You’re a high-tech company looking to target a specific internet audience. But where are most users spending their time?
If you do a bit of research, you’ll find that internet users spend 1/3 of their time watching video content.
And it’s expected that by 2019, 90% of web traffic will come from online video. This is no surprise since 45% of people watch over an hour of video using Facebook and YouTube each day.
That’s a whole lot of video content being consumed, which makes it the perfect medium for your marketing plan. Needless to say, having a video marketing strategy is key if you want to reach today’s consumers.
And if you can fuse it with your social media marketing – even better. But if video content isn't already a part of your lead generation plan, then this guide is for you.
First, let’s see what we can learn from these examples of tech brands successfully using video marketing.
Consumers today are looking to have a human connection with brands. There are various ways you can do this, such as by touching on matters your audience really cares about.
One great example of this is General Electric’s Millie Dresselhaus video. It successfully sparked emotion by creating a “what if” story that revolved around women.
It asks a powerful question of what would the world be like if women scientists, such as Millie Dresselhaus, were as popular and influential as celebrities. Why did this succeed? Because the brand pledges to help increase the number of women in STEM positions.
GE - Millie Dresselhaus from Lance Vining on Vimeo.
You hear this all the time in marketing – it’s all about showing the benefits, not telling them. And what better way to do that than with video?
ZenDesk did an amazing job of this by using video to teach their customers and prospects about their products (and how to use them). It sure beats reading pages upon pages of a manual that no one understands.
The same can be done for product demonstration videos. Consumers want to see how your technology works and how they can use it to improve their business or personal life.
These three brands did an excellent job of finding ways to better connect with their audience using video marketing.
Now, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the ways you can build a video marketing campaign that generates leads. A successful video campaign is part content and part SEO.
We’ve already covered some ideas for your content, so now we’re going to zone in on optimizing your campaign for search engines and humans.
This is easier said than done, especially in the world of technology. There’s so much to say about your new product or service but don’t.
As a rule of thumb, your videos should be three minutes or less. Keep in mind that the average attention span of people today has decreased to approximately eight seconds.
This is why the first five seconds of your video is so important – it needs to captivate the viewer immediately so they’ll continue to watch.
Also, it’s important to note that the longer the video the more the views drop. As you can see below, user engagement drops drastically after the 2.5-minute mark.
Here’s an example of what you can do:
Most people (80%) search online for information. So they’re looking to educate themselves about a problem or solution.
Think about what Lenovo did for its campaign – educating their audience about the products and technology trends. You can do the same for your campaign.
Create a series of how-to videos that show your audience exactly what to do. You never want to focus on promoting your product or service. If you can consistently give your audience what they’re looking for, they will grow to trust your brand.
They’ll become loyal followers and may potentially turn into loyal customers.
If that doesn’t convince you, then maybe this will: the top two most viewed video types on YouTube just so happen to be product reviews and how-to content.
In fact, 68% of consumers that watch product demos and reviews are doing so to make a purchasing decision. And 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product that’s featured on YouTube.
A poor-quality video is an equivalent to poor-quality text content. When visitors come and see it, they’ll quickly bounce away.
Not only does this hurt your first impression to human users, but it signals Google (the owner of YouTube) that there’s something wrong with your content. And it’ll undoubtedly plummet to the bottom of the ranks.
Make sure you have a high-def option that’s at least 720p. But definitely aim for 1080p or even 4k.
When you first begin uploading content to YouTube and other platforms, it seems like it’ll take forever to get traffic. But don’t fall into the trap of creating click-bait titles just to get people to view.
Your headlines should be relevant to what the video is about. And as a rule of thumb, your title should be no more than 55 characters. Make sure to include the keywords you’re targeting inside of your titles.
Long-tail keywords are the best for optimizing your video titles and descriptions.
And speaking of descriptions, ensure these accurately describe the content of your video without going into too much detail (otherwise, why would they watch it?).
This is the first thing most users are going to see when they scroll past your video. Make sure the thumbnail you choose is high-quality and eye-catching (without being click-bait).
Your images should be high-resolution at around 1280x720px. Remember, users do not like poor quality videos, so if the thumbnail is poorly-crafted, then they’ll expect the video is as well.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a tech startup or a company that’s been in the industry for years – video content is a must-have for your marketing strategy.
Video marketing is a fast moving industry. I found this infographic that shows 10 video trends. Explore the infographic by this link or clicking on the image below.
And with 80% of US internet users now watching online video, you can’t afford to ignore this powerful media type. Video content is the perfect medium because you can upload it everywhere, such as for video ads, blog posts, social media, YouTube, and your website.
But the key is to have a strategy behind it. That’s exactly what we do when we help companies like yours implement their video strategy and plan. At Bristol Strategy, we have experts in video marketing that’ll help ensure your content is found and liked by your intended audience. Most marketers use marketing automation tools to manage and implement their marketing campaigns. If video marketing is a serious consideration for you, then download the eBook - Using Video with Marketing Automation.
Contact us today to learn more about our video marketing services!
Bristol Strategy is a full funnel inbound marketing agency and inbound sales agency offering the full complement of Inbound Marketing services that enable our clients to surpass their business objectives by transforming the way they engage with their buyer on-line. Reach out to us to learn more about how our experience and capabilities can help your business grow.