Video content is in high demand among marketers and advertisers as they look for ways to effectively engage their audience. 99 percent of marketers who produced videos in 2017 will continue to scale production through 2018 and beyond. There are more reasons behind this unrelenting demand for video content that all marketers should be aware of.
Video presents a massive opportunity for marketers to relay their brand’s story in a dynamic format, while building greater brand authority, and subsequently generating higher engagement. It can influence buying decisions as people seek to make informed purchase choices through video reviews and tutorials. This educational experience showcases the benefits of your company or product in creative and compelling ways.
Some recent studies further prove that people love video content, and they want to see more of it:
- People remember 70% of videos they consume and share video content 1200% more often than text or visuals
- Viewers watch over 5 billion YouTube videos, and over 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day
- Including video content in landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80 percent.
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Since video has become so popular, most brands are rushing to create this type of content. However, because so many businesses utilize video to capture customer attention and increase brand exposure, it makes it challenging to cut through the noise and get the attention your brand needs.
So, how do you create compelling video content that will resonate with your target audience and then scale the production to other markets and channels?
1) Make relatable content
Consumers increasingly don’t like or trust ads, so the best method of engagement is through more authentic storytelling.
Through your video, you have the opportunity to showcase that your brand can easily fit into their way of life and day-to-day activities. Show what your brand stands for using experiences and models that resonate with your audience. In order for your customers to see why you matter, the content in the video must be relevant and relatable. Customers who identify with your values and also feel that the video is customized to their interests, are more likely to turn to your brand.
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2) Show your viewers why your brand matters
Videos break down communication channels with more personalized narratives. You can establish a voice and style that compliments your brand and speaks to your customer in a one-on-one conversation, showing authority and trustworthiness.
Instead of focusing your efforts on building a commercial message, make the content about their wants and needs. What problem are you solving for them? Try communicating the usefulness of your brand or product in an entertaining manner and your customer will recall the experience as something they piqued their interest.
3) Tell a compelling brand story
The content in your video should tell a story that captures the heart of your audience. This means that there needs to be real emotion (like anger, fear, surprise, or joy) balanced with drama and suspense to retain their attention. A simple narrative structure can achieve this:
- Start with a problem. There needs to be an obstacle or something at stake.
- Convince people you relate to their challenge with a supportive narrative.
- Offer a solution. Something has to be done about the problem, and you have the means to do the job.
- Success! Reward the viewer for sticking with you and retain their loyalty with an added incentive.
4) Look at the data and iterate
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You need to optimize your video content to truly capture customer attention and scale results. To do this, start by looking at metrics generated by your existing video library. Some stats you should analyze are:
- Video views: the number of users who watched at least 30 seconds from your video
- View-through rate (for video ads): the number of views (or engagements) divided by the number of times you’ve shown the ad
- Play rate: the number of people who watch a video divided by the number of impressions
- Video clicks: the number of times viewers clicked the video to reach an external destination (like your website)
- Clickthrough rate (CTR): the number of clicks generated by your video divided by the number of times it’s been viewed or served
- Average cost-per-view (CPV): the average amount you’ve paid for every view of a video ad
The metrics listed above provide a deeper understanding of your marketing efforts, and from there, you can establish goals and areas of improvement to garner stronger results. For example, factors like the number of clicks and views inform you of the overall audience impression of your video. You might want to track this on a weekly/monthly or quarterly basis and then set a goal of increasing it by a certain percentage over a period of time.
Collecting data is essential to optimizing your video content – one element at a time but there Is no one-size-fits-all solution to improve and optimize your video content, you simply need to take the time and resources to analyze your performance. If you can minimize video production costs you’ll get to see excellent results. An easy way to do that is to start testing what works by sharing short video clips on your social networks like Facebook and Instagram Stories. These platforms are a great testing ground with your followers, before you create a higher-production video for other channels.
Overall, video content is the best way to capture and retain customer attention. The top marketers have figured out how to balance information, emotions, and budget to tell an authentic brand story. Through this process, they’ve learned how to create something that resonates with audiences through tested and optimized video content.