It’s important for businesses to remember that when it comes to attracting an audience, the two most valuable words to keep in mind are “short” and “worthwhile.” Video marketing is your strongest asset when you focus on your customers’ daily needs and concerns. There is so much content being uploaded to social media platforms every minute that it can be difficult for users to make their content stand out.
What are some ways that marketers can use video to generate leads, engage customers, show off their brand, and make their content more relatable?
This post will explore the various video marketing platforms available, including Instagram and YouTube. Useful tips on how to make the most out of each social media platform in order to stay ahead of the competition. Real-life examples of businesses that are doing social media Marketing correctly are also included to give you some inspiration.
Like Vine, Instagram is a marketing platform that allows brands to advertise using photos and short video clips. Almost 60% of the world’s top brands are now using the app. This tool is affordable and easy to use, which is extremely helpful when you’re trying to get quick exposure in a creative way.
Instagram, the app known for its filtered photos, has gained 50% more users in the past 7 months, reaching a total of 150 million people as of September. Instagram gains one new user per second.
Its popularity is due to both brands and consumers. HubSpot reports that people are 40% more likely to respond to visual content as opposed to written content. They also say that videos generate 3 times the amount of inbound links than written posts.
Hashtags are often used on Instagram to promote favorites, contests, and to make posts more searchable with keywords. With that in mind, brands can create a more specific setting for their fans to share photos, giving themselves an advantage with a lot of user-generated content.
Instagram Quick Tips
- First of all, complete your profile . Don’t skip any steps, and be sure to link to other social sites and your own page.
- Interact ! Find users that are talking about your business or related fields. Follow and comment.
- Be visible . Show off your products, introduce employees and show behind the scenes, But don’t appear to be the used car salesman. Be consistent but avoid seeming like spam.
- Be personable . Engage with users as actual people with personality and not the wizard behind the curtain. People want to connect with brands that seem human.
- Use hashtags . Instagram search is only for hashtags, so if you don’t tag your content, it pretty much hits a dead end beyond your followers.
Brands doing it right
#avgeek” GE is great at using hashtags: “Watch this time-lapse of fan blades being installed on a #GEnx #engine, filmed last week during our #GEInstaWalk in Peebles, OH. #avgeek” #GE #AVgeek #Video #Technology”
Some of the most popular brands on Instagram are GE, Nike, Whole Foods Market, Target, and Starbucks.
Pros
- Filters
- 15 sec of videos vs 6 sec
- Videos are editable
- Stabilization of shaky shots
- Owned by Facebook therefore more potential connections
- You can choose your own thumbnail
Cons
- No looping option
- No embedding capabilities
- Can’t add text within the app
YouTube
So how do you use YouTube, the world’s largest video sharing site, and the No. 2 search engine, to successfully market your business, when 72 hours of content are added to the site every minute?
Before you decide to start using YouTube for your business, it’s important to ask yourself whether or not it will actually be beneficial for your brand. There’s no sense in using YouTube if it’s not going to help you achieve your business goals.
When it’s not right
If you are trying to create product-focused content that comes across more like a sales presentation, then you should try using a paid hosting service, like Wistia or Vidyard. You won’t be successful in building links to your pages if you use YouTube. The videos that are embedded only lead back to the original platform and do not create a link to your site.
When it’s right
You should only have a YouTube channel if it is relevant to your customers or whoever they are following. Ninety percent of online shoppers find brand videos helpful when making a purchasing decision, and sixty-five percent of consumers will visit a brand’s website after viewing a video to learn more, according to comScore.
The amount of money you should spend on content marketing varies depending on your industry, what kind of content you’re creating, and your business goals. Use what you feel will promote growth.
Most of the time, YouTube relies on the video’s ability to draw in consistent viewers.
Youtube Quick Tips
- Make quality a priority . Since it’s a longer format, be sure to use high quality video. Team up with a pro to shoot and make sure you get great audio.
- Use keywords . Be consistent and put keywords in video descriptions, tags, and titles to increase search results. Always include a link to your site in the video description, for traffic and SEO. Google’s got this algorithm in their search engine that makes it over 50% more likely for a site to rank higher in their search results if it contains video content than if it doesn’t.
- Start with great content . Give more thought to how-to’s, explainer videos, and tutorials to engage more with clients and prospects. Keep the connection with your audience by “including” them in community opportunities. Share presentations, footage from conferences or marketing events, and make them feel like they’re part of what you’re doing. Use video for interacting with viewers. Share customer feedback to solidify your legitimacy. Choosing the right content to display in your video marketing allows your audience to know more about what you’re doing, based on the informative, entertaining, or advertising nature of the finished product. This can improve recollection, increase credibility, and support overall perspective.
- Monitor Content . Google is working toward a channel ranking. That means that you can figure out what’s on your channel that’s causing the rest of your content to lose value. If something is performing poorly, you better remove it because it’s hurting you.
- Have a Call-To-Action . End your video by giving viewers a choice in what direction to take.
- Share! Once you’ve figured out what needs to be in your video and you’ve produced it, set it up to attract more attention. Get it on the YouTube platform, and then share it with your other social media accounts.
- Connect . Reach out to other businesses and audiences that are business-minded as well. Check out Facebook business pages and LinkedIn profiles.
- Strategize . Make online video and YouTube part of your marketing strategy to increase visibility, build trust with your audience, and turn potentials into consumers. Build a video SEO strategy and build your channel from scratch.
What videos should you be making?
As social media platforms have evolved, video has become an increasingly important form of content. The most successful social video content both informs and inspires viewers, leading them to pay attention to the video and potentially convert to paying customers. Read on to learn more about the different types of social video content you can create:
Explainer
Explainer videos are designed to explain how a product or service works. Explainer videos that are 60 seconds or less are perfect for Instagram Stories and mobile Facebook ads.
Teaser
Social media videos that include a preview of the content available on your YouTube channel or website can help increase traffic by encouraging viewers to click through for the full video. One way to get your viewers engaged is to start with a short clip that raises questions and leaves your viewers wanting more.
Product
This type of video is often the first step for potential customers in learning about your brand. More than just selling a product, businesses should show how their brand fits into the larger picture of their customers’ lives.
The product video on your website can be a deciding factor for whether customers purchase your product or not. First impressions matter!
Stories
This feature is similar to Snapchat in that it is a fullscreenvisual format that disappears after 24 hours. This means that you can post frequently and quickly without worrying about overwhelming your audience.
Even though Stories may not be permanent, they are still powerful video marketing tools. 62% of consumers say they became more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.
Reels
Instagram’s Reels are a response to TikTok’s popularity and a way to create short, entertaining videos that are 15-30 seconds long. Social media platforms can be used to share educational content, showcase newly launched products, and more.
TikToks
TikTok is a short-form video platform where the recommended length of a video is only 30 seconds. The greatest obstacle marketers encounter when utilizing social media platforms is the necessity to communicate the brand message in 30 seconds or less while also differentiating the brand from the millions of videos uploaded to the app on a daily basis.
Video carousels
If you need to communicate multiple benefits and features in an organized fashion, video carousels are a great format to utilize.
Some benefits to using video carousels instead of other types of social video content are that they are more interactive and engaging for viewers. With carousels, viewers can watch the video and also swipe through different cards which makes the experience more interactive.
Coming up with fresh social video content
As brands are expected to release more and more content online, it can be difficult to keep it all fresh and new. The next time you’re stuck brainstorming, try out the below tactics.
Look at the posts you have saved on Instagram or Pinterest and take note of which ones you are drawn to and why.
Look at your most successful posts and try to see what they have in common. Do they feature similar imagery or caption length? Do they include a strong call-to-action?
Sometimes the best way to stimulate creativity is to take a break and disconnect from all electronic devices. You could try going for a walk, or listening to a guided meditation, in order to relax. You might be surprised how refreshed you feel after!
Sometimes social media marketers just need a break from thinking up new content ideas. When the burnout is real, try these tactics:
- Repurpose your existing video content into social-specific teasers that drive traffic to the full video on your YouTube channel or website.
- Make high-performing social video content fresh again by turning clips into slow-mo Instagram stories .
- Use video marketing tools for social media like Vimeo Create to speed up your video-making process without sacrificing a sleek look and feel.
- Ask your audience what content they want to see from you in an Instagram Stories poll .
- User-generated content is enabling brands to meet people’s ever-increasing demands for new content— ask your followers to share their UGC with a branded hashtag and share the best ones on your own channels (with their permission, of course).
How to make the most of UGC
When you post user-generated content on your social media platforms, you’re not only encouraging your viewers to watch your content, but also to participate in its creation.
Encourage your audience to share user-generated content with your brand’s hashtag, so you can more easily find new content. If you find a stellar piece of content you want to use, ask the user for usage rights by commenting on the post with a script like:
“Thanks for the tag! Can we use your picture on our social media, website, and other marketing materials? To give us the go-ahead, reply with #yesBRANDNAME.”
Sample UGC script
Social video content marketing can be a lot of work and take up a lot of time, but luckily, there are now lots of ways for small business owners to create professional-looking content without having to hire someone. Video marketing software makes it easy for anyone to create, edit, and distribute video content. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a regular video pro, this software makes video marketing easy.
How and why to repurpose content for social media
Using your resources wisely is important when creating content, as it takes a lot of time and effort. This content strategy approach focuses on creating content that can be easily divided and used across multiple marketing channels. By doing this, you can generate more leads and traffic from a single piece of content.
If you have expensive video assets that you want to keep using, repurposing the content can give it an extended shelf life. This can save you money in the long run. Check out the New York Times. If you are looking for an example of a content strategy that can be divided up, look at the New York Times. Here are a few:
- Have a FAQ section on your website? Turn it into Instagram Stories, then save as a highlight to your profile.
- Read through old blog posts. Repurpose them as a social infographic or “how to” carousel on Instagram.
It is important to track the performance of your content so that you can continue to produce material that is effective and get rid of material that is not effective. The goals you set for your social media campaign will determine which metrics you should pay attention to.
A metric to focus on if your goals center around brand awareness and perceptions would be impressions (how many times your post is seen). Another metric to focus on would be reach (how many people see your post).
Engagement and engagement rates are two of the most useful tools for measuring the success of your social video content. The engagement rate is the number of interactions divided by the number of view Engagement is the number of times viewers interact with your video in the form of a like, comment, share, or clicked link. The engagement rate is the number of interactions divided by the number of views.
The engagement rate of a post is the amount of people who engage with it divided by the total number of impressions, telling you what percentage of people engage with your post out of those who see it.
It’s important to compare your engagement rate to similar businesses in your industry to get a more accurate gauge of how well you’re doing.
Related posts:
