How To Incorporate Video Content In Your Marketing Strategy

Is video part of your marketing strategy? If not, it needs to be! Video content is an engaging and informative way to get your message out. From social media to your website, you can use video to connect with your audience and share what your brand is all about. Check out these enlightening statistics from Lemonlight:

• 78% of people watch videos online each week and 55% of those watch videos daily.
• 69% of people say watching short videos is how they prefer to learn about a new product or service.
• The average amount of time spent per week watching videos online is seven hours and 55 minutes.
• The largest increase in video consumption is seen in people over 46 years old.
• 85% of people would like to see more videos from brands in 2021.

Are you sold on using this powerful tool to improve your marketing efforts? Great! Let’s dive into the different types of video content, apps to create them, what makes them engaging and how to optimize them!

10 Types Of Video Content:

1.  Company Culture/Meet The Team Videos

Your consumers want to get to know your brand and the people behind it. One of the best ways to show your audience your core values, culture, mission and team members is with video content. These videos give consumers an inside look at what sets your company apart from the rest and why your brand deserves loyalty from them.

According to Single Grain, “The culture behind a brand is the secret sauce that whets employee appetites and perks up bored, disenchanted consumers.” Culture videos show your company is more than just a process and that real humans with personality work there. A bonus of high-quality culture videos is that they can also attract new, motivated candidates to your company.

2. Roundup Videos

Roundups are the video form of listicles. Listicles are easily transformed into video content and are often more engaging to your audience than written text. Make sure your roundups are four minutes or less and include a mix of visual elements; the goal is to be quick, entertaining and engaging.

3. Behind-The-Scenes Videos

Most audiences enjoy seeing how the content and products they love are made. According to uscreen, “If you have exclusive insight into a process, project or situation your customers would be interested in, consider making a behind-the-scenes (BTS) video. These are usually less polished than traditional videos and incorporate lots of raw footage. As a bonus, they work for both B2C and B2B brands.”

Behind-the-scenes video content makes your business more relatable and feel less like a generic corporation. The more friendly and approachable your business is, the stronger the relationship between you and your audience becomes.

4. Vlogs

One of the most prevalent types of videos on the web is a vlog – a video blog. If you have a blog (which you should – find out why in this Three Girls’ article) you have a wealth of content ready to turn into video! If you have the time to create a daily video, a vlog would be a great way to document the ins and outs of your business; just make sure it’s entertaining and engaging!

5. Interview Videos

Interview videos are an appealing way to introduce new team members, show off brand values and align yourself with other interesting personalities in your field. Interviews are relativity easy and cheap to produce and, if you host other experts in an interview, they may share the video content on their own social media sites, introducing your business to a brand-new audience.

6. Q&A Videos

Question and answer (Q&A) segments are similar to interviews, but instead of you asking the questions, your audience does. Utilize your social media by asking your followers to send you questions they would like answered. This would also be a fantastic opportunity to live stream and answer questions as they come in. If public speaking is not your cup of tea, we suggest sticking to prerecorded videos; that way you can edit the video content in post-production if needed.

Q&A videos also allow your audience direct access to your company and show that your business is transparent, giving your brand a boost in digital marketing.

7. Featured Product Videos

Product reviews are among the most popular type of video content found on the internet. In this day and age, very few consumers buy products without consulting another source like their friends or online reviews.

If you review a product that your company uses and trusts, your audience will start to see your brand as reliable and honest.  According to Biteable, “78 percent of people said their buying decisions have been influenced by brands’ social media posts. Video is a great way to highlight a product or demonstrate a specific feature. An informal social media post can seem more authentic than an ad and encourage people to click buy.”

8. Tips/How-To Videos

Information is readily available now than ever, and as a result, people are always on the lookout for helpful tips and tricks they can use to improve their daily lives. If your brand can provide useful ways to make life easier, a video is a fantastic way to share it. Another positive benefit of this type of video content is that it will also help improve your brand’s credibility and trust.

9. Case Studies And Testimonial Videos

Testimonials and case study videos are perfect for showing potential customers exactly what they are getting with your business. Nothing is better for your brand than having people shout how great you are from the rooftops. As uscreen states, “When it comes to conversion, you can’t beat case studies and testimonials. It’s all thanks to social proof or the psychological phenomenon that causes people to want something when they see others using it.”

10. Announcement Videos

Is there anything more exciting than an announcement? Whether you are sharing a new product, opening a new location or hosting a new event, an announcement video helps you get the message to your audience while also creating excitement.

3 Easy-To-Use Apps To Create Video Content

Now that you know the different types of video you can create for your content marketing strategy, let’s take a look at a few easy-to-use apps to create them.

• Boosted By Lightricks: Boosted allows you to put together an eye-catching video in minutes; the process is as easy as 1-2-3 and no video editing experience is necessary.
  1. Upload your own photos and videos or choose from their extensive library.
  2. Choose your theme, colors and font.
  3. Edit the text, decide on the music option then press export!

These videos are short and they are perfect for sharing on social media. The downside is you can’t upload your own music and they don’t offer a voice-over option, so they’re not ideal for videos with speaking. Boosted does charge a very small annual fee, currently just $60.

• Adobe Spark: Turn images into entertaining video content with the free or paid version of Adobe Spark. Like Boosted, creating a video on Adobe Spark is quite simple. What sets this app apart from Boosted is the ability to record your voice, making it a terrific option for tips and tricks, Q&A or announcement videos!
• Canva: This free app is our go-to for creating stunning graphics and visual elements, but it is also a fantastic option for dressing still images with fun animations. Slides with announcements, tips and more can be created with this app. There’s also a paid version of Canva available that allows you to access additional helpful features.

Video Content Marketing: What Makes A Good Video?

Do you know what makes a good video? Once you decide which type of video you are going to create, here are some things to keep in mind.

• Voice: If your video requires you to record your voice, make sure the narration sounds professional and that you are speaking clearly at a smooth rate. Watch out for sounding monotone, which can happen if you focus too much on reading a script. Make sure you practice beforehand to help you sound relaxed and natural.
• Music: Choosing the right music to mimic the tone of your video content is essential. Testing out and choosing your music after the rest of the video is complete works best.
• Visuals: While visuals are important to any video, sometimes, the simpler the better. The important thing is to ensure you are using visuals that speak to your story and match the voiceover.
• Fun: Don’t forget to have fun! If you’re loathing every minute of making the video, chances are it will show through in the final product. People like to be entertained, so entertain yourself while you’re at it. Your authenticity will shine through.
• Get to the point: Video content marketing works best with short pieces. In a world where everyone is competing for attention, it is best to keep videos to two minutes or less, and one minute is even better! According to Statistic Brain, the average attention span lasts about eight seconds. What does that mean for your online video marketing? Get to the point quickly, before the viewer is gone.

6 Steps To Optimize Your Video Content

Now that you’ve created your video, you’re excited to share it with your audience. Before you press publish, make sure to optimize your video so it reaches the highest number of people possible. Follow these six steps to make sure your videos reach their full potential.

1. Keyword Research

Keyword research about your chosen topic is an important first step to optimizing your video content. Strategic keywords are essential for successful digital marketing in any facet. Tools like Wordstream will provide you with a list of terms to use and show you how frequently they appear in search engine results. Some important areas to make sure a keyword is included are:

• Video title
• File name
• Description
• Any social media posts you create promoting that piece of content.

Naturally use them throughout these areas so your videos are more likely to appear in search results.

2. Keep Non-Video Text Short And Sweet

When it’s time to upload, keep your descriptions short and sweet; you don’t want people to miss some of your video content because they were reading a chunky piece of text.  It’s also a good idea to post relevant links in your descriptions to encourage your audience to view additional information.

If you need a title for your video for uploading to sites like YouTube, make sure it’

s catchy, to the point and contains a keyword.

3. Categorizing Your Videos

When you upload your videos to a site like YouTube, make sure to add tags and categorize them. Selecting a category will group your video with similar content and increase the chances of it being viewed. Think of tags like keywords since they help your video to be found.

4. Make Sure You Include Captions

If your video content contains someone speaking, it needs to have captions that are a transcript of the speech. Captions serve two important purposes. First, adding them to your video will help it be ADA compliant for hearing impaired people. In addition, 85 percent of Facebook users report they watch videos without sound for one reason or another.

Secondly, captions will boost how frequently your video content appears in searches by highlighting important keywords that appear throughout your video. Take the time to add captions; it makes your videos more visible to your target audience.

Something to note about captions: It can quickly become a time-consuming job, especially if you don’t create a script beforehand, but there are tools out there to make the process easier. YouTube, Facebook and other video services can automatically generate captions, but beware, these can contain mistranslations and misspellings. YouTube allows you to create your own captions using their editor and automatically creates time stamps for when their system detects speaking. To find additional resources for captioning, visit this link.

5. Create Custom Thumbnails

The first thing anyone will see from your video will be the thumbnail. Video sites will typically pull a thumbnail directly from the video for you, and while this will suffice if you have no other option, HubSpot explains, “90 percent of the best performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails.”

Apps like Canva are terrific for creating custom graphics that you can use for your thumbnail. For recommended dimensions and additional information about thumbnails, visit our article about video production for social media.

6. End With A Call To Action

Every piece of video content you create needs to end with a call to action directing viewers where to go or what to do when they are done watching. Do you want them to visit a specific page on your website? Like your Facebook page? Sign up for your newsletter? Give your audience a clear action to complete.

We’re Here To Help With Your Video Content Marketing Strategy

With the popularity of videos continuing to grow, selecting the best types of video content for your marketing strategy can give you a much-needed boost and help elevate your brand.

If you don’t know where to start or are looking for help with your video content, contact us today for a complimentary consultation with our CEO, Erika Taylor Montgomery. She’s happy to share more about how this tactic, as well as other content marketing and public relations strategies, can benefit your business.

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Sign up for a complimentary consultation during December and receive an Annual Marketing Planning Guide valued at $475!  We offer a 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO, and can answer your questions and discuss your specific marketing needs - no strings attached. Call 408-218-2391 or contact us today to arrange your consultation!