Nowadays, as users we don't want to waste our time scrolling through social media. We want information to be presented to us in a quick, simple format that is easy to digest. To satisfy this need, more and more brands are turning to video.
The rise in companies using video marketing has increased significantly over the last couple of years, with video now dominating the majority of social platforms. As a marketing channel, video content has evolved from a trend to becoming an essential part of any digital or brand strategy.
The primary goal of social media content for brands is to engage with their audience, whether it's in the form of an interview, product promotion or to express their brand morals and ethics. This is where video content marketing comes in.
On platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the use of a video creates physically larger social posts that occupy much more space on a user’s social feeds. In comparison to text, videos therefore have far less chance of being quickly scrolled passed and ignored.
It's one thing acquiring this space, but once you have it, it's all about connecting with your audience in order to keep them engaged with your content.
Connecting with your audience through video
As consumers we want to feel connected to the brands we love. Video can help us achieve this; whether it’s through triggering a memory, a specific emotion or by solving a problem we can relate to, all of these attributes contribute to building brand loyalty. The use of video content allows brands to portray themselves dynamically and with emotion, whereas text heavy content and even images can sometimes come across as static and impersonal.
It works in the same way as an advert you would see on TV. Some stand out more than others; and usually, the reason for this is that you find something that resonates with you; thus making you form an emotional connection.
When creating video content, you need to think about who you want to see it. Once you have established this target audience, identify what is important to them, what they value, and above all, what will catch their attention. From here, you can piece together the features of your video which are most likely to create a brand to consumer connection.
Video content marketing can condition consumers to feel a certain way towards brands, and once an attachment is made, your audience far more likely to favour your brand over your competitors.
The purposes of video
Video can be used as a form to elevate brands presence across social platforms. A few examples of this include:
Countdowns/ sneak peaks
Interviews
Brand building (expressing the morals and ethics)
Demonstrations/ tutorials
Brands that promote products or services can physically show the benefits of what they are promoting to their audience through video.
This also gives the user a better understanding of what they could potentially be purchasing, which edges them closer to making a conversion.
Video content can be used to either quickly grab users attention for 30 seconds or can draw them in for 3 minutes, where they could gain a deeper understanding of the brand and what it stands for.
Social Media Video Restrictions
When creating video content, other than the target audience, the platform it will be promoted from must also be considered. Most platforms are straight-forward to use, making it easy to upload and share you videos. Two major platforms, Twitter and Instagram, do however have a couple of restrictions you need to know about prior to creation.
Twitter Videos
Twitter is a great choice to promote your video content from, with the opportunity for reach and impressions being a huge benefit. Twitter has a 140 seconds time limit for videos which can be tricky when publishing a longer video, for example, an interview. If the video exceeds this, another way to upload the content is to edit it down where you can and if this isn’t possible, try posting as two separate videos in a thread i.e. Part 1 & Part 2.
Instagram Videos
Instagram also produces opportunity for reach with video content, however there is a 60 second time limit which can definitely throw a few spanners in the works. There is, however, a way to work around this by using the feature which allows you to upload multiple images and videos. This means you can cut your video into 60 seconds or less videos and upload them together in one post. The sizing of the video should also be considered as the recommended format is 1080 x 920 pixels.
Promote with YouTube Content
YouTube is the king platform for video content. It's a great avenue to use to promote your content through to other social media platforms, whilst also driving traffic to your YouTube channel -it’s a win-win! If videos are planned and consistent, YouTube can work wonders for brands. YouTube videos can be shared through different social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, to work around the video restrictions some of these platforms may have.
Video Accessibility
To ensure video content can be enjoyed by all if not many, they need to be able to speak for themselves, whether users watch them with the sound on or off. Music and sounds should be added to enhance the viewing experience, however should not be 100% necessary to understand the context of the content. Therefore, videos which feature speech should also include subtitles and text to assist the viewer.
Video Music
When it comes to applying music to your video, make sure that it fits in with the context of the video. It’s important that the music chosen doesn’t deter your audience and stop them from watching the whole video. Licensing also needs to be considered when choosing any music for video content.
Video Content Marketing Summed Up
To conclude, brands trying to make a mark in the video content sphere need to learn fast with 87% of businesses using video as a marketing tool in 2019, there’s no room for content which does not stand out and speak to their target audience. To create great video content, brands need to remember who they specifically want to target, where they want to target their audience i.e. which platforms, and ultimately what their video needs to say.
If you’re looking to promote your brand through video and across social media contact our social media team via email at [email protected] or by calling 08453 31 30 31.