There is no doubt that online video is a part of our lives now. According to the most recent statistics, more than 4 billion videos are viewed each day on YouTube alone, while more than 300 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute of every day. The medium has become ubiquitous, and users—which include your clients and customers—are clamoring for more. Here are some concepts and suggestions to think about when you start planning to integrate video into your content marketing program.
Video content must be persuasive, and tell a story. While stunts like the ALS ice bucket challenge can quickly go viral and become a cultural sensation, gimmicks are generally an ineffective method by which to engage your audience. The most persuasive clips from successful companies are more often short informative clips that subtly yet honestly highlight the benefits of your products and services in a way that leads your customer or clients to engage with you and consider purchasing your products or services. Consider including product reviews, demonstrations, customer testimonials and other content that demonstrate your company’s expertise.
Decide between originality and outsourcing. You will also need to decide whether you should create and post your own videos, or videos created by partners, your clients, or a professional videography provider. It has been demonstrated that video that has been tested and professionally produced usually delivers higher customer demand. Consider having your own videos produced by a professional but do take the time to highlight the real people, whether they’re employees or customers, who make your organization successful. A strong narrative is essential to creating genuine engagement. Effective storytelling brings video content to life and engages people in a way that more traditional marketing materials cannot. Also remember that everyone has different learning styles, so video may be a highly effective medium to help your company reach a customer base that has previously eluded you.
Define your content strategy. There are a variety of ways to engage viewers but an underlying philosophy is key to maintaining a consistent tone. Are you aiming to inspire your viewers to action, whether it’s to buy a product or consider doing things in a different way? Is your strategy purely to provide entertaining videos that help highlight your web page and social media approach? Documentary style programs can help enlighten viewers and help better explain what it is that your firm wants to provide to the market. Finally, educational videos show viewers how to do things and use products.
Define your distribution strategy. It also helps, in this modern age, to think beyond simply embedding video on your company website. Distributing content on YouTube and Facebook can be a huge draw for viewers, and investing in search engine optimization strategies can also help fuel your video-based content. It’s also important to take mobile technologies into account when defining your video distribution strategy. With almost as many cell phones (6.8 billion) out there as there are people in the world (approximately 7 billion), it’s not a wise strategy to ignore the mobile channel. Implementing a “video everywhere” strategy will help you engage clients and customers across multiple platforms.
Building a video strategy that augments your marketing program, increases customer engagement with your business, and bolsters your company’s image is simply a very necessary element to build. It doesn’t take massive amounts of marketing dollars to produce the desired effect. By building and curating the appropriate content, testing your video initiatives, optimizing content for multiple channels and analyzing your efforts, your efforts will produce the maximum value from your video-integrated marketing program and help drive both sales and visibility for your business.
