Video continues to grow in value over all digital marketing mixes, having an impact on every platform across every channel. It has become, in many ways, an essential tool for audience outreach objectives, in particular. This is why video and social media make a great message-delivering partnership.
If you are hesitant about taking the leap to video marketing, here are some important stats to help you get over that comfort zone line.
First, the facts:
According to a BrightCove study, 74% of consumers believe they feel a greater connection to brands when social media posts are video, and that it changes their buying decisions.
Digital software and strategy agency, Invisia, found that 95% of a branding message was retained by viewers through video, compared to 10% in text-heavy messaging.
A Hubspot research study found that 72% of consumers prefer products and services to be shared via video content.
The major barrier a lot of business owners have is the question “What makes a good video?”. Here are some great tips to help you create a video content strategy:
1. Know your audience and target them correctly
This might seem like an easy one, but it’s also easy (and common) to miss the mark. As with any marketing practice, knowing and understanding your audience is a critical part of forming a successful video marketing campaign. When we say ‘understanding’, we also mean understanding how they will consume the video. Today, there are so many channels and platforms to choose from, knowing where to best publish your video can be a key success differentiator. On the other hand, there is no reason you can’t use your video across a range of different platforms if your audience is wide and varied. In this case you might need to consider letting your topic guide your video placement; there are some platforms that are more appropriate than others.
Facebook is one of the more popular and successful video content platforms. Facebook also has one of the best audience targeting functions of all social advertising platforms, plus the largest social audience in the world. Some ways you can segment your audience on Facebook is to include; gender, interests, age and marital status. The other benefit of Facebook is that video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined. This platform can be beneficial for any type of video, however it is a great platform to deliver advertising-based videos.
2. Tell a story
Successful video content engages with the viewer without focusing on sales or branding. If you can think of a story before you think about sales, the leads will come more naturally. That is the beauty of storytelling. Why do we watch movies? What is it about movies that hook us in for 2 hours? Engaging storytelling is about making people wonder what is going to happen next, getting your viewer to pay attention and making it hard for them to want to skip or look away. You don’t need to create the next James Cameron epic to prosper in social media marketing; however, it is quite possible to create something of great interest to your audience through engaging storytelling. A welcoming face, body language and tone of voice all help to create compelling stories in a way that written words can’t.
Here are some ideas to help if you are stuck:
How-to video/tutorial:
One of the best ways to showcase your expertise. How-to and tutorial videos help show your customers how to use your product.
Informational videos:
Show that you're an expert in your field by deep-diving into a video that discusses your speciality.
Go behind the scenes:
If you can provide insights to behind the scenes processes, this is a great way to show the story of what you do to potential customers.
Introduce your team:
People prefer to buy from people, not businesses. Bring your business personality to life and introduce your team. It helps humanise your brand and build credibility.
Live video:
Live content is renowned for generating some of the highest reach among video types and has also been known to be actively prioritised by Facebook. It's a quick and easy way to answer FAQs, show the results of a service you provide or stream an event you're at.
3. The first few seconds count
Our attention spans are shorter than ever which means you need to create a hook that stop the scroll and starts telling the story from the first frame. We are living in an age of content saturation, particularly on social media. There is a very small window before a customer makes a decision to keep watching your video or move on to the next post/article. The first few seconds of your video has to have enough information to capture interest.
4. Edit effectively
The editing process can be a bit tricky and confusing, especially if you have no previous experience editing video footage. Depending on the purpose of your video and which channels you're using, the editing features you need may vary. There are several options you can pick from when it comes to editing. However, if you're looking for assistance with your footage, feel free to reach out for advice from one of our team.
5. Create an interesting, customised thumbnail
What do they say about first impressions? Yes they do matter and the video thumbnail is all about first impressions. The thumbnail has to encapsulate the following elements, your business message, what the video entails and also a hook. It is estimated that customised thumbnails receive 30% higher play rates than those without. Tip: Make sure the play button does not cover the main message of your thumbnail.
6. Include a CTA (call-to-action)
This is where and how you tell viewers what you'd like them to do after watching your video content. Depending on the context of your video, a CTA can come in several different forms. Statistically, 95.9% of CTA's are placed at the end of a video, as a consumer who's watched until the very end suggests they're particularly interested in your service or products.
Examples of CTAs include:
Directing the viewer to your website.
Offering a special deal for your service or product.
Posing questions for the viewer to answer in the comments.
Asking them to subscribe to your channel or follow your social media accounts.
Encourage sharing with friends.
7. Optimise your video
As with any aspect of a marketing strategy, if you want people to find you, it's important to optimise your content. This step is particularly important if you're uploading your video on Youtube, as this is one of the primarily used search engines behind Google.
Know your keywords and plan to use them in your videos as you would for blog posts.
Link your website in the descriptions and captions
Titles are best used by being short and informative
Include your keywords in the title and descriptions
As mentioned earlier, use interesting and customised thumbnails.
8. Be authentic
I know that as soon as someone is shouting or pushing a sales message, it will likely be an immediate skip. Think about the videos you watch and what makes them appealing – it usually involves a person who's relaxed and relatable.
While it's perfectly fine to plan and outline the topics you want to cover in your video, the easiest way to create a relaxed video is to avoid heavily scripting what you want to say.
Strict scripts tend to discourage the natural flow and authenticity of the person in front of the camera; viewers don't want to listen to robots. Being your authentic self will encourage stronger connections with your viewers. Remember you are the expert and the knowledge should flow from you quite naturally. You might not get it right the first video or take, however you will find the more videos you do the more comfortable you will feel delivering your message via this medium.
To find out more about video marketing for your business and video editing services, feel free to contact us at 1800 ZIMPLE for more information, or book a consultation today with our video marketing specialists.