As video ads get 6x more engagements than photos, and with a 72% year-over-year increase in watch time, only 38% of video marketers plan to include Twitter in their 2020 video marketing strategies.
Top publishers are ramping up their video posts by 90-100% on Instagram, and 70% of marketers are looking to focus more on video marketing. As a result, video is on the rise everywhere, from stories on all social media platforms to Tik Tok’s massive increase in popularity.
Here are the essential tips that will make your video marketing flawless:
Knowing the audience
When making marketable videos, the most important practice is to craft them entirely for your intended audience. Creating the content and writing it with your audience’s interests in mind will ensure that the message is customer-focused, so it speaks directly to them. Further, it will cater to non-native English speakers and audiences of all kinds if it’s done with clarity.
Think about how they will watch the video and on what platform. This matters a lot because it will impact the effectiveness of the message. Is it mobile-friendly? 99% of users access social media through a mobile device.
What does this mean for you?
- Design visuals for small screens
- Framing your video elements near the center
- Posting on vertical platforms like Tik Tok or Instagram Reels and sharing elsewhere easily.
Want to make your video stand out to your audience? Incorporate user-generated content. This can be testimonials, influencer reviews, or customer success stories. Even just sharing Tweets or answering questions in a part of your video can help.
Don’t forget to utilize customer data with your video marketing by knowing what your followers talk about, so you know exactly what content they are seeking. How-tos are the most helpful video content for our followers, for example.
Structuring your content for the audience
The second-best practice, arguably the most important, is structure. People’s attention span online has been shortened by the constant flow of information and dopamine kicks. This means, if you don’t deliver on their CTR (Click-Through-Rate) right away, your audience will click away.
On YouTube, for example, it’s best to deliver right away on the thumbnail, so your audience gets their first ‘kick,’ then, you proceed with the hook.
The hook must be done relatively fast. It’s anything that will force your audience to watch the rest of the video to gain the benefit that was teased in the title or the thumbnail. An example of this is a powerful statement about the topic that has to be proved throughout the video. Viewers will now want to know how to obtain that or understand how you got to that exciting conclusion.
Next, get to the point. Don’t waste people’s time because, again, they are not willing to watch your extended director’s cut. Still, this is a critical step in the process.
Proper timing will make or break your video. You don’t want to give viewers the answers right away, leaving the rest of the video with weak content. On the other hand, it’s also important not to tease them too long because your audience will be annoyed, and the payoff might not be worth it.
Basically, in terms of structure, you should give before you take. Your video must be centered around something of value and not promotion. Once you give a slight kick and then pull your viewers in with a good hook, then they will be satisfied throughout the video if you repeat the process of hooking and delivering your bits of value.
Spark their feelings and emotions
Going viral does not come from luck; it’s practiced and perfected. Essentially it is sparking feelings in the audience to entice them to share it around. It’s human nature, and this is what the hook-kick system is built from.
You can invoke emotions and try to predict desired responses, so you know how you will spark their need to share with others.
Creating emotions means bringing your audience on a ride. Build tension and suspense but don’t tease too much without paying off. In practical terms, you can start with a relatable problem and bring your audience to a suitable resolution. Then offer some examples to explain further. It’s important not to sound too scripted, either. People want a story that will ultimately help you generate the feelings you need for shareability.
For business soft skills, for example: “I spent all my time trying to show off success I didn’t have yet. Just put in the work behind the curtains, and eventually, others will see nothing but the success you’ve built. People can see through your bluffs, so be transparent from the beginning since honesty builds trust in your personal brand and flaunting gets you nowhere.”
Conclusion
After the narrative is formatted to retain your audience by creating suspense and payoffs, or dopamine kicks, the video will be as enticing as possible for maximum impact.
You can go further by using colors in your video that spark emotions or make it more appealing with graphics, images, and motion. The key is to please the eye so people are attracted to the video. This also works well if users watch the video with the sound off, making captions essential too – especially for the hard-of-hearing audiences.