Content marketing and video, the winning duo?
Why make a marketing video?
Video marketing has become an essential format for its strategy of digital marketing . For example, Youtube totals more than a billion hours of videos viewed every day around the world. Not to mention the billions of videos published there ...
A figure that continues to grow because Internet users and therefore your prospects increasingly favor content that is easy to “consume” and which allows multitasking. Traditional blog posts are still effective but require more focus.
According to video marketing statistics, the number of companies using video as a marketing tool has increased from 61% to 85% since 2016.
And, 88% of video marketers said online video gives them a positive ROI, a 5%increase from last year's numbers. In addition, marketing videos considerably iincreasethe reach of publications on social networks, since it elicits more interactions from users, namely: 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
The different types of videos in content marketing
Depending on the topic you are dealing with and the needs of your target audience, one type of video may be more relevant than another.
The different video marketing strategies are:
- The “How to” videos: it explains a notion or a concept.
- The presentation video: to create brand awareness and present your offer or service.
- The tutorial video: a short video sequence containing practical advice. Could also be "explainer videos"
- The webinar: a thematic live video
- Live video (live): you understand 😁
- The “corporate culture” video: conveys the company's state of mind internally
- Customer testimonials: feedback from your customers on your work
- Vlogs: video to film to share a moment or give feedback
Among the types of videos cited, the most commonly used are: “How to” videos (72%), presentation videos (49%) and testimonial videos (48%) according to key video marketing statistics.
#tips: See what's happening on the web and choose the type of video that best suits your topic to make it relevant. It is also important to classify your target audience.
How to choose the right subject for your marketing video content
For marketing videos to be deemed relevant in the eyes of Internet users, they must be addressed to the right person. A marketing video is like a phone call, you need someone on the phone and adapt their speech to create a bond.
The question to ask is: who is my video for?
Once your target audience is defined, develop your personas. The persona is the representation of an imaginary character who describes a cohesive set of potential buyers and their common characteristics. This fictitious representation makes it possible to deepen the knowledge of its target by understanding its typical day, its centers of interest, its needs, and its concerns. To properly develop your personas, I invite you to read the article: buyer persona: why and how to set them up?
After developing your personas, you will be able to bring out a lot of information that will allow you to identify the problems they are encountering.
When you are faced with the problems of your personas, ask yourself: what content topics can emerge?
By asking yourself this question, you will be able to bring out content topics to be covered that will precisely meet the expectations of your target audience.
Make your content marketing video
Prerequisites before shooting
A powerful video creation
The attitude of a video in content marketing
In content marketing, there is a real mindset to making your content relevant and generating leads.
Adopting the content marketing mentality consists of:
creating effective content by meeting the needs of its target
bring value through concrete information
about what you know and not about you.
The key to a successful video creation is to get to the bottom of its content.
Define the objective of your video creation process
If you decide to get started with content creation, it's not just a mimicry effect. You are aware of the potential of video in your strategies and the possible return on investment by creating brand awareness for your target market.
Defining an objective, therefore allows you to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve in terms of results.
By analyzing the different performance indicators linked to your objective, you will be able to enter into a process of continuous improvement.
By asking yourself a set of questions, you will be able to identify the various problems encountered which did not allow the expected results to be obtained.
Make your marketing video
Write the video script for your product videos
For the video to be truly excellent, you must be careful on making use of improvisation.
If you improvise the content, you will lose credibility vis-à-vis your target, because the video will not be perceived as of quality, and that can harm your image.
The script will allow you to work on the content of the video and therefore, to structure your speech well, to link ideas and work on storytelling. The storytelling can work narration of its content by telling a story, so keep in suspense the reader through his reading.
By introducing this technique in your script, your content will be more attractive and will maintain the attention of your target market, who will be grateful for not lulling them or even boring them. In addition, you will be able to bring more value to your video and you will more easily create a link with your target.
Of course, you shouldn't lose sight of your persona when writing your script for your video content. Tailor your speech by choosing words that will make sense to it.
In addition to the structure of your content, you will have a clearer vision of the rendering you want to achieve, which will make it easier for you to create your storyboard.
6 steps to storyboard your video
The storyboard is important when making an online video. In this way, you will be able to have a precise idea of the result and to keep the common thread, from the beginning to the end of the realization.
Proceed step by step:
Step 1: Define your target
Never lose sight of your target market. This is the golden rule. You are making this video for her, not for you.
Step 2: Define Your Goal
You don't make a video to make a video. You must have a specific objective in mind, it is your common thread. For all the other questions during the shooting, you will have to say to yourself "does this meet the objective & does it speak to my target?".
Step 3: Define the duration of your video
Do not make videos longer than 1min30 on Linkedin or Facebook. Save long videos for your Youtube channel, Instagram IGTVs, or blog post.
Step 4: What CTA (s) for your video?
The goal is for your target to get in touch with you. Example: website link, Linkedin logo, Twitter logo, or in any digital and social channels ...
Step 5: Structure Your Video
The structure of your online videos are important for bringing rhythm and organizing your ideas. During the editing, you will save time because you will link the sequences more easily. Example: # 1 Teaser # 2 Cardboard (appearance of the logo) # 3 Introduction of the subject …
Step 6: Choose a location for the shoot
Depending on the structure of your video footage, choose a location for your shoot. #tips Plan a plan B, in case of a problem you can turn around quickly.
Film like a pro with a smartphone
Convincing the big boss to invest in video equipment is often the cross and the banner…
Fortunately, we all have a smartphone with a good quality camera. And above all, don't panic if you don't have any equipment, you can get a very nice result if you apply these tips while filming:
- #tips 1 When you go to shoot your first video, be sure to put your smartphone in “landscape mode”. If you shoot in portrait format you will get black bands on the videos and the footage will be unusable for your video.
- The portrait format is good if you are making IGTV videos on instagram or YouTube videos.
- #tips 2 To stabilize your camera as much as possible when filming while walking, flex your legs to dampen the shaking caused by movement.
- #tips 3 If you want to take a dynamic close-up of a setting or object, use the available borders and slide your smartphone so that your shot is straight and gives fluidity to the image.
If you want more tips and tricks, watch the following video:
Last advice for the road: Take several sequences to select the best during the editing
Mistakes not to make
1- Do not film in a noisy place
2- Do not leave anything lying around you if you are filming indoors, it catches the eye.
3- Pay attention to the exposure. The brightness may seem ideal to the naked eye, but in video, it is not. Do some tests before shooting your video.
4- Take the time to film the different sequences, do not be in a rush otherwise your sequences will lack stabilization.
5- Do not shoot from a single angle if you shoot outdoors. Vary the points of view to bring rhythm to the entire video.
6- Don't say “uh” in your videos. A little practical advice, if you don't know what to say, leave a blank then start again. This technique makes it possible to eliminate the “uh” by cutting the moments of silence during the editing.
Getting started with video editing
7 mistakes to avoid in video editing
- Do not prepare your video file upstream. You will spend more time looking for your files than mounting. Be sure to organize your videos in a dedicated folder to save time.
- Do not put too long sequences. Be sure to break down the actions to give even more rhythm to the editing.
- Do not take a step back on its assembly. By dint of having your nose in the software, the small details are less appealing. Make cuts regularly enough to be more attentive to small mistakes.
- Do not test all the gadget effects for video transitions. This creates a very amateurish rendering and deteriorates the quality of the video.
- Avoid overly fancy fonts and overly flashy colors for the title of your video. Focus on sobriety.
- Don't overlook the sound. It is very important in a video because it allows you to set up an atmosphere and create emotion.
- Do not select low-quality videos and photos for your edit.
Free editing software
It is possible to create videos without hiring a professional for editing.
Free editing software is available, the best known are: Movie maker (for windows) and iMovie (for Apple). Of course, there are many others, such as: Blender, Lightworks, Shotcut ...
These software have a fun interface that allows you to edit videos without complexity. The available features have been made to facilitate the task of people who want to start in video editing. However, this software remains limited in terms of functionality compared to paid software.
For more software, see the article: Top 20 Free Video Editing Software in 2020.
Paid editing software
Unlike free software, these software are much more complete for video editing and allow you to push your creativity. The two most popular and efficient software on the market for your video editing are: - Final cut pro: this software published by Apple is priced at € 329.99 - Abode Premier Pro: Video software from the Abode suite. Different formulas are possible on the adobe site . Do not be cautious when seeing the interface, tutorials are available on Youtube to start on Final Cut Pro or start on Adobe Premier Pro . #Tips: The finished edit, show it to those around you and improve it.
Broadcast your video on the web
Create a Youtube Channel to broadcast your video
There are several video hosting platforms on the market namely: Dailymotion, Vimeo, Brightcove, Libcas… And of course, Youtube on which we are going to focus.
And, there you say to yourself: why especially Youtube when there are other platforms?
Answer: Youtube is the market leader in creating brand awareness.
It is even the second largest search engine in the world after Google.
Every day, 400 hours of videos are uploaded every minute and more than a billion people watch videos on this platform. In digital marketing, it is the most used platform by marketers, with 85% of them using it in 2019.
Generally, Youtube is used to fuel a B to C communication plan , whether through ads or directly through sponsored videos. In the BtoB sector, it is therefore left out because there is no interest for the target in being present on this platform. However, there are other interests in using Youtube for your business regardless of the sector of activity:
1- The website:
For those who do not know it yet, Youtube belongs to Google and, this search engine, is the leader in the market. Using this platform for your website helps boost your SEO. Namely, video causes a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines.
When you embed a video directly on your website without using an integration of the Youtube player (available in the manager of your site), this impacts the loading time of the pages.
A negative point for users, who will leave the pages of the site directly, and who for Google will judge the referencing of your site as non-performing. Then, let's not forget that Google loves diversity of content. By integrating your video on Youtube and then on a page of your site, it will have a positive impact on your SEO.
The introduction of videos on your pages promotes the conversion rate of your website, especially on the landing page because they can increase your conversion rate by 80%. On average, Internet users spend 2.6 times more time on pages with videos than on those without video.
2- In prospecting:
Video makes it easier to convey a message, an identity, explain a service and therefore, create a link with its prospect. Introducing video into an email prospecting campaign promotes results, especially the click-through rate which increases by 200-300%. To embed video in an e-mail, Youtube is your best ally!
By using a Youtube link anchored to an image (preferably the youtube thumbnail of your video) you will not impact the deliverability of your emails. Inserting a clean video in an email has a big impact because it will be deemed too heavy and will land directly in the spam emails of your prospect's email box. Therein lies the whole point of using Youtube for its prospecting campaigns.
#tips: To maximize the deliverability of your emails, remember to set up your domain name, the SPF, DKIM, DMARC tags and keys which are attached to the different accounts.
Post an online video on social media
Why adapt the format of your video on social networks?
You've just read a long section about the benefits of Youtube. And there, the title of this part tells you to adapt the format of your video to social networks.
Indeed, that leaves quite dubious.
Explanations:
It is possible to publish your video on social networks via a Youtube link. But, the algorithms of the social networks want the monopoly of the traffic and, will sanction the publications with external links. 😅
When going to post a video on social media, always prefer a post with a native video. Youtube will especially intervene in this step via the subtitling of your video, a point which will be deepened just after.
To do this properly, it is necessary to adapt the format of your video to social networks, whether it is technically (the ratio that is to say, the size of the video) or the duration of the video.
On a technical level, it is essential to choose the right video format because, if it is not respected, you will not be able to publish your video and / or, otherwise the quality and the change time of your video. will be impacted.
In addition, the community from one social network to another is not the same and so are the preferences in terms of duration for the videos.
What formats to choose for your video?
LinkedIn:
- Landscape and portrait format: 2.4: 1 (ratio)
- Preferably mp4 or .mov download format
- The duration preferred by users: 1 min 30 maximum
Facebook :
- Landscape format: 16: 9 (ratio) or 1280 x 720 (px)
- Portrait format: 9:16 (ratio) or 720 x 1280 (px)
- Preferably mp4 or .mov download format
- The duration preferred by users: 1 min 30 maximum
Twitter:
- Landscape format: 2.39: 1 (ratio) or 1280 x 1024 (px)
- Portrait format: 1: 2.39 (ratio) I 1280 x 1024 (px)
- Preferably mp4 or .mov download format
- Duration preferred by users: 140 seconds maximum
To find out all the formats available on social networks (sponsored videos, stories etc.) everything is available on the article: Social networks, what formats for your videos?
Introduce subtitles to your video ads
You should know that most videos are watched without sound . Yep, we would tend to watch a video at non-dedicated hours. 😁
To give you a number, 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.
Whether you publish your video on streaming platforms or social networks, be sure to include the subtitles of your video to make it optimal.
You have two possibilities:
1 - You can introduce the subtitles directly on your video.
2 - The most relevant solution is to introduce an SRT file generated by Youtube to your publication in addition to your video. This file can be understood by algorithms and we suspect they take it into account and promote the reach of posts.
