Let’s talk about your video marketing content. One of the challenges that many businesses face is sourcing material for their videos. What do you talk about? Where do you get your ideas? Let’s face it, not all of us are creative geniuses and writing a marketing video script can be intimidating.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. Just like the ending of the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy finds out she had the power to go home all along (just click your heels), the answer to this question is also closer than you might think.
And you don’t have to battle witches or flying monkeys to find out.
Why Video?
One of the great things about content marketing is that it requires businesses to, well, produce content. This content comes in many forms. From blog articles and whitepapers to social media images and infographics.
All these content forms are important to a successful content strategy. However, video has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Currently, it is rated first in terms of effectiveness by a preponderance of marketers worldwide.
Businesses that use video marketing also grow revenue up to 49% faster than those which don’t. When it comes to being successful on social media, video is even more beneficial. Video posts are shared up to 1200% more than text and image-based content combined!
Lastly, even search engines prioritize videos. Google now presents video results in a carousel format on the top of the first results page rather than having them compete with other search results.
When it comes to creating social media videos, however, many businesses are left scratching their heads. What, exactly, should we make a video about? The answer is simple: repurposing your existing content is the best video marketing tip one can offer here.
Remember, not everyone in your audience will want to consume content in the same way. For some, reading a blog article is a great way to be informed. For others, a video is a key to driving their interest.
The answer? Do both. With the same content.
Changing Quality Articles Into Quality Videos
Repurposing your written content for video is not a difficult task. The hard work has already been done. Now, it’s time to pull out the key points and distill the essence of your article down into a short, easy to digest video.
Source Key Information
For example, if you’ve written an article on “The 3 Keys To Better Sleep,” the bulk of your video content will be whatever those three tips are. You aren’t simply taking the full text of your article and slapping it onto a video. No, you want short and easily digestible information. This will entice the audience and give them the information they need without the fluff surrounding it.
Another example of a video I created recently, is the one below. I took the main stats and insights of a study we created on SMB Video Marketing Trends and created a video to help promote this blog article on social media.
Take Stock of Your Assets
Making a video doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive. True, in the past making a marketing video meant hiring a professional or purchasing expensive equipment. However, this is 2020 and the internet has you covered. Tools such as Promo.com, Canva, or others can help.
These platforms allow you to easily create videos on your own in as little as a few minutes. Some feature professional-quality video clips to suit your message, licensed music, millions of images, and more. You can customize your message, upload your own branding, logo, and visuals, and create an awesome marketing video from your existing content with ease.
So now you really don’t have an excuse, do you? With these tools, great marketing videos are only a few minutes away.
Tips For Creating A Great Video
Now that you have your content ready to go and you have the tools to make it happen, it’s time to create the perfect video. Great marketing videos are like little stories unto themselves. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And just like great stories, the key is putting them in front of the right people.
Choose Your Platform
Odds are good you plan on using your content on social media, though it isn’t the only place available. Video is a great addition to email marketing campaigns. In fact, emails with video content can increase click-through rates by up to 96%.
However, social media is a great place to focus on as well. You likely already have a Facebook page set up for your business so there’s no better channel to start your video marketing journey. Facebook is an ideal location for video content. Uploading it is quick and easy, it’s searchable, and your fans and followers can share it easily with their friends as well.
Instagram is another great location for video content as well. Both platforms allow for easily uploadable video and both allow you to run video advertisements as well. LinkedIn has recently gone all-in on video and is a good choice if you operated in the B2B landscape.
Truthfully, just about every social media channel (and there’s more than you might think) supports video content or advertising in some form or another. However, if you’re a small business (not in the B2B area) looking to make the biggest impact, Facebook and Instagram are your best bets.
If you can repurpose content from one form to another, you can certainly repurpose that content on other platforms. However, be sure to take note of any restrictions or formatting requirements for that platform.
For example, Instagram is a mobile application so video needs to be formatted for mobile viewing. Linkedin is a little less restrictive. Take note of these requirements when creating your video.
Define Your Audience
When creating your video, keep your audience in mind. This sounds like a no-brainer but it’s an important part of creating an effective video. Who is your target audience? What resonates with them? This helps inform that type of sound, images, and language which you use.
As much as your video is about your business, it’s also for your customers. So keep them in mind.
Keep It Short And Sweet
The content your video draws from may have been a 3,000-word essay. You want to distill that down to no more than a 30-60-second video. In fact, the shorter the better. You have about three seconds to grab your audience’s attention on social media. After that, viewership tends to drop off.
“Short and sweet” applies to the overall length of the video; “quick and easy” applies to the written captions within it. Of course, you’ll want to support your video content with captioning. However, resist the urge to get too wordy. The point of written copy within your video is to support the visuals, not overshadow them.
As we said above, pull out the key points of your written content and translate them into short, quick messages that are easily absorbed visually. If you can “see a sentence” and understand it without needing to focus on reading it, you’re on the right track.
It is also important to note that video ads where the thumbnail contains over 20% text are typically rejected by Facebook. One more good reason to keep the text content of your video to a minimum.
The Call To Action
All great videos have a strong call to action. This is the part at the end of the video which tells the viewer what the next step is. This is “call now,” “shop here,” “visit our website,” etc. Your call to action can be anything you want it to be. However, make it clear and concise. Let the viewer know that this is the next step to take.
Promotion
Creating an advertisement on Facebook or Instagram allows you to use their powerful targeting feature. With this feature, you can specifically target your video’s audience by location, age, and a host of other demographic qualifiers. You will also be able to set your budget and track your ads performance
When creating your video post, ad or otherwise, you’ll want to support it with ad copy. This copy should be short and to the point as well. Let the video speak for itself and the copy of the post simply directs attention towards the focus of the video.
For example, if we’re repurposing that “The 3 Keys To Better Sleep” article into a video, your headline might read “Want Better Sleep? We Have The Solution.”
Don’t Neglect SEO
Search Engine Optimization is alive and well in the video marketing community. Remember, you’re likely to post your content to multiple channels, including YouTube, Facebook, and other social media channels.
Never miss an opportunity to use descriptive keywords in your ad copy and descriptions. When possible, always include links to your website, app, or wherever you want to drive traffic. YouTube is a natural home for hosting videos. It’s free, easy, and allows for a lot of text in your description box for you to include links.
You can host your videos on your website or even directly to Facebook, but YouTube is an easier, more SEO driven choice for your videos to call home.
ABC: Always Be Creating
Video is an important tool in your marketing mix. It’s easier than ever for small and medium-sized businesses to repurpose their existing content in fresh, engaging ways. This is important because the most successful brands are churning out video content on a consistent basis and you should be too!
It’s not all about repurposing content either. Introduction videos, advertisements for special events or new product launches, customer testimonials, and more are all great ways to harness the power of video for your business.
Consider that consumers watch more video than ever before, these days. Video is here to stay. Whether you’re repurposing old content and giving it fresh legs; or creating new and engaging videos for your audience to enjoy, a successful video content strategy is a winning play.