Is YouTube and Video only for big brands?
How do I tell my story with video?
Videos stand out on social media, giving customers a quick overview of a product without overwhelming them with text. In less than thirty seconds, a customer can get the information he needs about a business through a short, visually-appealing video.
Thanks to developments in tech tools, it’s easier than ever to create a fun video at little to no cost. Businesses can use their own smartphone cameras or sign up for a service that creates animated explainer videos.
VIDEO IS ENGAGING
People love video, and they are watching more and more video online. In fact, Cisco predicts that streaming video will make up 79 percent of all Internet traffic by 2018.
Buyers have a lot of people vying for their attention. They are constantly bombarded with sales pitches, white papers, case studies, product information and on and on. Those things take time to read, and they’re rarely enjoyable. As marketers, we risk being so eager to push information at buyers that we forget to think about whether they’ll actually like it.
Modern day marketers are thinking more like their own media companies. You can evoke emotion and establish a connection with your viewers in ways not possible with written word.
EVOKE EMOTIONS
Product showcases are common on YouTube. To stand out, showcase the story behind your product or its unexpected impact. Microsoft’s emotional video shows how their technologies go beyond everyday computers. They help a boy with no legs play sports, for example.
When all things are equal, people buy from companies that make a difference. This video shows how Microsoft’s product implementations create a better world. Plus, the emotions it evokes will stick with you through your next buying decision.
RESOURCES
Dollars are tight. Every organization and small business is trying to do more with less.
However, you don’t have to spend a fortune in today’s high tech world.
Take you customer through a journey of different stages of your product or service. Release a new video every few weeks. That may sound excessive, but you can dedicate the right resources without breaking the bank.
You don’t need a formal studio and top-of-the-line equipment. Quality is important, but so is authenticity. Shoot in the office instead of a studio, and you can get a great HD-quality camera for a few hundred bucks. Sometimes your smartphone will do. However, remember audio is just as important as quality. If they can’t hear or it’s too noisy they’ll click off.
YouTube Editor is free and a great place to start editing your YouTube videos. This is a skill that is critical to video, and the more you do the better you get.
YouTube Music is also free and keeps you out of copyright infringement. They have hundreds of songs that you can match up with your video to give it that extra punch. To get royalty free music to be used in video can cost upwards of $50 for one song. So make sure you have the right to use the music when creating and posting that video.
Your viewers will be more impressed by your smart, funny and helpful videos than whether the lighting is just right.
GOOD FIRST VIDEO
A good first video is an explainer about what your company does and who you are. Then you’ll want to create videos for every step of the marketing funnel. It’s said that buyers do more than half their product research independent of vendors, so you’ll want to provide videos for every step of that journey.
Fun campaign videos can bring pain points to life and humanize your brand. Product demo videos can quickly:
- Educate audiences
- Build trust in your offers
Interviews with thought leaders and customers can inspire audiences and quickly build trust in not only what you do but also why you do it. And as buyers engage directly with your sales team, personalized videos can help bring the human element back into the digital selling process.
KEEP THEM SHORT
As any filmmaker can tell you, editing is one of the toughest steps. All that content you shot is great. Everything your company does is amazing. You couldn’t possibly do it justice in one minute.
Unfortunately, viewers have short attention spans so you have to keep it short, especially in the beginning.
As you build your video library and measure viewership, you’ll start to see where there is demand for longer in-depth videos.
Short-Form Videos
Micro-video apps shorten videos to less than ten seconds, making them ideal for sharing on sites like Twitter and Instagram. In this format, customers can quickly view a message as they scroll through their social media feeds. Brands can quickly send a message that will be seen by a larger audience, especially on Vine and Facebook, where they automatically play as a user scrolls past.
“With the emergence of micro video apps like Twitter’s Vine and now Instagram’s video sharing feature, we’re seeing even more movement toward real-time video sharing.”
- Instagram allowing 3-15 seconds per video
- Vine allowing precisely 6 seconds, users are even more likely to create and share videos from their smartphones.
LIVE STREAMING
Have you heard the phrase CUT THE CORD? Those words send shivers down cable companies spines. Why? More and more users are relying on streaming video for content, not cable.
Live Streaming is the Future
Cisco predicts that streaming video will make up 79 percent of all Internet traffic by 2018.
Live streaming, which refers to content delivered live over the Internet, requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content.
Facebook Live Streaming was recently rolled out. Currently Facebook gives users several options when posting an update: Post a photo or video, tag people in your post, add a feeling or what you’re doing, or check in to a location.
Once live streaming is enabled, you’ll also see a live video icon (see image below). After clicking on it, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can write a description and select your audience before going live. Once you’re ready to start broadcasting, you’ll simply click ‘Go Live’.
Periscope
Periscope live-streaming app that Twitter bought for a reported $100 million last year continues to grow.
Periscope is consensual voyeurism. That’s not a new idea—millions use Twitch to watch other people play video games, while YouTube, Live stream, UStream, and a dozen others have tried to make businesses out of live-streaming video.
We all have smartphones now, with good cameras and fast LTE connections.
Meerkat, a live-streaming app that launched last year, has shown its users how cool it can be when people invite you into brief, almost always totally unstaged and unmediated moments in their lives.
WHERE TO POST
It’s tempting to pop your videos on YouTube or your own website. The best strategy is to do both — and Facebook, too, now that it’s enhanced its video capabilities. However, current research has shown that Facebook likes native videos. That means from your phone, camcorder, etc. that you created but not from a shared link on YouTube. Why?
Facebook has shown to penalize YouTube videos in it’s News Feed, not showing it as much so user engagement goes down. So much for competition!
YouTube is great because it performs well in Google search results. Plus, it’s free. But you sacrifice control. YouTube could refer your viewer to unrelated or, worse, competitive content.
You should complement free channels with a dedicated and secure hub for videos on your own website. Not only do you keep control, you also can better measure viewership.
CALL TO ACTION
One mistake many marketers make is in creating a great video without attaching a call to action. Customers may enjoy your message, but if they have no idea what to do after watching it, your hard work will have been for nothing.
The call to action can be something simple, like a coupon code for use on your website. For local customers, attach an offer of a discount for any customer who mentions the video in your store. Just a few words at the end of your video could lead to a conversion that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
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About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
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