Nothing turbo-charges your marketing efforts quite like video. Video content achieves better reach, higher engagement and enables you to connect with your audience in a way that builds trust through storytelling. In fact according to Forrester Research, one minute of video is worth approximately 1.8 million words. And the data doesn’t lie. Videos not only achieve significantly better social media reach than static content, a third of all online activity is now spent watching video content and every day, 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook. But video content is not just an obvious addition to your social artillery. The average user will spend 88% longer on a website with video.
And if you’re not on board now, you’re going to get left behind. Cisco predicts that by 2020, online videos will make up 80% of all internet traffic.
But what kind of video content should you be making?
There are hundreds of ways to leverage video in your business but for me, there are six videos that have helped me grow my brand exponentially in the last 12 months. I’ve outlined them below with examples.
POSITIONER: This is your bold ‘stake in the ground’ video that positions your area of expertise and gives your audience an insight into why you’re the go-to thought leader in this space. Ideally no longer than four minutes, it could be a time-sequence video (like my example) or an interview style. The objective of this video is to clearly communicate your positioning and give your audience an insight into why you’re the credible choice in your industry.
PERSONAL: Often your customers will buy WHY you do what you do just as much as WHAT you do. Your story is an opportunity to connect with your audience in a way that gives some personal insight into who you are, how you got into your field and why you’re passionate about what you do.
PERSPECTIVE: Building your positioning as a thought leader means continually providing your perspective or commentary on a current event, news item, statistic or topical trend. This helps build your profile as an expert but also enables you to leverage a topic that has existing social currency and momentum.
POINT OF VIEW: Taking specific aspects of your expertise, and producing a short video that highlights it in a way that helps your audience or educates them on a particular topic creates a compelling competitive advantage. Ideally this video content strategy should be ongoing. Shoot several at once and batch them to drip-feed over time.
PROOF: Nothing boosts your credibility in the eyes of your prospect like hearing the voice of your customer. Showcasing a case study or feedback from your customers adds gravitas to your message and enables you to build trust very quickly. Or if you’re in the retail sector, consider a demonstration video; shoppers who view demo videos are 1.81 times more likely to make a purchase (emarketer).
PROMOTION: Video is a powerful medium to promote a short-term offer, sale or product launch. I also produce videos to help my clients promote their event. These promotional videos are easy to produce and are perceived to be a great value-add.
The best time to get started with these six videos is now. Most business owners and marketers don’t use video because they’re camera shy and worried about producing something that’s not perfect. But when you think about the potential impact on your brand and market share, isn’t it time to face your fear and do it anyway? And as they say, done is better than perfect.
Have a question on how to get started with video? Hit me up in the comments below.
