You can safely say that the digital revolution kickstarted an evolution in the business world, and that evolution is still happening. You see it every time a retail chain is forced to close its doors. Customers are expecting a shopping experience that integrates the digital and the physical. And many other business activities have either shifted to the digital space or started happening there in parallel with the physical.
As marketing goes, digital content has come up as one of the most important and most efficient ways to communicate a message to customers. And among the many types of content, you can use in marketing, video is currently the trendiest. Video production is not as expensive as it used to be, and there are plenty of platforms that will host video content for you.
Still, video isn’t a miracle marketing tool just anyone can use it with great success. It takes some knowledge and skills, and familiarity with at least the basic dos and don’ts of video marketing.
DO Be Careful with the Length of Your Videos
It’s true that some topics can’t fit into a minute and a half of video. There are some types of video content that can easily hold attention for tens of minutes. But those are very specific types of content and they work with very specific audiences. Usually, you have to keep your videos reasonably short — under two minutes.
DON’T Make Only One Type of Video
Product comparisons, explainer videos, demonstration videos, even unboxing videos can be very useful content for driving sales. Short, interesting videos can be useful for spreading reach. And you should make and use both — don’t use video only for one purpose. You won’t get the most out of it that way.
DO Post Videos on Social Media Accounts
Every social network that matters allows you to post videos. This is a great advantage, you shouldn’t forego. It’s not just YouTube or Vimeo you can post your videos on — Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have their own video capabilities you could use to great effect.
DON’T Stop There
Video is not just for social media. Your website design might successfully incorporate video. But more importantly, your newsletter can do the same. Every channel you use to promote your business has the option to help you promote your video content. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an email or a physical pamphlet — you can use any form of communication to point towards your video content.
DO Think About Silent Viewing
People will often watch videos with the sounds off, especially if they view the video on social media. When the video starts playing automatically, it does so without the sound. People will watch the video without turning the sound on so it would be a good idea to add captions to the video.
DON’T Forget About SEO
Search engine optimization isn’t something you do only when publishing articles. Your videos can also be optimized for search engine results, albeit in a different way. You have only the title and the description to work with, but those two will give you plenty of room to make improvements to your video.
DO Tell a Story
You don’t have to tell a story worthy of an Oscar in each of your videos. But using some storytelling techniques will make it easier for the message of the video to sink in. You have visuals and words to work within the video. You can leverage both to tell small, effective stories.
DON’T Forget About CTAs
Finally, let’s not forget that your video content is a sales tool. You don’t have to make it so that it’s obviously sales. But you should believe that people who figured out the fundamentals of writing for sales knew what they were doing when they developed the first call to action. So don’t forget about adding a call to action to your videos.
