Video Marketing Tips | Brandignity

You can hardly surf the web these days without coming across a video. Videos posted to social media sites are the most effective way to get your message to an online audience. Creating a video beats other content distribution methods since it is more interactive and educational.

For example, suppose you want your marketing material to go viral. In that case, one of the most excellent strategies is to make videos since viewers interact with them more than text or images on practically all social media sites. Also, social media videos are generally discovered casually, not by search.

Videos are abundant on most social networking platforms. However, the number of individuals watching the video essentially depends on how well it can capture and maintain viewers’ interest.

It’s normal to be confused by the various ways to create videos, particularly when deciding which is ideal for your business. This list includes the most critical videos your company can produce to improve brand recognition, generate new leads, and extend its client base:

1. Interview and Q&A Videos

When a company’s social media account consistently provides valuable information for its audience, they attract followers. One of the best ways to fulfill your audience’s need for information is to address their most immediate concerns.

Video interviews and Q&As are a terrific way to show off your knowledge and skill in your field while attracting new followers. Produce videos in which you talk to influential people in your area, your staff, or even your customers.

It is possible to record the interview ahead of time and upload it whenever it is most convenient for business. On the other hand, if you make a short live video, you may engage directly with your viewers. The audience may submit questions in advance, and you’ll respond live.

2. Events Videos

Making videos of workplace events is a fantastic way to showcase your organization’s culture and raise awareness for your most important causes. In addition, you may record and put together recap videos to live stream on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.

Sharing updates about your brand’s upcoming events might make people anxious that they will miss out. However, with video, you can show your audience how engaging your brand event is.

3. Tutorials / How-to-videos / Explainer Videos

Tutorials are one of the most-looked-for types of content online. The original purpose of YouTube was to host user-generated videos, but the site has now expanded to do much more.

It’s the go-to video streaming destination and doubles as a powerful search tool. It’s no secret that more and more people are turning to YouTube to learn new skills and information, whether preparing a smoothie or how to make cool YouTube intros.

The primary purpose of social media is entertainment. However, it’s also a source of information and answers. To satisfy the thirst for knowledge from their audience, marketers may employ explainer videos to provide purposeful, product-focused content.

4. Promos and Deals Videos

Deals are always a hit! To get the attention of your social media followers, you should promote a sale or promotion using an engaging video. A video is a practical approach to step up your marketing efforts and increase interest in your event.

These videos offer a quick but thorough summary of the event you’re marketing and a Call to Action to register or save the date. Motivating viewers to act will hopefully result in new leads or increased attendance.

5. Behind-the-scenes (BTS) Videos

Most people can’t resist looking at what’s hidden from plain view. It’s a terrific method to display your company’s culture and develop trust with your audience.

You may take your viewers behind the scenes of an event you’re involved in or give them a tour of your workplace. Alternatively, you may video the production process or employees at work. It’s a great way to engage with your target market more personally and establish credibility with them.

6. Social Videos

Videos hosted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or a mix of them may generate traffic to your website or develop brand recognition.

Be mindful that many viewers won’t have time to watch lengthy stuff since they’ll be swiftly swiping through on their phones. Brief and to the point sum up the social gaming vibe. These short, catchy videos often succeed as social media advertisements, too!

7. Feature / Product Videos

A firm’s social media activity affects consumers’ purchasing choices. Sharing a video on social media is a fantastic method to draw attention to a product or show off a helpful feature.

Videos like these are a great way to demonstrate a specific benefit of your product or service. In addition, they might help inform prospective clients about your business and its offerings.

8. Announcements / Reveals Videos

In today’s connected world, it’s essential to keep your target market up to date on the newest products from your company, and social media is a terrific tool for doing just that.

About one-third of all consumers now learn about new businesses and brands via social media. This is why it’s a good idea to use video to display product launches and other announcements.

9. Testimonial Videos

Even in the current digital era, one-on-one feedback is still a vital tool. In addition, using reviews and testimonials has increased confidence in a company and consumer loyalty.

Before purchasing a product, up to 93% of shoppers read product reviews. Honest reviews might persuade us to buy a product or alter our opinion of one. It’s in your best interest to share video testimonials from satisfied customers with potential customers.

Conclusion

Every level of your marketing funnel may benefit from videos, from drawing in new leads with attractive video advertisements to converting them into paying clients. However, to get the most out of your video marketing efforts, you must regularly test, measure, and improve your videos’ performance.

Video is a terrific way to grow your brand and engage with your audience. Creating them may also be a lot of fun, so unleash your imagination!

Video has become the most preferred consumer content of choice. Over 90% of consumers use video to understand products and services more. And positive ROI has been confirmed by over 87% of marketers. The average person spends 100 minutes per day on video content. Hence, video is vital in any business marketing.

Video content is created by businesses and users. For quality brand messaging, companies use premium-grade broadcast equipment. Equipment like production switchers, audio mixers, clip servers, and ancillary are expensive. Idle equipment is even more costly if you include maintenance costs. And the pandemic rendered most equipment idle.

The rise of cloud-based video production platforms is a welcome solution. You can now avoid expensive broadcast equipment using cloud providers.

Cloud video production is reducing costs and increasing content output. Also, it simplifies production workflows and offers greater versatility during production. Cloud production revenues will grow from $600 million in 2020 to $2.5 billion in 2026. And the growth shows its immense value.

Let’s learn why your organization needs a cloud-based video production platform.

Easy Collaboration During Video Production

You can ditch several confusing threads of emails. A better alternative is the cloud for better collaboration. Your workflows should be easy to comment on, review or approve by other project partners.

Most cloud applications allow editors to make notes on the video. Additionally, they can pause and comment on each video frame. Hence, it makes it a smooth operation, especially for remote teams.

Some even offer integrations to robust tools like Final Cut Pro. Thus, it makes the export and import of proxy files much more effortless. You can also use the convenient and smooth collaboration for remote teams. Marketers can use it to drive more revenue.

There is more user-generated content (UGC) online. More than 60% of consumers feel UGC is more authentic and appealing than flashing ads from brands.

As a brand, you can get more referrals from UGC than your video. A cloud-based and remote video production software lets you collaborate with influencers to drive market reach. You can turn anyone with valuable content for your brand into a filmmaker and use it for promotion.

Cheaper Video Production

Cloud-based video production removes the prohibitive broadcast equipment cost. Control rooms are costly. Whether running a small or big operation, you must deal with a cost barrier. You will need equipment like clip servers and switchers. Also, you may need extra hardware interfaces for control. That increases costs.

It’s prohibitive to small organizations, including small media companies. Large organizations and broadcast companies need different control rooms for various production sizes. More control rooms stretch the costs.

The cloud-based video production platform is a better economic option than on-premise setup. Cloud video production tools offer equal service to control room production. Features like audio mixers, clips, graphics, switching, etc., are on the cloud. It makes you reach new markets without the extra costs of expensive hardware.

Cloud platforms remove the need for more updates, monitoring, and maintenance. Hence, content creators and operators can concentrate on vital aspects of their crafts. They can create more content, and seek more subscribers.

Cloud video production can help you control expense costs.

Assured Scalability in Post-Covid-19 Video Boom

The pandemic increased video content consumption across social media and streaming sites. Streaming providers were overwhelmed. As a result, it led to a poor experience due to low video quality. The traditional streaming systems did not anticipate a sudden demand surge.

You can not afford poor-quality videos as a brand due to scalability issues. Cloud technology offers scalability and flexibility without taxing you on hardware. There are many aspects that you need to address to scale effectively and smoothly:

Video server
Editing
Storage etc.

Addressing these elements using hardware is challenging and time-consuming. Cloud-based video production can scale using software to address some of the challenges. Hence, you can handle demand surges without little investment compared to traditional systems.

The cloud video production provider will allocate resources depending on your needs. And you only pay for the resources you’ve used. Hence, you can quickly scale up or down depending on demands using relatively little investment.

Less Bulky Mobile and Remote Video Production

Traditional video productions involve bulky equipment on-site. Cloud video production eliminates the need for physical hardware, logistics, and space. Modern cloud video production solutions allow you to offer live shows similar to YouTube.

They get you quality and features similar to a broadcaster, only taxing your camera, laptop, or light set. A computer and camera are lightweight and fit on a backpack. Hence, the remote video production platform makes the process less bulky.

If your production is draining you on logistics, the cloud approach can easen your struggles. Sound and video post-production can be done over the cloud with a global talent pool. For example, frame.io, Avid, etc., support remote post-production.

Advanced Managed Security

Security is a significant concern in every sector, including broadcast media. Streaming providers must ensure maximum security for new channels and services. It helps protect their services from cyber-attacks and data breaches.

You don’t want your channel to be held hostage by hackers when you’re live streaming. As a result, you may need to replace hardware, maintain, and update them. Also, you may need to install an extensive firewall which is costly.

Cloud-based video production providers will cover most of these expenses. Your cloud workflows will get max security to safeguard video streams and related systems from viruses and malware.

Additionally, the cloud platform will ensure relevant softwares are up-to-date with appropriate security patches. Also, they have dedicated robust monitoring systems like Apache Spark. The dedicated cloud teams can pick up tickets quickly and resolve them as they arise for any issues.

A Single Suite for All Your Video Production Needs

Most cloud video production providers are bringing all services into a unified platform. It integrates most of the production aspects like switching, graphics, etc. Hence, different features become accessible in one platform for easy control.

Take Away

Modern cloud video production platforms offer convenience, efficiency, and cost gains. You will save on hardware, rental space, and logistics. Besides, it has a unified platform that enhances remote team collaboration, integration of features, and better production control.

You will not need to worry about security breaches on your new streaming channels or services. Also, you can handle any demand fluctuation like a boss with little overhead costs. Therefore, your organization may be missing much if it isn’t using a cloud-based video production platform.

Digital marketing encompasses many different things. Your website, blog, social media accounts, and more all play an important role in reaching the right people at the right times. Though YouTube is not as popular among businesses as Facebook or even Twitter, it is a powerful tool that can benefit almost any business of any size, regardless of industry or niche. Here, you will learn more about how YouTube works and what you can to do leverage it to your benefit using efforts like YouTube SEO.

YouTube is a Google-Owned Platform

If you’ve been considering the idea of utilizing YouTube as part of your marketing plan, there are two very important things you must keep in mind. First, YouTube is a social media network. It gives absolutely anyone the ability to record and post a video, and others can share, like, or comment on that video collectively. Second, YouTube is part of Google’s massive empire. Google has owned YouTube since 2006 when the search engine giant purchased it for a staggering $1.65 billion. This means that when it comes to optimizing your YouTube channel, you’ll want to follow many of the same SEO practices as you would for your website.

People around the world watch more than a billion hours of YouTube content every day. There are nearly two billion active users, and of these, only about 16% are from the US, which further proves the network’s reach. Since Google purchased YouTube, the two have worked hand-in-hand to provide a better overall experience for internet users around the globe and their 3.5 billion collective daily searches.

Marketing with YouTube

There are two different ways you can market your brand on YouTube.

Become a YouTube creator. YouTube creators are the people behind the videos people watch around the world. They are influencers, demonstrators, entertainers, and others who spend their time making, editing, and uploading videos to be searched and viewed by the masses. Depending on your industry, you could make videos of your own. With the right SEO, people will find your YouTube channel just like they find your website, and before you know it, you’ll have thousands of subscribers.
Become a YouTube advertiser. As the two billion active YouTube users watch their favorite videos, they will occasionally see advertisements. Advertisers pay YouTube to show their ads to viewers during videos much like they pay Facebook or Google to show advertisements to their users. Recently, Google added the ability for marketers to specifically target people who recently searched for a related product or service with their ads, which vastly improves reach, ROI, and conversions.

Many of the people who leverage YouTube to their advantage do both things. Not only do they make their own videos, but they also pay YouTube to display their “commercials” during others’ videos.

Benefits of Adding YouTube to Your Campaign

Aside from extending your reach to more people, there are several other benefits associated becoming a YouTube creator for your business.

Demonstrating a product. Videos do something text and pictures can’t: they allow you to show your audience exactly how a product works. If you have limited distribution channels, this is by far one of the best ways to get the word out, and it’s especially beneficial for businesses like toy manufacturers and clothing designers.
Making your brand the authority in your niche. A YouTube channel also gives you the option to create a solid reputation as an industry expert. Some of the things you can do in this regard involve making short how-to videos, giving your viewers tips on how to get the most of their product or service, and even providing links to other creators’ videos that may provide the same information from a different perspective.
Saving your own bandwidth. Let’s face it – website bandwidth can get expensive, and high definition videos can take up a lot of space and eat up a lot of your bandwidth, causing your entire site to load slowly. When you become a YouTube creator, you can embed your YouTube videos into your website to avoid this.
Solving common problems. Imagine creating a list of FAQs, but instead of posting them on your website in text, you make a video, instead. You can demonstrate the solutions rather than just explaining them, and this is sure to improve the overall customer experience.
Announcing sales or other events. Sales and other events are fantastic for getting some attention for your business, but they only work if people know about them. You can record your most successful events and edit the best clips into a short video.
Giving your brand a personality. A brand with personality is a successful brand, and once again, YouTube is the best way to accomplish this goal. If your bakery, for example, only uses organic eggs from free-range chickens, you can take a trip to the local farm – and take your viewers along with you. This shows your personality and helps you become more relatable to your target audience.
Building a community. Finally, thanks to viewers’ ability to comment on your videos, YouTube is an excellent place for community building. Using YouTube as a sharing platform is vital to your success. Consider a once-weekly vlog (video blog) at the very least and add in a few other videos that show new product launches or even footage of your happy customers.

The benefits of YouTube are far-reaching, and with the right knowledge, a decent camera or smartphone, and the ability to relate to your customers, it’s possible to build your brand more than you ever thought possible just by making YouTube videos.

As you can see, there’s much more to YouTube than meets the eye. Some of the most successful YouTubers of all time have made millions of dollars just by doing what they love to do best, and you can use it to your advantage, too. You might not become a millionaire, but there is a 100% chance that you will extend your brand’s reach, whether you choose to become a creator or an advertiser.

Videos are one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. They connect with viewers in a way words don’t. People watch videos on the fly as they commute to work, sit in a waiting room or wait in line. Researchers estimate that viewing one minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words.

Small businesses often feel uncertain about delving into the world of online videos. However, by 2021, 82 percent of online traffic will consist of video viewing. Now is the time to jump into video marketing.

Here are some quick video marketing solutions to start with:

1. Choose a Platform

There are many different options when it comes to delivering your online videos. About 96 percent of Americans 18 to 24 use YouTube, so it’s an obvious choice as a potential platform. It’s one of the largest social media sites in existence.

You could also simply stream video from your site, but unless your server is blazing fast and you have unlimited resources, you’re better off embedding a video you’ve uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo or another video streaming site. In addition to saving resources on your website server, you also gain reach to all those people on that particular social media video site.

Even a beginner can shoot a video on their phone and upload to YouTube or Facebook, so you’ll be able to figure out the ins and outs in a single day. Start by studying websites your competitors created. Take notes about what you love and what you hate so you can learn from their successes and their mistakes.

Rhett and Link host a show that is silly and funny, so it makes sense that they’d create some interesting videos for YouTube to draw viewers. They created a song that speaks to their target audience. Similar videos have gone viral. They created one called “T-Shirt Wars” that has nearly 19 million views. The videos are not high budget by any means, but they are entertaining.

2. Interview an Influencer

Is there an influencer in your niche that you’d love to connect with? Offer to interview them via video chat. Most influencers will share the link to the interview on their social media pages, which gives you access to their many followers.

However, make sure there is something in it for the influencer as well. If you want the person to agree to the interview in the first place, you have to make it worth their while. What type of promotion do you plan to do for the video?

Use a tool such as Call Recorder for Skype to record the video interview, even if the person lives miles away from you.

3. Use Pop-Out Videos

Do you want your videos to stand out and gain the focus of visitors? Utilize a pop-out feature so when the user clicks play, the video becomes larger and takes over at least some of the screen. A pop-out places the user’s undivided attention on the video and makes the process interactive for the user. This works well on smaller screens, too, because the video screen is larger and easier to view on a mobile device.

One recent study estimates around 78 percent of digital video viewers use their mobile phones to stream content. Pop-out videos are beneficial to mobile visitors, but also visually pleasing to desktop browsers.

Marco Specialty Steel does a good job integrating a pop-out video that highlights what the company does and its unique selling proposition (USP). The video is on YouTube and embedded on the website, so it streams as soon as you click on it.

4. Get Personal

Personalize your marketing to make it more effective, whether a video or any other type of communication. In one survey, 90 percent of respondents indicated they enjoyed a personalized experience, and 80 percent said it made them more likely to do business with a company.

How do you personalize a video when you don’t know who is watching it? The answer is that you do know who is most likely to watch it. Study your internal data, who visits your site and who views your other videos. Once you have a general picture of the type of person who interacts with your videos, you can create a user persona that represents your target audience.

If you create a personalized video that speaks to the consumer, you’ll gain loyal followers. Be authentic and stay true to the mission of your company.

5. Tell Your Story

You don’t have to come up with a fancy script and pay thousands of dollars to a videographer. Just focus on telling the story behind your brand and what you do. Show potential customers the process behind what you make or let them meet a few of your employees. Show off what is unique about your company. As humans, we crave stories, especially ones that tug at our emotions.

Baked releases videos that show some of its delicious creations, such as the screenshot of a triple-layer chocolate birthday cake crumb-coated with a buttercream frosting. It also released videos of seasonal favorites and featured topics such as a tour of a new store.

Results in a Day

It may take longer than a day to see results from your video marketing efforts, but start by creating a video. Each video you create will get a bit better than the last. Over time, you’ll learn the best way to market videos, how to speak to your audience and the best angles for the camera. The key is to get started and see the traffic on your website surge over time.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Not so long ago, the phrase “content marketing” meant a quite different thing. Perhaps a decade ago, useful content marketers were good writers. They wrote good blogs, articles, and webpage copy. While this is still true today, “content marketing” means something more inclusive. Besides just writing, the best content marketers can also create video, infographics, and podcasts. The most in-demand of these new skills is video. But why?

In the past decade the digital marketing landscape has been drastically altered. People have begun phasing out traditional laptop and desktop computers in favor of mobile devices when they want to search the web. After all, it’s much more convenient to simply pick up the smartphone everyone has attached to their hand.

Another way the industry has been altered is that digital technology is much more affordable in the current market versus at any other point in history. With no boundaries in how or when people can interact with content, success relies heavily on delivering your company’s message in a way that customers prefer it.

That is where video marketing comes in.

Video Marketing Statistics

To understand how important video marketing has become, you only need to look at the numbers. According to an infographic shared by HubSpot:

Experts predict that by 2019 video content will claim over 80 percent of all web traffic, leaving little room for other formats.
Clickthrough rates on emails with embedded videos range between 200 and 300 percent higher.
Conversion ratings on landing pages are increased by 80 percent when a video is included.
90 percent of customers state that product videos help them with their purchasing decisions.
Nearly 90 percent of digital marketers are now incorporating video content into their strategies.
Of the time spent online, customers report that a third or more of it is spent watching videos.
35 percent of online advertisement spending goes towards videos.
Almost 60 percent of company decision markers prefer to watch a video versus reading an article or blog.

Another survey saw that major online retailers saw an increase in conversion ratings to as much as 9 percent when they began incorporating video into their marketing strategy.

Nine percent may not seem like an incredible amount at first glance. Yet when you think about the fact that 9 out of every 100 viewers purchased the product, that’s amazing. Imagine if a single video produced conversions at this rating and had one million viewers? That’s 90,000 conversions.

But why do customers prefer video content over written content and how can you leverage this to help your digital marketing efforts succeed?

Easier to Remember

Customers are more likely to remember a video they watched versus a blog they read. This is largely because videos appeal to all the senses in a more realistic, memorable matter. By using a combination of written or audio content, visuals, and a range of audio, the customer can hear and see the message presented versus simply seeing words on a screen (with or without attached graphics).

Everyone Can Engage

Something many marketers don’t think about is the fact that some of their audience may not be proficient readers. This may not hold true for certain sectors, such as B2B or luxury products, but the average product meant for the average person reaches farther than college graduates.

While an article may be hard for some individuals to understand, a video using speech instead of words is easily digestible – regardless of reading level.

Great Mobile Performance

Remember how we mentioned earlier that more people than ever are turning towards mobile devices? See, there was a reason for it. With more people using smartphones or tablets to access the web you need content which performs well on those devices. That would be video.

Not only does video perform great on mobile devices but it also works well on traditional laptops or desktops. No matter how your audience chooses to access your website or social platform, your videos will be presented in a high-quality, unaltered way.

Strengthen Company Branding

Your company’s message becomes more realistic when paired with a relevant, inspiring video. The video could be based upon a lifelike scenario which resonates with your buyer persona, or it could be your message paired with music which compliments the message. Not only are consumers more likely to relate to your company’s brand when presented through video, they are also more likely to remember it.

Video Goes Viral

Experts estimate that 92 percent of people who consume videos on mobile devices share them with other people. That is only 8 percent shy of every mobile user and the highest share ratings of any mobile content.

Tips for Creating Valuable, Sharable Video Content

Just like the world of written content, not all videos are created equally. Some perform significantly better than others, because they are designed better. If you’d like to create videos which are valuable to your consumer base and more inclined towards being shared or even going viral, check out the following tips:

According to research by John Cecil (author of Online Video Revolution), the ideal length of an online video is typically between 20 and 60 seconds. Sometimes, promotional videos can be up to two or three minutes, but these are typically those targeted towards repeat customers or educational niches.
Ensure you catch your audience’s attention within the first 12 seconds. Around 33 percent of viewers will never make it past that.
Skip the auto play function. Despite more businesses using the function, many consumers find it to be annoying – and it can also lower screen loading times.
Use a descriptive, relevant thumbnail when promoting.
Develop videos which are entertaining. For an example of what we mean, it’s worth checking out BlendTec’s “Will it Blend” During the series they try blending crazy items like an iPhone – and these stunts have launched them straight to the top of their industry.
If you use writing or titles make sure they are clear and easy to read.
Any images used should be of the highest quality and never pixelated or unfit for the screen.
Always keep your audience in mind. Choose to create content based on their wants or needs, and not your own. All content – video or otherwise – needs to be designed in such a way that your audience will relate to it.

All these things combined equate to higher conversion ratings for your business. While written content still has a place in the digital marketplace (and always will), video marketing is the chosen format of the future. If you aren’t already allotting some of your time, effort, and resources towards this sector, now is the time to do so.

Video marketing is arguably one of the most effective marketing strategies for companies. However, if your video marketing misses the mark on certain elements, it won’t be nearly as effective, and you won’t see the return on investment you expect. Smaller companies can’t afford to hire a full-time videographer, so the marketing team creates the videos and pushes them to outlets that draw the company’s target audience.

The total Internet traffic from consumers will be 80 percent video viewing by 2019. The number of daily video uploads grows every year. Now is the time to get your video marketing polished up. If your videos don’t have the following six things, your marketing strategy will fall flat.

1. Brevity

As a company, you have a lot to say to the world. However, people have short attention spans, and they don’t want to watch an hour-long video about what you can do for their bottom line. Instead, they want you to get to the point and get there quickly. One study found out of the top 10 posts on YouTube, the longest video was just over nine minutes, but much shorter videos topped the list as well.

The longer your video runs, the more viewers tend to bounce away from it. This is a problem if you put your call to action at the end of the video and viewers already stopped watching.

The solution? Keep your videos as short as possible. Home in on a single idea, rather than trying to stuff everything you want to say into a single video. Ideal length also varies, depending on which social media platform you’re targeting.

This 30-second video from Marks & Spencer gets right to the point and emphasizes a single item the department store sells — luxury food. The video is bright, grabs the attention and focuses on the food throughout. At the end is a simple tagline that lets you know these foods are available at M&S.

2. Consistency

If you want to attract a following on social media, keep in mind you’re competing with millions of other businesses online. If users know they can count on you to regularly upload videos, they’ll be much more likely to follow you on whatever platform you’re on.

One example of this is Dr. Eric Berg’s videos on YouTube. Berg uploads at least a video per day, and sometimes several a day. The topics are always about eating a keto diet or solving health issues through diet. He has more than a million followers on YouTube alone. The videos are informative and high-quality, but subscribers also know he is reliable and uploads videos daily, so they follow to see those new videos.

3. Series

Creating a video series allows you to keep users engaged as they come back to view additional installments about a topic that already interests them. A series is also a good way to break down complex topics into smaller parts, which helps keep your videos shorter while still covering a topic in depth.

Quincy Compressor takes a complex topic and breaks it down into a series of videos that explain poor compressor quality and the impact of it. The first video is one of four in the series. In the first, an actor talks about toxic air quality and ways to avoid it. The other three videos repeat the theme of “avoid” and focus on other issues that can arise from air compressors that aren’t the same quality as Quincy.

4. Mobile Optimization

Sixty-five percent of those who view videos online do so from their mobile devices. If you aren’t optimizing your videos for mobile viewing, you’re risking losing the majority of your viewers. To ensure your video streams fast and seamlessly, avoid heavy media files or add-ons that bog down video viewing. If hosting the video on your website, use a responsive player that sizes to fit the user’s screen.

5. Soft Sell

One thing that turns off consumers is pushy salespeople. Unfortunately, pushy sales tactics sometimes creep into videos and other online marketing. Users respond better to a video that presents an idea and lets them make up their own minds about the product or service. It’s OK to put a call to action at the end, but don’t use scare tactics. Instead, give the viewer a reason to do business with you by showing them an advantage.

GoPro shows what their product is capable of by taking you on a trek into the wilderness with Travis Rice, a professional snowboarder. The viewer goes with him to the top of a mountain and down the other side as GoPro captures the entire exciting journey. The video ends with their logo, an image of the product and the tagline “Be a Hero.”

6. Engagement

One survey indicated 64 percent of viewers would like to interact with a video and will watch more of the video when allowed to do so. Rather than presenting a static experience, an interactive video offers the viewer options that customize the entire experience. Add elements such as quizzes and mini-games to engage viewers.

Video Marketing Strategy

Consider these missing elements the next time you create a video. Of course, video marketing goes way beyond making and posting amazing videos. You also need to know where to share, the best times to post the video and how to keep the buzz going. However, if the video itself falls flat, all the other elements are pointless.

Many videos are competing for consumer attention. Any small improvement gives you an edge over other companies in your niche. Videos allow a connection with your customers and an opportunity for engagement that is more powerful than most media. Think of a video as a two-way conversation with customers and potential customers.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Captivating, original content drives site engagement. Video content continues to rise in popularity, with viewers watching over 500 million hours of videos on YouTube each day. Today, web users are embracing video content — and content creators are catching onto video’s viral potential and ability to relay information in an engaging format.

Websites looking to boost their site engagement with videos must decide on several things, such as what types of videos they should publish, in addition to when and where they should post the videos. If you’re interested in learning how to boost your site engagement with videos, consider the following eight tips:

1. Show Your Expertise

It’s simple enough to produce written content.

A video, however, provides more convincing evidence of a site or speaker’s expertise, especially since your tone and confidence comes across as more persuasive than text. Typically, it’s easy to tell whether someone is well-informed or just reading off a teleprompter in a video. For informative videos, a confident presence combined with useful information can lead to a convincing result.

Home staging expert Tori Toth uses video to highlight her expertise, fitting the footage in between informative and relevant text. The video also features “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran, further cementing Toth’s legitimacy.

The page also mentions that Toth is a best-selling author and lifestyle expert, with the video and celebrity addition making it even more than apparent that Toth’s credentials are legitimate, which can help drive engagement and trust.

2. Provide a Transcript

Including a transcript of your video offers multiple benefits. For one, website visitors unable to watch the video have an immediate way to explore the content. If they’re on public transit, for example, and forgot their headphones, watching a video isn’t an option — unless they’re that person. In any case, a transcript can prove beyond useful.

Additionally, a transcript of the video — with placement below it — can have a positive impact on viewers searching for relevant topics. For example, someone searching for how low engagement produces high bounce rates may come across the above video from Denamico because the website includes the video’s transcript.

By listing the content within the video, Denamico caters to everyone, whether they’re partial to video or text, without excluding either audience. Plus, the site offers support for viewers with hearing impairment, making their content even more accessible.

3. Embrace Live Video

A surefire way to showcase expertise and drive engagement is to host live video events, particularly in the form of a tutorial or Q&A session. Facebook Live is an ideal platform if you have an established customer base. It also offers a familiar interface for users, plus provides the chance to connect with and engage site followers, while also cementing your website’s expertise.

Martha Stewart excels at championing her brand with live video. In this example, Stewart and Kevin Sharkey explore her favorite outdoor decorating ideas. During the video, they answer questions from commenting viewers.

So far, the video has thousands of likes and over a half-million views, driving engagement for the Martha Stewart brand and its online presence. Although this live video example is on Facebook, you can link to the video event via your site and embed it within your site’s content.

4. Post the Video During Peak Hours

It’s ideal to post your video content during peak hours, which is evenings on the weekdays. If you’re uploading the video to YouTube, it’s a good idea to upload during weekday afternoons to give the platform time to index the videos and deliver them to subscriber feeds.

Ideally, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday tend to work well. If posting on the weekend, stick to between 9 p.m. and 11 a.m., or risk getting distracted with other weekend responsibilities.

5. Think About Your End Goal

What’s the purpose of the video? Is it to gain new followers? Inspire discussion among readers of the site? Gear your presentation, content and tone to the type of audience and content you have in mind, whether it’s introducing yourself to new viewers or continuing a weekly video series for members already familiar with the format.

6. Keep Production Time in Mind

If you’re new to video content, it’s vital not to tease upcoming content too far in advance. Video production times can vary and include project delays, so it’s best to avoid a specific date for a video release until you’re confident that production’s wrapped — or have a sense of humor to deflect comments about your procrastination, like YouTuber Natalie Tran.

7. Tag the Video

Tags are an excellent way to gain visibility for your social media and website content. On Facebook and Twitter, they can inspire people to find your video. Seek out your competition’s videos to determine which hashtags they’re using to get a feel for smart tagging. Make sure to incorporate some tags outside of what your competitors use, though.

8. Push the Video

Great video content isn’t worth much if nobody can find it. When uploading a video, promote it on social media, newsletters and general word-of-mouth. Provide a screen capture of the video, along with a link, in emails to website subscribers to pique their interest. Connect with online communities as well, like Reddit, to share your video.

No matter your website’s focus, you can use video to boost site engagement. Keep in mind your expertise, audience, end goal and approach to promotion, though, because it’ll help your web content reach new heights in visitor engagement.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

A whopping 60.8% of marketers polled said that visual content marketing was integral to their marketing strategies throughout 2017. We can gather from that statistic visual marketing and visual media, such as images and video, are crucial to a modern marketing campaign’s success — so much, that by the start of 2017, video content represented 74% of all internet traffic.

Is it engaging, though? Well, yes, actually, it is. Four times as many consumers would rather see a video or demonstration of a product than read about it.

That probably explains why web design has shifted to focus on more visual, more immersive and more engaging content. We’ve seen the rise of parallax scrolling and animation, background videos, minimal and visually appealing themes, and much more.

When you think about why, it sure makes sense. The average consumer is now bombarded and inundated with products, services, slogans, features and so much on a daily — even hourly — basis. They face more choices than ever before, even when trying to decide on the simplest of items. Food, clothing, media and entertainment, even the supplies used to clean a home. There are so many brands and options in today’s world that it can get downright nauseating.

As the representative for a brand, your job is to capture the attention of decision-makers in the home. You want to convince new customers and consumers to buy your product, or at the least to learn more about it. Everything in your design and visual theme is a means to this end. The navigation elements on a page work to direct customers to the right portal. The content is used to create a connection, enticing customers to buy in or learn more. Even the visual layout of a site is structured in a way that represents a brand’s mission, personality and goals.

But if you want to know how to truly captivate your audience, how to light a spark and steal their focus, it’s through visual content, namely video.

The Power of Video In Web Design and How to Harness It

Most of this is marketing speak, so you’d be forgiven for thinking it doesn’t apply to you in web and visual design. Our goal is, after all, inherently to build a website or online portal. We craft the site, and they do the marketing and build their brand, right?

Wrong.

The modern customer demands an experience, not just a product or name anymore. The only way to provide such a thing, is to engrain the concept at the foundation — starting with the web design and ending with the way it’s used and integrated into other channels. That means you, as a web designer, play a central role in the rise, or fall, of a brand’s reputation.

Even something as simple as using a poorly shot, pixelated video can eliminate the chances of a brand making a sale or closing a lead. This also highlights the true power of visual content, or video embedded on a site.

Here are some ways to make video work for you:

1. Use Video to Elaborate

Text and the written word is invocative, yes, but there are certain things you just cannot represent. For example, the convenience of a product can be incredibly hard to show in text. You could tell someone a hundred times that your product makes their lives easier, but they hear that all the time. They need to see it in action and represented in the real world. Videos can be used to present ideas such as this, which are too difficult to portray otherwise.

Queue Mid South’s background video to elaborate on their “landscaping excellence” which simply cannot be stated with text.

2. Show Value

You’ve likely seen or come across the tag hundreds of times before, even in brick-and-mortar stores: “As seen on TV.” This concise, effective saying tells customers that the product works exactly as advertised, more importantly as demonstrated on TV through an infomercial or ad.

It works because at some time before, a video was shown revealing or presenting the value of said product or service. Visual content can help present the inherent value to customers, more than traditional web copy. Adding a demonstrative video in the main slider, that shows the product or company’s service in action, is much more effective than stating it with a bold header.

Know what your average partition is? You probably know the basics, but why would you want one, and why would you care? One Point Partitions solved this problem simply by including an animated video at the top of their landing page, that shows the true value of their product: partitions.

3. Drive Action and Engagement

Visual stimulation is an exceptional way to promote or incite action among your audience. The act of storytelling, in particular, can boost engagement levels considerably. By showing, not telling, you can help your customers identify a solution or new path of opportunity.

You can drive action through emotion. Consider St. John’s Ambulance #savetheboy campaign. Parent or not, we dare you to watch this video and not feel the need to do something.

4. Humanize Your Experiences

Consumers aren’t looking to buy “stuff,” or, for lack of a better phrase, junk. What they are really after is the experience — the lifestyle, relationship or convenience that your products or services can offer them. In a way, this has everything to do with the consumer and their needs, not you.

The cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the food and snacks they eat, they are all an extension of their own personalities and personal stories. Through video and visual elements, you can present these experiences, tailoring them to your audience more than any other medium. It humanizes your brand, products and message. It also makes them infinitely more relevant on a personal level.

Seeing that twenty-something eating the food you love tells you that you’re going to love it just as much — after all, you’re about the same age. Watching a fellow consumer using a product in a way you would, is a great way to present value and relevance.

5. Kickstart Credibility

You can tell someone all day every day that your product can clean their home like nothing they’ve ever seen before. You can tell them in bold and fancy headers. You can use the most descriptive web copy and the most engaging typography ever seen. But actually showing them, through video, how your product removes an impossible stain or filth spot, that’s something else. It establishes credibility and trust.

Keeping that trust will be entirely up to you and your product, meaning you’ll have to meet their expectations going forward, once they actually have the item in their possession. Up until that point, however, it’s all on you and your creative teams to portray that credibility.

Case study or demonstration-oriented videos are a great way to build trust and authority. See, Slack’s “So yeah, we tried Slack…” promotional video.

Visual Is the Way to the Top

Through video and visual content, you can captivate the attention of your audience and visitors. Despite some of the examples here being shown through traditional video, it’s all relevant to web design and visual artistry as well. Follow the examples presented here to drive action, establish credibility, present value and, more importantly, to elaborate on what you want your design or story to say.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

We’ve all seen how rapidly the use of video is growing. The number of videos created for marketing or brand-building purposes increases in huge strides every day, and you don’t want your brand to be left behind.

There are hundreds of ways to use video, but using video in these 6 ways will help you strengthen your brand. Let’s learn how you should start using video today.

1. Always Tell A Story

Selling a product and making your brand more noticeable in videos doesn’t always have to focus on the “sales” aspect. Instead, try to focus on the story in some of your video marketing.

Storytelling connects your brand with your audience in a more raw, emotional way. Instead of buying into a singular product, a storytelling video helps your customers to buy into the feeling and emotions of your brand.

Personalized video can tell a beautiful story that will touch the hearts of customers, employees, and future partners.

2. Ignite Emotions Through Promotions

It’s become common knowledge that one of the reasons video marketing is so much more engaging to modern audiences is because of the way that visuals can ignite more emotional connections than traditional media marketing.

One great way to harness these emotions is to work with promotional partners that have their own audiences that align with your own target audience.

Consumers may be skeptical about adding a brand they have not heard of before to their “trust” list. By working with promotional partners such as Youtube vloggers, popular bloggers, or well-known community voices, you can build this type of trust in your brand.

3. Go “Live” With Your Brand

Live action video gives your brand a level of authenticity that you simply cannot manufacture. This means that taking advantage of the live features on social media outlets such as Facebook and Snapchat can build a stronger backing for your brand.

Not all live-action videos need to be broadcast in real-time for the authenticity to help your brand grow. Simply creating videos that bring the true face of your brand to life through the daily situations that happen within your company is enough to give consumers a first-hand experience of what your brand stands for.

4. Let Your Customers Testify On Your Behalf

Testimonials are a great way to strengthen your brand’s reputation, and all it takes is working with already existing customers to share your message.

Turn customers into your brand ambassadors. This will build trust because hearing and seeing people on camera helps future consumers make subconscious but very real connections to the message. That’s what makes video so relatable!

Work with your customers to create a message that you not only value your customer’s feedback, but you also want to engage more customers.

5. Have A Call To Action

No matter what type of video marketing you decide to use to continue building your brand, make sure that you always include a direct call to action for the video’s audience.

What is the goal of the video? Do you want them to watch more of your content, purchase a product, or send your feedback? No matter what the end goal is, make sure to tell your audience what you would like them to do. You need to ask the audience clearly if you expect to see results.

Always add a message asking something of your audience at the end of your videos. If they have taken the time to watch the content, they are your best chance to build up a following for your brand.

6. Strengthen From The Inside

Building your brand doesn’t always involve outside video marketing. In fact, using videos within your company is a great way to make your employees feel more connected to your brand.

Employees are the best advocates you could have for your brand, so it’s important for them to feel valued and connected to the brand they are working with. It’s been proven that brand messages shared by employees are re-shared 24 times more than those distributed only by the brand, proving that employee advocates have a lot of power.

Create content that excites and engages your employees on a regular basis. These videos will be a welcome break from text and email correspondence. When the time comes, they’ll be ready to share your brand message with the world!

Using video in these versatile ways will help your brand grow more robust and help you stand out from the crowd.

Author Bio:

VideoRemix is a video software company that allows users to create, edit, personalize, and publish production-quality video campaigns to engage their audience. Clients can feature these personalized videos on websites, landing pages, video-sharing sites, and Facebook.

Cartoon animations used to be a central part of life for many of us growing up. As kids, many of us would immerse ourselves in hours of chores or study in exchange for a few hours of screen time on Cartoon Network. Over time, many of these cartoons had a profound impact on us, and it’s not hard to identify at least a lesson or two that you lifted from an episode of Tom & Jerry.

Thus, the power of animated videos can never be underestimated, especially for small businesses that are struggling to survive in a competitive business environment. Animation videos, especially those that carry an inspirational message, can help boost your marketing campaign while making your customers more endeared to your brand. They enable you to communicate your brand’s story in a more memorable and believable platform. And best of all, you can relay that story within a few seconds.

Here’re a few ways that inspirational animation videos can help you promote your brand and message.

Improved online visibility

The online potential of a good video can never be underestimated by small businesses with an online presence. A small business that uses video as part of its promotional campaign stands a better chance of higher rankings on search engines compared to businesses that stick with other forms of digital marketing.

In many cases, a simple explainer video can increase a website’s visibility by extending the average time visitors spend on the site, sometimes by up to 1500%. This tells Google and other search engines that your website is legit enough for the high table, which sees your site going up in search rankings.

Additionally, animated videos can get your small business gain mileage with YouTube, the world’s largest video search engine. Viewers can watch your animated videos, get inspired by your brand’s message, and find their way to your website.

Increased conversion rates

So, with more people hanging around your website, there’s a chance that a good number of them will proceed to purchase your product or service after watching your video. In fact, up to 85% of potential customers often go ahead to complete their purchase soon after checking out your product/service video.

An inspirational animation video combines a potent mix of emotions, voice, sound effects, text, music, and other forms of media that efficiently sums up your brand’s message and enables the customer to make a buying decision quicker.

Better user engagement

Videos are a master in the art of engagement. The modern world is filled with tons of distractions all baying for attention from potential customers. This is why only a few people will have the time to go through the web pages on your website, trying to find information about your company or product.

On the other hand, if you use a short animated explainer video on your landing page to explain your brand, product, or service, you stand a better chance of engaging with your target customers effectively and for a longer period, resulting in better brand promotion.

Improved brand awareness

For small businesses, establishing and communicating the brand message can be a challenging endeavor. You have to compete with established brands offering the same product and service within your area, which can make it difficult for potential customers to identify with your brand – or “the new guy.”

Animation videos can give your small business a head-start when it comes to promoting your brand. One of the many ways animation videos can be beneficial for brand awareness is by promoting your brand’s color. In fact, 85% of instantaneous buying decisions can be attributed to color alone, which also helps to describe the personality and nature of your brand. In essence, animated videos help to color your brand, literally.

Whiteboard animation videos are especially effective at driving brand awareness. For instance, Spiel Whiteboards, a company that specializes in whiteboard animation videos, has created dozens of memorable, thought-provoking videos for brands such as the National History Museum in Britain and eBay. Their designers often combine engaging storylines with the right assortment of colors and creativity that leaves the viewer with a permanent impression of the brand in question.

Reduce marketing time and costs

Animation videos are comparably easier and less costly to create, distribute, and track compared with other marketing platforms. You can actually get a simple animation video with your own message, logo, and other brand information for free from many online providers – that is, if you’re willing to overlook time limitations and annoying watermarks.

Still, even if you were to buy a plan from the likes of PowToon or GoAnimate, you’d still be making a lot of savings compared with shooting and marketing a professional video.

Plus, a video can remain on the internet for eternity, which means you don’t have to keep on renewing your ad plan when it runs out like with TV ads. Additionally, with a little bit of effort, you can link your animated videos to your social media channels and have them shared freely and endlessly.

With the right inspirational message, animated videos can provide your small business with a limitless pool of marketing resources and help you compete with bigger brands within your area of business.

About The Author:

Irene Fatyanova is a content writer, working with TechnicalMindsWeb.Com who loves reporting on the latest web design and online marketing trends, WordPress and eCommerce solutions. Apart from writing tech articles, she’s keen on photography and has a couple of cool Photoshop image retouching tricks up her sleeve. You can Irene on Twitter, and Google +.

Image Source: Skitterphoto

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