Did you know that almost 50% of internet searchers look for videos related to a product before heading out to buy it? On top of that, you can see how social media is currently flooded with video content. Unfortunately, despite the impressive stats, video is not the first obvious choice in marketing—although it beats the tried-and-tested content marketing formats such as infographics, eBooks, and case studies. The fear of cost, complexity, and time commitment often prevents businesses from exploring video marketing opportunities. Some say their clients prefer reading blogs to watching videos, or their in-house marketing teams are too busy to figure out how to make videos. Whatever the reason—such businesses are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Biteable research says 61% of marketers see video as a “very important or essential” part of their marketing strategy. The reason is that videos generally tend to be more successful as an upper-funnel or brand awareness strategy. So while marketers recognize the importance of investing in video content, many businesses are riding on video advertising success. No wonder the digital video ad spend is projected to go up 62% by 2023. Moreover, if marketers were to measure video success strictly by conversions or ROI, video ads are more effective than image or text ads, which is true. Video advertising is popular among marketers, with about 89% experimenting with video in some form, and 68% say video fetches a better ROI than Google Ads. So if you are keen to dip your toes in video marketing, you must learn to create articulate videos that capture your target audience’s attention and tell them a story. It is all about engagement sales will follow.
Seven tips for creating a compelling video
If your business also worries about putting effort into making a video and then not seeing the hoped-for results, that is understandable (and fixable). Here are seven tips you should follow to make your videos stand out:
1. Brainstorm video content ideas
Coming up with good ideas for videos is a daunting task. From converting high-performing blog topics to sharing tips and hacks to doing short interviews with the leadership team—there are many topics on which you can create videos. For instance, you can create a series of videos during the holiday season, share trends for the next year, and get influencers to participate in them. With video marketing, you have the scope to tweak your previously published content and position them in videos such that they are more relevant. Therefore, the customer interested in the topic has a higher chance of being interested in your video.
2. Spend time conceptualizing them
With all the millions of online content choices that today’s customers have, there is no reason for them not to exit a video or scroll down or up on their social media feed if it does not immediately capture their attention. Be mindful, therefore, of how you plan your script. There is no scope for gradually building up to a climax. You have to capture their attention within the first three seconds. One way to do this is through storytelling, which instantly establishes a plotline that captures the viewer’s interest. Develop an idea around your product or service, not the sale. For instance, you could take viewers behind the scenes or include tutorial videos. Using popular industry influencers or real-life customers is also an effective way of grabbing eyeballs.
3. Sort out your recording basics
Until recently, marketers believed it was crucial to produce video ads to the same high-quality standards as any TV show or movie. However, today’s viewers are moving towards a preference for more raw, authentic content. How ‘real’ your video productions are will, of course, depend on the standards you have in place. But do not be afraid to add a more human feel to your ads, such as by featuring real people rather than models. You also do not need to invest in expensive recording equipment to produce high-quality video content. Instead, a smartphone and a decent mic with good lighting are all it takes for you to create something of value for your target audience.
4. Work with video influencers
Influencers such as YouTube creators or social media personalities have successfully built a fanbase with thousands, often millions of followers, who regularly follow their content. By partnering with these content creators to design your videos, you have a new way of instantly reaching a large new section of your target audience and garnering more views and conversions.
5. Direct your viewers to take action
A clear Call-To-Action (CTA) will help as it tells viewers what you want them to do after watching your video, whether it is signing up for a service or visiting your website. You can include the CTA in the caption or the video itself. Be sure to include any relevant links to your web pages so they can browse through them on their own.
6. Pick the right marketing platform
You may think you will get tons of exposure if you post your videos on all social media platforms and other marketing channels. Unfortunately, it is not so! Given how algorithms are constantly changing, the organic reach numbers of your video will never be that high. But if you post them on channels where your target audience is most active, you would be better positioned to achieve your marketing goals. For instance:
YouTube has the most subscribers but ranks fifth in the frequency of use.LinkedIn is home to professionals and is better suited for B2B marketing.Facebook is the most frequently used platform, but its relevance differs for B2B and B2C sectors.In the past few years, Instagram has gained significant popularity in both B2B and B2C markets.Tweets with video fetch 10X more engagement than posts without video. Nevertheless, businesses are more into the video on Twitter than individuals.
Study your competition and experiment on all channels to see what is best for you. Over time, you will identify the handful of platforms that work better for you.
7. Segment your target audience as per video content
When advertising the video content, please remember ads for a digital campaign are not like television ads where anyone viewing the channel has to see whether or not they want to. With online advertising, you have the scope to get granular with your audience segmentation, from basics like age and gender, and location to a deep dive into their interests and passions—whether promoting on Google Adwords or social media. This way, you can show different segments of your audience videos they are most likely to respond to and increase your chances of boosting ROIs.
Test and experiment: 8 video metrics to study
Creating a video is only the first step. You also need to monitor your video marketing performance to see what works and is not. For starters, experiment with different time slots for each video and marketing channel. Be sure to have a reliable analytics platform from which to take ideas and insights. Many tools like Hippo Video and Wistia can give you unique insights into your video marketing analytics—depending on where you have posted the video content. But to make sense of numbers, you first need to understand the metrics you want to track clearly. Here is an insight into the right video-specific metrics to measure so that you know you are investing the marketing budget money in the right places:
1. Click-through rate (CTR)
Particularly if your video posts include a CTA, the click-through rate is a critical metric to keep track of. The more click-throughs, the more website hits you will get, and the closer you will be to a conversion. An excellent way to boost your click-through rate is by placing your CTA at the beginning of the video.
2. Social sharing
It is an excellent sign if your viewers liked your video enough to share it with their friends and family. The more social shares (across social media, YouTube, or any other video publishing platform) your video gets, the more credibility your brand gets, making the number of social shares a critical metric for brand awareness.
3. Average watch time
The average watch time for your video is the total watch time of your video divided by the total number of video plays. The number also includes replays. Keep an eye on this metric and the dropoff time for each view, as this will give you an idea of what parts of the video the viewers did not find interesting. Be sure to invest time in creating relevant, informative, and entertaining content so your viewers are motivated to watch through.
4. Comments
Video comments involve qualitative feedback rather than numerical data, but they are valuable for understanding what your customers liked and did not like about your video. As best practices, you should respond promptly to comments and consider feedback for your next video so that your content resonates properly with the audiences watching it.
5. Bounce rate
This metric measures the total number of people who reach your web page but then leave without exploring other pages on your website. This is a critical metric to consider if you have placed a video on your web page. Ways to lower your bounce rate include:
Speeding up the page load timePositioning the video to be easily viewableDesigning the web page to be easily navigable and eye-catching
A good video can go a long way in convincing the viewer to stay longer and check out the rest of your site.
6. Video play rate
The metric is the percentage of viewers visiting or watching the video pressed to play. To boost your play rate, it is essential to embed videos in the right places on your website to catch the eye and to include an eye-catching, high-quality thumbnail. You should also include some intelligent, catchy copy around the video to persuade more people to click and use social proof. Of course, the more social proof there is, the longer your play rate should also extend.
7. Paid media metric: Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
As the name suggests, CPM measures how much you are being charged per thousand impressions on your video. This cost will vary depending on which channels your video ads are currently playing on, whether your video is retargeting former visitors or people who have never visited your site, and other such parameters. CPM is an essential metric for determining long-term ROI, as you can get a rough estimate of what conversion from a video campaign costs if you know the CPM and the number of conversions.
8. Paid media metric: Conversion rate
This measures the number of leads or customers you have acquired thanks to a piece of video content. This is a vital metric to measure and difficult, as multiple factors go into a conversion. It is ideal to have an analytics platform like Google Analytics set up to help understand what role the video played in the conversion. You can also use a paid tool like Vidyard if you are running YouTube ads or a platform like AgoraPulse in case of social media paid ads. Conversions will usually involve setting up an attribution model, which determines how much (what percentage of attribution) the video counts towards the conversion of the viewer. The more relevant and informative the video is, the more likely you will see your viewers convert.
How do we identify the correct KPIs for measuring video success?
Different businesses have different priorities, and not every brand will have the same set of priority metrics for video marketing. Before launching your videos, therefore, sit with your team and determine the answers to the following questions:
1. What is your main video marketing goal?
Depending on where your customers are at in the buyer’s journey, your video campaign’s objective may be to create awareness for your brand, increase brand consideration in the buyer’s journey, or increase sales.
2. What are your KPIs for achieving that goal?
For awareness, the relevant metrics are views, impressions, or unique users. For consideration, marketers can look into video watch time and view-through rate. For conversion, the metrics are clicks, calls, sign-ups, and sales.
3. What are the most suitable video analytics tools to measure your KPIs?
Once you have determined the metrics you want to focus on, it is time to invest in the right analytics tools to help you out. Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics come with a plethora of features to help you track metrics and see how far you are progressing with meeting your goal. Even social media built-in analytics can offer insights into your video posts. You can also consider running polls through the Google Consumer Surveys feature to determine what your viewers liked or did not like about your video.
4. What steps do you plan to take to optimize your KPIs?
While you can always pick a competitor to benchmark your performance against, a more viable practice is comparing your current ad performance with your past ad campaigns.
Have your numbers improved overall?Which numbers have improved the most? The least?Have your numbers dropped for any metric?
Finding answers to such questions is a great way to evaluate your progress and adjust accordingly.
Video marketing success requires consistency.
Measuring the success of your videos requires strategic thought, constant monitoring, and a lot of creative thinking. The good news is that 54% of customers want to see more video content from marketers, so if you invest in creating videos, you are already on the right track to getting closer to your customers and fetching more sales. Above all, remember that building traction takes time, so do not be disheartened if your numbers are low at first. Keep experimenting with types of videos and sharing high-quality content your audience will enjoy watching. You will eventually see the great results you want.
