Remember when YouTube was used to fill the lulls in your work day, offering endless videos of cats doing hilarious things? Well, video has taken a more serious turn and has been tipped for the top by a Cisco report, which states that by 2019 ‘video will account for 80% of global internet traffic’. Even when you take streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime away from that list that is still a lot of content, and businesses need to jump on the band wagon.
Videos are no longer reserved for millennials who want to show you how to make the best pumpkin spiced latte, or the latest up and coming pop sensation covering the latest chart hit. B2B and B2C businesses alike can utilise this form of content to spread brand messages, display products in action, give handy tips and show off their property and even give live access to events.
Here are four ideas for videos your audience will actually want to watch:
1. The ‘How To’
Searches for ‘How to’ videos on YouTube increases by 70% year on year according to Adelie Studios. These videos simply involve someone instructing the audience on how to do something. When you think of ‘How To’ videos you may automatically think of a B2C company such as a hair salon, showing their viewers how to achieve the latest up-do trend at home. However this type of video is also a viable option for many B2B companies as well.
B2B companies are still selling something. It might not always be a physical product but can definitely offer knowledge. Videos of ‘How to get your company noticed on Social Media’ and ‘How to structure an effective press release’ will have an audience, admittedly it may not be millions of tweens who want to have Kylie Jenner’s lips, but there will be people out there that will appreciate, view and possibly even share your video.
The best thing about a ‘How To’ video is the low production cost. All you need in yourself, some decent lighting, a video camera and some basic video editing software.
Social Media Examiner have been on the video train for quite a while and still consistently produce ‘How To’ videos based around knowledge, gaining views anywhere from 200 to 20,000 on their videos.
Adelie Studios also found that businesses that use video grow their revenue 49% faster year on year than those which don’t use video. The businesses that use videos on their websites have an average conversion rate of 4.8% which is nearly double the conversion rate of those don’t have any videos (2.9%). For this reason it is a good idea for a business to embed videos on both their website and their blog.
2. Live Broadcasting
User-generated live broadcasting is a fairly new digital phenomenon, or at least, it is just starting to take off. As well as being able to live broadcast on YouTube there are also new dedicated social apps that allow you to live broadcast and gain viewers from all over.
An example of these apps is Periscope. Periscope allows it’s users to either broadcast live videos, or to watch them, with the ability to comment.
The obvious business use for this would be broadcasting at events where you, or another member of your team, is speaking. There have been copyright issues with the app, live broadcasting the season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones and the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight for example. If you only broadcast your talk or broadcast a live summary after the event you are unlikely to come up against any issues.
Live broadcasting can also be good for industry talks and Q & A sessions. You can ask guest speakers to join you and promote the talk through your social media accounts, enabling everyone to sign in and watch at the right time.
It can also be beneficial to designers who want to broadcast their catwalk shows, artists that want to broadcast a gallery exhibition and is useful many other businesses of different types.
3. The Teaser
The past few years have seen the rise of super short video content on a range of different platforms, namely Snapchat and Vine.
Vine is an app that allows its users to upload six second videos. That may not seem like a lot of time to get your brand messages across but it actually it can be utilised as a fun way to incorporate video into a business’ marketing strategy.
Vine is great for teaser videos. If you are a retail business and have a new product coming out it is a great way to generate interest in a fun and engaging way. Plan a series of reveal videos showing part of the product, or the product in action, but not revealing too much. This can help build up the hype which, come launch day, will hopefully give a boost in sales, as well as having people who will come back to see the other videos about the products you are revealing.
Brands can also use Vine to create competition content, this forces followers to watch the video in order to find out how to win and, when combined with Twitter, gives your brand a boost on social media, widening reason (don’t understand –‘widening reason’?) and raising brand awareness.
An example of a competition on Vine can be seen by Domino’s Pizza. Encouraging people to take a screen shot when they see all three X-Factor logos in a line and to tweet the image with a chance to win. This is a large brand collaborating with a popular TV programme but competitions on a smaller scale can still be effective.
Although the popularity of Vine itself has decreased in the UK since 2014, with many UK brands abandoning ship in late 2014/mid 2015, it is still a great tool to use to create snappy videos for social content.
Snapchat has been attributed to the decline in Vine’s popularity. Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social networks. It allows users to record and share pictures and videos (up to 10 seconds) with specific people or with your entire following. Unlike a lot of social networks snapchat is a mobile device only platform.
Brands have started to use Snapchat to share snippets of events, outings, office antics and to show off products. A big difference with Snapchat is that the videos shared cannot be saved by a third party. Once watched (if sending to a specific person) the video is gone forever or when shared to your ‘story’ the snap only lasts 24 hours. Screenshots can be taken but the videos themselves disappear. For this reason, Snapchat videos can be a great promo code tool for 24 hour discount codes and sneak peeks at upcoming events/products.
4. The Tour
Curiosity may have killed the cat but it won’t kill your viewers. As humans we are naturally nosey and if you are a business with something worth showing, you can use this nosiness to your advantage.
Give people a sneak peek inside your business with a virtual tour. Doing this gives businesses the opportunity to highlight their business encouraging viewers to visit. An example of this can be seen in the video prepared by Baroque Hair Salon. They published a tour of their hair salon, but not in a traditional sense, the video shows parts of the salons in a sequence with people working on hair and smiling receptionists blended in, giving the appearance of a happily relaxed atmosphere, which is what most women look for in their hair salon.
Virtual tours can also be used to show people a preview of what is to come. Lego created a 3D rendering of their Windsor hotel giving curious Lego fans and families the chance to view the plan of the hotel as if they were being taken around. This, like a Vine teaser video, helps build the anticipation and excitement for the grand opening.
These types of videos are perfect for hotels, venues (particularly if they offer a wedding package), attractions and those with something a little different to offer; however, this doesn’t mean B2B businesses can’t get involved. If you have an awesome office this can be just as interesting as many other tours you may find on the web.
Now you have the ideas you can look afresh at your products and services with a view to awesome content. If you need any help with optimising the website in which you are embedding these videos get in touch and see how we can help.
Author: Gemma Harling
Courtesy: www.receptional.com
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