There’s no disputing the fact that people are consuming video content like never before.
Various statistics show that people are spending a huge amount of their time watching videos. Watching content on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook is now how users are spending a majority of their time online.
Savvy business owners and marketers have taken note of these trends and staggering video consumption statistics. Over the last few years, they have slowly but surely integrated branded video content into their marketing plans, following numerous video marketing tips.
Now, you may be wondering, why is video marketing so effective?
Here are three reasons why:
- You can tap into an audience constantly looking for new content
There’s a massive opportunity for marketers and storytellers to slip their brand narrative or product story into great video content that engages.
Yes, your content needs to tell a story about your brand or share a message about your product.
However, it also needs to be interesting and, to some extent, entertaining to watch. Video marketing can be highly effective and increase brand affinity if it manages to catch the attention of this huge audience on the lookout for great content.
- It enables brands to connect with audiences like no other channel
It’s possible to inject a lot more emotion into video than most other channels. Through the effective combination of visuals and audio, you have a tool at your disposal that can really convey the personality of your brand to your target audience.
- Video marketing relays information in an easy-to-digest way
Let’s face it:
We all have pretty short attention spans these days. If you want to convey the news of a product or service to your audience in a short amount of time, video marketing is the best way. In fact, 68%% of consumers stated they’d like to learn about a product or service through a short video.
Seek out a professional production company that specializes in product videos, and your product message is much more likely to land.
Now that we’ve taken a closer look at some of the reasons why video marketing is so effective, let’s take a look at the how.
It’s all well and good getting beautiful video content produced by a team of professionals. But, how and where should you market it to stand out from the crowd?
Here are just 7 video marketing tips for businesses to help get your brand noticed:
1. Include your video into your email marketing
It has been reported that including video into your brand emails can increase click-through rates by as much as 300%.
If you’re struggling to get your email marketing campaign going, give it a boost by adding a video to the content of your email. Not only will this increase traffic to your site, but it’s an easy way of getting your video content in front of those who’ve already expressed an interest in your brand.
2. Put some budget behind promoting your video on social channels
Once you’ve got a great creative that you’re proud of, the next step is figuring out how to best promote your content.
Social media is undoubtedly one of the best places to do so. Posts with video on social media generate 12 times more shares than those with just text and images combined.
This is where some additional investment can also go a long way to ensuring your video gets in front of those that are more likely to engage with it. It is actually quite cost-effective to promote your video on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. You can target a very specific set of people to get your content in front of the right audience. Many brands report a great ROI on Facebook video ad campaigns.
Set aside a small budget to promote your video on social media and keep a close eye on the results. This is an area where reporting makes it easy to do a lot of test and learn. You can invest more in boosting those channels and target settings where you’re seeing the most engagement.
3. Make sure your videos are easy to find on YouTube
As YouTube is one the most popular websites by far with over 1.9 billion logged in users each month, it’s critical that you upload all your video content onto your YouTube channel and make it easily discoverable.
Here are some tips for YouTube to help get your video noticed:
- Optimize your title: Write a short and catchy title that has the primary keyword that you’d like to target. Try and keep the titles within 70 characters, including spaces, to ensure none of it gets chopped off in search results.
- Write a really clear description: Describe the content of your video and include any related landing page links and a strong call to action.
- Make sure it’s in the right category and include relevant tags to make it easier for it to get discovered in the search engine.
- Create an enticing thumbnail: A great thumbnail can go a long way in attracting more viewers to your videos so don’t underestimate the importance of this.
4. Add a hook in the first few seconds
Marketing your video content isn’t just about getting audiences to click on it. It’s to entice them to watch the entire video so they engage with your brand for longer, leading to a more noticeable increase in their awareness of your business and your product.
It has been reported that 33% of viewers stop watching a video after 30 seconds, 45% by one minute, and 60% by two minutes.
This makes it clear that the first few seconds are critical to keeping viewers interested. One way to engage viewers is to start with a great hook. This should be something that gives them a glimpse of what is to come and compels them to keep watching. It could be something as simple as asking them a question at the start to grab their attention. Brainstorm ideas with your video production agency to ensure that your video doesn’t see too much viewer drop off.
5. Use a professional production company to produce your content
No matter how well you promote your video across different channels, it won’t get results unless the content itself is engaging and well produced.
Now, it may be tempting to try and save money by creating videos for content marketing yourself, but you may not see the engagement and conversion levels you’re hoping for. Furthermore, it could get even get your brand noticed in the wrong way if you release amateurish content onto the web.
Find a video production or animation agency that specialises in producing a brand and promotional videos and invest to ensure that the story and the creative are as well produced as they can be. If the content is then promoted in the right way, you’ll get a return on your investment a lot sooner than you think.
6. Ensure that your video provides value for your viewers
Want to create a video that people feel compelled to share because it’s just that useful?
Avoid the hard sell and think of how the video could be used to add value to your customers. Trying to promote videos that are salesy is futile these days. Those videos that are genuinely helpful and provide information or answer questions are much more likely to get engagement and lead to your brand getting noticed.
Keep your target audience in mind throughout the conception of the video and keep asking yourself – what value does it add for them?
7. Create a teaser or a short version
According to Wista, videos under 2 minutes tend to get the most engagement.
If you’ve got a great video that’s a little too long for social media, consider getting a shorter version produced. You can use this to promote your brand on channels such as Facebook where shorter videos tend to perform better. You can always include a link back to the full video, but it isn’t a good idea to use the long version everywhere in an age where people tend to scroll past content quickly.
Remember, video content is incredibly versatile.
Get the most out your content by promoting it across all your channels. Post it on your landing page for a massive 300% increase in conversion, add a thumbnail into your email signature, and show it at your company and shareholder events. Cross channel promotion is the most effective way to get your video and brand out there and get the best return on your investment.