It should be no surprise by now that video marketing has sky-rocketed within the last couple of years. In fact, according to Wyzowl and Hubspot, 97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service, and 76% say it helped increase sales. These are staggering numbers to think about, and the crazy part is that these numbers will only continue to grow as time goes on with more professionals seeking to watch video as their primary way to consume their content. With video on the rise, here are some best practices for using video for business in 2018.
What Type of Video Is Best?
The best types of videos are the ones that don’t waste anyone’s time. Explainer videos, videos that stay under a short amount of time that educates an audience on a certain topic, are a gold mine of information that can impact potential leads and prospects. Essentially, a company makes a video talking about the benefits of a service, whether it be a service that the organization sells or currently uses. These videos are often seen as short animations.
Another popular video is a branding video describing the company history and what makes the company unique from the competition. These are often a little longer in length, but with a well-thought-out storyboard, these videos can hold the attention of a viewer in a well-thought-out manner. One can get really creative with these videos ranging anywhere from general office shots, drone videos or whiteboard videos.
The length of these videos is hugely important. If the video is too short an audience won’t grasp the topic, and if it’s too long then there’s the risk of losing them out of boredom. In fact, according to Hubspot, the average person is only willing to watch a video for 2 minutes on YouTube before moving on. However, like mentioned, with a proper storyboard in place, a video can ensure a viewer stays beyond 2 minutes.
Which Platform Is Best for Me?
Every social media platform does video and it can be daunting to figure out which one is best to use. Right now, according to LinkedIn, 76% of executives watch business videos at least once a week, including 40% daily. This makes the LinkedIn platform a great place to display video content to this demographic since it ensures that marketing videos get in the eyes of potential buyers and customers.
Taking into consideration audience and what channels an audience is primarily on is hugely important, in fact, it might be the most important factor to consider. If prospects are heavily active on LinkedIn, then pushing content onto that platform makes the most sense instead of say Facebook or Instagram.
How to Utilize These Platforms?
Facebook and other social media platforms do have their benefits however. With Instagram boasting 800 million monthly active users, video content has a relatively high degree of success with being seen by influencers and other key prospects. But, it’ll do no good by just firing off videos onto different platforms, one must understand the user’s behavior behind each platform first.
For instance, Instagram is a platform where one can show off creative prowess and showcase creative abilities with the smart use of filters. Video marketing should adhere by the same principles; Instagram videos need to be snappy and creative.
Ok, My Video Is Live, Now What?
You’ve put in precious company resources into making your video and now it is live for the world to see, now what? During this time, pushing engagement for these videos will ensure that prospects consume the information that needs to be portrayed within the video itself.
The best way to push engagement is to utilize your own employee’s digital presence by having them share content on their feed and having them then engage with their audience. A simple example would be “we just released this video on the best email platforms to use. What are your favorite platforms and why?” By asking a question people will be more prompted to naturally engage and thus watching your video, which is the ultimate end goal.
By creating engagement, you are creating a level of trust and credibility that you’re not a car salesman trying to shark your way into a deal, but instead establishing yourself that you are a thought leader and are knowledgeable within your industry. Why is this important? Because people do business with others with whom they can trust.
The Future is Bright
2018 is showing to be the year that video marketing takes off and never looks back. With LinkedIn going all in on their B2B video marketing platform, the time is now more than ever to make sure that you are investing the proper resources in this thriving channel. 65% of executives have visited a vendor’s site after watching a video so making the investment into creating such content will yield plentiful results.
Now To Tie It All Together
At Workspace Digital, we created a video that sits right at 2 minutes that illustrates how to create better videos for your business. How do you utilize videos in your workspace, are there any barriers stopping you from creating video content?
