Your Customers and Prospects Are Tuned into Video.
Are You Producing the Type of Content They’re Searching for and Sharing?
In today’s digital-first environment that prioritizes engagement, the video format can be live, informational, inspiring, storytelling, or punchy. Basically, video brings brands to life—and consumers are click happy about watching content if its relevant to them.
How big is video? What strategies are businesses implementing to generate and disseminate visual content, and is video something worth spending on today?
The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) called 2020 “the year of video” and its Video in Business Benchmark report showed user-generated video is 60% of all videos created. The pandemic triggered even more video creation and sharing. Most brands are maintaining or increasing their video content budgets, according to the report. Meanwhile, medium-sized companies are investing in in-house talent to get the job done.
The bottom line is, an effective content marketing campaign needs video. But not just any type of video. There are some proven strategies for generating videos that engage an audience, promote sharing, drive search engine optimization (SEO), and ultimately result in converting viewers into customers. Here’s what to know about generating must-see videos that will generate leads.
Get More Clicks—Attracting a Video Audience
Videos can generate leads—but first people have to find the content. It’s not that they aren’t interested. According to the 2020 Video in Business Benchmark report, 86% of respondents want to see more videos from brands. So, how will you put your content in front of the people who are most likely to engage with your brand?
Landing pages, email campaigns, and gated content are a few venues for video content. Gated content requires users to provide contact information to view the information, similar to how you might ask people to “unlock” a white paper report. One idea is to create a series of videos, offer one of them as an ungated option to entice viewers, then tease them with the part 2 reel and ask for their contact information.
Landing pages containing videos can allow you to tell your story without cluttering the page with excess text. And if you’re wondering how video will contribute to SEO, you can write short, catchy titles for videos to optimize them for search. The title should include a keyword and be 70 characters or less. That way, the entire title will crop up in search results.
Another tip is to write meta descriptions for videos. Remember, search engines do not pick up spoken words, so these text tags are important if you want the video to be found. According to an Aberdeen study by HubSpot, companies that incorporate video content into their marketing strategies see 41% more search traffic than those that do not use video.
Video Brainstorming—Make it Customer-CentricRemember, no matter what type of content you’re creating for social media or brand awareness, it’s all about them, the customers and prospects you want to engage. At the same time, you also have internal goals to achieve. So, start at the drawing board by identifying your goals, which might include:
- Generating brand awareness by educating your current and potential customers about who you are and your unique value proposition
- Increasing sales by triggering demand, generating leads, or boosting revenue (or all of these things)
- Establishing thought leadership to promote your brand’s expertise and gain credibility and trust
- Building customer loyalty through highly educational or ‘how-to’ videos that help them be more productive and achieve reproducible results
Here are some video types that can help achieve your goals:
- Viral videos
- Educational videos for your customers or sales teams
- Videos to use at your in-person or virtual exhibit booth
- Product demonstrations
- Post-sale product education and usage optimization
- Customer testimonials
- On-demand version of presentations
After you figure out which video to create to achieve your goals, it’s time to come up with some ideas for your videos. Where do you start? Again, it’s back to your audience. Do some homework to find out what videos people are searching for or viewing the most. Google Trends can shed light on this, especially if you click on YouTube Search to find related videos. Check out how many times they were viewed to give you a sense of engagement.
Now, Time to Create
We know, that can be much easier said than done. And for many businesses that struggle with the technology, the ideas, the optimization, or the sheer thought of being on camera, outsourcing video to a trusted resource is valuable and pays off in dividends with leads, fans, and a more engaging brand.
Not sure how an arrangement like that would work? We can explain. We’re proud of our Video & Production Solutions team—a talented group of in-house professionals that includes producers, editors, shooters, and animators. If you’re considering outsourcing video, you should seek out a partner that can produce high-quality HD video, and offers fast turn-around time.
Here’s a sample of our team’s work:
Ready, Aim, Shoot!
What we’re saying is, cue up the camera and explore the opportunities video can bring to your brand. Learn more by contacting sales@biocompare.com or your Sales Executive.