Video In Social Marketing: 5 Experts Weigh In

We’re going to skip the part about using video in marketing these days, because that’s a given! But, with 81% of businesses using video in marketing and an expected 82% of all consumer internet traffic to be online videos by 2022, you need video that stands out from the thousands of other videos. And that’s a lot easier said than done.

That’s why we’ve picked the brains of video-savvy experts using video as a marketing tool. They’ve tried, refined, and executed on successful video marketing strategies to help them stand out in their industries. We were lucky enough to get their insight and advice. So, without further ado, read on for expert tips on using video for social marketing.

Video Marketing Professionals Share Their Thoughts & Best Practices

Emily Carroll, Marketing Coordinator of Drive Research

Our Process

Our approach is capturing “how to” or “x tips for y” videos in a minute or less. We call this video series, 0–60 with Drive Research. It is shot very simply with a computer, a video conferencing camera, and a member of our team speaking to a certain market research topic. We then take the footage, and edit it together with a free online video maker. We share these videos on YouTube, then to our blog, and then to social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Our Results

The proof is in the analytics. When we post a video on LinkedIn it performs 5X to 10X better than that of a static image. To put this in perspective, a static image on LinkedIn will serve anywhere from 50–100 impressions max. Our videos, on the other hand, will start with 500 impressions and grow to 1,000 within a month of being on LinkedIn. Videos are also more likely to be shared by our followers than any other type of content.

These videos are one-minute long. This is perfect for social media sharing because those scrolling on LinkedIn for example, see our video and the video immediately starts playing. They notice it is only one-minute long and think, Hey, I’ve got a minute to spare. Boom! These visitors are now more aware of Drive Research and our services than they were before.

Our Tips

If you wish to publish longer videos, include timestamps in the description of the video so users know exactly where to start your video to get the information they’re seeking. It’s all about making videos easily digestible for the user!

Savannah Thieneman, Marketing Manager at Slingshot

When planning videos, you have to take into account what you’re trying to achieve. If it’s brand awareness, you want to express who you are (culture) and what you do (services). If you’re trying to increase leads/conversion, you need to show how you are different/better than the competition. Length is another major factor: brand awareness should be short and sweet, while conversions should be long enough to explain everything you want them to know.

Paul E. La Vigne, President of DVS

Here are my four tips for effectively using video in B2B social media:

1) Specify your target audience. Start by defining who exactly you’re trying to reach and why your videos should matter to them. The constant bombardment of video makes it harder to cut through the clutter. Aim for a high engagement rate with a specific audience rather than a lower rate with a broad audience.

2) Create for your audience. Because you already specified your audience, you should have an idea of the video styles and formats that will drive the most engagement. Whether you use informational videos, how-tos, product demonstrations, or live Q&As, your audience will appreciate content created especially for them and their industry.

3) Repurpose content. Do you have a blog post, a web page, or even a slide deck that outperforms the rest? That can be the basis for a video (or multiple videos). Translating already successful content into a new format is a great way to drive engagement and save time.

4) Be a real person. Now, more than ever, people are craving real and authentic interactions. Use your videos to create connections and start conversations. Instead of a sales pitch, focus your video on how you are solving your audience’s problems. Be ready to help and people will be ready to talk.

Natik Ameen, Marketing Expert, Canz Marketing

Stories attract viewers emotionally and encourage them to share. Social media marketers should script stories before creating videos for marketing purposes. Focus on short stories because they are memorable, compelling, and inspirational. Start with a hook to grab your audience’s attention. Build the story arch to fit your narrative. Use visuals and music to evoke different emotional responses in your viewers. Finish with a clear call-to-action that fits your goals for the campaign.

Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO of Mavens & Moguls

In a mobile first world, you have less time to grab people, attention spans are shorter than ever so video has been used even more to show vs tell for maximum impact. Video does not have to be expensive though, it just needs to educate, inform or entertain in a way that is timely and relevant so that people find it useful and ideally pass it along. When video becomes viral it can reach well beyond any investment made to create it so it is worth the marketing dollars to get it right.

The key is to connect with your audience on an emotional level. Sometimes the cheapest ideas have the most impact, remember the ALS ice bucket challenge? Those videos cost nothing to create and post and they connected with people to raise millions of dollars for a great cause.

Video will continue to grow in importance after the crisis passes with the majority of people accessing the internet via a mobile device now The top 3 trends I see increasing engagement in video marketing for my clients are:

• More video and smart content to improve the user experience, the more personalized the better
• Speed matters, when your site loads it does not have to just be mobile friendly but it better be quick too, consumers do not like to wait, under 3 seconds max
• AR and VR when used strategically are a big competitive advantage to accelerate the sales cycle with your customers so use it to help them answer questions and buy

How have you been leveraging video in your own marketing efforts? What has worked for you? Here at Render Pilots, we believe sharing the unique strategies of video experts will help spread the power of video in marketing. Click here if you’re interested in hearing from educational experts using video as a teaching tool.