The Role of Videos in Social Media Marketing 

This is a guest post written by Ashley Baker.

We have stepped away from printed newspapers, magazines, and handouts as a society – at least for the most part. Today, people are interested in visually stimulating and dynamic content. We desire this content at a rapid rate, and businesses must cater to their target audiences by fulfilling the appeal with engaging social elements like videos.

At least 87% of businesses use video as a means of marketing products and services. If that many marketers include video in their social media content strategy, there’s probably a reason why!

In this article, you’ll learn how video marketing impacts the performance of businesses around the nation while gaining insight into social media video marketing tactics for your own company.

Social Media Marketing and Videos

Text alone isn’t usually eye-catching on social media, which is why expert digital marketers recommend adding a visual element to social posts. That leaves you with a few options: photos, videos, GIFs and, arguably, polls.

Interestingly, viewers are more likely to retain the information they learned from a video as opposed to reading it as text. Not only that, watching something as a video can take less time than reading content. That’s why you always chose to do a book report over a novel that also had a movie in grade school, right?

For the same reason, video helps users understand what’s being relayed in a visual way. Eye-catching thumbnails and even the video content itself attract users to watch.

Now, how do you get those viewers to remain watching the video, gain interest in your company, and even convert to a sale?

Components of a Business Marketing Video

Videos can be appealing to different audiences, so your target audience will determine the type of video to create and how the content in that video is relayed.

For example, children might be more interested in a video that is short, has animations, and uses an array of colors. Conversely, adults might be more interested in longer videos with minimal animations and varying colors.

With that in mind, there are few components that are important to include in your videos.

• Introduction: let viewers know who you are. Sharing your title, position, or status with them encourages them to trust that what you’re saying is valid and useful as opposed to untrustworthy.
• Content: give people a reason to stay engaged with the content, whether it be humor or emotional appeal.
• Connection: relate to the viewers by explaining a way in which the business pertains to them.
• Reference: use knowledgeable references in the video as opposed to stating vague ideas without concrete details.
• Call to Action: let them know what step(s) you want them to take next. Videos should encourage viewers to take an action such as visiting your website, subscribing to your channel, or following your business’ social profiles.

Video Marketing Content Ideas

Coming up with ideas for your agency isn’t hard! Start by looking around your workspace for inspiration. Whether the people around you, place you’re located in, or things that surround you are of interest. You can use those to your advantage! Here are some video marketing ideas for businesses:

• Events: give those who couldn’t attend the event insight into the occasion while providing attendees with content to share along with the caption, “I was there!”
• Product Releases: generate excitement from followers by sharing your newest product or service via video.
• Interviews: interview one of your company’s leaders, a well-known person in the community or a celebrity about a topic concerning your business.
• Company Profile: let your followers learn more about the company by detailing the vision, mission and values of the organization.
• Demonstrations: show people how to use your product or service. A video is a great way to help prospective consumers understand how something works.

Critical Video Marketing Steps for Businesses

Once you’ve determined what kind of video you’ll create, take the following video marketing steps from research to analyzation.

• Research: determine the audience you’re targeting for the video. The audience will decide which type of content is suitable, entertaining, and applicable to the group. You can also inspect the steps your competitors take on their social media platforms to see what works well for them.
• Plan: brainstorm a variety of ideas that your audience would be interested in. Start by making a list of the subjects you took note of in the research stage and come up with content ideas that relate to those matters.
• Create: this is the fun part – you get to shoot the video! Get imaginative and showcase your branded content in a personable way.
• Edit: revising and refining your work is just as important as creating it. Take your time ensuring the quality of the content, as you want this to be a piece that people are drawn to watch and share with others. Furthermore, people watch videos on their mobile devices throughout the day, so make sure to optimize your content for mobile viewing. Many social platforms have tools for making your video fit the dimensions of the social network, but it’s important to keep in mind the frame while you’re filming and editing it with software.
• Review: make sure your content is free of errors (i.e., stumbling over words, low microphone volume) and ensure the way you edited it is ready for publishing. You will also want to make sure you transcribe your videos properly.
• Promotion: teasing your video – as well as other digital content – can evoke interest in your brand. People love being the first to know about something exciting, and it entices people to share their enthusiasm with others.
• Publish: share your video across social media during times of high engagement, which you can determine from the analytics section of your business’ social media profile.
• Respond: don’t leave your fans, followers, or friends hanging – respond to their comments on your social posts. Acknowledge their contribution, feedback, or opinion to show that their thoughts are valued. Responding could make a difference regarding whether they’ll choose to engage with your content again or not.
• Analyze: review the analytics for the video by evaluating the total number of people who saw the video (reach plus impressions), engagement of the content, as well as the total number of views and minutes watched. This will help you understand what works and doesn’t work for your business’ video strategy.

Conclusion

Video marketing has become an advertising staple for marketers across the globe. Not only is the audial and visual content appealing to the senses, but videos also could bring out viewers’ emotions.

Digital marketers can use video marketing in the business content marketing strategy to captivate prospective consumers, which is an essential step in every organization’s marketing funnel.

Author Bio:

 

Ashley Baker is the digital content manager at Code Authority – a technology consulting and software development company in Frisco, Texas. When she’s not writing engaging, SEO-optimized content for clients, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones and her rescue dog.

 

 

Are you currently using videos in your social media marketing?