In the days when content is king, it’s video content that takes the ultimate crown. Including video in a landing page can increase conversion by 80 per cent, according to EyeView Digital, while research from Vidyard indicates those who use this medium see 41 per cent more traffic from search.
But with 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute (Statista reports), you’ve got to find a way for yours
to stand out above the competition. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to create truly eye-catching videos.
1) Remember your objectives
If you’re going to make video a key part of your content marketing, you need to consider the goals you’ve set for that strategy. What do you want your audience to do after watching the video? Perhaps you’d like them to sign up for a demo, or give you a call to find out more? Even if it’s something as simple as wanting more comments on the video itself, you still need to remember to include a call to action at the end asking viewers to do this, just as you would a blog post.
Likewise, you also need to consider what part of the sales funnel you want your video to target. If you want to increase awareness, you’ll be targeting the top of the funnel, while those wanting consideration will target the middle. The bottom of the funnel are those on the verge of making a decision.
PR Daily recommends different types of video content for each stage:
Top of the funnel – Brand film, storytelling, short documentaries, how-tos, thought leadership.
Middle of the funnel – Product explainer, insights into company culture, customer testimonials.
Bottom of the funnel – FAQs, instruction videos, personalised videos.
Whatever you decide for your videos, just remember the golden rule of content marketing – it needs to add value for your audience, instead of being completely sales oriented.
There’s a lot more competition with videos these days, so you need to know how to make yours stand out. Anyone can upload video to the internet, so it’s important you know how to make your content stand out.
2) Think about the visuals
You might think this is an obvious one, but considering the visual side of your videos isn’t just about making them look pretty. Around 85 per cent of video on Facebook is watched without sound, research from the American Press Institute shows. Therefore your videos can’t just rely on audio to give valuable information. To get round this, ensure you add small sections of text for the most essential information, or include diagrams or other highly visual ways of explaining important aspects of your video.
A recent report by eMarketer predicts that 78.4 per cent of viewers will use their mobiles to watch digitally streamed content in 2018, so
optimising your videos for mobile should also be an essential part of your strategy.
3) Consider social media
It’s not enough just to create your video, you also need to be able to share it. If you’re going to
use multiple platforms, you need to remember that videos will work slightly differently on each one. For example, you can probably get away with slightly longer videos on your own website or on YouTube because there’s less of an urge to scroll. On Instagram and Facebook, however, your video is going to be directly above and below a heap of others, so you need to make it short, snappy and eye-catching. In general, optimal video length is two minutes or less, according to Hubspot.
Use keywords in the title and description so it can be found more easily on search. This will also help someone identify whether a video will be useful to them when their sound is switched off.
The same goes for thumbnails. A viewer’s eyes are going to be automatically drawn to this visual alongside the title, so making sure that it looks good and captures their attention is extremely important.
When people start commenting and engaging with your videos, make sure you reply to them and stimulate the conversation to generate even more interest.
Different videos work on different social media platforms. You’ll want to alter your videos depending on what social media platform you share them on.
4) Measure it!
As with any marketing or PR campaign, you need to be measuring it to find out what’s working. Use analytics tools to discover how many people are engaging with your videos. This shouldn’t just be likes but more meaningful types of engagement as well – think shares and comments.
Also measure things like number of views, how long people are watching the video for, and whether they’re clicking any links through to your website or contact page.
Video is a great way to give your content marketing a boost. Want to find more exciting ways to make your PR and marketing campaigns stand out?
Visit our Insights page!