Creating digital content for your audience does not stop with grabbing their attention. Your content should push them to take the action you want them to take. It has to be so powerful that there’s nothing else they could do but give in to your persuasion. Something you can do effectively with videos.
Video marketing provides different benefits for different businesses. It creates brand awareness, promotes an advocacy, and is one of the many ways to get more sales. But for your videos to deliver the results you wanted, people need to see them. Where? Right where they’re at — social media.
The union of video and social media marketing is heaven-sent. It’s 2018, so I assume your brand is active on social media. If your audience have a short attention span, uploading video is your best chance to get a few minutes of their precious time. But the content has to be creative, relevant, and relatable so sharing them becomes automatic for your followers.
Video content techniques to follow
Watch. Share. Repeat.
For skyrocketing results, that should be your audience’s cycle of behavior for every video content you incorporate in your social media marketing. It has to be engaging so they’ll watch until the last second and relevant so they would share it to their network.
The greater the number of views and shares, the greater your chances of going viral. That’s good news if you’re after virality. But if it’s just a bonus, and what you’re aiming for is increased in sales or leads, work harder to know your potential customers’ needs then present the value you can give through your videos.
If you want to power up your social media marketing by incorporating video marketing, here are techniques to take note of in creating and sharing your content.
If Facebook is your primary platform for social media marketing, you know you need to spend money to achieve an optimal result. Running a Facebook ad campaign is not costly, contrary to what people who believe they can do successful marketing for free think. If you want to yield an amazing ROI, understand that there’s an equivalent cost to for every effort to reach your audience and engage them.
What types of videos should you make? That depends on your audience and the nature of your business. You can create how-to videos, behind-the-scenes videos, product demos, or customer testimonials. Can you pull off an entertaining video? Test to figure out but make sure it’s aligned with your branding. If you have a casual and approachable brand personality, injecting humor on your content may be a good idea to try.
Did you know that 85 percent of Facebook videos are watched without sound? This is why your visuals should be appealing enough to hold the viewer’s attention. An on-screen text or the transcription/translation will help you with your storytelling when the sound is muted.
If you want to experiment with creativity and coolness on your next video, take advantage of Facebook’s 360 video technology like what BMW did with their campaign featuring Gigi Hadid. No matter what content or creative technique you do, never compromise the production. People can easily spot a mediocre video.
YouTube
Brands pay celebrities with hefty cheques to endorse their products. That’s what businesses think is the only way to drive revenue. But with the rise of YouTube creators or the vloggers and influencers we call these days, brands have found more cost-effective endorsers in them.
Nowadays, it’s like everyone can become a YouTuber. But it’s the video production, creative content, and entertaining remarks that make a YouTube creator a star. If you want to introduce your brand or product more effectively, find an influencer who is a clear representation of your target market.
Born as a photo-sharing app, Instagram is now a complete content powerhouse. Brands can maximize their use of the platform by uploading stunning images and appealing videos. You can interact with your followers real-time with Live videos and engage them using Stories ads.
Although photos gain more engagement than videos, you can still up your game by uploading unique content that will make you standout. Here are winsome Instagram video examples to inspire your content creation.
How to build an engaging video plot
Connect to your audience with an exceptional storytelling, which is the heart of your video content. This, above everything else, will influence your followers’ next action after watching your video. Emotional videos get shared countless times because they appeal to people’s authenticity. They can relate to stories that inspire and make them happy, sad, or angry, because those are true emotions they feel as humans.
Speaking of action, make your call-to-action crystal clear. In what part of the buyer’s journey are you staging the video? Your CTA should tell them what to do next after watching it. Should this be the point to introduce a new product or to present different payment methods? If you want them to subscribe, show them the subscribe button. If it’s part of a series, tell them where they can view the rest of the videos. Don’t leave them clueless.
What kinds of videos your followers like to watch? Dig deeper into what your analytics figures are saying and always be in the know. You can create a content that features what the public is currently swept away with. But since it’s hard to predict the exact time a trending topic will fizzle out, you better be quick-witted.
In marketing, timing is everything. If the intensity of public interest melts down before you even upload your video, you’ll probably lose a great percentage of an engaged audience. You can prepare way ahead of time for recurring events like the Superbowl and special holidays such as Christmas, New Year, or Mother’s Day.
Takeaways
During the production of a video, keep in mind the platform where you will upload it. Just by thinking of the duration of the video, one-size-fits-all doesn’t work in video marketing.
And when you draft your content plan, think of what people could remember you by. What will make you stick into their memory and how will you showcase it in a 30 or 60-seconder video? Be true to your brand but remember to give value to your viewers.
Ryan is a Digital Marketing Specialist by profession and a content strategist at DRCwebdesign. Being in the digital marketing field for 7 years now, he enjoys keeping up to date with the latest in all things digital and search. As a silent type, Ryan expresses plenty of his thoughts through writing.
