Viewers retain 95% of the communication happening through video media while they only retain 10% of what is being shared in the form of text.
Over time videos have gained the reputation of a progressive mode of communication. For being able to promote dynamic content that is effortless and quick for users to consume. Also, for being highly effective and engaging in the way it interacts with your audiences who are increasingly shifting towards online streaming platforms to consume everyday content.
These are apparently the most celebrated reason why more businesses and marketers (about 87% of them as per the latest figures) have already acquired video marketing as a part of their first-tier promotion strategy.
Now, if you want to get your presence paved through video platforms and increase your reach leveraging on the most prolific mode of content on digital media, you have to knock down your competition claiming an impactful presence across the video networks.
To be able to do this right, you need to check with techniques and ideas that are pivotal to claim most engagement value through video content and the marketing efforts that follow.
1. Focus on stories and not sales
Let’s face it. No one from your prospects is interested in meeting your sales targets. The more you sound salesy and pitchy with your video content, the more you would be appalling for the viewers. So, avoid it at any cost.
Create your video more around stories with some engagement value. They should be finding it ‘free of agenda’ and more towards offering important insights, information, news, or entertainment in any form.
So, if you have a business that deals in packaged rolled oats, you should talk about how oats help achieve weight loss goals. Talk about its calorific value and how oats have been popularly used by fitness enthusiasts across the world to attain their fitness goals.
Talk about things that piggyback the interests of your customer woven in a presentable story that is nice to watch and easy to grasp. Pull in some details about your brand in the end in the form of your brand logo or business details but not in the middle of the story, which is primarily meant to engage audiences.
So, avoid any needless numbers, brand bragging, self-praises, explicit prompts in your script. Bring in emotions, revelations, studies, observations, along with some empathy and humor. Just focus on the story!
2. The first few seconds are decisive
A kid watching a cartoon on Netflix is genuine proof of this. He won’t move ahead with the video if he doesn’t find it interesting, important, or relevant at first glance. And this just takes a few seconds to convey to your brain if the video matches your perspective and purpose or serves your interest and mood as a viewer or customer.
This works universally with everyone and has been established scientifically by a study that proves that humans have an average attention span of 8.5 seconds, precisely. To be able to keep them hooked with your content you need to prove that you have a lot of relevant value to offer in those early few seconds.
You can do this by creating a quick creative juice of the video and presenting it up early as a teaser for your audiences. Combine together important clips from the video and prepare mashups and trailer highlights to be put in the front. The intrigue factor here can work in your favor.
You can also add an interesting thumbnail to the video to add a great first impression. The quality of your thumbnail should be high and it should make a valid and reasonable point in providing a sneak peek of what’s going to be inside. These hacks can grasp the audience’s attention and prove your point for them to stay with you for longer before they start losing their interest and attention. And this gets you more chances at retaining them along the course.
3. Consider mute views
When you are creating a video, you need to consider views that happen without any sound being played. This has been stated by multiple studies that 85% of the video views on Facebook happen without sound. Responding to this, you should create videos that allow you to interact with users who play it without sound.
This can be done by placing descriptive text or subtitles that explain scenes of the video on mute. Better if it is least or not at all dependent on vocals and speeches.
You can also make it artistically appealing and visually engrossing adding effects and animations to it to get it to drive attention even without sound playing its part.
Further, you can work around stories that go by a step-by-step narrative and are sliced into easily graspable chunks of reeling content placed in a well-connected flow. Doing this, you should always avoid complex plots and abstract visuals.
All this will boost the effectiveness of your content and make it relevant to most people who may be watching videos on-the-go or in public playing it on a mute.
4. Include call-to-actions
When you are taking your audiences through something that seeks their response and wants them to enter the communication funnel, you need to set up CTA on video. You get the option to put call-to-action on both YouTube and Facebook.
This is where you get your viewers to connect with your underlying idea and purpose of communication. Here, you can ask your viewers going through a piece of content to get a chance to jump on your page or opt-in or subscribe to your offer.
CTAs can be added in the form of link buttons, forms, or display cards placed strategically at a certain scripting event. Here, you can employ special offers, FOMO discounts, reward points, lead magnets and work around marketing ‘high points’ that can stir and persuade users to click on those CTAs to get you the desired response.
Here you have to make sure, you use the right CTA text and get the purpose of actionable event sharp and clear.
For example, if you are aiming to hire interns and talking about the culture of your company, you should have the CTA saying ‘Join Our Team’.
Secondly, you should bring the action into the dialog. If you are into selling fitness equipment or health assistance programs, use action verbs like download, buy, order, or visit, asking your viewers to take an intended action. While you do this create a sense of urgency by adding a limited period offer or a first-come-first-serve subscription.
5. Optimize for search
If you look into the recent stats about Google searches, it is estimated to have 3.5 billion daily searches. Something unbelievably massive!
The busiest and the most popular media streaming and OTT platform, YouTube strikes over 3 billion searches every month. That’s huge and this shows the increasing popularity of videos and the rising scope in video marketing through searches.
This clearly points out that in order to get a better reach and visibility across online networks you need to optimize your content for searches. Not doing this can cost you a huge loss of opportunities with your videos failing to perform on the search networks optimally.
Doing this right, you should follow expert suggested tactics and use the right piece of content to stand out big with searches.
As a general rule of thumb, you should use your target keywords in the title of the video just like you do it for the h1 tag of your web page. Do targeted tagging while you add the details of the video. Add a fuller description of the video to be read by users and the supporting program to feed and fulfil search engine criteria and standards for maximum search exposure.
6. Collaborate with other brands and influencers
You should always give a thought to collaborate with social media influencers. This gets your brand or product valid recognition and higher credibility. With an influencer or an established brand partner your offering can reach out to people who trust them and buy their words, getting you a great opportunity at brand building and conversions.
This can be worked around in many ways. Putting a product review or engaging their audiences through social events and contests. Or you may even enter a loop giveaway partnering with a connected group of social influencers. Collaborations for endorsements by local celebrities and social campaigners through video platforms can get your program a significant boost.
While you do this, don’t forget to establish a connect with the audiences with the content and the idea you share. That should be revealing your thought, identity, virtues, and USPs placed along the underlying purpose of communication.
Wrapping up
All this is achievable by going with the right video marketing plan and setting up the right approach in that direction. You can take help from a video marketing agency and get your plan created employing the best of these techniques and practices serving your requirement.
You will get the best value out of your video marketing endeavor as you constantly be a part of the marketing program and get the creativity and substance flowing in the close alliance with the video marketing team. Listen to your mind, explore choices, and closely observe the trends. Choose to be with the best talent around and you can get the best out of your video marketing attempt. Good luck!