People are visual learners. Especially if your business offers a service or a product that isn’t quite so simple, it’d be more effective to explain via video than just text. But what if you don’t know how to integrate them effectively. Let me share with you 4 steps in creating a video marketing campaign.

Determine your campaign goals.

Before you begin filming, think about what you want to accomplish with your video marketing campaign. Perhaps you want to raise brand awareness with a story? Or do you simply want to convince consumers to switch to your product or service with a testimonial? Once you have identified your goals, you can determine how to best achieve them. If, for example, your anticipated videos will be very complex, you may wish to storyboard your narrative, and hire a video production company, rather than assemble an in-house team. Your budget and timeline may also be a factor.

Define your audience.

Who is this video for? Social media platforms make it very easy for you to build custom audiences. While this is a gift, it can also be a curse. Keep in mind that social media is not the only place your video will live. It could live on a landing page, find it’s way into an email, or even end up on your products and pricing page. With this in mind, you should be proactive about creating a video with the specific needs of your target audience in mind.

Think about things such as:

What stage in the buyer’s journey should the viewer be in?
Awareness?
Consideration?
Decision?
Who can benefit from watching this video?
What should the audience already know about your business?

By addressing these question in the video creation process, you’ll be able to establish a faster connection with audience members and come up with the most appropriate messaging for your audience.

Create your video.

This is often the part when marketers struggle the most.

Script it out, or don’t.

Creating a script is a great way to write out the main points of your video. It will help come up with clear and concise ways to communicate with your audience and make sure that your messaging aligns with your goals and objectives. Scripts are good to use when recording instructional videos like walkthroughs or educational sessions. If you’re hoping to make an emotional connection with audience members you may want to consider skipping the scripting. Encourage your “talent” to speak from the heart so that their message is authentic.

Location, Location, Location.

Finding a setting for your video is equally as important as coming up with the right messaging. You want to be sure that the location you choose is appropriate for the topic and works best with your equipment. Try to avoid loud spaces if you don’t plan on using a microphone instead, look for quiet areas like a meeting room or secluded hallway. You’ll also want to avoid areas with poor lighting if you don’t have lights to brighten it up. Try spaces with natural light.

Select your medium and platform.

In our digital age, you can test your videos on multiple platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube — to determine which are most effective for your video campaigns. In certain instances, you may find that two or more platforms work equally well. For instance, if you have a 10-minute video, you could host it in its entirety on your website; post a three- to five-minute clip on YouTube, and a 30-second clip on Facebook and Twitter.

You should always maximise your video content, and optimise it for your distribution channels with effectiveness in mind.

This may include basic considerations, like the maximum video length allowed on each platform, as well as specifics like the necessity of subtitles or the placement of your calls-to-action (CTAs) on Facebook. For example, many people scroll through their feeds in public or at work, when a high volume level is not necessarily appropriate. Similarly, embedded CTAs, like those available on YouTube, may suit some platforms more than others.

Review the technical aspects.

Incorporating video into your organisation’s marketing campaigns requires a degree of technical knowledge. Aspects like resolution, frame rate and load time can affect your campaign success, so it is critical to test your video on the platforms you choose. For example, if your file is large, it may take too long to load on mobile devices and viewers may abandon your video before it begins to play.

You may also wish to track how many people discovered your offering as a result of the video as well as completion rate and drop-off points. How many viewers watch the full video? And if they don’t, at what points do they abandon it?

Other metrics to consider include number of views – both total views and views over time; the latter of which can measure whether your video is becoming more or less popular — and a number of click-throughs to your website.

Overall, a video strategy keeps you from creating aimless content. Your videos should have a purpose aligned with your business goals. Do you have a documented video strategy? Who’s responsible for video at your organisation?

As a thank you for taking the time to check out Seekalook we’d like to offer you a FREE video logo! Just click on the ‘Get your free video’ window below…