What Are the Top Strategies in Video Marketing?

(Disclaimer: Many factors will be important in determining your actual results on social media and no guarantees are made that you will achieve results similar to ours from our ideas and techniques presented in our blogs or videos.)

As I’ve mentioned many times before, and you’ve probably heard this from other experts as well… video content creation is no longer optional on social media for businesses; video marketing must be a part of your total social media marketing strategy.

Video content is *the* preferred content on all social media platforms, and these platforms have said they will show videos more often to your followers because that is what people want to see. With videos receiving 6x the engagement as other types of posts, and the amount of engagement a post gets will determine if your posts are seen, so how can you not use video content as part of your social media strategy?

As business owners & marketers, we want increased traffic to our website, to generate new leads, to increase engagement & brand awareness, and ultimately increase sales. And we’ve heard that video marketing is the future of content generation that will solve all our problems… except one: coming up with content ideas for these videos that will impact our audience. Well, let’s discuss some strategies & ideas you can start using today!

6 Strategies Any Business Can Use When Creating Video Content

People are overwhelmed with their daily lives; they are rarely paying attention and they are NEVER on edge and waiting for your next video to appear in their newsfeed. Like you, they have too much on their minds. As a business owner, what can you do to get their attention with your video content?

• 1. Hook audience quickly – In today’s society of extremely short attention spans with millions of pieces of content bombarding our newsfeeds, you only have about 3-5 seconds to grab the attention of your audience. Use something flashy, crazy, funny, cute, etc. to get the viewers’ attention immediately and make them want to learn more; do something different than what anyone else is doing and you’ll get people to stop & give you those precious few seconds.
• 2. Make the customer/client the “hero”/”expert” in your video – The mistake we often make in advertising is to place ourselves, the business, as the hero:

  “We’ve been in business for 65 years…”; “Over 1 million customers sold…”; “We have over 50 agents…”

  But none of these speak to the customer. The customer wakes up every day believing that HE is the hero of his story. What he needs is not another hero – but a guide – to direct him to the end of his story: a business should know the customer so well they can solve his problem and overcome any objections.

• 3. Tell your audience a story – Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to communicate a message. Create a message that works as a story, with an arc—a beginning, middle and an end. Try to affect your viewers on an emotional level.

  This will require you to learn who your audience is and to truly understand what they care about and want. You should be able to connect with them and to understand how your product or service will fit into their lives. Today’s best marketers are becoming adept at “Story Branding”: the use of storytelling to create impactful and memorable brands.

• 4. Don’t be too sales-focused – Most people want solutions to their problems, but they do not want to have to listen to a sales presentation. Make their lives easier. This is far more interesting and they are more likely to see it as being worth their time. Remember, it’s not about what you can get out of this, it’s about what your customer can get out of this relationship!
• 5. Make your videos work without sound – Most people are watching videos while they’re doing something else like working (!) or watching tv, and they cannot have sound playing. Add captions so people can clearly understand your message.
• 6. Keep it simple — You want to communicate a couple of simple ideas in ways that viewers will remember. Simple, clear stories fueled by your knowledge of your audience and what they want are crucial for getting the most from video marketing.

Now you know the strategies behind video marketing, how do you come up with ideas to film your videos? We’ve got you covered!

Topic Ideas for Video Content – Services

These topic ideas are in no particular order. Different service-related businesses may find topic out performs the others; if that’s the case, run with it – you know what works best for your business, so don’t get distracted if someone else tells you differently!

• Client testimonials. These types of videos help build your credibility as a business and authority in your industry, without you saying how great you are!
• How-to/Tutorial videos. These types of videos are the most searched for on YouTube since people often need to see where to click, etc. to do something themselves.
• Answer Frequently Asked Questions. Again, anytime you can anticipate and solve a customer’s problem or objection, they’re going to trust you a little more, and you end up looking like the expert.
• Educate your audience. Perhaps the largest obstacle your customers face is not knowing something crucial to using your services – this is a valuable opportunity to help them. People don’t like to feel stupid or talked down to; instead, focus on how you can help customer feel better about their purchasing decision.
• Give Insider Tips. These are great for helping the customer understand how/what you can do to give that little bit extra so your customer feels like they have the upper hand, and set the customer a part from all others.

  This is particularly useful for Real Estate agents – how can you make your client stand out from all other buyers/sellers who are bidding?

• Making the customer the “hero” or “expert”. Again, focus on how you can help customer feel better about their purchasing decision by informing them about your services/industry.

  Another Real Estate example (but you can use this idea for any service industry): Create a video about 10 ways your appraiser cheating you; 15 things to ask your loan officer about refinancing; What are the top issues you face when buying/owning home. You can break a part & make 15 different videos – now you have a series!

• Give your customer a peek behind the scenes. Take them on a tour of your facility/office, how you do a specific task that might be proprietary to your business (think how something is made), maybe you are taking your office outside on a nice day, or just show off what an ordinary day at the office looks like – you’ll be surprised at how many views you get! That’s why reality tv is so popular, right? People love to see what others are doing.
• Do a Live video when you’re attending an event. Perhaps you’re at a community fundraiser, beach clean-up, volunteering in some way, or maybe you’re receiving an award or certification. Remember, this isn’t bragging! How can your audience know how your business gives back if you don’t show them? People want to be happy for you, they love you, so let them know what’s going on!
• Interview another industry expert in your field. Show your audience you care more about providing value and solutions for their specific needs by bringing in other industry experts that can help solve their problems. This will instantly build rapport & trust with your audience because they’ll realize you’re not just trying to make another dollar off of them.

Topic Ideas for Video Content – Products / Retail / Restaurant

A lot of the services video ideas might be easily adapted to fit your product-related business, so use those for inspiration too. And again, these ideas are in no particular order, and if you have other great ideas, trust your instincts & creativity!

• Restaurants: video the chef making a well-liked dish. There are tons of food related tv shows right now and people are always looking for healthy new options, so show off the chef doing an amazing flip, or setting something on fire, or a particular interesting ingredient being added to a dish.

  If you’re an ice cream shop or bakery, show off something particular to your shop that people might not see when they’re purchasing your yummy desserts.

• Retail: 2 words – Unboxing videos! You probably get product shipments in weekly or perhaps you have a new seasonal product – do a video of you unboxing that shipment. I’ve seen so many Instagram stories and YouTube videos of people unboxing special deliveries. Build the anticipation up in the beginning to generate that mystery & “I’ve got to know what’s in there!” feeling.

  RESTAURANTS: You can do unboxing videos with a twist – perhaps you can unbox a new ingredient you’ll be using for a dish and ask viewers to guess what it could be used for! Or guess the new flavor of a seasonal item.

• Service Video Ideas Retail/Restaurants Can Use Too:
  • Give a peek behind the scenes
  • Attending events, getting awards/certifications, volunteering, community fundraisers
  • Answer Frequently Asked Questions about your products/food
  • Customer testimonials – if they say how much they like your product/food, ask if you can film them say that in a quick video; it’ll go a long way to build your credibility.

These are just a few ideas & strategies to get you started on creating video content for social media. Once you start brainstorming, you’ll find your creativity kicking in and soon you’ll have tons of great ideas for video content! Don’t be afraid to try something & experiment, and realize it’ll probably take a few videos for you to be more comfortable doing videos; they’ll get better as you go, so do not think they have to be perfect – they don’t!! People prefer live/unpolished videos because they can instantly see your passion, authenticity, and personality, and they’ll tell others about you once they trust you.

Happy filming!

(Next time we’ll discuss the different locations your videos can live and the strategies for each.)