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7 Secrets to Succeed in Video Marketing

Video has been the most popular choice for online content consumption today. This year, an average person is predicted to watch 100 minutes of videos daily. Nine out of ten people wanted to see more videos from brands and businesses. As such, video marketing also becomes an irreplaceable part of a digital strategy among brands and businesses. According to a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong, by 2022, videos will occupy 82% of internet traffic. This is because modern consumers prefer to learn more about a brand, product, or service by watching a video. If you are one of the 86% of businesses that use videos as a marketing tool, this article is for you. Here are 7 secrets to succeed in video marketing.

FOCUS ON STORYTELLING INSTEAD OF SALES

social media agency Hong Kong reveals the 80/20 rule in social media as a secret to succeeding in video marketing. People do not go to social media pages to shop. Their main goal is to connect with the community and get ideas or inspiration. As a video marketer, you need to focus more on storytelling rather than sales. People prefer to watch videos that provide valuable information. They typically ignore salesy videos.

Videos that tell stories are the content most watched by viewers. Connecting to your viewers by telling your story helps them better understand your brand, products, and services. Some good examples of stories video ads are those from Budweiser, a popular American lager. Their videos were able to connect sports fans globally. By showing short clips of the Chicago Cubs victories, they have successfully generated a large number of press coverages and social media followings.

MAKE USE OF THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF A VIDEO WISELY

A video marketing agency Hong Kong has noted the importance of using the first few seconds of a video wisely. This secret to succeeding in video marketing has to do with the short attention span of video viewers. Because of their busy lives and so many distractions online, people only hold videos in an average of just 8.5 seconds. So, video creators should create a hook at the very beginning. This is to let the viewers know that what they are about to watch is worth their time. Adding a video thumbnail has proven to be an effective hook. They are small still images showing a preview of your video. As they sit alongside your videos on Facebook and YouTube, they get the viewers excited even before the video starts playing. When choosing video thumbnails, avoid blurry shots. Pick a frame with clear and crisp subjects showing the viewers what’s coming up on the video. 

OPTIMIZE FOR SEO

Videos are now part of search engine optimization (SEO). More than 3.5 billion people search for videos on Google. YouTube recorded 3 billion video searches. Facebook also recorded 2 billion searches for videos daily. Here are some tips to optimize videos for SEO:

  • Use keywords in your video title yet keep it under 66 characters.
  • Add auto-captions and descriptions on your video that include your keywords also.

By doing these two steps, you make the video discoverable on search engines. They also allow video discovery among the hearing impaired or people who watched videos with sounds off.

PARTNER WITH INFLUENCERS

Around 90% of social viewers trust peer recommendations over company advertisements. This is how a trusted influencer becomes a secret to succeed in video marketing. Today, a brand is no longer what it tells the consumer it is. It is what the consumers tell each other about the brand. A great example of a video marketing partnership with a brand influencer was that of Nike, the famous sports brand. They partnered with YouTube influencer, Casey Neistat, to create a video in launching FuelBand. The Make It Count video created by Casey now has over 24 million views. 

TARGET RELEVANT AUDIENCES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Most social media networks feature targeting tools where you can segment your video audiences. This is another secret to succeed in video marketing. By segmenting your audience to those who would most likely watch your videos, you are boosting both its conversion and performance. These are two important metrics of success in video marketing. 

Take Facebook for one. It is an incredible content distribution platform. One of its best features that makes it stand out from other social media networks is its in-depth audience targeting tools. The platform allows marketers to target audiences on ads, Pages’ posts, and even videos. You can segment the audience by age, gender, language, and location. You can also target them based on their interests and preferences. 

TELL ENGAGING STORIES IN VIDEOS WITH SOUNDS OFF

Most online viewers watched videos in public places. They may watch videos while commuting on a bus, having coffee in a shop, or spending their breaks while in their offices. This, they do, using their smartphones. As such, a large percentage of them watched videos with sound off to avoid distracting the people around them. As proof, 85% of Facebook users were reported to view videos with sound off. So, how do you keep a video engaging with the sound off? The secret is to use beautiful visuals, colorful captions, subtitles, and text-heavy descriptions.

TRIGGER EMOTIONS USING A CTA

A Call-to-Action (CTA) does not necessarily mean asking the viewers to make a purchase. It is an image or line of text that prompts viewers to take action. These actions may include commenting, downloading, event promotion, form submission, following a page, learning about a product or service, reading more, sharing, etc. Proper positioning of CTAs is another secret to success in video marketing. They can be placed at the start of a video for everyone to see. They can also be positioned mid-roll to target viewers when they are most engaged. Or, they can be placed at the end of a video to influence highly interested viewers.


Reference:https://buffer.com/library/video-marketing-tips/