Audiences find video content engaging. It’s as simple as that. According to Biteable, your audience will retain 95% of your message if they watch it in a video, compared to only 10% retention if it’s been read in written content.
Video is an important way to tell your business’ story and increase brand exposure. Just as pairing the right visual content with your copy will make it shine, video is a proven way to boost audience engagement with your products or services.
Create a video marketing strategy
Before you start filming, you’ll need to create a video marketing strategy. To determine what your strategy looks like and what kinds of video content you might need, it can be helpful to identify what value you’d like it to bring to your business.
Perhaps you’d like to increase sales or build brand awareness. Or, maybe you’re looking to develop your social media presence. Whatever your goals, once you know why you’re using video it’s easier to refine your strategy.
When you put together your video strategy, you’ll need to consider:
- who your audience is
- the types of videos you’ll need to produce to meet your goals, such as explainer videos or video blogs
- whether you’ll promote your videos via email, social media or your website
- what metrics you’ll use to determine how successful your videos are. A metric might be the number of views or likes when shared on social media, for example.
Remember, it’s important that your video marketing strategy complements your existing marketing strategy.
Choose the right type of video to achieve your goals
Once you’ve created your strategy, the next step is to research the kind of video content that will best enable you to achieve your goals. There are many different video styles that can help you get your message across, such as explainer videos, interviews and Instagram Stories.
Short explainer videos
Explainer videos are short animated or live action clips that explain an idea simply. They use clear language and interesting visuals that hold the viewer’s attention. Explainer videos can also be a useful way of demonstrating your business’ products or services in action, or answer commonly asked questions.
Interviews
Interviews are a great way to develop meaningful content. You can use them to demonstrate your employees’ knowledge, or interview an expert on a topic that’s of importance to your business. Interviews can also be a means of building your network as you get to know your subject, or that much-needed excuse to reach out to a potential client.
Instagram Stories
With hundreds of millions of people using the feature every day, Instagram Stories is a direct line to your audience. Like Snapchat, Instagram Stories enables you to create video or image-based clips that disappear after 24 hours.
Given how quick they are to create, Instagram Stories can be a low risk – yet high return – form of video marketing. Even Converse, National Geographic and Teen Vogue have taken to using Instagram Stories to increase their audience engagement and brand awareness.
Start planning
When you’ve decided the style of video that will best suit your purpose, it’s time to plan it. You can start by storyboarding and writing a script. Making a note of the shots you’re going to use or what you’re going to say can help your video content feel more professional. Or if you’re interviewing someone, take a little time to jot down some questions and consider the direction you’d like the answers to take.
If you keep this guide in mind, you’ll be shooting video like Baz Luhrmann before you know it. But if you need a helping hand, get in touch with our expert Melbourne-based content creators at Shuttle Rocket today.