“The statistics around video content are mind-boggling. Some predictions estimate that video content will make up 90% of all web traffic within ten years.”
The statistics around video content are mind-boggling. Some predictions estimate that video content will make up 90% of all web traffic within ten years.
Creating video marketing can seem daunting. It’s often expensive, but the ROI can be enormous. With that in mind, here are my top four things to avoid before embarking upon your next video marketing campaign.
“VIDEOS ARE EXPENSIVE TO CREATE, AND OFTEN END UP ON A HIDDEN VIDEO SUBPAGE OF YOUR WEBSITE—WITH, AT BEST, A COUPLE OF HUNDRED VIEWS ON YOUTUBE.”
- The 3-to-5-minute corporate overview video
The web has ushered in a completely new era for video consumption and distribution. Audiences have moved away from the boardroom and onto tens of thousands of multimedia screens. With your video on the web, you can reach an infinitely greater audience, but you are also competing with far more content.
There is still a place for the three-minute corporate, particularly in the case of presentations and exhibitions. Online, however, the danger lies in companies defaulting to this type of video when they feel they have to produce but don’t want to commit to a well-thought-through digital strategy. Videos are expensive to create, and often end up on a hidden video subpage of your website—with, at best, a couple of hundred views on YouTube. Video marketing works best when integrated into your funnel and produced with a view to meeting the needs of the customer, at different touchpoints and levels of awareness.
A great example of this is eat, a local restaurant discovery and booking app. eat has both B2B and B2C mobile software solutions, so rather than creating an overview video that tries to do everything, they’ve produced a high-quality video specifically targeted at B2B customers.
The video uses a series of ‘show not tell’ testimonials that are highly relevant to this side of their business. They focus exclusively upon the benefits of the B2B app for restaurant owners and managers. Because it’s so precisely targeted, the video integrates perfectly with the B2B sales page on their website.
“IF YOUR VIDEO IS BORING, PEOPLE WILL STOP WATCHING IT. IT’S THAT SIMPLE. BORING VIDEOS AREN’T MEMORABLE.”
- Being boring
If your video is boring, people will stop watching it. It’s that simple. Boring videos aren’t memorable.
A 2014 Northwestern University of Qatar study found that comedy was by far the most popular type of online content across the Middle East. This is one statistic that both B2B and B2C companies should think hard about before embarking upon a video strategy. People—in this region and beyond—respond well to entertaining content, and very few companies in this region are attempting to meet this need.
- Thinking about content, not context
Context marketing is about delivering the right content—to the right people, at the right time. If you don’t understand the platforms people are using—and how they’re using them—your videos will be ignored.
Getting context right is about creating content that’s optimized for particular websites and social media platforms. Video is the hardest of all content types to optimize for, because there are so many variables involved: dimensions, formats, file size, thumbnails, links, sound quality on mobile, etc.
Understanding the context of YouTube is crucial to running successful video advertising campaigns. A common mistake people make is misunderstanding YouTube pre-roll ads. If you aren’t laser-focused on getting people to not skip your video after 5 seconds, you’ll be disappointed with the amount of awareness you’re generating.
Pro Tip: YouTube video ads are charged at the 30-second mark, or when the ad has been watched completely. If you want people to visit your website from a YouTube ad, create a video that incentivizes the click before the video reaches 30 seconds. That way, you’ll be getting website visits for free!
Even more important to understand is how people create and consume content across the web. Does your audience skim-read, or regularly watch longer, more detailed learning videos? Are they producers of content as well as consumers? Which social media platforms do they use? Asking these types of questions before you begin will help you understand the context in which your videos need to exist in order to be successful.
- Not having a mobile strategy
Research from Google shows that mobile viewers are 1.4 times more likely to watch, share, and comment on brand video content and ads than desktop viewers. They are also twice as likely to have a personal connection with the brand on mobile than they are by watching television.
Mobile video marketing is more than just 15-second Instagram videos; it’s about recognizing that smartphones are the first thing people reach for when they’re looking for information, or researching their next purchase. Google calls these micro-moments: “Want-to-know moments. Want-to-go moments. Want-to-do moments. Want-to-buy moments.” Delivering high-quality video content at these fleeting but highly engaged moments has become increasingly important for converting your audience into customers.
As I have mentioned in previous articles for Startup Bahrain, if you’re looking to grow quickly, it is often best to look for marketing opportunities with the least competition. With that in mind, who in Bahrain is currently creating well-planned, entertaining video content optimized for mobile?
By: Ryan Andrews