Using Social Videos to Capture Brand Awareness
There are over one billion users on YouTube - that’s over one-third of the Internet, and it reaches more 18 to 34 year olds on mobile than U.S. television networks. The impact on brands based on YouTube alone can be monumental. Add in the 100 million hours of daily video streams on Facebook and brands can get in front of their target audiences more easily, create brand awareness through social video marketing.
Why Use Social Video?
There’s the obvious reason of millions of eyeballs on video content but aside from that, there are a few statistics to be aware of:
46% of users take some kind of action after viewing a social video (Wordstream)
Social video marketing creates a 32% increase in brand awareness with just 3-second videos (Unruly)
Brand association increases by 139% when videos are watched through social video marketing (Unruly)
Intent to purchase increases by 97% when someone watches a brand’s social video (Unruly)
According Wyzowl, when businesses use video marketing 76% of them reported an increase of traffic due to videos. Simply put, video helps attract more customers, increases brand awareness, and shortens the time span for brand recall. For those reasons alone, social videos should be part of your content and digital strategies.
Using Social Videos in Practice
It’s common to hear brands say they don’t really know what to do with videos created for them. Part of the pre-production process helps us define the purpose of the video production project while identifying which platforms the videos will be utilized on and in what cadence. Solidifying the goals for the video project helps to identify what each video should accomplish - it sets the groundwork for successful social videos. Let’s look at some popular social networks.
Using YouTube for Long Form Video Content
While Facebook took the top spot for watching video content, YouTube is still the second largest search engine in the world with an average mobile-viewing session lasting more than 40 minutes according to Kissmetrics. More than 500 million hours of video are watched on YouTube, which makes it perfect for longer form consumer video.
Create a playlist for your videos and separate them between commercials, trailers, explanatory videos, and testimonials. This helps keep your videos organized and helps the consumer find the right video for their search. Explanatory videos and trailers for what your company stands for work very well on YouTube. Work how-to videos into your content calendar, as well because “how to” searches grow 70% year after year on the popular video network. Brands with testimonials should utilize them because consumers like real-world examples of what other customers think of a brand’s products or services.
Facebook For the Masses
These days, it seems like everyone is on Facebook and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. On average, Facebook videos have a two week lifespan and that’s driven mainly by people who love to overshare - which is great when a brand’s video resonates with viewers.
Middle-aged users are among the majority of Facebook sharers - which makes them the perfect demographic to go after on Facebook. There’s a high likelihood of them seeing your video and when they connect with your brand’s video, there’s a strong likelihood of them sharing the video with their friends. Creating videos that pull at emotions drive shares for middle-age users but if your purpose is to create social videos for ads, keep them shorter and have a set of ads that rotates on a basis of 2 to 3 days. You can also target specific demographics with a subset of video ads.
Millennials are still on Facebook. Some of the oldest millennials are nearly 40 now. They are tuning into videos on the social network at such a rate that Facebook decided to pivot their Facebook Watch strategy to focus on older millennials. This generation has a love for shorter videos and reacts more positively when they can watch videos with the sound off and still understand the context behind the video. To stay top-of-mind among millennials, create a series of videos that are under three minutes and utilize subtitles.
Daily Stories and Instagram
Instagram is known for bite sized content that needs to capture someone’s attention quickly. A whopping 71% of adults aged 18 to 24 are on Instagram and they are watching daily stories. Unlike Facebook where you may be able to get away with fewer videos, Instagram requires a larger variety of shorter videos that pair well with carefully curated on-brand photographs.
Interaction rates are high on Instagram. Users scroll through content of their friends, their favorite celebrities, and their most interacted with brands. When something is eye catching, they stop and pay attention. When they stop on a brand with a video that intrigues them, they are more likely to follow and interact with that brand. The key to Instagram videos is to keep them short and have a longer series of videos. Daily stories are a great way to keep users engaged with your brand on a daily basis. They can be sponsored through paid social ads or done organically. A sponsored story will reach more viewers while an organic story will only reach those that follow your brand. Show your followers and brand enthusiasts some non-sales videos to keep them engaged.
Social Storytelling Done Well
When your brand seeks out a video production company for social media marketing, look for a company with impeccable storytelling capabilities. The most shared content on social networks includes videos that tell a story, not just sell products. When storytelling is incorporated into the video production it creates a more engaging video, that grabs the viewers’ attention, and allows for better brand awareness. Creating videos for social media can have a profound effect on a brand’s image and can increase brand awareness when used as part of your overall digital strategy.