As a tech company, driven by innovation, it’s vital that your marketing reflects this aspect of your business. Innovative video marketing can influence consumers to adopt an image of your brand as forward-thinking and creative. In recent years, video marketing has seen a growth in creative standards, largely due to the technological advances surrounding video production.
The boundaries of video marketing are constantly being pushed, but remember innovation is designed to break the mould, not necessarily the bank. No matter how big or small your tech company is, your video marketing can benefit from becoming more innovative.
1. Social media video optimisation
Example: Samsung: #WAIMO
@samsung We’re celebrating the things that make you who you are. Join us and our favorite creators and show us what you’re made of! #WAIMO #Samsung
Example: HP: #HPRadicalReuse
@hp Join @alisonsadventures in the #HPRadicalReuse Challenge now!
Throughout the pandemic, social media has become more pervasive in all aspects of society. The number of people using social media sites increased, as did the amount of time we spent on them.
The pandemic has changed the way we communicate with others, and the ways in which businesses communicate with us. The internet has played an important role in this shift, especially social media.
The average amount of time spent on social media by US users climbed from 54 minutes to 65 minutes in 2020, a startling increase that has remained consistent through 2023. During the pandemic, new social media apps exploded in popularity, with TikTok proving to be the most successful. In the United States alone, TikTok annual growth rate hit 85.5 percent in 2020, and now, in 2023, it has 1 billion active users who watch a total of 167 million videos per minute.
Thousands of marketers have used TikTok to promote their brands, products, or services since it provides a wonderful platform for showcasing emerging marketing trends and reaching a larger, often younger audience. TikTok audiences demand content that is authentic, creative, and collaborative. Nike, Skittles, Calvin Klein, and Fifa have all had success through TikTok to engage with their consumers. The site has also aided the success of much smaller firms marketing activities; the hashtag ‘#smallbusiness’ has received over 34 billion views.
To achieve success through social media video marketing you must optimise your video content for such sites.
So how can it be done?
- Short-form video content (5 to 60 seconds max)
- Gripping start to video
- Vertically filmed video and correct aspect ratio
- Soundless optimisation (we will explain this in the next section)
- User generated content
- Lower budget production
- Use of influencer talent
- Take advantage of viral trends and use hashtags to promote your videos further.
2. Soundless optimisation
Example: Hotels.com
As previously stated, social media platforms now account for a greater percentage of marketing video views than ever before. With the notable exception of TikTok, the vast majority of these networks, such as Instagram and Facebook, are pre-set to silence videos on your timeline. Although using sound in video is still advantageous in many circumstances, optimising your marketing videos for silent watching is a beneficial step to take in your marketing process.
Reports have shown that a staggering 85% of Facebook videos are watched with the sound turned off. Commuters are one group that frequently watch silent video content. It is worth remembering this when advertising B2B. Silent video has become the new indisputable standard and marketing campaigns must take note of this.
It is possible to create a compelling story for your video without wielding audio as an essential factor. Eye-catching visuals, textual descriptions, animation, and subtitles can steer your production away from a reliance on audio. Your video should have the ability to be ‘read’ on mute.
Soundless optimisation methods have another huge benefit to them. By making your content ‘volume-agnostic’ it can become more accessible to those with hearing impairments or auditory processing disorders. This can contribute to your company’s CSR inclusivity goals.
Interactive video
Interactive videos are digital videos that support audience interaction. It’s a simple concept but is often hard to get exactly right. When successful, they can be convincing, captivating, and compelling.
Interactive videos offer many benefits. They have proven to be 22% more engaging than linear video content as the viewer is encouraged to drive stories forward using clicks, drags, scrolls, buttons, and keystrokes. This allows your business to create a campaign that stands out from the market and has a prolonged impact on the viewer. Interactive videos boast an impressive 12% conversion rate. Consumers develop an even stronger emotional connection with their favourite brands and discern more interest in those they are being newly introduced to.
The definite benefits of interactive video marketing has encouraged even more tech businesses to include them in their marketing strategies. In fact, in 2020, around 21% of marketers said they plan to include Interactive Video in their marketing strategy, this number has likely risen. There are several forms of interactive video, we will explain a few below.
3. Collaborative interaction
Example: Apple: #closeyourrings
https://www.tiktok.com/@apple/video/7054715293188492590
Marketing videos that encourage collaborative interaction are a relatively new concept. TikTok’s ‘duet video’ feature has allowed businesses’ to set ‘challenges’ to create an active conversation between them and audiences
‘Duetting’ is a form of user-generated content that many brands are now taking advantage of as it not only entertains followers but empowers them, necessitating engagement. These videos also have a higher chance of achieving viral status. As many as 43% of TikTok users have uploaded a duet. It is well worth taking advantage of this feature and joining countless tech brands like Apple in utilising its innovative abilities.
4. Shoppable videos
Example: QuickSpin: Shoppable game
Combining the engagement value of live-action or animated production with eCommerce, shoppable video provides a clever new way for audiences to consume through direct interaction.
What are shoppable videos?
- Videos laden with links to purchase
- Tap and buy instantly feature on TikTok
- Mimic website experience without leaving the video
Some have suggested that shoppable videos are the new innovative form of ‘call to action’ messages in marketing, where instead of suggesting an action you are presenting an immediate one.
Your ‘call to action’ messages will come to life with shoppable videos. You’re no longer recommending what action your potential customer should perform to continue down your sales funnel; instead, you’re urging them to take immediate measures to complete the purchase in a masterfully efficient way.
5. Branching interaction
Example: Honda: The Other Side
Audiences, tired of passive marketing content, are demanding more personalisation. ‘Branching’ is an interactive feature that can be added to videos to create a masterfully personal experience for the viewer, where they are encouraged to participate actively in shaping a narrative.
Branching videos stitch together short clips, when the audience chooses their path, a specific clip is shown to formulate a changing and unexpected plot.
This innovative formula akin to gaming has provided the 35% of marketers using branching with a 25% increase in sales. A staggering 91% of B2B buyers prefer to watch content that allows them to interact.
In 2018, Netflix’s smash hit ‘Bandersnatch’ broke the mould for streaming services, it won’t be long until branching finds solid footing in the video marketing sector. The universal attraction to personalisation is clear, branching video is here to stay.
6. Live-action 360-degree video
Example:
Championed by Facebook and Youtube, there were a combined 4.5 billion views of 360 videos in 2017. Although this number has risen in the past few years, widespread adoption has not yet reached the video marketing industry. Just 10% of video marketers plan to include 360-degree video in their 2023 marketing strategy. Interestingly, however, according to data from Wyzowl, 74% of surveyed marketers who have used 360 videos say it’s been successful for them and 70% say they have helped to grow engagement.
Hong Kong Airlines’ 360-degree virtual cabin walkthrough deserves a mention in our list. Its success is astounding, being 35x more effective than their traditional video marketing strategies. Anthony Yui, who crafted the campaign said:
We want to put the control in the hands of consumers to see the entire cabin from any perspective, rather than having a one-directional ad unit with a message to force feed our target audience.
360- degree video has the ability to reach huge audiences, with a fun return for the viewer. It has frequently generated longer viewing times, leading to an increase in sales. HK Airlines’ video was watched 9x longer than any other video and promoted a 4.51 percent click-through rate to the landing site.
It is likely that as 360-degree filming technology develops further and becomes more than a visual gimmick, the innovative filming style will become mainstream. As a tech company, why not become an early adopter of this tech and stand out from the crowd.
7. Virtual reality video
Example: Metaverse
Example: Merrel: Virtual Hike
VR video alone is a fairly new concept, a next-level approach that utilises augmented reality to place its audience into animated 360-degree worlds. Using VR video in marketing is an even fresher concept.
VR video is received through VR headsets, which are now widely available on the market. The user becomes completely immersed in a digital environment, where they have full mobility and control. They can run, lift objects, talk to people, and more. It’s super-futuristic and currently seems slightly unrealistic to use in video marketing but bear with us. The immersiveness of this experience is perfect for marketing campaigns that seek to increase user engagement and personalisation to hitherto unheard-of levels.
VR, as its technology develops further, has the potential to offer fun virtual marketing experiences or even try before you buy simulations of products with global reach. Pandemic restrictions have accelerated the growth of VR to unprecedented levels.
We don’t doubt that VR video will be taking the video marketing industry by storm in the next few years. Get ahead of the crowd and look into creating your own VR video now!
8. Animated video
Example: Slack: Work, Simplified
Innovative, eye-catching, engaging, cost-effective. Animation is a form of video that allows for unmatched versatility and unbound creativity. In the wake of the pandemic, animation has risen to become one of the hottest trends in content marketing, yet it still feels underemployed in the tech industry.
Animation is incredibly flexible as a creative medium, not only allowing for remote working in times of COVID restrictions but also in its processes. It has increased longevity in comparison to live-action due to its reusable and malleable nature. It also possesses the ability to reduce complex information into memorable bite-sized chunks. This makes it a perfect avenue for tech video marketing.
Animation has been dubbed by 83% of marketing professionals as a medium that is rapidly growing in importance. Research shows that using animation on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 85-90%.
Examples of animation forms:
- 2D animation
- 3D animation
- Hand-drawn animation
- Stop motion animation
- Motion graphics
- Character animation
Check out our animation style guide to see which form is right for your marketing campaign.
Lets roundup…
Increased engagement, retention, and brand visibility are just some of the benefits of video alone. Experimenting with the innovative production procedures we’ve highlighted in this article gives you the power to completely transform your brand’s marketing strategies and propel it to previously unimaginable heights.
Video production, like the tech industry, must in many cases, maintain a proven formula to ensure success. It is critical, however, that we should not underestimate the potential of creative innovation in either discipline.
If you think your tech business is ready to take the leap into more innovative video marketing, why not drop us a line and get our creative (and innovative!) partnership started.
