How to Run Your Video Content Marketing

With your video marketing tools in hand, you may be ready to face the camera. But before you do that, I strongly believe that you should sit down and think about the types of video content that you can make.

Throughout this entire video marketing process, your creativity can certainly be an X factor. If you look at some of the most famous videos in digital marketing history (like Dollar Shave Club’s viral video), you will notice that these creators pushed the envelope and provided their unique spin on an old medium.

You certainly have free reign to experiment and try different styles of video marketing. Throughout this process, it is critical to try different things, A/B test, and iterate from there. However, at Dubb, I have discovered several types of video genres that can help you accomplish all of your video marketing goals. In fact, there are 19 genres. Taking advantage of some, most or all of these genres will establish a great foundation when creating compelling content for your audience.

19 Successful Video Genres

First, let’s talk about guest interviews. This type of video content is popular for two reasons. By leveraging guest interviews, you can incorporate unbiased voices into your content. Not only does your guest have a compelling view of a topic related to your business, but an interview shows that people outside of your company are interested in your product or service. Along with this, having a guest adds credibility — especially if he or she is an expert in a field related to your product or service. In effect, you can leverage your guest’s credibility when releasing this type of video content out into the world.

Next, there are customer interviews. Like guest interviews, customer interviews are great to shoot because it shows other people are using (and benefitting from) your product or service. Social proof is extremely powerful in increasing your conversion rate. However, this type of social proof has to be authentic. Ultimately, however, customer interviews show that you have a reputable way of doing business and that you truly care about your customers.

From customer interviews, there are how-to videos. DIY is a huge category. People love to learn how to do things themselves. Therefore, you can create compelling video content by teaching your audience how to complete some task. As part of this, you can think about showing how your audience can use your product or service to obtain even better results. By creating a how-to video, you are leveraging the fact that many people go to YouTube to simply learn new things. Perhaps a prospective customer will learn a new skill from you and naturally become more interested in your product or service.

Next, there are question and answer videos. They are a great way to connect with your audience and start a dialogue. In other words, you can scale one-to-one communication in an easy, engaging way. One way to start with this type of video is to start with a list of FAQs that you often receive and make a video answering them. And from there, encourage your viewers to leave a comment on that video with more questions. This gives you a chance to follow-up and creates even more value for your audience.

Testimonial videos are another great choice. While a customer review is about how someone uses your product or service, a testimonial video is about how your product or service changed their life. You can even create a montage of your best customer testimonials. Doing this, once again, provides significant social proof for your product or service.

From testimonial videos, consider product reviews. Find someone who is an expert in the field of reviewing products and convince them to try your product. You can also find more technically-inclined users and encourage them to create videos about what they like about your product. For instance, this can be a detailed walkthrough of a specific feature or an overall look about how you can use the product.

We discussed this in the previous post, but you should also consider live videos. Live videos, once again, are a great way to connect with customers in an immediate format. You can use live videos to answer questions, respond to comments, or just generally build a sense of camaraderie. Also consider doing long broadcasts here (perhaps one to two hours), as it gives your audience a greater chance to join your video.

Another genre is the vlog format. Once again, we touched on this in chapter three. Essentially, this means speaking to the camera in an extremely authentic way. For instance, you can show off what life is like in your office or speak about a product update. The choice is yours, but the bottom line is that you are giving your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your company.

Next up are presentations. While they are one of the oldest ways to present information, presentations persist because they work. They work because they are so visual. Whether you create your presentation in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or something else, find a way to share that presentation directly to your audience. For example, this can be to your audience’s inbox or through a social channel.

Product launches are also a great opportunity to make video content. When launching a new product or feature, make a video that describes the details of that launch. These videos help bring attention to your platform and keep your users active on your product or service. They’re also a great way for you to show off the team behind your company, which builds an even closer connection with your audience.

From there, take advantage of event coverage videos. Events show that you and your company are doing cool things in the real world. They are also visually interesting. Whether your event features speakers or is just a meetup, there is always an opportunity to create video content.

Next, take advantage of animated videos. While this type of video can get complex relatively quickly, you can still create compelling content. You can use lo-fi animation formats here — like whiteboard animated videos. Simply take a whiteboard, camera, and record yourself drawing visuals (which will sync up with a voiceover that you later record).

Another cool format is creating a video series of short stories. A video series is a great strategy for creating social content. This is because it creates a continuity encouraging viewers to come back to your social pages or blog on a frequent basis. The key with these videos is grabbing your audience’s attention by being authentic and doing things in a new, creative way.

Roundup videos are also a cool way to connect with your audience. They are a quick rapid-fire or listicle format video that presents lots of information (like statistics or trends). They are entertaining and informative videos. They are also easy to create: you can simply take content that you’ve already written for your blog and turn it into video form.

Next, are behind-the-scenes videos. They’re a great way to show what’s really going on at your company. They show the culture, employees, and can build a great human connection with your audience. For example, you can document the process of launching a new product or even a behind-the-scenes video of a marketing shoot.

You may also want to consider shooting funny skits. Be careful with this one, though. If you try too hard to be funny, you may end up being not funny. If you choose this genre, you may want to work with writers that have previously created funny skits. Sometimes, making fun of yourself is the funniest and human thing that you can do.

From funny skits, case study videos are almost as good as testimonials. Case studies are based on statistics and customers’ specific success with your product or service. They make your clients look like thought leaders and show off your product or service in a great light. The more factual and data-based you can make your case study videos, the greater an effect they will have.

Announcement videos are also a great way to build engagement with your audience. You don’t have to wait for a large product release; rather, these videos can be small announcements. They can be announcements of new team members, press releases, or exciting things in your company’s pipeline.

Finally, there are text overlay videos. These are especially useful for users watching your video on their mobile device in a public space. Text overlay videos use visuals and animated text to convey your message. While you can have a subtle music soundtrack, it isn’t necessary since these videos are meant to be watched without sound.

The Choice is Yours

These 19 video genres will serve you well as you start creating your video content. Feel free to mix and match as you see fit. There is nothing stopping you from shooting a live video one day and an announcement video the next.

Critically, however, stay consistent when creating your video content. If something isn’t working, no problem. Move on to a different video format. The worst thing that you can do is stop producing video content. By being consistent, experimenting, and learning from your successes and mistakes, you will create better and better video content.

SPECIAL OFFER: To access over a dozen free eBooks on how to effectively use video for all aspects of your business, visit Dubb Resources.

About Ruben: Ruben is the founder of Dubb. When he’s not creating his next video, he’s probably playing drums, at a Taco Tuesday or with the fam. Follow Ruben on IG, FB, YT, TW, Medium and his blog.

About Dubb: Dubb is a popular video creation, hosting, sharing and tracking platform. Follow Dubb on IG, FB, YT, TW, and the Dubb blog. To get a 14-day free trial to Dubb, request an invite.

Originally published at dubb.com on September 20, 2019.