Is  Video in your Go-to-Market Checklist?

You’re spending on Digital Media. Social Selling. Email Marketing. Even pricey campaigns across Social Networks.

But the big question for every business owner today is:

How can my product (or service) benefit from a highly visual and engaging video content?

 

Think dialog with customers, before and afters, testimonials, human interest stories. And beyond these, there is still room to create something unique that really  talks to your consumer through video.

 

Because nothing tells a story better.

Video is on every digital success list, be it a B2B or B2C, Social Enterprise or a Community. Marketers consistently name video as a top 3 effective social marketing strategy (Source: eMarketer.com).

Going viral is a reality and a possibility – in fact, it happens every so often – creating amazing brand and event recall. Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 which helped raise a whopping $115 Million.

But first, a few facts.

• YouTube is now the second biggest search engine, with 300 hours of content uploaded every minute.

• Most social media channels have incorporated video into their feeds – for a reason – no. of daily views now exceed 5 billion.

• Experts say 65% of all users are visual learners – the brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than text.

• As per Facebook, their  video ad campaign for Heineken Light reached 54% of its target audience and grew brand awareness by 11% in just 3 days.

• And here are some more from Facebook.

• Trend alert: CISCO estimates that by 2017, 74% of all internet traffic will be Video.

Scripting your Brand’s Success Story

So yes, we all agree that most consumers are becoming influenced by quality video content. But what does it take to propel yours to the next level?

Relate brand to Experiences:

Make your content relevant, specific and find a topic or niche. Research indicates that most consumers (82%) prefer videos about products than about companies (48%).

Find the Audience

Your Video must target the right social media mix. Within the media, are you addressing the correct demographic and geography? And if you can further segment the reach of the message, your video can become a very powerful medium to reach your consumers.

Destination Domain

Create videos on your domain, preferably embed them, before linking them to other sites – this ensure more overall traffic for your website. But at the same time, make YouTube campaigns a key part of your Marketing Strategy.

Define Outcomes

Have a clear call to action (CTA) – Learn More or Subscribe work great, or you might consider a Buy prompt, it all depends on your business and what the clip is all about.

Don’t Get Lost

You need to be found to be seen. Same rules apply to Video as they do to text. Clearly defined tags with relevant keywords enable effective SEO (search engine optimization) and ultimately help your page visibility . And don’t forget to create video sitemaps.

Responsive Reach

Given the high social usage on smartphones and tablets, combining the content and channel can yield strong ROIs, but ensuring that your video content is mobile friendly is critically important.

Bottom line, while Video marketing can give your brand a great reach, we need to remember that the impact of Video on social media is bi-directional. While social media tremendously increases the reach of video marketing, video content is becoming equally important to the growth of social too.

So don’t be surprised if Facebook nudges your video on creative use of garden tools to a much higher audience coverage than one ever expected. Or your inspiring 30 second clip on customer experiences becomes the next super-surge for your brand.