We’re entering into an era of post-text, i.e., the written content will soon be considered outdated. The new sensation on the internet is “Going Viral.” Every marketer starts their campaign with a single question, “How can we make this campaign a viral sensation? The easiest way to go viral is by Video Marketing or hard luck.
Video Marketing is breaking the internet. By 2020 online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017, and these numbers are rising exponentially.
Video Marketing should be a top priority on your marketing strategies list & scheduling the videos to different platforms using social media scheduler will be a game changer. There is a steep decline in text-based content, whereas the reach of audio and video is exploding.
With smartphone penetration levels skyrocketing, visual content consumption is also booming. Video marketing can be your way to the top of the charts.
It can be used for everything from building customer rapport brand loyalty, testimonial, feature launch, etc. Every concept can be converted into an engaging video.
Just imagine if an image can be worth a thousand words, how valuable can a video be?
One minute on a video is worth 1.8 million words, you can hit an SEO goldmine.
So, what exactly is Video Marketing?
The definition of Video Marketing pretty self-explanatory and straightforward. Video Marketing is using video as a medium to market to your product, engage with users, and promote it on your social media channels.
It can be used for every aspect of your marketing campaign, and videos are a guaranteed way to maximize your potential reach.
The power card of video marketing is it combines the two most impactful forms of media – Sound and Images. If a user remembers your video, he will have an imprint of your brand in his memory.
Video Marketing is on the rise, and we can’t deny it. If given an option to rather watch a video of this blog than to read it, we all know what will be the first choice. The faster, the better.
To make it easy for you to understand, we have listed a few benefits of this ruling marketing trend.
Benefits of Video Marketing
SEO Friendly
Search engines love videos, so if you are creating one, make sure it is optimized for the relevant keywords. According to a study, Youtube videos are most likely to show up in the first 10 search results of Google.
For additional information, videos can attract 300% more traffic and generate leads. So if you want leads, you have to hit the right SEO chords with your video.
When you upload a video on your digital platforms or embed it via youtube, make sure it is appropriately tagged. When it comes to videos, descriptions are the key to get the hang of google’s web crawler. If it understands your point, you have a chance to top rank on the search engine.
Appropriate tags, quality description, and video content will help you bag some active backlinks, shares and traffic surge on your digital platforms. If your video performs well, so will your landing page or the social platform. Hence, SEO makes it a win-win situation for Video Marketing.
Boost Conversion
There are no chances of a video not working well. It is predicted that if your landing page has a video, it can boost your conversion rate by 80%.
Whether it is a complicated manufacturing process or a simple feature explainer, visuals leave a long-lasting imprint on the brain. Make sure to put in that extra effort in your explainer video, to educate your viewers and gravitate them towards your product.
This strategy will grab the attention of your existing users as well. Hence, videos usually lead to direct sales as well. As stated in small biz trends, 90% of the users noted that a compelling Video To Gif helps in the decision-making process of the product.
It is now perfectly clear, that no matter what an average video will surely gain you, new users.
Easily Accessible
It is 2019, comfort and ease is the objective of almost everything. Similar is the case of marketers, everyone is trying to market content that is practical and easy to share on every platform.
With an exponential boost of smartphone usage, sharing and promoting videos is not a tedious task anymore.
The conventional way of marketing didn’t have a maximized reach. But with the hype of smartphones, this issue was long resolved. Now everyone functions on their phones and they prefer to share the content which caught their attention.
Videos work well on almost every platform, and you can easily cost-effectively reach your potential audience.
Effective engagement
A single word “Video” in your email subject can increase the open rate by 19%. The highest organic engagement on Facebook is driven by posts which has a video in them. The modern customer seeks proof behind the product, and there is no better proof than a video.
According to Statista, 96% of users operate facebook through mobiles. People also tend to share, like, or comment while watching something on the phone.
Video Marketing can be useful for marketing at different levels of engagement. If you have relatable, informational, or just entertaining content, a potential audience people would definitely engage with it.
Trust
When you attach a face with a video, you pitch a direct appeal to the emotional center of a person’s brain. A video and its content are more powerful than you think. Today, most elite content creators started from youtube.
Video helps in building trust in a brand and long-term relationships, which is not something you can achieve with a basic text-based message. For example, posting a client testimonial will leave a more significant impact if you post a video about it rather than a text message.
Videos provide clarity and emotion, whether it is a product explainer or any new feature. If you want to ignite that spark in users’ minds, make sure you have an original video on your page to do so.
Challenges of Video Marketing
If this topic were discussed in the absence of smartphones, the resources and equipment would have been the biggest challenge involving Video Marketing. The cost of editing and online video data would also put a massive dent in your marketing budget.
However, with the robust evolution of smartphones, this issue is in the rear-view mirror but not forgotten. Even if it is easy to make a video now, the content quality and delivery are something you must work on.
Your marketing team should be well-versed in what will work with your users. They should have an effective marketing strategy and create content that gets shared on different social platforms.
Your team should be able to evaluate the performance of the video and analyze areas of improvement. These are the main challenges involving Video Marketing for beginners.
Types of Videos
Listicles
A popular term in blogging, listicle, or round-up videos is the ones created on a specific theme. These videos usually involve the stock videos or stills from the place and are combined to make a list.
A listicle contains relatively short content with various options for your consumer to select from.
For example, this excellent video by The Parisian Girl on the top 5 go-to places to go in Paris.
Brand Awareness
If you want to make people feel your brand is like their own, your brand awareness video can be the key to it. This video contains three significant elements – your brand’s values, mission, and emotions.
A Brand awareness video can represent why your innovation is unique and also strengthens your brand’s loyalty. You can even schedule your brand awareness video using a free Hootsuite alternative to get the visibility you want for your brand.
This video produced by Sofar – Sounds from a room tells the tale of the event, they bring together artists from different genres to experience live music.
BTS
If they love a brand, they would want to know everything about it. If they get a little sign about the team, progress, life behind the banner. These works best to connect with the user, and give them a chance to know you.
Started a new idea for traditional short footage, this format also grabs equal attention in the film industry. The Bad: American Movie, Behind the Slate: Tyga – “U Cry”, Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse are a great example of it.
This video gives an insight into the “Think” photoshoot conducted by Think education brand captures the process and fun moments behind the shoot.
Event
An event video is usually a short teaser of a flashback video. Whether it is a flea market or a roundtable conference, capture the highlights of your events to give users a teaser they can trust. Even brands use social media bulk scheduling features to make their content go live together on all different platforms.
A great combination of emotions and features, this launch video of apple watch by Apple India is an excellent example of what the user can expect and feel it. It connects the user with the brand.
Explainer
Explainer or ‘how-to’ videos play a significant role in making the client understand your brand or process.
Specific explainer videos usually cast a fictional persona struggling with a problem company can solve, or these can be feature explainer videos.
Such videos help in building the brand’s credibility and gain the audience’s trust.
This fun and quirky video by Mcdonalds to explain to the users that what-if drives thru didn’t allow cars on #Worldcarfreeday, how you can still use the drive-thru.
McDonald’s – Drive-Thru Car Free Day from Le Cube on Vimeo.
Q&A
The Question and answers videos can have multiple categories linked to it like interviews, Fan AMAs, FAQs, etc.
These are very useful when you want to address multiple problems in a single video or just an insightful interview. You can also record a video of yourself answering the questions in the comments. For that purpose, pick any best free video recorder that suits your needs.
This interview with Serena Williams on the vogue series gives fans an extra edge into her life.
Testimonial
A video can be a way to connect with your audience, make them understand your brand. Testimonials are the best advocates for it. If an individual speaks about your brand, it’ll be more impactful than any fictional ad.
The Case Study and testimonials are the best ice-breakers for any company to onboard new users.
Watch this customer testimonial by the dove, which highlights an emotion with their product, to leave a lasting impact on the user.
Demo Video
If you want to educate users on how your product works – a Demo video is the perfect solution to it. You can walk through the user on how to start with your product or just create a video that involves unboxing or a first-hand review.
For example, this demo video showcases how you can start making beginner level prototypes in Adobe XD.
360/VR
360 videos are videos that give the user an instant experience about the content.
Whether it is a spherical video of any location or event or standing in a box; you can give your users the right to navigate their visuals.
Facebook has also rolled out the feature of 360 videos to allow users to have a unique experience.
This Video Ad by Discovery captured a 360 video showcasing the VR experience of a rollercoaster ride.
Animated
The animated videos can be used for anything, either you have to breakdown a hard-to-grasp process or a simple brand explainer. The animated videos pay equal importance to both visuals and content.
This explainer video by Google UK depicts how you can use Google pay with a series of animations.
In this animated video, google gives the users an explainer about how to use its new application with ease. Consider using RecurPost, one of the best Socialbee alternatives, which can help you by enabling you to create a tonne of Video updates with just a few clicks using the social media bulk scheduling feature.
Recommended Read: How To Go Viral on TikTok in 2023: 13 Easy Tricks
Final Tip
While going viral can be your objective to gain that traffic, there are specific tips you could really use to catch the eye of the user.
- In this competitive market, make sure you are telling a story rather than just selling the product. Your video should have a purpose and values linked to it, not just facts.
- You wouldn’t have all the time to make that thumb stop while scrolling. Hook the attention of the user in the first 10 seconds, and he’ll watch the entire video. As rightly said, the first impression is the last.
- Charitable cause and brand videos are generally straightforward and pretty serious. But it is time you twist the basics, and add witty humor and fun to your videos.
- SEO – it is a benefit and tip. You know how important this is, just don’t miss out on giving 100% to optimize your hours of work.
- In the end, track your progress. This is the most essential step to knowing where you are lacking, and how can you improve. Analyze the metrics and figure out what works best for you in making a connection with the user.
Debbie Moran is a Digital marketing strategist with 5+ years of experience producing advertising for brands and helping leaders showcase their brand to the correct audience. She has been a part of RecurPost since 2019 and handles all the activities required to grow our brand’s online presence.