better than competitors.

Choose the best videos topics and types

Based on your audience research Create content concepts that are in line with your mission and are a hit with your intended people.

Study the analytics of all the promotion channels that you utilize, which include search as well as social media and email to find out what topics your audience engages with the most. If you have sales and customer service teams solicit their opinion regarding the challenges that your current and potential customers are trying to solve with your product.

For example, if your product is a website 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 editor for websites to make a fully functional website. Or if you learn that your customers or prospects frequently ask support for what they should do to connect their existing technology stack to your service and you want to help them, host a webcast to teach users how.

Once you've selected your topics Choose the format that is most effective to deliver your message. These include webinars, online classes, tutorials, interviews, and behind-the-scenes (BTS) footage.

Create compelling content

When you've settled on your topic(s) and content format(s) that you're going to use It's now time to write high-quality material. These are some suggestions to remember:

  • Utilize a top-quality camera record your videos. It doesn't have to be costly, however. If you're unable or unwilling to spend the money for professional cameras, then the iPhone or a tripod with great lighting, will work.
  • Offer value to viewers. In the first couple of minutes of your video content will determine whether viewers will be interested to watch until the very close of the video. It is possible to use stories, analogies, or shocking facts to reel people in at the beginning of your video. In the next step, add worth throughout the video(s) by including experts' information, new research, proprietary data, or even a demonstration of the procedure, if applicable.
  • Engage professional editors, animators as well as designers, if feasible. They'll be knowledgeable and have access to top editing and design software, which results in a well-put-together video that your audience will enjoy.
  • Integrate interactive elements in your videos. If you're making an online course, using quizzes questions, tasks, and polls can be great methods to get your viewers to take part during the learning process. If the course is a webinar the Q&A sessions allow users to connect with participants and provide value to them in real-time.

Design a landing page

The most successful landing pages contain three components consisting of persuasive copy, compelling layout, and an effective calling-to-action (CTA). One excellent example is the page that CXL uses to promote its Brand Marketing mini-degree.

While the black-white-red colour scheme instantly stands out, but it's the way the hero's guideline outlines what 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 advantages of signing up to CXL and is and then a form allows users to see the pricing options and to request a demonstration. The page concludes with an extensive FAQ section which addresses the most common questions that prospective clients might have.

Like CXL's page for landing, yours should include an online contact form (or CTA) that users have to take action on before they can access the video.

Promote your gated video content

After your landing page has been put online and your video safely gated, it's time to promote it. There are a variety of marketing channels you can use including:

  • Search Although Google's algorithm aren't able to crawl content that is gated, they can crawl the contents of your dedicated landing page and determine its ranking with the appropriate terms, which can increase the visibility of your site and bring more traffic to the page.
  • Social media platforms: You can increase the momentum of your video's gatekeeper before you create it. Let your viewers be part of the journey of creating your video and describe the benefits they'll receive from the final product. So, once the landing page becomes live, you'll have people waiting to sign up.
  • Pay-per-click: Creating momentum via organic SEO and social media can require time. If you're looking for faster results, and you have the budget, run pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements for your site's page for websites and on social media.

Analyze and iterate

When you begin to see email conversions through your video content that is gated You can monitor the performance of your content by using tools for analytics. Monitor important metrics of performance (KPIs) like viewer retention, conversion rates as well as the quality of leads.

Utilize the information you collect to improve your plan of action for improvement, be it improving the techniques you use to create videos or adjusting the content type or distribution channels or revising your targeting.

Doing SEO on restricted video content

Google's algorithm doesn't crawl or search for content hidden within an application. So, if you lock your video and it doesn't appear on the search engine results webpages (SERPs). It is possible to make use of SEO to increase the exposure of your videos that are gated.

  • Optimizing your dedicated website for SEO
  • Embedding the lead capture form in ungated, SEO-optimized content like blog content
  • Enhancing the video itself

To get the most exposure, it is necessary to implement the three kinds of SEO: on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO.

Search Engine Optimization on-page

It is important to conduct the research on keywords to determine relevant high-volume, low-competition keywords that your target public is likely to be using to search for relevant content to your film.

To optimize your landing page, blog posts, and videos, use these keywords in your title tags, (sub)headings and page copy. meta (and video) descriptions, and URLs, if applicable.

If Google's algorithm crawls your site, these terms will provide them with some context to help them place your website's pages on the map for the right search term/query.

Off-page SEO

It is argued that backlinks are the most important part of off-page SEO since Google considers them to be the primary ranking element. An effective backlink profile is what Google calls the "T" in E-E-A-T (trustworthiness), which is the basis Google uses to assess the credibility of content on a website.

The process of building backlinks is to get reputable websites to hyperlink to your website or blog that allows people to subscribe to your exclusive video content. If this occurs, Google's algorithms interpret the result to mean that your offer is relevant as well as valuable and meets search intent.

Technical SEO

The term "technical SEO" refers to making the technical aspects of your website in order to boost your SERP rankings. It includes making your site mobile-friendly, increase your page loading speed, including video or website schema markups, and submitting your video sitemap and website to Google and creating an SEO-friendly website structure, and fixing content that is duplicate.

Not only are some of these methods (like improving site speed or making your site responsive to any device) ranking elements, they aid Google to index and rank your website.

Pro-tip: Make your videos more easily accessible to both humans as well as search engines, with accurate transcriptions as well as closed captions.

Best practices for videos that are gated

When you are creating video content that is gated Here are the best ways to think about:

Make sure videos are at the optimal length

There is no way to manage each of these variables, but there are some you can optimize, including your sales funnel as well as the type of content you choose to use.

In this case, people in the Awareness stage of your funnel could be hearing about your brand for the first time therefore they're not likely to sit through a long video. People in this stage often benefit more from ungated material, like blog posts or short videos posted on social media.

If they are considering your product or weighing your product's value against competitors will be open to attending your expert-led webcasts, taking online classes and watching stories of success and scheduling product demonstrations.

The lengths of these various video content formats differ, also. The videos that make up the online courses can range from three to 20 minutes in length and the whole course lasting a couple of hours. Interviews, webinars, and special events typically take between 1-2 hours. cases study videos usually run 5-10 minutes long.

Pro tip: Create multiple edits. Following your initial recording you'll have lots of footage. Edit the video several times in order to eliminate any unneeded fluff, off the tangent commentary or filler phrases, for example. Additionally, you'll be able to create animations and various other engaging, interactive components into the film.

Make compelling thumbnails as well as titles

Your title and thumbnail are the first things users see upon visiting your landing pages or blogs in which you embed the video you have gated. These components must catch your readers' attention and encourage them to sign up to gain access to the video.

You can create your own thumbnails if possess excellent graphic design abilities. If not, you'll need to get a graphic designer or marketer with design skills to do it for you.

Pro tip: Don't use clickbait titles. Your titles should accurately reflect what's in the video. If it's not accurate, it will create an unfavorable user experience affecting your brand's credibility as well as credibility.

Streamline your lead capture form

Some companies just ask visitors to provide their personal information and email address in order to gain access to gated content, while others ask for additional details, such as job title or organization's size as well as industry. Some even ask their visitors to complete a short survey before they can gain access.

The method of using a name and email address works pretty well because it lets you create personalized (by name) emails to the subscriber's inbox. But, if you're looking to group your email recipients according to their profession and the title of their job, it is best to ask for that information, also. This helps you create contents that are tailored to the specific segment. This will increase the chances of people engaging with your brand, and ultimately purchasing your products.

The best advice: a long questionnaire can turn people off. If it's not needed opt for the name and email address option.

Include clear calls-to-action

For your landing pages, use persuasive and direct language to prompt action, e.g. "Access expert insights now" as well as "Download the course today". In your video, you could encourage viewers to go to your website/social media or subscribe to your YouTube channel according to the purpose you want to achieve.

Whatever you decide to call your CTA should be, make sure it's clear, actionable and easy to find. Put them in strategically placed places on your landing pages and video content, especially if these materials are lengthy.

Pro advice: Consider offering incentives, such as discounts, download resources or a membership to an exclusive community, to increase the value and encourage opt-ins.

Run A/B tests

As you monitor your results, conduct A/B tests on different elements of your video content gated strategy, including the title, thumbnails, message formats and CTAs. This can provide you with insights into which variations resonate most well with your target audience. It will also help you optimize the rate of conversion over time.

Platforms for gated video

If you're pondering what tools you can use to make gated video, we've compiled a guide to four of the most effective platform for gated videos, including their pricing and features.

Vimeo Wistia Brightcove SproutVideo
Overview An online video platform that is known for its high-quality video hosting, customizing and playback features A web-based video platform and marketing tool created to assist businesses in engaging their audience through video content Cloud-based video hosting and publishing platform, which caters to a wide range of requirements for video, ranging from streaming live to video-on-demand A video hosting and marketing platform with a focus on security and personalization
Features 4K Ultra videos

Manage video

Controls on privacy

360-degree video Support

Live-streaming capability

Over The Top (Over The Over The) streaming

Password security

Collaboration tools for teams

Integration with Adobe Premier Pro

Player customization

Options for monetizing videos

Lead generation

Marketing integrations for email

Advanced Analytics

The player's personalization

Annotation links

Video hosting that is ad-free

Video chapters

Links to video as well as CTAs

A/B test

Wistia Channels

Accessibility features built-in

Lead generation

Live streaming

Integration with CRMs as well as other tools for marketing

Advanced Video Analytics

CSS and JavaScript customizing

Video player that is responsive

Security controls for privacy

Video SEO

Features of video marketing

Video interactivity

OTT streaming

Integration with popular ads and analytics systems, such as Freewheel and Doubleclick from Google. Doubleclick

The player's personalization

HD video

Live stream

Manage video

Tools for Lead Capture

Content Management

Video SEO

Password security

Geo-restriction

IP address restriction

Integration with tools for marketing like HubSpot and Mailchimp

Complete video analytics

Pricing 7-day trial period for free

Paid plans range from 20$/month up and up to $108 a month (Save 40% with annual subscription)

Prices for customizing businesses

14-day trial period for no cost

Paying plans start at $24/month to $399/month (Save 20% with year-long subscription)

Custom pricing for businesses

Contact sales to discuss custom prices based on the usage of your demands 30-day free trial (no credit card required)

Pay-per-month plans start at $10/month to $295/month

No custom pricing for companies

Selecting the best secure video platform

If you feel stuck on which gated video platform you should follow, here are a few suggestions to assist you in choosing the right one that best suits your goals and needs:

Define your requirements

When you are choosing a platform for video, ask yourself what you want the platform to accomplish. Your answers will help you choose an appropriate tool for your needs.

For example, if your goal is to generate leads Vimeo is a great option because it comes with leads generation capabilities and works perfectly with tools to market your email. However, if you're looking to drive organic traffic via SEO, Brightcove and Sproutvideo could be better options.

Consider your budget

The pricing levels offered by the platform is a fantastic way to begin to decide if you can afford it however, you must factor in potential additional fees such as bandwidth charges or transaction fees, as these can impact the overall affordability of the platform.

Explore the possibility of customizing

The video platform you choose will allow you to control the look and performance of the player. So look out for features that allow you to customize the player's branding, design and even interactive elements such as CTA buttons.

Consider integration capabilities

If you're planning to execute the gated strategy for video content there's a good chance you've got numerous other devices that are part of your stack. To simplify the process of creating content, you'll need to choose a video platform that is compatible with your existing tools and systems.

It includes your website, content management systems (CMS) as well as CRM software, customer relations management (CRM) software as well as email marketing services marketing automation platforms payments gateways and the other essential software for your business.

Review security and privacy options

If you're handling confidential or sensitive information, ensure that the media platform you pick has adequate security safeguards. SproutVideo is one of them. It is an excellent tool to use for this as it offers features such as password protection, geo-restriction, IP address restrictions, as well as encryption protocols to safeguard the data you store.

Review analytics and report

Reports and analysis that are thorough can be crucial in evaluating the performance of your gated content as well as knowing how people interact with your brand.

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

Check for scalability

If you are a manager or employee for a growing company, the video platform you choose will be able to handle the increased uploads of videos and greater volume of traffic without degrading performance. That is, the platform should scale according to your requirements.

Consider factors such as the available storage space as well as bandwidth choices, along with support for high definition (HD) video, to ensure that your platform can be scalable and that your investment is relevant in the future in the future as your company expands.

Product demos and trial durations

Most video platforms have trials or product demonstrations that you can avail to gain hands-on experience with the platform. In addition, you'll know whether it meets your requirements as well, you'll learn how to use the platform, should you decide to make use of it.

Monitoring the effectiveness of your video content gated strategy

In order to measure the effectiveness of your gated video content strategy, here are three things you should be doing: keep track of the key performances indicators (KPIs) Utilize analytics tools, and continue to improve your strategy.

Key performance indicators

A few typical KPIs to keep track of include:

  • Conversion rates: These is the proportion of viewers who provided their details to gain access to gated content.
  • Click-through rates (CTR) on CTAs It shows how frequently users click on CTAs within your landing page or videos. This is a measure of the efficacy of your CTAs to drive desired actions.
  • Engagement metrics: Track measures like the average length of time a viewer watches as well as video completion rate and even video interactions (likes comments, likes and shares). This indicates how well your content is resonating with viewers.
  • Lead generation is the number of new leads that are generated by the secured content. It indicates how compelling and persuasive your content is.
  • Quality of leads: It measures the likelihood that your leads will convert to paying customers. It is possible to assess this KPI through lead scoring or qualification criteria.

Make use of Analytics tools Use analytics tools

Analytics tools retrieve and organize data from different sources to help you gain more understanding of your overall operations. The most common tools for analytics you could use are:

  • Google Analytics (GA): The platform analyzes the behavior of users on your site, tracks the performance of your landing pages and tracks traffic sources, in addition to other things. Through GA, you can create goals and set occasions to measure specifically the user interactions that are related to your content that is gated.
  • Platforms for hosting videos: These platforms such as Vimeo, Wistia, or YouTube offer detailed information on the performance of videos. If integrated into lead form forms, these platforms can track the play rate as well as engagement and the conversion rate.
  • Platforms for marketing automation: Products such as HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot provide analytics tools which allow you to monitor lead behavior after they engage in your content gated for them.
  • CRM systems: CRM tools such as Pipedrive and Salesforce allow you to track leads that are generated by gated video content and monitor their progression throughout to the sale funnel.

Continuous optimization and iteration

Establish regular intervals of reporting for monitoring the success of your video content gated strategy. Compare data over the course of time (including information derived from A/B testing) to determine patterns and trends.

Make use of the data you collect through your analysis to make informed adjustments to your strategy for maximizing the lead capture form, using different types of video content or changing distribution channels.

Transform your business with gated video content

The use of gated videos is a fantastic way to supercharge your strategy for marketing. In offering quality information in exchange for information, you're not only making leads, you're also creating a direct line of communications with a receptive audience. This allows you to deliver personalized messages and nurture potential customers through the buyer's journey.

A gated content video helps you showcase your expertise to establish your brand as a trusted authority, and build the impression of exclusivity as well as value for your audience -and ultimately, this drives the brand's popularity and increases conversions.

Plus also lets you to build and manage communities that are exclusive to help build more intimate relationships with potential customers, sell your products, drive conversions and increase revenue for your business.

FAQ

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

The term "gated" video content" refers to videos that are accessible only after viewers provide specific information about themselves, like their email address, or other information about their demographics. This strategy for marketing lets businesses to nurture and capture high-quality leads through personalized emails and targeted marketing strategies.

    What are the benefits from using videos with gated access for marketing?

Utilizing gated video for marketing enables businesses to identify leads, collect vital customer information and deliver personalized content that builds trust with their audience and increases conversions.

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

The following is a step-by-step guide to developing a profitable guarded video strategy

  • Define your goals
  • Identify your target audience
  • Select the best video for your content and the appropriate type (e.g. webinars, video courses, product demos, etc. )
  • Create compelling videos
  • Make a special page for landing
  • Promote your gated video content
  • Examine and modify HTML0 using the insights you have gathered

    What are some best practices for creating captivating gated videos?    

If you're creating restricted videos These are some of the top techniques to remember:

  • Maintain videos at an optimal length
  • Make appealing thumbnails and titles
  • Streamline your lead capture form
  • Clear calls to action
  • Conduct A/B test to enhance your strategy

    Which gated video platforms will work the best for me?    

Some popular platforms which you can utilize to make video content that is gated and resonates with your audience can be:

  • Vimeo known for its extensive customizable options, as well as high-quality video playback.
  • Wistia: Offers customizable video players, emails capture forms, as well as comprehensive analytics.
  • Brightcove: A robust platform that has lots of options for large companies and media businesses.
  • SproutVideo: Platform for video hosting with an emphasis on security, with features like domain restrictions and password security.

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

Two options to monitor and analyse the results of the videos you have gated

  • Tracking Key performance indicators (KPIs) that include conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and engagement metrics (likes shares, likes, and comments)
  • Using analytics tools, such as Google Analytics  and video hosting platforms, CRM tools, and tools for marketing automation
  • Comparing KPIs with typical industry standards to gain more insight regarding your performance