We live in a digital era, which means that people are spending more time online than they ever have before. If you are not using digital marketing to improve conversions and revenue, you are missing out. ads, video is the most important aspect. This means that brands can no longer just rely on having written content and static images. To meet their goals, they need to craft engaging video ads. If you want to learn more about the advantages of including video in your digital marketing strategy, read on. You’ll learn how to get started with video and how it can benefit your business.
Video Ads and Their Purpose in Marketing
Moving images have been around for a long time, and they have evolved a lot since they were first created. As time has progressed, creative videos and motion have become much more than just another form of entertainment. Ads have become an essential tool for promoting brands and attracting new customers.
Video advertising has become more popular than traditional advertising methods and can be found all over the internet, as this is where most people spend the majority of their time. The internet provides a never-ending stream of live footage, vlogs, interactive 360 content, augmented reality, and more. This type of content is more interesting to them than reading an article or looking at static pictures because it tells a story.
Video marketing has become a billion-dollar industry in the United States alone. Many brands are finding that investing in video advertising can be very beneficial. Video marketing doesn’t have to be expensive for brands. This digital marketing element is very versatile and can be used to meet specific marketing needs on a tight budget.
Video ads are a great way to engage potential customers and are becoming more popular on different platforms. Organizations of all sizes should begin taking advantage of this type of display advertising as it is an effective way to spread your brand’s message. The more entertaining and educational a video is, the more customers it will bring in.
Elements of Effective Video Ads
The three key ingredients for creating video ad content that engages the viewer and effectively conveys the desired message are story, emotion, and authenticity. There are certain elements that are vital for ensuring the success of your campaign.
QUICK AND TO THE POINT
The digital world moves incredibly fast. If you take too long to explain yourself, your audience is likely to lose interest. People who use the internet have a very short attention span and prefer straightforward stories that give them relevant information quickly.
Video is a great way to communicate a message quickly. This text says that visuals can help to explain a story more effectively than words alone, and that they can also help to keep an audience interested. By using a camera and some basic editing skills, you can take the viewer on a journey and convince them to buy your product or service.
Video ads can be more effective than static ads in terms of emotional impact and engagement. An emotional bond can be quickly created with prospective customers by using a concise audiovisual message. This will help them process the information correctly and reduce the potential for misinterpretation.
CLEAR AND ENGAGING CTAS
Goal of advertising is to convince target audience to take action, such as purchase product, share contact information, or interact with more content. Video ads help to lead viewers to a specific next step after watching. A call to action is a final push to make a sale. It is an encouragement for customers to take the desired action, whether that is making a purchase, signing up for a service, or something else entirely.
You want to avoid making a digital ad video if it will not be successful. It is important to determine the purpose of your video in order to create a strong call to action. The prompt that the viewer sees will depend on how far along they are in the buying journey. If they are at the beginning, they will see a different prompt than if they are in the middle or at the end.
SHOT VERTICALLY FOR MOBILE USERS
Video ads are no longer exclusive to traditional screens. Nowadays, emoji are present on other electronic devices like smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. Some people think they are even more relevant on these devices than they were before. A large majority of Americans are consuming video content that is driven by mobile devices. You need to pay attention to the format of your video ad so that it is effective.
Creating content that is specific to the platform it will be displayed on will be more efficient and cost effective. Video content is easy to adjust to smaller devices like handhelds. If you shoot your videos vertically, you can use more digital channels and your campaign will be automatically better.
Video can be a powerful tool for social media marketing. It can help you connect with your audience, tell your story, and build your brand. We are not only restricted to TV-style advertisements or professionally edited educational videos. Since it’s now easier than ever to live stream videos and edit them with accessible apps, there’s been an increased interest in brand authenticity.
Our 7-step guide will help you create a successful social media video marketing strategy.
1. Set goals for video marketing
At the beginning of any new marketing strategy, there’s a need to set goals. What do you want your videos to accomplish?
We recommend only creating a few goals if you’re just starting out so you don’t become overwhelmed. An example of a goal for video marketing would be to increase brand awareness.
Video marketing can do more than raise awareness of your brand. It can also help them make a decision about what to buy, teach customers about their purchase and fuel a brand’s advocacy plans.
2. Decide on your platforms
All of the most popular social media platforms have their own form of video content, so there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate it into your strategy.
Begin with the video platforms where you already have an established audience. The Sprout Social Index™ reports that Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok will be the most popular platforms among consumers and brands in the next year.
3. Select your video types
It is important to figure out which type of video works best for your brand as part of your marketing strategy. Different videos serve different purposes and that’s okay. The most important thing is that the videos support your key goals.
Consumers want brands to be authentic on social media, according to our research in the Sprout Social Index™. The majority of consumers want to see brands highlighting their product or service. Around 40% of people say they want to see customers testimonials or demos, while around a third say they want posts that show off a brand’s personality, or less-produced videos.
The takeaway here? Consumers are looking for all-around authenticity within your content.
Here are a few different types of social media video ideas and their benefits to get you started with accomplishing the genuinity consumers are looking for:
- Educational: These are informative and can create brand awareness for new customers. They often take a less casual, more polished tone to establish the brand as an expert. If created for current customers, then the videos could be focused on guides and tips for getting the most out of a product.
- Explainer: Similar to educational videos, explainer content focuses on teaching the audience more about your brand and the product or service you offer. Use these videos to quickly explain what your company does and how the brand can help solve a particular problem. End with a strong call to action to prompt viewers further along the marketing funnel.
- Behind-the-scenes: These give a look into company operations and employees. They sometimes serve to entertain the audience or give a virtual peek behind the curtain.
- Interviews: With guest speakers, interviews are a great way of introducing your audience to a new influencer and vice versa. Handing the virtual mic over to a guest can be fun and provide a little more authenticity to your brand.
- Entertaining: These include jokes, cute puppies and even pranks. They serve solely to entertain the audience but can be a great way of emphasizing your brand voice and building a sense of community among your audience.
- Testimonials: In marketing, these videos look like customer highlights and help to create social proof for your brand. Videos that showcase how a customer uses your product or service and their satisfaction with it operate on a connection level: ideally, a potential customer will see themselves in that video and be persuaded to purchase.
- Product: Highlight the top features of your brand’s most popular product or service by showing it in action. Showing off what makes your product or service unique can help customers envision themselves using your brand.
- Narrative: Put your author’s hat on and tell an engaging story to leave a lasting impression on viewers. Use animation or go documentary-style to explain how your brand was founded or a customer problem you resolved—anything that showcases a memorable story.
The next step is to plan the video once you have decided what types of videos to make.
4. Plan the content production
A content production plan can save you time and money by helping you to better manage your content. How you go about planning for and filming your videos is up to you, but you will need to establish a system for doing so. This can be done with a spreadsheet or by using pen and paper.
Evaluate your options for content production and post-production. Hiring an agency or production company will help reduce stress levels. You will be responsible for giving guidance, while they take care of all the planning and approvals.
However, if you are planning on producing the video yourself, you will need to consider all of the necessary steps to ensure its success. This includes but is not limited to:
- Identifying needed equipment and props
- Writing a script
- Editing the script
- Storyboarding the video
- Planning the shoot for optimal filming. Filming won’t be linear for the most part.
- Gathering and nurturing talent (the people who are featured in the video)
- Identifying the place(s) you’ll film and taking natural daylight into consideration for timing
- Knowing where to send the footage to be edited
- Determining who will do the approval sign-offs for each step. For example, you want to make sure that the script sounds good and is in line with your voice. This might require two people to review it.
- Checking that the music you’re using is licensed for you
As you go through the content plan, you may find some ways you need to change it or things you missed earlier. This is especially likely if this is one of your first times putting together a comprehensive video content plan. Now that you have executed your plan, it is time to move on to post-production.
5. Know what post-production entails
Setting aside enough time for post-production is key, especially if your videos will be used for ads or require more involved editing. Post-production is not just a matter of cuttingscenes and assembling them to music. CCTV footage can be used with addition features like closed captions, text overlays, call-to-action screens, and more. The amount of time you’ll need to spend filming will depend on how polished you want your video to be.
6. Schedule and promote the videos
It is time to schedule and promote your video. Sprout is one example of a management platform that offers publishing options for videos.
7. Understand and analyze metrics
The most important part of any strategy is the analysis. Looking at the associated statistics is the only way to tell how a video is performing. What are the view counts? The watch times? The shares and likes and comments? Each network provides different video metrics, so you should learn what they are before starting production.
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