“ A picture is worth a thousand words “
Truthful indeed. However, Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research updates this for the 21st century;
“ A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words “
That’s more like it.
Video is the hottest industry in marketing right now. It has millions of businesses hastily adjusting their marketing budgets to accommodate it. And, it’s set to get even bigger!
How Large Is The Industry?
According to Cisco; “ By 2020, video streaming will constitute 80% of all consumer internet traffic. “
If you’re not currently video marketing on social, think carefully about that statistic.
Ask yourself, is it possible to keep ignoring this growing market?
Social media, by definition, is about connecting people. Video on social media, essentially does the same thing through people sharing the content with each other.
The various social channels have embraced this medium as a means of connecting people further than just writing statuses or posting photos.
Now, their platforms have been built to facilitate that:
- Facebook Live launched in 2015 for live feeds
- Instagram extending video from 15 to 60 seconds
- Snapchat creating the Discover feature
Consider now when you’re scrolling through your newsfeed, how much of the content you see is either a video or a link to one?
Not only does this mean there is a wealth of people releasing content out there, but there are vast video marketing opportunities.
Allocate Your Budgets!
Because if you’re versatile in your approach and utilise different social media platforms in different ways, the audience you can reach is enormous!
As we mentioned earlier, if people see a video they like on social media, they’re likely to share it.
Allocating money towards creating a social media campaign centered around video marketing can produce effective results.
One success story when it comes to a concerted campaign was Booking.com last year.
Using the #wingityeah, they invited social media users to post photos of their spontaneous holidays, which they would turn into personalised GIFs, that would be shared back with the owner.
The result? Over 2500 photo entries over 7 days. And, 16.4 million views over social media!
As far as measurable ROI, the campaign drove over half a million to their summer campaign hub on the Booking.com website.
Huge returns on their video marketing investment I’m sure you’ll agree!
Even if your video doesn’t go viral or produce immediate ROI, it will at least increase web traffic towards your website and product/service.
In the process, it will build your brand's presence on social media, which has arguably, the medium to have a presence on.
Maximising your efforts with video marketing does involve using more than one social media channel.
Uploading your content onto Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, for example, gives you the best possible chance of reaching more of your target audience than just uploading onto Twitter alone.
Harness The Power Of Video on Social!
Pull people towards your brand, rather than pushing it on them.
It's about creating content that connects with people, not presenting yet another sales pitch. When creating video content for social media, you need to consider your target audience:
- How do you capture their attention?
- What will win the hearts of those browsing through their newsfeed?
Thinking outside the box is an oft used phrase, but is extremely prevalent here. People are unlikely to share a sales pitch on social media.
When they see something that connects with them emotionally, then they’re more likely to share it with others.
The key, is to create content that actually fits the video format and the social media platform.
If you’re planning on sharing videos via Snapchat, you’re limited to 10 seconds per snap, so keep your content short and sweet.
With Facebook, you’ve got a little more freedom, but take note; Facebook Live video are watched 3x longer than regular videos.
So as well as embracing and harnessing video marketing, you need to keep abreast of the ever-changing ways to reach your audience!
