Posted by Videos have become the most popular choice of individuals for content consumption today. According to Wyzowl, around 86% of businesses are leveraging video as their marketing tool. 93% of marketers believe that videos are an important part of their marketing strategy.
With video marketing taking center stage in the marketing industry, businesses should consider investing time and efforts in video production going forward. Are you leveraging video assets to build your brand across social media?
Here are some reasons why video marketing should be a part of your marketing strategy.
- Video content is easy to understand, engaging, and memorable
- Video captures viewers’ attention for a longer time resulting in more exposure and engagement compared to the other types of content.
- It offers a personalized medium to engage with your audience. This method of unique messaging is one way you can drive conversions.
- You can repurpose videos across multiple platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, as well as LinkedIn. Thus you can save the time and effort required for generating fresh content.
Besides, social videos can also support you with employee engagement and other organizational initiatives. For instance, employee onboarding can be simplified with a short video, giving the remote employees a virtual office tour. These videos will not only help you carry out onboarding faster but also connect with your employees better.
Similarly, social videos can make a great tool for your change management initiatives, thus bridging the gap between the management and employees.
Thus, businesses can use videos to not only boost their social marketing efforts but also build strong relationships with their internal customers, their employees.
Now that we have learned the benefits of social videos, let’s get to the ‘how.’ We have compiled this seven-step guide to help you create a successful social media video marketing strategy.
Step 1 — Set Goals for Video Marketing
There could be various reasons you would want to get started with video marketing. Before you go ahead with making a video marketing plan,
you need to set clear goals.
Ask yourself these questions –
- What do I wish to achieve via these videos?
- How will these videos help my brand?
- Which stage of the social media marketing funnel will this video fall into?
Once you have answers to these questions, you will move a step closer to deciding your goals. It could be –
- Increasing brand awareness
- Facilitating online engagement
- Educating your customers
- Increasing website traffic
Every marketing strategy comprises various stages that describe the customers’ journey with the brand. Remember your goals must be aligned with these stages to deliver the right video content to your audience.
Take a look at this video by Coca-Cola –
Check out how Coca-Cola portrays its brand as a product that unifies people.
Their message is simple. But, how they have showcased their message is noteworthy.
Another video that you must watch is this one by Help Scout.
Help Scout is a help desk software used by customer support teams. Their video gives the viewers a glance into their product. It focused on how its product can help support teams reduce their workload and work smartly.
Step 2 — Decide on Your Platform(s)
Choosing the right platform is the next essential step. Today, several platforms can guarantee you success at video marketing. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn to name a few.
However, publishing videos on all platforms would be a waste of effort if you do not know where your customers are active. User demographics play a significant role in video marketing.
This study by HubSpot throws light on the most common platforms used for video consumption.
Every social platform has its purpose. For example, a small business owner might find its audience on Instagram or Facebook while LinkedIn would be ideal for an enterprise organization looking to engage its B2B audience.
Check out the Instagram page of the handmade bags store, Maisha Lifestyle. Their video marketing strategy is majorly focused on Instagram. They are leveraging the Instagram Reels feature to reach out to their audiences. Notice how they are successfully engaging their audience on this channel.
Let’s look at one more example.
Later, a social media scheduler app has an incredible strategy for its YouTube channel. They have created a dedicated playlist to educate their users about making the most of social media marketing.
Step 3 — Select Your Video Types and Formats
Once you have defined your goals and decided on the platforms, focus on the type and style of your videos.
Here are the top seven best video formats you can include in your video marketing strategy to engage your audience and boost your brand image.
- About Us videos — These videos help businesses show the human side of their company. They also offer a peek into the company culture.
- Product videos — These are brand narratives that share the features and benefits of a product or service.
- Explainer videos — These videos are designed to capture the audience’s attention. They usually share how a product is to be used and carry a strong call to action.
- Founders’ message videos — As the name suggests, they are usually a message from the founder, giving the audience (customers, investors, and employees) a glimpse of the company’s culture and its vision and mission.
- Promotional videos — These videos are created with the intent to promote a product or service. They carry content that outrightly asks prospects to try the product.
- Customer Testimonials — These are brand advocacy videos that act as social proof. Customers who have tried the product speak of it and how it impacted their lives.
It could also be employees talking about their experience when working with the organization.
- Event videos — These videos are a great way to cover events, such as meetups, seminars, launches, and other company celebrations. They are great to make audiences feel included, regardless of their location.
Including the right information in videos helps you capture the attention of the audience. For example, a person looking for a social media scheduler like Crowdfire would want to know more about the product and its features. In that case, a product or explainer video will serve the purpose just like this video.
On the other hand, a person wanting to purchase an outfit might want to watch styling or promotional videos.
Calmna is a fashion brand that wishes to bridge the gap between ethnicity and comfort. They have collaborated with Sayanti, an Instagram blogger for an outfit styling video.
Check out how Sayanti pairs this attractive Anarkali suit set with statement accessories. This outfit would be ideal for an upcoming wedding season.
To attract the right audience, you should tailor your video content to assist or educate your audience. It could be a short 30 seconds video for Instagram or a 2-minute explainer video for your YouTube channel. As long as the search intent is satisfied, your video marketing strategy will perform well.
Besides video types, video formats play a major role in marketing success. The MP4 format is ideal for social media because of its exceptional quality and streaming capabilities.
Step 4 — Plan Video Production
Video production is a lengthy process that requires an experienced team. You can choose to hire an agency or have an in-house team produce videos for you.
However, it is important to be clear about your objectives and what you expect, failing which you may have to deal with multiple changes. Further, the team may misinterpret the brief, thus negatively impacting your video outcomes All this could call in for additional recording or shooting time. Hence, it is best to be transparent about your thoughts and convey your expectations to the team.
Remember having a dedicated video promotion plan would help you save time and effort. We have listed down a few easy steps to get you started with your video planning.
- Brainstorm and define the content for your video. This includes a story, characters, messaging, style, and length of the video.
- Once that is decided, move to the video script. Is your video going to have a voice-over or a dialogue? Is it going to have any visuals or background music? Choose something that will help you put your message out there clearly.
- Assign the scriptwriting work to the content team while you work on getting the shoot setup ready.
- Maintain consistent open communication with camera operators and sound specialists to finalize the shot and lighting.
- Book the venue and equipment in advance to avoid last-minute hurdles.
- Test the equipment before commencing.
Step 5 — Know What Post-Production Entails
Most of us assume post-production is similar to video editing. But, in reality, post-production covers processes, such as editing the film, adding visual effects, working on sound effects, editing the soundtrack, adding closed captions and textual content, and more. Post-production is indeed a lengthy and challenging process.
Here are some of the most popular editing software used in the post-production process.
- Final Cut Pro X
- Adobe Premiere
- Avid Media Composer
- HitFilm Express
- Adobe Lightroom
The post-production process helps in creating masterpiece videos. So, make sure you invest adequate time with your team at this stage.
Step 6 — Schedule and Promote the Videos
Although a majority of the global population has access to social media, they are active on these channels during specific times of the day. So, it’s best to reach your audience when they are most active on these channels.
This infographic by Ivy Marketing shares the ideal times marketers can reach their audiences on various social channels.
If sharing video content on multiple channels feels like a challenging endeavor, count on tools. Sign up to Crowdfire, a social media management tool that helps brands schedule their content for various social accounts from one place.
Step 7 — Understand and Analyze Metrics
The last step in social media video marketing strategy would be to measure its performance. You can have a look at the number of views, and engagement (likes, shares, and comments) you receive on your videos to analyze the videos.
Each platform comes with a built-in analytics module that offers insights into the performance. You can use these insights to identify which videos resonated the most with your audience. You can also discover what aspects of your video require improvement.
For example, YouTube offers an excellent analytics module to share insights into video performance. You can learn about your subscribers, the content reach, engagement, as well as revenue.
It also offers you a detailed breakdown of metrics for individual videos.
You can compare your channel growth over time. The YouTube algorithm also helps in identifying the top-performing videos, traffic sources, top search terms, and many other metrics for better channel optimization.
Wrapping Up
Video is the new future, especially on social platforms which is the most widely-used channel globally. Hence, no brand can afford to ignore the power of social videos.
We hope this post has offered you a better view of social video marketing. Follow the steps shared above to build a robust video marketing strategy and engage your target audience.