Video marketing was already on an upward trajectory which was only accelerated by the pandemic. As people are still staying home, online video consumption has skyrocketed. In fact, 93 percent of marketers said video was an important part of their 2020 strategy, and 87 percent reported a positive ROI. With all of this love for video, that means that there is increased competition for viewer time and attention. Here are some best practices for video marketing that can help your brand make the most of this marketing tactic.
- Target audience – As with all marketing you need to know your audience and where to find them. Not only will this help you develop the right messaging, it will also help you narrow in on the best platforms on which to run your video ads.
- Strategy – All marketing needs strategy, and that’s especially true for video. Planning a-off one video without a marketing plan is not the best approach. Ideally, you’ll have a specific video strategy that will allow your brand to plan out several videos that can be released over time.
- Video type – Different types of videos accomplish varied goals. Lots of people think of commercials when they think of brands producing videos, but there are other types of video marketing that could benefit your brand. You may create a video that explains your product or service, one that highlights product features, testimonials from satisfied customers or even story videos that don’t “hard sell” your product.
- Video length – This truly depends on your target, strategy and video type. If you’re posting on social media like Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, you will want short and easily digestible video snips. This could be anything from 15 to 30 seconds. If you’re making a longer form video, like an explainer video about how to use your product, you could go longer. Longer content is more suited to places like YouTube or Vimeo. If needed, you can make a longer form video for those platforms, and then break it up into smaller bits for other platforms.
- Make sure to closed caption – If there is any talking at all, make sure to closed caption your video. This ensures that your video is inclusive of hearing-impaired viewers. Not only that, but many social media users have their sound off while scrolling through their feeds and closed captioning can help your message be seen by these users as well.
- Stay up on trends – We know it can be hard, but it’s important to stay up on video marketing trends if you’re going to launch a video marketing strategy. Micro videos (around five seconds), shoppable videos, vertical videos, live video, stop motion video and cross promoting are just some of the trends that have already picked up steam. By staying informed you can make sure that your videos capture as much attention as possible.
It’s a prerequisite
These are just a few of the best practices you’ll want to follow when developing your video marketing. There are a plethora of additional recommended practices for each type of audience, platform, strategy and video type, but for now it’s most important to remember these basics.
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