Ready to elevate your small business today? Then it’s time to get serious about video marketing. Don’t worry, you don’t need a scriptwriter, film crew and headstrong director to create compelling videos. In fact, all you need is right here in this small business video marketing tips guide.
Why are videos so important? Video content has come a long way since its original motion picture format, yet the allure is dominant as ever. Movement, action, and drama are what catapult a story into an artful, emotional experience — one that builds connections, enlivens viewers and generates hype.
In 2019, 49% of people watched a minimum of five videos every day. The takeaway? People are hungry for video content.
So how can you bring awareness to your brand with minimal resources and fierce competition? With a solid video marketing strategy, you can establish trust with your target audience, elaborate on the uniqueness of your brand, and invite them into the kinetic message that is your brand’s story.
Ready to project your brand on the big screen of the internet? Grab the popcorn and dim the lights: your small business’s screen time starts now.
Use Videos To Tell Your Story
As a small business in a sea of other small businesses, the proper thing to do is introduce yourself properly. What better way to do that than with an introductory video?
Whether it’s an on-the-fly Live Q&A on Facebook, a behind-the-scenes look at the operations of your business, or a business profile video on your website’s home page, introductory videos start a dialogue with your audience. Create a video to answer frequently asked questions, share a behind-the-scenes look at daily operations and illuminate your brand’s story.
Take a look at this video from Warby Parker, which shares the common problem that inspired the company and tells the audience how their process offers an affordable solution.
Now, adopt this concept to share your brand’s story. Focus on the problem you offer a solution to and the inner workings of the business, its history, beliefs, and mission statement.
Repurpose Content into Video Format
As a small business owner, content is the spine of your marketing strategy. Instead of spreading yourself thin on the hamster wheel of content creation, refocus your efforts to maximize your time. Do you already have social media graphics or blog posts handy? Why not repurpose that content into shareable videos?
For example, blog posts and listicles are excellent content to convert to video format. After all, 72% of people prefer videos over written text. It’s time to give the people what they want. PosterMyWall is a video design software that makes repurposing content a breeze. Here’s how you can easily convert blog posts into a video:
- Focus on 2-3 key takeaways from the blog post to highlight in a slideshow video
- Stick with a bite-sized, 1-2 minute video that’ll generate the most user engagement
- Create a custom video, or use a free video template in PosterMyWall
- Customize your message, fonts, and colors to match your branding
- Finish with a strong call-to-action that encourages viewers to sign-up or shop
- Share the video on all of your social media channels
See, making videos is much easier (and more affordable!) than you might think. With PosterMyWall, you can create a branded marketing video for just $14.95 per video. Within minutes, you’ve turned written content into branded video content to share on your social channels. And that’s not the only way to share videos on social media.
65% of people learn visually. Keeping this in mind, how can you capture someone’s attention within five seconds? That’s the question marketers must address when creating content for social media.
The answer is simpler than you might think: engaging video content that’s short, to the point and simple will resonate with viewers. People intuitively scroll through their news feeds until a post intrigues them enough to stop and take a look. If your message and content are convoluted, confusing or bland, they’ll continue scrolling without a second glance but bite-sized, shareable videos will grab their attention and keep them hooked till the very end.
KIND shows us a great example of a product reveal video on social media.
In case you missed it, we just launched our newest limited edition flavor…SWEET PRETZEL CRUNCH! Scroll down our page to watch the full reveal episode with Daphne Oz!
Posted by KIND Snacks on Thursday, July 20, 2017
As simple as this video is, it’s highly effective. The video proposes a question: what will the next KIND bar flavor be? A simple slide transition reveals a Sweet Pretzel Crunch bar. Although the video is only four seconds long, it plays on the viewer’s natural curiosity. Best part? You can easily create short videos like this to promote your products.
Create videos from scratch using product images, and bring them to life with moving elements like text and graphics. Or, you can browse thousands of video templates in PosterMyWall. All you have to do is add your logo and use the editor to easily match the text, colors, and imagery with your branding. You can use the resize feature to quickly repurpose content to share on all your social media channels. Not only is it completely free, but the easy-to-use editor makes repurposing easy. With your branded video in tow, let the social sharing commence!
Use Consumer-Made Content for Video Ads
One of the most affordable and effective ways to bring in new customers is with consumer-generated video ads. People trust the opinions of consumers, which is why the first thing they do when vetting a new product or service is read reviews. As a matter of fact, 46% of U.S. adults trust consumer reviews online, according to Forrester.
How can you use video ads to bring in new customers to your small business? Ask existing loyal customers to take videos of your product, or share their testimonial in portrait mode, which you can then convert into an ad. Not only can you use this content to promote your brand, but it’s social proof that you’re a reliable, trustworthy business.
Leave it to cleaning products business, Grove Collaborative, to bring this concept to life. The company attracted 37% of new customers from Instagram Stories ads. How’d they do it?
By creating vertical Instagram Stories video ads from consumer reviews and coverage. Grove Collaborative targeted consumers interested in eco-friendly cleaning products delivered to their doorstep. The result? A Stories ad featuring a consumer testifying why they love the product, and how they used it in their home. Just like that, social proof doubled the brand’s click-through rate.
Here’s how you can do the same:
- Ask customers to film themselves with your product and share their testimony
- Use online software to customize video templates, or easily create video ads from scratch
- Highlight key features of the product that illuminate the customer’s review
- Finish with a strong call-to-action including a “swipe up” to learn more about your product
When you incorporate consumer-made content into your targeted video ads, you inherit the trust potential customers put into real reviews.
Hit Them With A “How-To” They Can’t Refuse
Educational videos and tutorials aren’t a new concept, but they remain at the forefront of video marketing. Why does it work so well? There’s something your target audience doesn’t understand or know how to do, so why not help them out?
The formula for tutorial content is simple: provide valuable insight into a common problem in a short, sharable way. The lesson is usually straightforward and specific, as demonstrated in this napkin-folding tutorial by Blossom, which has over 182 million views.
Whether you sell a product or service, you have the expertise that benefits your audience. What better way to share it than with videos? You might think creating educational video content requires a fancy camera and lighting equipment. This is simply not the case. Making videos has never been easier, especially considering the fact that there’s a video camera on your smartphone. All you have to do is record the lesson.
Once you have the footage, you can easily add step-by-step instructions and stimulating audio in PosterMyWall. Why is audio important? Most people watch videos with the sound off, but once the viewer turns the sound on, they want a comprehensive audio-visual experience. There’s no better way to set the mood and pacing of your video than with music! Stock audio tracks are available for every mood and setting. Your design will have its very own soundtrack for a fully interactive experience. And that’s sweet music to your ears!
Start Sharing Video Content Now
If you’re ready to breathe new life into your marketing efforts, it’s time to set your message into motion with video content. Videos open the door for people to truly see your brand. In turn, you build a relationship with your customers that’s based on authenticity. The stage is set and the camera is rolling, all that’s left to do is tell your story. Fortunately, you now have five ways to do it. Time to get sharing!
This is a post written on behalf of one of my marketing partners. All opinions are 100% mine.
Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.