Last week I spoke at the Figaro Digital Marketing Summit at the Emirates Stadium about video marketing.
As an agency, we often get asked by brands for help with their video marketing, as many aren’t sure where to start. One of the common myths about video marketing is that it is expense to create video content. I would disagree. There are many different types of video you can produce, and each type can help tell your brand story online and adhere to your brand guidelines, without becoming overly expensive.
According to Cisco, video content will make up over 80% of global web traffic by 2019. That’s two years away. Video has never been more important, and it’s crucial brands put a strategy in place to ensure they are playing in the same ball park as their audience.
Here are my top tips to help you make the most of your video marketing strategy over the next 12 months:
1) KEEP AN EYE ON TRENDS
Looking at the public stats across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, the video consumption trends are heading in one direction: mobile only. As such, when creating video, consider how it will look in both landscape and portrait mode on mobile devices.
2) USE NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT IS READILY AVAILABLE
A few years ago the barrier to video success was technology. Smartphones didn’t quite match up to the HD quality of SLR cameras, and as such video production was clunky, slow and expensive. Nowadays smartphone video content is excellent, and combined with the availability of drones, 360 degree cameras, VR headsets and live streaming, there are many different devices available to create video content. Facebook and YouTube also support 360 degree videos and live streaming, providing brands with the platform to create fresh, exciting video content.
3) AUTHENTICITY MATTERS
Storytelling of any kind needs to be authentic and on-brand. With the onslaught of the fake news argument authentic content has never been more important. Don’t get sucked into the world of cute cats and dogs – stick to your brand story. Salience, affection and emotional triggers can be created in ways that align with your brand guidelines.
4) AUDIENCE MATTERS
As you may have seen across our site, and in our last blog post, audience targeting is incredibly important. In fact I read an article over the weekend that suggested that because of the highly targeted data gathering collected by the Leave campaign on Facebook last year, and the resulting messages pushed out that their audience targeting may have had a huge contribution to the Brexit vote.
That may be an extreme example, but it is important to understand what makes your audience tick, on what platform, at what times. You need to make them care, without simply bombarding them with content.
5) EMOTION MATTERS
Arguably the most important tip of all. You need to make your audience care. Not just about your brand, but about the content they view. The best way to achieve this is to provoke an emotional reaction. I shared the chart below during my talk, which shows the average shares per day for videos eliciting particular emotions – with Exhilaration, Hilarity and Astonishment being the main triggers. According to Unruly, 65 percent of videos that elicited a feeling of exhilaration were remembered.
6) BUDGET MATTERS
Video content can be inexpensive to create. There are many brands online that are creating video content by simply putting a selection of images together and creating a slideshow – Culture Trip and BuzzFeed to name two. Stock video footage can be bought cheaply from sites such as Videohive, Dissolve and Pond5, and mobile video footage and images can be stitched together using apps such as Splice.
As Casey Neistat says in this useful video,
“If all it took to be good [at video] was to have the right equipment, the people that have the most money would always win.”
7) TEST AND LEARN
This is no ‘one magical formula’ for great video content. We wish there was, but the truth is every brand is different. Audiences are different. What works for one brand may not work for another, for many reasons. As such, I would stress the importance of testing and learning. Monitor which types of video get the most reach and engagement. Keep an eye on your analytics and optimise against format, time, platform, emotion and message topic.
8) YOUR STORY MATTERS
You need to connect with your audiences, and the best way to do that is through emotive, authentic storytelling. It’s not easy, but it is very important. That same story and that same messaging also needs to be weaved through the rest of your digital marketing efforts too, so that your audience is exposed to the same brand messaging and story, regardless of how and where they interact with your brand.
The best example of video marketing and storytelling I saw at the Figaro event last week was from Knorr. They humanised flavour. Take a look below:
9) GET PLANNING
Time is ticking. If you haven’t got a video marketing strategy, it’s time to create one. Start with looking at resource within your company. Who can help? How can your agency roster help? Then work out the messaging, the story and the content plan. Remember, there are many different types of video you can create to keep things varied and fresh:
- 360 degree video
- Facebook Live / Periscope video
- Testimonial videos
- Animated videos
- Webinar / how to videos
- Explainer videos
- Entertainment videos
- Unboxing videos
Using the test and learn hint above, find out what works best for your brand.
There you have it! 9 video marketing tips for 2017. Feel free to add your tips in the comments section below, and watch my video marketing presentation online here.