In our previous blog post, we established that video isn’t the future of content marketing… it’s the right now of content marketing. With Facebook and Snapchat each boasting more than 8 million videos views per day, it’s time to know how to make video content a success in your overall marketing plan.
But how?
Here are 4 steps on how to make video content a success for your brand:
What’s Your Story?
These days, a self-serving video extolling the virtues of your brand or product just won’t cut it — when was the last time you sat through — let alone shared — a straight-up promotional video? That’s because as an audience, we’ve become more sophisticated — and therefore more demanding. People are looking to connect with your content, share in your story, be inspired. Understanding how to make video content a success will trigger some emotional response in its audience and walks the line between being creative and engaging, while still delivering the message you are trying to put out there.
Size matters.
We know that the average human attention span is one second shorter than that of a goldfish, so it stands to reason that the length of your video is a huge factor in whether or not it gets watched — or, even better, shared. It may take a little bit of practice, but it’s crucial to figure out your audience’s threshold — how long will they watch before clicking away? For most brands, the answer is probably one minute or less.
The key to getting your video seen is the hook — you need to capture the audience’s attention by kicking off the video in a catchy way, and then get your message across as concisely as possible. This is particularly true as you begin your video marketing journey and are trying to build a following — once you have shown your audience that your content is worthy of their precious viewing time, they’ll be more apt to hang in there a little bit longer in the future.
The big finish.
You’ve done everything right and your viewer sticks with you until the end — don’t drop the ball now! Instead of riding off into the sunset at the end of the video, reward the viewer who was interested enough to watch with what they are looking for — and what you ultimately are trying to get them see anyway. An enticing call-to-action is in order here. Let your audience know how and where they can find you — a link to your website, an opportunity to opt-in or even links to related content could all fit the bill.
Put it all out there.
The best video in the world won’t help you if people can’t find it. You’ve invested the time and resources to create this great piece of content, so you need to be as invested in making sure you get your message seen. Simply put, the greater your outreach efforts, the greater return you’ll enjoy, so share it in as many ways as make sense. Will you post it to your website? Your blog? To Facebook? YouTube? Twitter? Shorten it for Instagram or even Snapchat? It might be worth putting some advertising budget behind promoting your video on social media to a well-targeted audience. And don’t forget to optimize your video content for SEO so it will show up in search results.
Key takeaway
Researchers predict that by the end of 2016, video will account for 55% of total consumer Internet traffic. Knowing how to make video content that is compelling, concise and gets in front of the right audience will enable your brand to get in on the action.