The traditional process of video production costs companies serious money, with heavy equipment, expensive studio fees and a result that wasn’t always worth the massive amount of time and energy put into the project. But the times they are a-changing. We now live in a world that thrives on immediate visual interaction, and with companies like Vimeo and Vine dominating the social scene, we’re seeing a steep rise in video engagement once more.
Taking advantage of video’s popularity can seriously help your business reach its target audience and boost your bottom line. However, you can’t just throw a haphazardly edited video on YouTube and expect it to go viral; you need a video marketing strategy. Follow these video tips and the examples set by four companies—Dove, Logitech, Columbia Sportswear and Chipotle—that are acing the viral video game.
Use video to draw consumers in
Want to immediately lose your viewing audience? Heap the page with long paragraphs of text. Looking to draw visitors in? Introduce them to your organization via video. The internet thrives on “scanners”—people who browse sites but may not engage further.
A short video is a great way to give visitors an intro to your business while infusing personality. The more connected they feel to your company, the more likely it is that they’ll engage in business with you down the road.
Utilize social media to share video
How often are large blocks of text shared across social media? Not often. Videos, on the other hand, are very easy to share via social media, making your company’s video more likely to be shared than your competitor’s blog post.
Twitter’s Vine app alone generates 5 shares every second. This can work both for and against you: since video and social media are deeply connected, your video is instantly sharable; however, that also means there’s a lot of competition out there.
If you’re debating which social media channels to target or trying to figure out how exactly to upload video take a look through this Small Business Guide to YouTube for suggestions on enhancing engagement.
SEO benefits
Search engines love “rich” content (including images and video), and tend to rank your page higher if it contains some type of rich element.
While the major search engines previously relied on only keywords, they now take pictures, video and other unique content into consideration when ranking sites. Embed the video on your landing page, upload it to Facebook and include a keyword rich description for the best chances at a high search engine ranking.
Examples of companies using video successfully
It’s one thing to discuss what the perfect video strategy entails, but another to watch companies that are getting it right. You may have seen a few of these videos before—and if you have then they’ve succeeded in spreading their message to the masses. The following examples showcase how the mission of an organization (or differentiating characteristics of a product) can be effectively communicated in only a minute or two.
Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches
Media darling Dove stays true to their mission to promote real beauty in their latest video, which contracts a forensic artist to draw women based on their descriptions of themselves. Why is it effective? Because Dove isn’t self-promotional; they appeal to human emotion and the content draws the viewer in. Dove’s video errs on the longer side, but with the engaging content and intriguing storyline it holds viewers captive.
Logitech Ends Bad Hair Days
In stark contrast to the emotional Dove video is Logitech’s earbud advertisement, which showcases a specific product in a relatable setting with a humorous angle. By emphasizing the head-restrictive (and hairstyle destroying) typical headphones they’re not only undermining their competition but also showcasing the best elements of their product—all without saying a word. Consumers who may be on the fence about the Logitech purchase will likely relate to the video and it may even help sway their purchasing decision.
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear succeeds in this video series by adding a creative angle to their extensive product testing. By highlighting their grueling product testing in the beginning of the video, they’re legitimizing their process, yet still poking fun at their own expense with the humorous content. As we saw in the Logitech video, Columbia Sportswear is showing the audience the differentiating elements of their product rather than telling them outright. Seeing often means believing, and Columbia effectively leverages the video format to add value to their product and personality to their brand.
Chipotle’s Back to the Start video
Chipotle uses their touching video and effective music to educate the viewer on the company’s mission. They’re effectively appealing to the emotional side by emphasizing the simplistic nature of the way food was originally produced. The counterpoint is made as the video slowly morphs from the happy farm into the more industrialized, modern-day farms. By showcasing both options for food production, and then emphasizing their obvious choice to return to a simpler method, Chipotle is endearing to the audience and immediately associates their restaurant with fresher, more eco-conscious food.
Takeaways
Unlike the companies listed above, you don’t need to have a huge production team or multi-million dollar marketing budget to make video an effective part of your online strategy. The key to a successful video is conveying your message clearly and succinctly in a way that shows your audience versus telling them, while employing humor or an emotional tie to draw the viewer into the story.
Video is an efficient way to add personality to your company, increase your SEO rankings and legitimize your business. How do you plan to integrate video in the future?
