It’s official: video content is here to stay. In fact, Cisco predicts that by 2022, 86% of all internet traffic will be from video. That’s a lot of videos. And if you’re like most business owners, you’ve been creating more and more video content as part of your marketing strategy and making sure you don’t miss a thing from the latest video marketing checklist.
But, when your video library is growing by the day– between corporate videos, training videos, and marketing videos, it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Not to mention, finding a specific video when you need it can be next to impossible if they’re not well-organized.
So, how do you manage and organize them all? In this blog post, we’ll give you best practices to organize your video content.
What Is a Video Library?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty detail, we should first define what we mean by a “video library.” A video library is simply a collection of videos that you’ve either created or collected.
When you invest in video marketing strategies, you need more than one or two videos for campaigns. In this case, a video library could be anything from corporate videos to product teaser videos to training videos.
The important part is that the videos are organized in a way that makes sense for you and your team. And, of course, they must be accessible to everyone who needs them.
In a nutshell, you can say that a video library is a collection of all the assets that power your video production and marketing efforts.
Why Is It Important to Organize Your Video Library?
As we mentioned before, when you invest in video content, it’s not uncommon for businesses to create dozens (if not hundreds) of videos each year. So, how do you keep track of them all?
Having a well-organized video library allows you to:
- Find the right video when you need it. It can be frustrating to spend time searching for a specific video only to realize that someone else has already created it. A good system will help save time and energy by finding videos in your collection quickly, allowing you to effortlessly re-purpose them for new campaigns.
- Keep track of who made each video. Not all videos are created equal, and some may require more editing or post-production work than others– live-action videos and animated videos, for example. In order to keep track of your team’s effort, it’s important to label each video with the name of the person who created it.
- Easily share videos with your team. When videos are properly organized, it’s easy to share them with coworkers and collaborators. This way, everyone is on the same page and no one has to spend time hunting for a specific video.
Best Practices for Organizing Your Video Library
Now that we know what a video library is and why it is important to manage them, let’s take a look at some best practices for organizing them.
#1. Create a Central Hub
The first step in organizing your video content is to create a central hub. This could be a physical location like a cabinet or drawer, or a digital location such as an external hard drive or cloud storage.
Your central hub should be accessible to all team members and easily updatable with new videos, whether they’re created by you or someone else on your team
#2. Name Your Videos Logically
When naming your videos, it’s important to use file names that are clear and easy to understand. That way, you don’t have to spend time searching for a specific video when you need it most.
Here are some tips on naming your videos:
- Use words that describe what’s in the video. For example, if it’s a demo of your product or service, use “Demo_ProductName” as the file name.
- Include the date the video was created. This will help you keep track of older videos and ensure that they’re not accidentally deleted or overwritten.
- Use a numbering system. If you have a lot of videos, using a numbering system can be helpful for keeping them organized. For example, “Video_001,” “Video_002,” and so on.
- Make sure file names are consistent. This will make it easier to find the videos you need when you’re working on a project.
#3. Label Videos with Clear Metadata
In addition to good file names, it’s important to include clear metadata for each video. This information can include things like the title of the video, the creator’s name, and a brief description.
Metadata can be included in the file name itself or as a separate document. Either way, it’s important to make sure that all your videos are properly labelled.
#4. Use a Video Management Software
If you have a lot of videos (or plan to create a lot of videos in the future), using video management software can be helpful for organizing them.
There are many different video management software options available, so it’s important to find one that fits your needs. Some things to consider include:
- The ability to tag and keyword videos. This will make it easier to find specific videos when you need them.
- Mobile-friendly viewing. Make sure that all your videos are accessible on mobile devices as well as desktop computers. This will allow for easy sharing and collaboration with coworkers or clients who may be working remotely.
- The ability to collaborate with other users in real-time or create permissions so only certain people can access specific videos.
- The ability to share links and embed codes for each video, so you don’t have to worry about hosting them on a third-party site like YouTube or Vimeo. This is especially helpful if you need more control over the branding of your videos.
#5. Tag Videos with Keywords
In order for anyone on your team or at your company to easily find a video in your library, you’ll want to tag videos with keywords. This will make it easier to search for specific videos without having to scroll through hundreds of files or documents.
A good way to do this is by creating a list of tags and then applying these tags across all your videos, regardless of format or length.
This will ensure consistency in how you organize your videos and make it easier for anyone to find the video they need when they need it most.
#6. Use a Dedicated File Folder
When you’re creating a new video, create a dedicated file folder for that project, so all of its files are kept together.
This could be as simple as creating a new folder on your computer for each project or using a cloud-based storage solution like Dropbox or Google Drive.
By keeping all the files for one project in one place, it will be easier to manage and keep track of them.
#7. Create Playlists
If you want to watch a series of related videos, you can create a playlist.
Playlists can be created in many different ways, but the most common is to add videos to a new playlist by dragging and dropping them into the designated folder.
You can also create playlists on video-sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo. This can be helpful if you want to share a series of videos with others or if you want to keep them all in one online, more accessible place.
Wrapping Up
There are many different ways to organize and manage your video library. By using some of the tips mentioned above, you can make it easier for everyone on your team to find the videos they need quickly and easily. The key here is to be consistent in how you name and tag your videos, so everyone is using the same system. Well-organized video marketing strategies make your overall digital marketing campaigns much more trackable and measurable
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
