How to Create the Best Video Marketing Campaign… Ever

The word is out. If you want to succeed with your content strategy, you have to include video marketing. According to a recent HubSpot survey, 54% of consumers say they prefer to see video from businesses they use over other types of content.

Video does not always appeal to the less bold at heart as it puts pressure on the individual to offer an effective and engaging video in a very personal way. However, there are a number of strategies you can use so that even the most camera-shy person can create the best video marketing campaign ever. Here are some tips to help you go viral.

Get Equipped

Nothing speaks ill of your brand more than a shoddy attempt at video production. To do this right you want to make sure you have the best equipment you can afford. If you want to get serious, you can buy equipment and consider it an investment into your ongoing video strategy.

If it's not in the budget, you can also rent or better yet hire a pro to do it for you. That said, depending on your brand persona a chatty, quirky video made on a smartphone can also work. It's all about the message you want to send, the brand you want to build, and the audience you want to reach. (And of course, how much you want to spend.)

Tell a Story

Video is no different than any other content. It has to tell a story, not sell a brand or product. It takes thought to come up with a story worth telling and knowing your brand is the best place to start. Think of customer pain points and tell stories that show how your products solve them, without coming right out and saying it. If this thought makes you nervous, leave the product message to the end with a call to action. You can also make sure you have a link below your video to encourage people to find out more. Reebok depicts the average days in the life of a human, showing how we should keep moving. At the very end, they add a call to action to encourage people to click through to their campaign.

Consider creating a series that will make people want to watch all of your videos, or even better, follow or subscribe to your channel or social media pages. You can tell stories about customer experiences if this will help get your message across. Think of new ways to engage your audience by sharing tips that tie in with your product and new ways to use it that they might not have considered.

Keep it fresh, entertaining, and innovative, and you will start seeing a good reaction. Intel lets a customer tell his inspirational story of creating a braille printer using their product. The customer's story speaks to the role technology plays in making people's lives better. In this case, it also promotes Intel Edison technology in a very subtle manner.

Another excellent storytelling example is American Greetings' promotion for Mother's Day. They used a clever job interview format that outlines an impossible position. It turns out at the end that they are interviewing for a mom. It makes a poignant point without ever mentioning their product. Instead, it gets across the importance of moms and how you should always let her know how grateful you are.

Condense It to Perfection

Videos have to be the perfect length to work. According to research by SumoMe, videos lasting up to two minutes get the best engagement. That will give you more than enough time to tell your story. If not, go back to that series idea. Give them the incentive to watch with a looping teaser that is inspirational, humorous, or even a little edgy. Asking a question also works; viewers will want to know the answer. The more engaging your story, the more likely they will stick around to see how things end.

Find Your Voice

No matter what your product or brand is, you have to find the right voice to tell your story, so you don't lose your audience. That is not only tied to the presenter, but also the content. You need to either use humour to maintain engagement or be certain you are sharing highly useful information without droning on about it. Purina uses the day in the life of a new pet owner to get their message across. It is humorous and heartwarming. Although it goes over the two-minute mark, the entertainment value keeps you watching.

Avoid being overly conservative or serious, unless your brand absolutely commands it. More people will respond to humour even in the B2B world. It helps break up a dull day and inspires them to share your humour with others.

Teach Viewers Something & Get Them Thinking

According to Insivia, 95% of a message is retained when viewed by video compared to just 10% when read. That provides you with an important teaching moment where you can set up your expertise and educate your audience. Don’t get worried that this will be in direct conflict with remaining engaging and interesting. When people want to learn, they will stick with you especially if you are providing them with the information they can use. Whether you are demoing how to use your product, sharing valuable information about your industry or offering tips that will make life easier, teaching is a great way to make the most of your video content.

Teaching can also provide insights that will make the world a better place. A completely out-of-the-box approach to teaching is Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign. Their video helps to educate people about stereotypes while strengthening their brand as pro-female.

Leverage Customer Reviews and Testimonials

According to GetBravo, customer testimonials have an 89% effectiveness rating, the highest for all content. You can leverage customer reviews and testimonials in your video using various creative approaches to tell their story. From showing them visually with a voice-over to actually providing video testimonials of real customers, their story of how your product or service helped them speaks volumes.

An excellent example is GoPro, which took a unique approach to content by using videos created by customers. The user is a fireman, and his story is intriguing without ever mentioning GoPro. Instead, it is the video he took that tells the story of how he used his GoPro. It works on a number of levels most of which are emotional. Artifact Uprising uses a 95-year-old customer as the storyteller to explain why their products, custom photo books, albums, cards, and print photos, are important to him. It effortlessly showcases the product while striking an emotional note that will encourage people to share the video and also want to use the product.

Use Tags

Oh, those persistent keywords. If you thought you escaped them by using video, think again. You'll still need to depend on keywords with behind the scene tactics to help the search engines find you. First, make sure to post your videos on your own website. Then when you upload your videos, enable embedding to increase the chances of receiving inbound marketing links. You should also create a video sitemap, which provides information to help Google find you when they are crawling your site.

A big part of discoverability for video content lies in the steps taken when uploading videos to YouTube. You have to make sure you fill in the form to add a title, description, and tags. They each have their own purpose when it comes to SEO. Tags tell your audience what your video is about in broad terms. Incorporate keywords that will be natural in a search and don’t try to jam too many in as it will be too spammy. Always put the highest demand keywords first when creating your tags and avoid using adjectives.

Tags should also be both long tail and single words. Your title will have to include keywords people will most likely use to find your video, so do your research and keep titles down to 70 characters. Your description allows you 5,000 characters, so this is where you can get creative. You have a chance to provide an in-depth description of your video with the most intriguing information appearing in your first two sentences. That is what people will see first so make sure your opening is enticing.

Experiment with Video

If you want to up your content game, you have to include video. It might seem a little intimidating at first, but it is an area of marketing where you can have some fun. Don't be afraid to experiment as it takes a little more courage to do video well than all your other content combined. You can create a campaign that connects with your audience starting with these tips for inspiration.

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