In the world of online video views are important, but they aren’t everything. Even if you aren’t aware of it, there are five main goals that every online video producer has for their videos that comes even before the question of how many views pops into the picture. Of course, it falls into line that if you are able to achieve these goals the views will follow suit. Read more about the five simple goals for online video producers and how to achieve them after the jump.

In a great post on ReelSEO, Jeremy Scott outlines five actions that video producers want each and every one of their viewers to take. It was Scott’s post that inspired me to put together this list of goals, along with some tips for how to achieve them. So check out the goals below, start implementing the tips and get ready to watch the success of your online video campaigns skyrocket.

Make Your Videos Discoverable

Nobody is going to watch your videos if they can’t find them. It might seem like an obvious fact, but many online video creators put all their focus on creating an amazing video content and slack on the optimization of their titles, descriptions and tags. If you want people to find your videos when they do a search in Google or YouTube then it is incredibly important to optimize your videos so that viewers will be able to find them.

Optimizing your metadata is the best ways to make your online videos more discoverable. What does this mean? It means putting the time into coming up with effective titles, descriptions and tags. Start with your title – you want something sort and catchy that explains what viewers will see if they watch your video. Understand that the title is the initial factor that draws viewers in to watching your video and if your title isn’t great then nobody will be intrigued enough to click and watch. Your description should also be short, but detailed enough to explain the important parts of the subject matter, people and places in your clip. Of course, be sure to include relevant keywords.

Tags are one of the most important pieces when it comes to making your video more discoverable. Be sure to tag your video with keywords that are related to the topic, people, places and brands in your video. You can also account for common misspellings. Think outside the box and try to come up with a good list of tags that viewers might search for when looking for your content. Include as many relevant tags and keywords as you can.

Check out our post on maximizing your YouTube discoverability for more tips on how to make your videos more discoverable.

Entice Viewers Into Clicking “Play”

Of course, one of your main objectives as an online video producer is to get viewers to watch your videos. Once you’ve mastered the art of making your videos discoverable you still need to entice your viewers into clicking on that play button. So how do you do this?

One of the best ways to get your viewers to decide to click and play your video is by choosing an attractive thumbnail image to display. Choose an appealing frame from your video to display or create a thumbnail graphic of your own. Unfortunately, if you are using YouTube to share your videos you can only truly customize your thumbnail if you are a YouTube partner. However, if you aren’t a partner you will still be offered a selection of stills from your video to use as a thumbnail and you should always choose the best option, rather than leaving it on the default.

In the ReelSEO article, Scott offers tips for online video creators that are posting videos on their own websites as well. He suggests encouraging viewers to click “Play” through page design, video placement, and more. “Do some research,” he says. “Pay attention to what other successful creators are doing…but above all, make some attempt to turn the act of clicking the ‘play’ button into something that appeals to your users, because a lot of them won’t do it on their own.”

Hold Viewers Attention Until The End Of Your Video

Once your users have clicked “Play” you have only won half the battle. You still need to keep your viewers attention so that they will watch your video all the way through to the end. You want your viewers to be entertained and captivated from start to finish. This can be done in several ways, including with humor, drama, shock and just plain interesting content.

Remember that when it comes to online video content, viewers are used to short snippets. Although you can upload a fifteen-minute video to YouTube, a viewer might not be willing to sit through your quarter-of-an-hour masterpiece as something that is only a minute or two long. Try to squeeze as much information as you can into as short a clip as possible.

Scott suggests giving your video a trial run amongst your friends and co-workers. You can upload your video as private or unlisted, share it with a few people and ask for feedback. Good questions to ask your guinea pigs is whether the clip held their attention, whether they think anything could be left out, and if they can think of any ways that you could improve your video and make it more appealing.

Get Your Viewers To Share Your Video

One of the best ways to spread your video on the web is to get your viewers to share it. The first step in getting your viewers to share is, of course, to create a video that is so amazing that people will be compelled on their own to send it to their friends, post it on Twitter and Facebook and embed it on their blogs. That being said, there are also a few things you can do to make your videos more shareable.

For starters, make sure your videos are embeddable. In YouTube and other online video sites you have the option to turn off embedding. Don’t do it! I never understood why many video creators decide to turn off embedding on their video clips. This closes off the entire realm of promotion through bloggers and other site creators who like your content enough to post it on their own blogs and websites, sharing their own viewership with you.

A call to action is also a great way to get viewers to share. This can be as simple as a widget or feature that allows your viewers to click to share your video on Facebook, Twitter, Digg or other sites. You can also simply ask your viewers to share your content with their friends if they like it. In a recent YouTube ad campaign for the movie The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone tells viewers “Don’t forget to share!” A lot of viewers would never even think to share, but when given the option they will do it in a heartbeat.

Inspire Action

This final goal applies to online video campaigns that are designed to promote a product or service or that have some kind of conversion goal in mind. Do you want your viewers to purchase a product? Do you want them to sign a petition, visit a website or fill out a form? If so, then it is incredibly important that you make this clear and inspire your viewers to engage in these actions.

Let’s say your objective is to get your viewers to sign an anti-fur petition. At the end of your video let your viewers know about the petition and where they can go to sign it. You can also include a link to the petition in the video description or on the website where the video is displayed. You don’t want your viewers to have to do any more work that in absolutely necessary so tell them flat out and clearly what you want them to do and how they can do it. Otherwise you will be left with a lot of views and no results.

Have you thought about these inherent goals when creating your own online videos? Has keeping them in mind lead to more successful online video campaigns?

Image credit: Coastal Bend Small Business