There are screens EVERYWHERE. You likely carry one with you every single day. No matter the size or setting—whether it’s a phone, tablet, TV, computer monitor or video wall—there’s the potential to tell your brand story on each and every one of these attention-grabbing screens.
Video’s increasing popularity can also be seen as a problem. There is so much content and so many channels out there competing for eyeballs. You could get lost in the shuffle if you don’t have a nimble, streamlined content strategy in place.
After you figure out if it’s the right time for you to make a video, then it’s important to make sure you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to creation, placement and follow-through with the consumer. Here are a three quick tips to help you empower this touchpoint to its fullest.
1) Follow your audience.
Dollars are shifting across all marketing budgets to put more into creating digital content. As computers, phones and tablets become more powerful and connectivity continues to improve, consuming online content is easier and more accessible than ever before. Since your target audience is consuming content everywhere, you need to create content that fits just about everywhere. This content should include videos about your company, products and/or services. Video content on your own site. YouTube channels and ads. Snapchat Discover clips. Instagram Stories. Facebook videos and live streams. VR content libraries. As the avenues to distribute content continue to grow, your audience will be open to finding your videos anywhere and everywhere.
2) Keep it quick if you want more engagement.
Attention spans are short. We know this. And when your audience has a world of information at their fingertips, you can’t expect them to sit through an opus that covers every nuance of what makes your product or service the best in the world. In this case, less is certainly more. According to a Wistia study, viewers will watch and engage with your content the best if it’s kept to two minutes or less in length. Once you go past two minutes, you’ll start to lose them. It’s up to you (and your team) to figure out how to make the most of that two-minute window. They key is to make it memorable and make an emotional connection with your audience, because you may never get that viewer to come back for more of your videos again. If they do make it through the entire video, and they like it, you can bet they’ll share it with their friends.
3) Keep the content flowing.
Your ads, brand content and product stories live everywhere. The various online outlets mentioned in the first tip are just a few of the key storytelling vehicles to include in your overall video marketing strategy. It’s not just about sales. It’s about delivering a consistent flow of information and entertainment to build a relationship with your target audience. A content schedule is crucial to ensure you constantly refresh the video content you have throughout your marketing arsenal. Staying fresh means that you’re always keeping in contact with your audience, no matter if it’s an Instagram Story, short tweet with a video link or a product preview live on YouTube and Facebook. These frequent connections help you build a relationship with your audience—a relationship that leads to trust. That trust will be rewarded with future purchases and brand advocacy. In turn, you must be careful in cultivating that trust. Any missteps with a less-than-well-received video will result in lost customers and brand damage that spreads infinitely faster via the power of social media.
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