Video for marketing has become hugely popular in the last decade thanks to the rise of social media combined with faster internet speeds. Companies no longer have to pay big bucks to get a video advert on TV – instead they can upload a video online and share it with a global audience for free.
There’s clear proof that video advertising is effective. Social media posts containing videos, and video testimonials are likely to get 48% more engagements and 1200% more likely to be shared than social media posts containing text and images. Meanwhile, including a video on your landing page can increase your conversion rate by up to 80%.
Video for marketing: the rules for success
Of course, posting any old video for marketing won’t necessarily get you more leads. There are certain rules to follow for corporate video production if you want your video marketing to be effective. Below are just 10 tips for creating effective marketing videos.
Know the purpose
When creating video content, it’s important to consider the purpose. There are two possible purposes to video marketing.
- To promote:The most common reason that companies create video adverts is to build brand exposure and generate leads. This tends to include sponsored adverts that you see on Facebook and adverts that play before/during Youtube videos.
- To inform/educate: Video content can also be used to inform and educate existing customers. For instance, a company may produce a Youtube tutorial on how to use its product for people that have already bought it.
Often the two purposes are combined. It’s not uncommon for companies to place explainer videos on their homepage promoting their product, while also teaching customers how to use it. For help in creating videos, you can use experts like dreamengine.com.au
It’s also possible to use vlog content to provide helpful advice to general consumers while promoting oneself in the process. For instance, a cocktail bar might create a video series teaching everyday people how to make various cocktails at home – using this as an opportunity to also raise brand awareness.
Consider hiring professionals
Many people underestimate the skills it takes to create a high quality video. It’s often beneficial to hire a video production company that can shoot and edit the advert. You can also consider hiring actors, as well as possibly hiring someone to come up with a script.
Video adverts don’t even have to be live action – animations are also popular and can be useful for explaining technical processes and promoting products in a fun way. In this case, you’ll likely want to hire an animator and possibly a voiceover actor.
Invest in professional equipment and tools
If you do choose to record and edit video content yourself, it’s important that you invest in the right technology in order to create video content that is high quality.
It is possible to shoot a high quality video for marketing on a modern smartphone – however you’ll likely still want to invest in lighting, audio equipment and editing software if you’re creating anything beyond a vlog. Alternatively, you could go the extra mile to create engaging video content, using Go-Pro footage to advertise a BMX or even investing in a drone to shoot aerial footage to promote a hotel.
Find a way to hook your audience immediately
If you want people to watch your video for marketing content, you need to hook them immediately. With videos on Facebook and Twitter, you’ve got to hook people’s attention as they’re scrolling. With Youtube ads, you’ve often got only five seconds to hook people before they are allowed to skip the video.
There are many ways to hook video viewers in the first five seconds – this could include grabbing people with text or jumping straight to the action.
Tell a story
Some of the most engaging videos are those that tell a story. A story can help to hook the viewer and keep them watching until the end. When promoting your company, you could tell the story of how your company came to be and the struggles you may have overcome. You could alternatively tell the story of a customer who faces a problem, after which they then use your product to solve that problem.
Instructional video for marketing may not necessarily need to tell a story because such videos have a clear end objective. In all cases, there should be something that is guiding viewers to the end – if a consumer watches your entire video, they’re much more likely to then buy your product.
Not everyone scrolls through Facebook or Twitter with the sound on. Meanwhile, the likes of Google Chrome automatically block auto-playing ads with audio. For this reason, it’s important that your video still makes sense with the sound turned off. A simple solution to this is to add subtitles to your video. You could alternatively create an advert that doesn’t necessarily require sound to tell a story. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t add audio to your video at all – adding music or voice over will help to make your video more engaging for those online users that do have their volume on.
Use calls to action
A call to action is any kind of text or auditory command that encourages online users to take action. In the case of video for marketing, a call to action is likely to be a link to your product that viewers can follow.
There are many ways to create calls to action using videos from annotations to YouTube ad overlays. Where possible use hyperlinks rather than telling people to visit your web address (clicking a button is much easier than manually typing in a URL).
Target the right audience on Facebook
If you’re sharing a video on Facebook, it’s worth using Facebook’s boost post feature. This involves paying a small amount of money to run your video as an advert in which you’re able to share your video with a targeted audience. Facebook allows you to target your ad at users based on their location, age, gender and ‘interests’. This ensures that only people that are likely to be interested in your product see your advert (just make sure that you’ve done your market research so you know which parameters to choose).
Optimize your video for search
You can also increase the odds of consumers finding your video on YouTube by optimizing it using keywords. These could be keywords within the video title, within the video description or using tags. This not only affects how well your video ranks on YouTube, but also how well it ranks on Google. You can find guides on optimizing videos for search online.
Make use of analytics afterwards
To determine whether your video marketing campaign is a success or not, you must use analytics. These are real time stats that record who is viewing your video, how much of your video they watch and whether they take action after
Facebook, Youtube and Twitter each have their own analytics tools that you can use. Using this data, you can find ways to tweak your social media marketing campaigns to help make your videos more effective.
You should also consider the comments and the likes that your video has received. This can tell you what people think of your video. Some consumers may even ask you questions about your product in the comments – nurture these leads by responding to their questions.
