5 of 5 Story-Telling - Videos

Videos Are About To Dominate Your Marketing Strategy

Cisco projects that global internet traffic from videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021. That’s a huge number, but it’s no reason to stress. Here are some do’s and don’t of creating video content to move your marketing strategy forward:

• Do get set up with a video station. This doesn’t have to be a full-on recording studio. It’s easy to create videos using your laptop or your smartphone. Get started with an easy lighting kit, Soapbox or Loom, and some best practices, so you’ll have a space to record your videos in a professional capacity.
• To find out when to make videos. There are tons of opportunities for video creation across your marketing strategy. Find out where a video can support your goals. Whether it’s an explainer video to get more people interested in your product, a social media video to ramp up engagement on your social platforms, or a customer delight video to boost your NPS, video can play a role across your business strategy. Check out the video content ideas master post to help your brainstorming along!
• Get creative. Videos should represent your company’s culture and the human element. They give you a way to connect with your audience where copy falls short. Get creative and showcase your company’s style and voice.
• Don’t create a video without connecting it to your goals. Make sure your videos are working for something and helping to solve a problem. Outline the reasons and goals behind each video before getting started. Make sure you know which metrics you’ll be tracking to measure success.
• Don’t think every video has to be highly produced in order to be effective. One to one videos between customers is incredibly helpful, especially for your social media and sales teams. Just pick up your iPhone or set down your laptop camera, get excited, and be yourself! Short, homemade videos, can have just as big of an impact as an agency-produced masterpiece.
• Do consider making live videos a part of your strategy. Live video is picking up speed in a major way. Check out these numbers:
• The average webinar attendee viewing time is 61 minutes
• They work across the entire customer journey, from thought-leadership panels to weekly live demos
• Live videos on Facebook have an engagement rate of 4.3% compared to 2.2% for non-live videos
• They provide a ton of data about your prospects that a sales team can use to initiate personalized outreach

How often does a viewer actually engage with a video? Rather than giving a one-way broadcast, or accepting that webinar registrants will skip the stream and watch the recording later, make sure your video reputation encourages live attendance and engagement. Include things like live poll questions, Q&A, or a conversational approach.

Video Metrics You Need To Know

• View count: View count is the number of times your video has been viewed — also referred to as reach. This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness and have your content seen by as many people as possible. However, it’s important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently. For example, a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds. Be sure to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.
• Play rate: Play rate is the percentage of people who played your video divided by the number of impressions it received. This metric helps determine how relevant or appealing your video is to your audience. If thousands of people see your video, but only a handful of people play it, it’s probably time to optimize your content.
• Social sharing and comments: If you’re on social media, you’re probably familiar with sharing and commenting. Social shares and comments are good indicators of how relevant your content is with your target audience. If a viewer watches your video and takes the time to share it with their network, you probably created a great piece of content. Social shares are also important because the more times your video is shared, the more it’ll be viewed. If your goal is to reach a lot of people, social shares are a good metric to track.
• Video completions: If you took the time to make a video, you probably want people to watch the whole thing, right? A video completion is the number of times a video is played in its entirety. This metric can be more reliable than view count when trying to determine your video’s success. 
• Completion rate: Completion rate is the number of people who completed your video divided by the number of people who played it. Completion rate and other engagement metrics are a great way to gauge a viewer’s reaction to your video. Do you have a low completion rate? Are people all dropping off at a certain point? This might be a sign that your video content is not resonating with your target audience.
• Click-through rate: Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of times your call-to-action (CTA) is clicked divided by the number of times it’s viewed. CTR is a great indicator of how effective your video is at encouraging people to take your desired action. If your CTR is low, consider revising the design or copy of your CTA.
• Conversion rate: Conversion rate is the number of times visitors completed your desired action divided by the number of clicks on your CTA. If your goal is to have your viewers complete an action like signing up for a free trial, try adding a video to your landing page to see if your conversion rate increases.
• Bounce rate and time-on-page: Are you thinking about adding a video to a web page? Take note of the page bounce rate and the number of time people spent on the page before you add the video. Be sure to check the metrics after you place the video to see if changes the way people interact with your other content.

Interactive Content Is Coming

• While the video is certainly a worthwhile investment, getting ahead of the curve will mean boosting video components with new and exciting trends. According to a recent survey, 81% of respondents expect brands to focus on building out more experiences that utilize augmented reality (AR).
• As we move further into 2019 and beyond, you can expect to see brands of all types incorporate increasing levels of animation and interactivity to drive engagement.
• For business professionals, this means interactive ebooks and infographics, augmented sales pitches, and anything else that makes touchpoints more immersive. Investing in platforms that support this change is critical now. It’s not a shift that professionals will be able to implement overnight. 

 Looking Ahead

Once you’ve re-worked your visual storytelling approach and integrated video components and interactivity into your content, it’s time to re-engage people with your new and improved offerings.

Things like remarketing campaigns or retargeting ads can open doors that were previously shut—and with content that’s more compelling and visually engaging, your chances of success will grow exponentially.

Please Like below: or If you implement one or more of these ideas, I would love to hear how it worked. Get in touch with me at any of the comment below – Thank you.