Kristin Hovde
Trying to create an online presence for any business is hard work, taking tons of hours, patience, and consistency before even the slightest results are seen.
Besides writing great content, people love to see visuals because it gives them a better idea of how your product works, what your company does, or anything else that you may want to let your audience know.
As fantastic as infographics and pictures are at effectively getting your audience’s attention, video is another online tool that all businesses, from small to large, should be utilizing.
With a billion people using YouTube on a daily basis, you would have the opportunity to reach a huge demographic that you may have missed.
If you would like to add videos to your social media campaign, here are some tips on getting it done right.
Reason Behind The Video
Before you can even begin shooting your video, you need to think about the reason you are doing it.
Every marketer has their own motivation for wanting to get their company’s name out there and just making videos because the competition is doing it isn’t a good enough reason. One benefit to using video for branding is because it will help boost Google rankings.
One Forrester survey revealed that a video is 53 times more likely to show up on page 1 of Google compared to text web pages. Using video or vlogs are also an excellent way to connect with your audience by directing your message in a way that makes them feel as if they are talking directly to you.
The list goes on and on as to why you should take out the camera and begin shooting your first video, but having a specific reason in mind will help you determine what message you should be trying to convey to your audience.
Know Your Audience
Tailor your message based on what will trigger an emotional response from your audience.
Not every demographic will react in the same way, so by knowing who’s attention you are trying to get, you’ll be able to create a message that will hold information they will find useful.
Keep The Length Short When Possible
Most viewers have a pretty short attention span and prefer videos that are no more than a couple minutes long.
However, this rule does not hold true for all types of videos.
For example, some companies create educational videos that contain actionable information. For example, Moz, an SEO software company, produces a variety of videos with SEO tips their viewers can use on their own websites. Their videos usually run anywhere from 5 minutes to 40 minutes.
In this case, the video should be long enough to get your points across. But if your main goal behind creating your video is to promote your business or products/services, the video should be no longer than a commercial, which is usually about 30 seconds to a minute.
Don’t Focus On Just One Website To Post The Video
The obvious choice for most marketers would be YouTube, since a billion people use it every day. However, the more websites you can get your video posted on, the larger your audience will be. Some other options are:
- Instagram Video: If you love posting pictures on Instagram, you now have the option to post videos. Unfortunately, you can only record up to 15 seconds of video.
- Facebook: Since your fans took the time to Like your page, they will probably be most likely to watch the videos you post on your business page. People on Facebook are also more likely to post comments and likes on the videos than they are on websites like YouTube.
- Google+ Hangouts: A Hangout is more like a Skype video call, allowing you to hold webinars are video chats with the people in one of your circles.
There are plenty of other options available other than YouTube, but these 3 ideas should give you other thoughts on where to post your videos.
Make It Entertaining
One of the things that draw people towards videos instead of articles is because of the entertainment value. If your audience finds your videos interesting, they will not only continue watching it, but they will most likely continue wanting to watch your videos and will also go to your website.
If they end up being bored by your videos, they aren’t going to want to sit through it and could end up going to the competitor’s videos instead.
Add some energy and entertainment to your videos and you could win over the loyalty of your audience.
Promoting your business and/or products through videos is an effective way to increase your brand awareness and get people talking about you. With these tips, you create videos that your audience will want to watch.
(222)
