Although video marketing is fairly new, the increasing global internet penetration rate has propelled this form of marketing into the spotlight. With the evolution of social media and the rise of accessible online tools, many businesses have quickly adopted this strategy into their marketing plan.
Video marketing explained
It is a known fact that videos attain more reach than images or text, making it very helpful for driving leads and sales. In fact, 72% of consumers prefer learning about a product or service through a video.
Let’s face it — stories sell. Videos provide more engaging content than images or text ever could. Many consumers are often too busy or lazy to read product descriptions or research on a service and would prefer to see your business in action. Videos do just that — they captivate even the laziest due to how easy it is to consume information in a video.
To meet this growing demand, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn have all become ‘video first’ and created new video-friendly placements like ‘live’ broadcasting, and ‘stories’. At the same time, the popularity of video-based platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, and Tik Tok have exploded and become staples of online video consumption. – Biteable
Video marketing goes beyond just creating and placing advertisements online. There are many types of videos you could do for your business. Some of the more notable ones include:
- Product demos
- Testimonials and reviews
- Vlogs
- Explainer videos
- Tutorials
- Behind-the-scenes
- Live streams
Videos are great SEO material — YouTube is the most used website after Google, and that includes its search engines! They are an effective way to reach a massive audience due to their wide exposure and ease of sharing.
In fact, it is important to remember that 76% of consumers would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. So create fun entertaining videos to encourage social shares. These can increase traffic to your site and generate revenue for your company. Don’t believe us? Check out Biteable’s summary of video statistics here.
Tips for creating a successful video marketing strategy
In order to plan a good video marketing strategy, there are a few factors you have to keep in mind. A good video marketing plan includes the steps we have listed down below but is not limited to them. Read through and see if you agree.
1. Establish your goals
The first step of any campaign should always be to determine what your goals are. Is your main concern to bring awareness to your brand and grow your audience? Videos are a good way to introduce yourself to the public and can be the start of a long-term relationship with your consumers.
If your goal is to increase brand awareness, your KPIs should focus more on total video views, shares, and view duration, rather than sales.
2. Define your audience
Before you can jump into crafting a video for your marketing campaign, you need to understand your audience. Who do you want to make the video for? Who are you trying to attract? More importantly, what are their interests and preferences? Without such information, your campaign can easily turn aimless.
3. Decide the content
Okay, so you have your goals and your target audience. What’s next?
Now, you can confidently decide what kind of content you want to put out and the type of video best suited for it. What is the message you want to get across? What sort of video would help you achieve that? Product demos, for example, would help in driving sales, so consider that if sales are your main target.
Always strive to keep your video entertaining yet educational, no matter the type. You need to keep your viewers engaged for your video marketing to be effective. Do remember to keep in mind the budget you need for this as well — which may depend on the type and reach of the campaign you want to run.
4. Consider which platform to use
Are you planning to upload your video onto YouTube? Or Instagram? Depending on your platform of choice, you might have to consider certain factors. For instance, video dimensions. Clearly, a vertical video would fit more appropriately if you were planning to post it to Instagram, particularly as a story or IGTV.
You would also need to keep in mind the video length. No one wants to watch a 10 minute-long explanation of your business on Twitter. Of course, even if you were to post it on YouTube or Facebook, data has highlighted to us that 2 minutes is the best length for optimal engagement.
Another important factor to consider is that 90% of consumers watch videos on their mobile, and that more than 50% of all videos are watched on devices. According to Google, smartphone users are twice as likely than TV viewers and 1.4 times more likely as desktop viewers to feel a sense of personal connection to brands whose video ads appear on their devices. Now isn’t that powerful?
5. Have a clear CTA
CTAs are an essential component of any marketing plot. Needless to say, there should always be a call-to-action at the end of your video. This tells consumers the next step you want them to take and nudges them to take action.
6. Have a good title and thumbnail
Unfortunately, first impressions will always play a part in any sort of information consumption. If neither your title nor your thumbnail stands out, consumers will most likely scroll past without registering it. Captivate attention with an interesting title and thumbnail!
You can even conduct A/B testing on your homepage with Google Analytics to determine which thumbnail or which title would work best. Alternatively, you can also conduct A/B testing on Facebook with their Facebook Ads Manager tool — if that is the platform you intend to use.
7. Track data and analytics
The last step, though not the least, is to measure how well your video is performing. This is where the fruit of your video marketing efforts lies. Observe metrics such as number of views, click-through rates, social shares and more.
Here’s an additional tip: since video marketing overlaps with content marketing, you can definitely make use of whatever videos you have on hand to generate more content! Include them in your articles, blog posts, and even email marketing campaigns. After all, statistics have shown that emails with videos can increase click rates by 300%.
Just like the statistics above shows, we know how big of a difference a video marketing campaign can make. At MIU, we take each of our marketing campaigns seriously and as our own. Whether we are dealing with video campaigns, email campaigns, or content marketing, you can find all of our services right here. Have any marketing needs? Let us know.