Video marketing is a tool to promote your brand, product, or service. It connects with emotions and can create a powerful relationship between consumers and businesses that simple text cannot. Therefore, it’s not surprising that video content has become increasingly important across social media channels, particularly since the start of the pandemic. Since March 2020, online media consumption has increased by 215% in the U.S. alone.
Types of Video Marketing
There are several common types of video marketing. These include:
- Banner ads – appear on a webpage, usually at the top of the screen
- Pre-/Mid-/Post-roll ads – can run during various points of a video that your audience is watching
- Live video – livestreaming content through an app/online platform
- Sponsored videos – when a brand pays to promote their business via a video on an app/online platform
- Short-form videos – short videos posted to social media platforms
- Webinars – an online seminar
- TV ads – a standard commercial
Most social media platforms are seeing an increase in popularity of short-form videos. One example is Instagram. Because of TikTok’s success, Instagram, once exclusively a photo sharing app, has moved to featuring more reels and short videos instead of static images. Its algorithm pushes reels more than photos to encourage users to create video content instead. Another example is YouTube. Adding to its video sharing repertoire, it introduced short form videos as Shorts.
How to Plan Your Video Content
Before creating content, you need to plan out your video campaign. Determine who your key audience is and where they are in the sales funnel. If you make overwhelming, technical content intended for someone new to your brand, you’ll likely lose them as a consumer because they aren’t ready to dive straight into the nitty gritty of what you do. They need a broader brand introduction first to get a feel for what you do and if it’s relevant to them. You’ll also need to decide if you’re targeting or retargeting your audience as well as how broad you want your audience to be. This information will help you decide how to effectively market your video.
Audience targeting lets you know where to post and in what context. It can even help you decide if your audience is more likely to view your marketing video on a computer or a smartphone. For example, Facebook found that people are 1.5x more likely to consume video content on its platform via a smartphone. Similarly, targeting may help you identify which platform to post your video content on for maximum potential engagement. If you’re considering posting content in an app, make sure your content matches the type that’s usually posted on it. For instance, a funny video is fitting for TikTok, but an educational video is better for LinkedIn.
Next, it’s important to determine campaign metrics. Consider your brand goals and how you can measure the campaign. Is it website clicks, shares, or something else? Aside from identifying metrics to track, outline your timeline and budget.
Avoid starting content filming until you have a plan of action. You’re using video marketing for a reason – make it count! When producing your video content, create enough so you have the option to use a variety of clips across platforms. Reworking content for another platform, though, is helpful. It’s also easier to produce content in bulk, especially when using animation or utilizing stock clips, so you don’t have to keep finding/creating content throughout the process.
When it comes to the editing style you choose, try to match the aesthetics of the platform you’ll be posting on whenever possible. A tv commercial will look different from a webinar which will look different than a Reel. If you need help bringing your video to fruition, get help from a video marketing agency, like WKH!
Benefits Of Video Marketing
A marketing video is audiovisual, making it more dynamic for a viewer. It forces a viewer to pause and pay attention, and it allows you to go more in depth about your brand.
Having a successful video campaign can also increase your brand’s credibility significantly. Increased views create higher search volumes, thus ultimately increasing consumer purchases. In 2022, people spent approximately 19 hours per week watching online videos. The importance of video marketing is clear. If your target audience is consuming online content, you need to take advantage of the increased traffic by utilizing video marketing tools.
Along with traditional written content, videos show up in Google search results. Therefore, adding a marketing video can increase your SEO results. For this reason alone, 31% of marketers currently take advantage of the format.
A Word of Caution About Video Marketing
There are two downsides with video content that you need to be aware of. Your video must be engaging enough to keep the viewer watching, because they may not get all the information when they click away. Ad relevancy is also a potential issue, because there’s a chance that the ads shown around your video may not be connected to your brand and/or could be in conflict with your brand values. (Think ads on YouTube.)
Start Your Video Marketing Journey
The first step is deciding how your brand fits into video marketing and what you want out of it. Without a clear path, your video won’t be at its full potential. Contact us today for strategy help.
