Dacast’s Expo Video Portal: How to Create an Immersive Video Gallery

What is Dacast’s Expo Video Portal Feature 

Dacast’s new Expo video portal feature is an immersive video gallery that allows you to organize videos together and share a collection of videos with your audience. 

For example, if you do not have a website, this is the perfect way to launch a content gallery in minutes and create captivating, immersive video experiences.  The result is a quick and easy website set up with all your content ready for your audience to view. 

The Expo feature is white-label and totally customizable. That means your brand is at the front and center, no matter what. You can create as many Expo pages as you need, and it is as easy to configure as a playlist.

All of the content on an Expo page is yours. You can monetize and secure it, to control exactly who gets to see each video content. There are no third-party ads unless you decide to add yours to your video content.  You also have the option to create Pay per view or subscription packages.

Here are the list of tabs that you can use for our Expo:

  • General
  • Appearance
  • Paywall
  • Security
  • SEO

How to Create an Expo Portal Page 

Creating an Expo page on Dacast can be done in just a few clicks. Here’s how to get started:

STEP 1: Select “Expos” from the left side panel of your Dacast dashboard.

STEP 2: Click the “Create Expo” button on the top right corner of the screen:

STEP 3: Enter an Expo Title

STEP 4: Click “Create” to save your Expo video gallery.

You will be automatically redirected to your Expo dashboard where you can select the video content you want to see on your Expo page. 

How to Add Videos to Your Expo Video Portal

STEP 5: Add videos to your Expo page.

You will be able to add videos to your Expo video gallery by clicking the “Asset Selection” button found on Home page of your Expo and select videos from your “Folders” or “Contents” video libraries, just like you would do for a playlist configuration.

 

To begin adding videos, click on the video you want to add on the left side, press the “>” to transfer that video onto the Expo list on the right side of the screen, and then click “Save” to keep your selection as demonstrated below:

Note: Only 100 pieces of content can be added

The “Sort” button on the right side allows you to arrange videos on the Expo page in Ascending or Descending order based on the following sorting methods: A-Z, Z-A, Newest Date created and Oldest Date created, and custom:

How to Customize an Expo Video Portal

 

STEP 6: Add some description details to your Expo page.

On your Expo dashboard, you will see the “On” and “Off” switch where you can indicate whether you’d like your Expo to be available or not:

By clicking the “General” tab on the left, you can change the title and write a description for your Expo, copy the share link for your Expo, and enter a CNAME domain if you have one. The title you give your expo will be the title of your tab. 

 

When you add a title and/or a description, it will be automatically saved.

STEP 7: Customize your Expo video portal. 

Under the “Appearance” section, you will be able to customize the look of your Expo page by: 

  • Choosing your background setup 
  • Displaying or not your videos’ descriptions and a specific video content below the “Content Layout” section.
  • Adding a Logo, Favicon, and a cover for your Expo layout.
  • Switching the theme to “Dark Mode”
  • Setting up a “Featured Content”

 Here is more information on the different options: 

  • Appearance: 
    • Dark Mode: select the dark mode or the light mode depending on what best suits your brand and cover design. 
    • Logo: adding a logo image next to the title of your Expo
    • Cover: add the image or color you want to show on the cover.
    • Favicon: add the image that displays in browser tabs.

 

  • Content Layout: 
    • Content Descriptions: show/hide your videos’ descriptions (set up in the General tab for each video) as needed. Note that this feature is enabled by default.
    • Featured content: by enabling this feature, you will be able to highlight a specific piece of content. The featured content will show at the top of the Expo, larger than other video cards. 

In the following example, you can see an Expo page with a featured content on the left side and one without featured content on the right side:

How to add a Paywall to your Expo

Click the “Paywall” button on the left panel to set up monetization for your Expo.

In this section you will be able to setup the following features:

 

  • Turn ON/OFF Paywall Preview
  • Enable/Disable Paywall 
  • Select a “Paywall Theme”
  • Add a Intro Video ID
  • Create “Prices”
  • Create “Promos”

Prices

To setup a price/s for your Expo, click the “New Price” button 

Here you will be able to select or create a Preset, select between Pay per view or subscription based paywall, setup the price and currency, the duration or validity of the ticket, and the date/time of the ticket activation

Once done, click Create.

Promos

To setup a price/s for your Expo, click the “New Promo” button 

Here, you will be able to set up promocodes that you can provide to your viewers for discounts or even free access.

You can create the Alphanumeric codes, discount percentage, code limit, date/time of the validity, and how many times the promocode can be used.

Once done, click Create.

SEO

You also have the ability to Optimize your Expo for discovery on search engines and social media. Just click the SEO option on the left side panel to set it up.

In this tab, you can add a title and the description of that contains keywords for search engine optimization.

Please note: that the description will allow you to incorporate keywords related to your Expo for search engine optimization (SEO). Optimizing this description will help make it easier for your Expo to be discovered by new audiences online.

In the example below, this is how an Expo page with a cover image in the background, the dark mode activated, the content descriptions enabled, and a featured content would look like:

 

Once you’ve completed all of these steps, your Expo is ready to go. You can share this video portal with your audience via email newsletter, social media, webpage, or whatever outlet you use to distribute content.  Once they click on the link it will take them directly to your portal page. 

Before sharing your Expo video portal, we invite you to review the look, selection, and different details. To do so, click on “My Expo” that will open your expo in a new window.

For more information regarding video hosting, please take a look at our different tutorials within our knowledge base center.

If you have any questions about the new Video Portal, live streaming, setting up playlists, or need help with this Dacast feature, feel free to contact us directly.

Not yet a Dacast user, and interested in trying Dacast risk-free for 14 days? Sign up today to get started.

 

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Harmonie Duhamel

Harmonie is a Senior digital marketer with over 6 years in the Tech Industry. She has a strong marketing and sales background and loves to work in multilingual environments.