Does video feel out-of-reach for your marketing team? 

Do you have to make do with email and newsletters? 

There’s the lights, the cameras, the sound-recording equipment, the presenters…

But wait;

You can make a significant impact without all of the paraphernalia. 

And if you’re using social platforms to distribute your message, then not using video could be a significant mistake. Because video IS the future of social networking and digital marketing. 

And the DIY approach might just work for you. 

But we’re not going to show you how to make video here. We’re going to substantiate the claim that video is an essential tool in digital marketing. 

And hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll be planning your next campaign, using video as your medium to carry your message. 

Ready? Let’s go.

Video is expensive, isn’t it?

Of course, if you’re going to hire a crew and writers and actors and catering – yes. It’s expensive. But anyone who has been on a film-set will have noticed that there’s a LOT of standing around. There’s the shot set-up. And a LOT of re-taking. Sure, you want your video to represent your brand in the best possible light. 

But there are ways to use video that brings direct, real-time engagement with your customers, in ways that are proven to exceed the outcomes of other content marketing mediums such as blogging.

All you need is:

  • a decent camera (and that includes top-of-the-range smartphones)
  • good audio quality
  • a well-lit location (using natural light wherever possible) 
  • a confident, convincing performance

People want to see rather than read

According to a report by Pew Research Center in 2018, YouTube is America’s favorite social media platform, with a massive 73% of the adult population making regular visits to the platform for entertainment or instructional purposes. 

Courtesy – Pew Research Center

And at least 45% of those regular visitors hit YouTube at least once a day. 

Live Video

Brands who use live video are prospering.  

According to  Marketing Charts, 78% of brands claim that live video offers a deeper interaction with their audience. Additionally, they stated that live video had given brands the means to add the moving image to their marketing arsenal.

According to Vimeo, 80% of the people they surveyed preferred to watch live video from a brand over reading a blog. And 82% claimed to prefer live video broadcast by a brand than engaging with their social media posts.

The research also discovered that adding a human element to digital marketing made a difference in the Live video engagement. Live video, therefore, makes a brand more personable, more relatable, and attractive. And Live is the new promotional video tool.

Live Video made Promotional

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube all have a live video capability, and we’re seeing more and more people turning to the medium to share their life events. 

But it’s also becoming the medium of the Influencer: that unique brand of internet authority, claiming celebrity status by speaking directly to niche audiences. 

Best Fiends

For example, Laura Clery helped launch an “unboxing” campaign for the release of a new social gaming app: Best Fiends. 

The Facebook Live video racked up 486K views. It received more than 8000 comments and 800 shares.

Unboxing videos

Unboxing videos are trending – big. And they’re incredibly cheap to make! 

Google claims that (over the last year) time spent watching unboxing videos is the equivalent of viewing “Love Actually” 20 million times. Twenty million times!

Live streaming delivers a particularly significant ROI because it’s entirely free and doesn’t take long to produce and it offers real-time user engagement. 

WriteForTheStage

WriteForTheStage are a company in the UK who have used both vlogging and Facebook Live to market courses, events, and live discussions. 

They broadcasted a Facebook Live video from the rehearsal room to help publicize their upcoming play. They loaded the same clip to their YouTube channel. 

Now, these guys (in the most polite way) are small-time: they don’t have a marketing budget, and they weren’t aiming for virality; just for local people to come to see their show. 

So, while their viewing numbers were relatively modest, their Facebook Live stream received 13 times more views than exactly the same footage later uploaded to YouTube. 

The Take Away

If this is the experience of small-time, no budget social media video makers, then the possibilities are endless for marketing teams with people power. 

Live video helps to improve relationships between brands and their followers, reaching a broader audience to boost the authority of social channels. 

Personalization

Personalization, of course, is possible through Live video. Just as Laura Clery sends up the Live influencer, waiting for people to connect with her, Live offers an opportunity for brands to address their audience directly. 

But, Live comes with its issues: technical drop-out and the opportunity to inadvertently say the wrong thing. 

However:

Direct address works. 

A personalized video uses data from company CRM systems or algorithms on social platforms to help add the personal touch to video-on-demand.

Manchester United used personalized video as part of their #Playfor campaign. 

Vodaphone UK used this campaign to encourage Pay-As-You-Go customers to make greater use of their cellular phone by offering free talk time. 

The video addressed the customer by their first name and made use of their location data to create a video campaign that felt custom-made for the individual. 

The Take-Away

Personalization is a big thing in digital marketing, and it’s increasing in popularity. 

According to Evergage, 96% of marketers believe that personalized video increases engagement between brand and customer or customer lead.

Image courtesy of Evergage

Whether personalized content is delivered through email or social media platforms, this approach to video engagement is likely to be the future of digital marketing strategy.  

The Power of the Share

Video is shareable. 

Sure, you can invite your subscribers to share your newsletter with their friends and networks, but is a newsletter really as exciting as a video?

According to Wyzowl

  • 70% of consumers claim to have shared a video created by a brand.
  • 72% of the businesses questioned suggested that their conversion rate had improved through video marketing. 
  • 52% of consumers said that seeing a video before they bought a product made them feel more confident with the purchase. 

Sharing has an exponential reach: 

  • One person shares a video on their Facebook page
  • Three of their friends share the same video to their friends
  • Each of those shares results in more shares

Until:
You’ve gone viral.

So, what type of video is most shareable?

According to BuzzSumo, Facebook’s Top 5 viral video types were:

  • #1: Practical hacks and life tips. This includes make-up tutorials and money saving tips.
  • #2: Adorable animals (of course!)
  • #3: Inspiring content: People saving children in Africa; people who face barriers finally achieving a big goal. 
  • #4: Food & Recipes
  • #5: Music videos

Jonah Berger (author of “Contagious“) claims that you can divide viral content into six different categories:

  • Social Currency – the concept that somebody has something special
  • Triggers – when you look at a peanut, perhaps you think of peanut butter and jelly. A trigger whets the appetite
  • Emotion – a stimulus to trigger emotion can be powerful. Perhaps content makes us angry: we share it to provoke debate. Maybe a video reinforces our belief-system: we share it because it represents us (virtue-signaling). But a piece might just make us laugh or evoke sympathy. These are particularly shareable attributes. 
  • Public – Video is already in the public domain if it’s on an open platform such as YouTube. The more times people see a video, the more likely they are to remember it. So, content that gets passed to- and fro- sticks in the public psyche. Think “Charlie bit me.” 
  • Practical Value – How-to’s and advice channels.
  • Story – Real life stories. A feel-good ending to a tragic beginning. 

The Take-Away

If you’re looking to increase engagement and reach as many people as possible, then video marketing is the digital marketing strategy to consider for 2019 and beyond. 

Personalization and Live are the buzzwords of 2019 and are set to change the way our customers engage with our brands; providing a human face to companies in an alienating, technological landscape. 

When you call a customer service department and spend the majority of your call speaking to a computer, the idea that you can re-address the balance by humanizing your company image with video marketing should be a very appealing one indeed. 

About the Author: Eoin Dowdall is a the award-winning Film Maker and Creative Director of Kartoffel Films, a video production Agency based in London. With over 22 years’ experience in the sector, Eoin oversees all of Kartoffels’ films from concept through to production. Over the past eight years Kartoffel have produced over 1000 films and animations for the UK and international markets.