Brands need video content, to be spread across every platform and channel. If until a few years ago making videos meant only creating institutional content or TV commercials, today, thanks to social networks, this type of content is much more accessible and diversified in terms of format and content.
About Video Marketing
Leveraging emotions and the immediacy of the message seems to be the key to success today, especially on digital communication channels.
This is the basis of Video Marketing, which focuses on the creation of videos and their dissemination through a company’s communication channels, with different objectives.
In fact, depending on how you use your video and the concept behind your content, you can boost awareness, interactions and engagement, and even conversions.
Video marketing can be used for a variety of purposes, from building customer relationships to promoting brands, services or products, including how-tos and tutorials; or to promote customer testimonials, live streaming events, webinars and training courses.
Why businesses should engage in Video Marketing
Video is the content format that dominates many promotional channels. A research by HubSpot tells us that internationally, users mainly want to watch video content from Brands, followed as a preference by emails/newsletters, images and blog articles. In addition, 90% of users say that videos help them make purchasing decisions.
Not focusing on video, then, could be a misstep, making a company fall behind the market. SMEs in particular tend to imagine this tool as too expensive and burdensome to approach, also in terms of time. But it is essential to understand that today, for most users, the simpler and more immediate a video is, the more authentic the content appears… that’s what really matters to your target audience.
Therefore, video production is not as high-spending as it appears: potentially, a truly smart SME could shoot its own high-quality videos simply with a smartphone or SLR.
However, between camera equipment, lighting, and editing software, the topic of video marketing may still seem complicated and time-consuming. It can therefore be a good idea to rely on companies specialised in this activity, which create fresh and impactful contents for social networks with affordable budgets.
Video Content, not only YouTube: different contents for different channels
Also according to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers actually prefer lower quality, “authentic” videos over very high quality videos that look artificial and inauthentic, the classic “super ads.”
Video content is therefore more valuable if it is more human, if the company staff puts their face on it or if it does not appear blatantly advertising and promotional.
Therefore, before you start filming, it is essential to decide on the type of video to be created based on the channels you have available and, above all, on the marketing objective to be pursued.
Video demos and video guides
Demonstration videos show how your product works, whether it’s taking viewers on a tour of the software and how a platform can be used, or how to best leverage the potential of a technology object, for example. They are very useful to the Sales department, especially if you sell services, because they simplify customer training, but they can also go viral on YouTube. Just think of the myriad reviews by YouTubers on tech products.
Brand video
Brand videos are typically created as part of a larger advertising campaign that showcases a company’s vision, mission, or products and services. The goal of brand videos is to create awareness and intrigue. These are definitely the most institutional contents, which, if necessary, can have a unique and new concept, adaptable to the tone of voice of the company and to the channels on which the videos will be disseminated. Certainly, a video to show at a corporate convention will have a different feel than a pill posted on the company’s Facebook page.
Event videos
Recording the best of company events is a great way to then use the content on different communication channels, both external and internal.
Interviews with stakeholders and experts
Having company spokespersons speak makes the content very authentic: who better than the founder can really convey the values behind a startup or the idea and the first steps of a project? Also hiring a professional or expert in the sector to act as a “guarantor” of the goodness of a product, for example a nutritionist in the food sector, could best describe the nutritional properties of a new product.
Training and educational videos
They differ from demos because they are more narrative and aimed at training and education, for example the ones that digital marketing gurus make to spread and popularise industry news.
Live Videos
Live feeds are now the most beloved aspect of social media, especially on Instagram: in live feeds, companies can show who they are and what they do, launch a new product collection, create collaborations for live feeds with influencers and news outlets, and much more.
360° video, VR and AR
360° videos are very popular on social networks, Facebook in particular: they provide an immersive experience and, combined with virtual reality, lend themselves to gamification, bringing the user into the world of the brand. Augmented reality further enhances immersiveness and interaction, with an excellent degree of personalisation.
Planning your content, identifying the objectives for which it is made, the audience or segment of audience to be addressed, the more or less institutional channels on which it will be disseminated: these are the first marketing decisions to be made.
At this point, choosing a good partner – a video-making agency or professional – is the best move, unless you want to focus on an authentic and “handcrafted” result in the true sense of the word.
Rely on us to implement your Video Content Marketing strategy. Contact us and tell us about your plans to increase your online visibility.
