Today, you can’t open any major social media platform without being ‘bombarded’ with video content. These social networks have recognized the importance of videos so much so that many of them have released features to support them.
Facebook has Facebook Live, Instagram includes IGTV, while Twitter offers Periscope to its users. Although these features have enjoyed popularity before the global pandemic started, they’re being used now more than ever before. Indeed, Facebook said that the number of live viewers increased up to 50% in the USA alone. So, this proves that, while social distancing, people are increasingly finding comfort in one marketing medium — video.
But we’re not saying that video is only popular when half of the world is in lockdown. Quite the contrary — incorporating videos in your marketing strategy has been an imperative for years now. And why? Well, because Cisco reports that 82% of all IP traffic will consist of videos by 2022. This just proves that, albeit popular now, video is set to explode even more.
Of course, those of you already on board the video content marketing ship may already know that this channel attracts 300% more traffic to your website. This number alone is enough to get you on the video bandwagon! If you’ve already joined this bandwagon, then we’ve prepared video marketing tips that will help you create videos that strike a chord with your audience. Prepare to make videos like a pro!
Without further ado, let’s go over them!
Use a Killer Hook
In the past two decades, human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to only 8 seconds. Believe it or not, this attention span is shorter than that of goldfish, which stands at 9 seconds. But what kind of implication does this carry for videos? Well, it means that marketers have only a couple of seconds to grab their viewers’ attention. With a range of different types of videos offered on social media, your customers expect to be hooked — fast.
Facebook videos automatically play, which means you only have a few seconds to captivate your audience before they scroll down. With most YouTube ads being skippable, viewers can move on from them in just five seconds. Is it possible to attract your audience that quickly? Yes, it is! The only thing you need is a good hook.
But what makes for a killer hook? Well, an effective video hook is one that visually engages viewers while offering a sneak peek at the video’s core message. With these hooks, you can capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to watch the rest of the video. Back in 2016, Facebook revealed that 45% of viewers who watched the first three seconds of a video continued watching this content for at least 30 seconds. They must have been persuaded to watch by some really good and captivating hooks!
Tell Compelling Stories
Before social media became popular, consumers were used to a salesy approach to presenting products or services. However, customers’ attitudes have changed nowadays, and rarely does anyone react enthusiastically to cold calling and other traditional methods. But one thing hasn’t changed all these years. People loved and still love to listen to stories.
On social networks, brands have a chance to tell their stories. They can post videos and reach their target audience directly. Here, your advertisement competes with entertainment content, trying to get social media users to watch it. And if you want customers to watch your video, then give them something of value! Effective and engaging videos can increase brand awareness… just as long as they aren’t only focused on driving sales.
So, publish a video that tells stories that resonate among your viewers. The better you get at telling stories about your brand, the higher the chances are for your viewers to know what your business is offering and how that aligns with their plans.
Just like blog posts, video marketing presents the opportunity to use the power of storytelling to your advantage. For instance, you can release a video showing how your product changed your customer’s life for the better.
Rely on Visuals
Voiceover is a quite effective and powerful tool. However, most websites and social media platforms tend to autoplay videos without sound. In fact, 85% of Facebook video is watched with sound off. This means that you can’t rely on voiceover to hook your audience. Your audience might not get the message if you focus only on sound design. That’s why you need engaging visuals to tell your story.
Furthermore, visual storytelling helps customers understand complex concepts and data easily. So, try adding dynamic graphics and other visuals to your videos. If you do, your viewers can listen to the information you provide and watch a visual representation of it. As a result, they will understand your message more clearly.
Include a Call-To-Action
Videos should take a hint from blog posts and include a call-to-action at the end. It can encourage viewers to take further actions, such as:
- Subscribe to your channel
- Follow your page
- Share the video
- Leave a comment on the video
As you can see, your CTA doesn’t only need to ask consumers to purchase your product. It can do more than that. The message of your call-to-action depends on your goal, i.e., what action you want viewers to take after watching a specific video. When you determine your objective, include the CTA, but don’t be overtly salesy!
Where to Put CTA
While you’re in the process of creating a video, you need to determine where you’ll put your CTA. There are three common positions:
- Pre-roll CTA is positioned at the beginning of the video so that every viewer sees it straight away.
- Mid-roll CTA is placed between the start and the end. Its purpose is to target consumers when they’re most engaged.
- Post-roll CTA appears at the end of the video. Its goal is to be sure that viewers are highly interested before being presented with a CTA.
Wistia determined that most brands use the post-roll option — 95.9% of them, to be exact. A mere 4% goes with the mid-roll option, while the pre-roll is the least popular option, with only 0.1% choosing it.
Interestingly enough, Wistia also discovered that the mid-roll call-to-action converts most people. Its average conversion rate is 16.95%, while a post-roll conversion rate amounts to 10.98%.
Optimize Your Video
Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day. With so many people actively typing in keywords on Google, it’s important to include search engine optimization (SEO) in your video marketing campaign. This means that you need to optimize your video for search engines. Here, the goal is to get your video indexed faster and get a higher ranking for them on the SERPs. Optimizing your video can result in a huge number of video views and also a significant revenue boost.
Here are some of our tips on video SEO:
- Use keywords: You probably already know about keyword research because of your blog content. Well, this is no different. For every video, do extensive keyword research if you want to rank high on search engines. If you’re new to the content marketing world, then be aware that it would be best to target long-tail keywords. After locating them, include them in your title.
- Add captions and video transcripts: As a general rule of thumb, you should add as much text to your video as you can. The main reason for this is that Google is a text-based engine. So, your video will rank highly if it has more text. To get even better results, make sure to include your target keyword and see the magic unfold! Plus, your videos should be as accessible as possible.
For more on how you can optimize your video, we suggest reading this article.
Promote Your Video
To get more video views, share your video across different blogs and social media channels. With 3.8 billion active users, social media is like a safe haven for content creators. It can bridge the gap between brands and consumers, helping them connect and interact. If your video appeals to, say, Facebook users, then they’re likely to share it with others. In fact, 92% of those watching videos on their smartphones will share them with family and friends.
Naturally, the more shares, the bigger the visibility. So, social media and other platforms are crucial for your video marketing strategy if you want to reach a wider audience.
Evaluate Success
To determine whether or not your video marketing campaign was successful, you should keep track of video metrics. Many video hosting websites offer analytics that tell you just how well your videos are performing. If you have this insight, then you’ll know how many times a video is played or how many viewers take action after watching it.
At TargetVideo we’ve overhauled our video analytics, offering you an analytics engine that caters to your every need. Not only will you have access to general video metrics like unique views and user engagement, but you’ll also have an option to segment data according to your needs. So, you can zero in on Tracking Per Video, Tracking Bandwidth Consumption, and so much more!
Final Thoughts
Videos have gathered considerable momentum in the marketing world in the past decade. More and more people are realizing their worth, so experts believe that videos won’t lose traction in the foreseeable future. We hope our tips will help your marketing campaigns!
