Videos: The Catalyst For Your Social Media Marketing

Who wants to work hard to know what a company is offering or doing? Well, your competitors may want to do that, but not your customers! Most customers will not come searching on your website to check out what’s new. You yourself have to make an effort to reach them.

Customers want to go on with their lives, and they are pretty busy! Do not expect them to read lengthy text or download catalogues. So, where do you reach them? You can find them scrolling through social media on their phones, tablets or laptops. They are always online at home, in offices or while traveling. Why not grab their attention with a video and put your point across? This video has to be a short one, most of the time.

87% of online marketers are using video content! Videos are interesting, engaging, attractive and most importantly, they are trending. Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat, Twitter are all bursting at seams with videos and the number of views is exploding. Social media brings to you a huge audience, whom you can reach 24/7. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity because your competitors will not.

Leading brand like Starbucks, Red Bull, Oreo etc. have their facebook pages loaded with videos. Ever wondered why they are doing this? Because social videos have become an extremely effective marketing tool. They are being used to create a hype about an upcoming product, spread awareness about the social causes an organization stands for, informing about discounts and what not!

Before you start leveraging videos for social media marketing, know your requirements. Different social media platforms are visited by a different set of people. Know where can you find your target audience. Also, consider the length of videos that these platforms support. You may share a 20 min long video on Facebook but Snapchat will only allow a 10 sec. one. The maximum length of videos on Twitter can be 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Create your content based on the platform/platforms you choose.

People love stories. Keep this in mind while finalizing your script. You can continue the story in a series of videos. It’s a good idea to include links to your website with the videos. Social videos are not a one time job. Once your audience connects with you, be consistent. You have to become a part of their lives. Inform them about the latest happenings, educate them through some “how to” videos, tell them about your upcoming products etc.

You can post videos to motivate and inspire your customers. For instance, Gold’s gym posts videos on its Facebook page to keep the fans excited about gymming, fitness, and bodybuilding.

Testimonial videos are another powerful medium to win trust. Let your customers share their experience in the most natural way. Such videos look genuine and encourage other customers to join the discussion. Encourage comments on your videos and do respond to them. Yes! Be it Twitter or Facebook, social media is the new customer service. To get some lessons on customer service, check out @JetBlue @NikeSupport, @GoogleUK @generalelectric etc. respond on social media. Ask your customers to share their video stories, showcase videos of customers using your products/services, challenge them for something and ask them to upload videos.

“Unboxing” a new product has become one of the popular video ideas. You can also share some “life-hacks” for your customers. Find out more ways to involve people and pump energy on your social media pages.

Employer branding is crucial for getting the right talent. Give a peek into your office through some interesting videos. You can share short videos of the theme, “A day in the life of a___”. Involve your employees and make them realize how important they are for you. You can also have your CEO to talk about the brand’s core values. The HR can talk about the work culture and growth opportunities.

Live streaming is the buzz word today! Meet your target (and existing) customers in real-time. Have an informal chat to connect on a more personal level. Your customers are looking for candid videos. You can also live-stream a celebrity visit or a product launch. Behind-the-scenes videos are also quite popular these days. So, while you are recording videos, capture some light moments to include in a fun video.

Another great thing about social media is, it lets you measure the views and likes on your content. Study and measure the impact of your videos with the help of analytics. This will help you understand the preferences of your audience and will serve as a guide to design your upcoming content.

Create mobile-friendly videos. Most of the people watch the videos on their smartphones. They may get an update or a suggestion about your video based on their browsing history. You may reach your target audience through auto-play videos too. So, it’s a good idea to include subtitles because many people watch videos on mute these days.

You can also use shoppable video ads to your advantage. Linkedin has also come up with videos. Even though currently only influences can access them, it is a strong indicator that social video trend is here to stay.