Before jumping straight into the creation process of your video, it is important to build a strategy and plan accordingly. Your video marketing strategy will be influenced by your target audience, goals, budget, time frames, production processes, metrics and many other factors.
With so many video formats to select from it can sometimes be confusing and hard to decide which one to choose, but fear not because we have listed some examples which will help determine when to use each type.
Explanation Videos
Explanation videos provide information about what your company does and what your product is about. They present your product or service as the solution to a potential issue your client might be facing. This kind of video is especially helpful for explaining complicated products or technical services in an easy way to understand.
Explanation videos are also a great source of brand awareness for people who may be unfamiliar with your brand. Because of this, it is important that your explanation video clearly describes the problem your company is tackling, how your product or service works, and who you are helping with it. If an explanation video reaches its target audience and successfully delivers its message, then it will prompt more social shares and likes among different platforms and users.
Demo Videos
Demos serve as the first point of contact between your company and the end-user, as they give a visual representation of how your product works and highlight its practical functions. Consumers that are more visual learners may prefer to see your product in action to be fully convinced of its value and potential, and that’s when demo videos come in handy.
These videos are particularly helpful for products whose competitive advantage or selling points rely on their physical features. They attract new customers as they allow them to get a more detailed understanding of the product. For this reason, the production quality plays a key role in this kind of video. Since you want to convert potential customers, your video must look professional.
Brand Videos
These videos are commonly part of an advertising campaign. By presenting your company’s values, mission, vision, or purpose, they create awareness around your company and capture the attention of your target audience.
They mainly use storytelling to create a unique narrative that is compelling, emotionally stimulating, and which the audience can engage with. In this way, they build a strong identity that differentiates you from your competitors and help you establish customer loyalty.
Event Videos
Whether you are having a conference, round table discussion, or a fundraiser, videos from your company events can help strengthen your brand awareness by displaying your company’s personality or bringing attention to some of your initiatives.
Hosting interviews with industry experts can build trust and authority within your target audience. Similarly, you can create webinars to do panel discussions with thought leaders, educating your audience on specific topics. Webinars can also be used to review a product with some of your current customers, which may consequently help some potential customers convert from free trials to paid offers.
We have covered different ways your company can use its own events to gain leverage on its video content, but what about events organised by others? Well, you can even create videos from events your company attends, using highlight reels that include the main takeaways, recap videos, or interviews!
Live Videos
Live videos (aka live streams) give your audience a sneak peek into your company. They can be used for numerous occasions: as a behind-of-scenes that shows what your team is doing, to record events in real-time, to make an exciting announcement, or to do a Q&A.
Since these videos can be streamed on major social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter), they can target big audiences and generate high engagement rates, encouraging people to react and comment. You can even take your live video to the next level by partnering with influencers in your industry and inviting them to join your stream. Instagram, for example, allows you to have up to 3 guests in different Live Rooms.
User-Generated Videos
User-generated content is the best kind of advocacy a company could ever dream of having. Positive feedback means happy customers. In a digital world where consumers base their purchase decisions on others’ past experiences, user-generated videos may not only be a great source of awareness but also of engagement. By throwing contests or giveaways, you can encourage your followers to produce videos using your product.
You can create branded hashtags so users can use them in their videos. This will allow your content to reach a much bigger audience which may result in it going viral! Simultaneously, by collaborating with influencers you can target and motivate users that are unfamiliar with your business but that may be potential customers to participate in such user-generated videos.
With more exposure, more users will want to be part of the dynamic and post their own videos too. Customers want to be heard and feel like their opinion is being valued, so why not repost some of those videos on your own social media platforms? You can leave a comment thanking them for their participation or complementing them, or edit a longer version of a video made up of several of your followers’ videos.
These videos give you a lot of flexibility in terms of creativity. The concept you choose for the video is completely up to you and you can complement it with a title and hashtags that align to your brand voice and values. To top it off, user-generated videos can save you time and resources.
Testimonials / Case Studies
Your potential customers want to make sure that your product or service will actually be the solution they need. As we mentioned above, the best source of advocacy is the word from the customers themselves. So, one way to prove to your prospects about your product is through case studies or testimonials that feature your satisfied customers.
These videos require previous clients to open up about their positive experience with your company, describing in detail how and why your product or service allowed them to solve a problem or pain point. The effectiveness of video testimonials can be attributed to the fact that they appeal to emotions. Also, because they include the customer’s own words, it makes them more authentic which can later increase the likelihood of prospects making a purchase.
Tutorials / How-To Videos
How-To videos are also referred to as tutorials, and their purpose is to guide viewers through a process or answer frequently asked questions in relation to your product or service. The content is purely educational, helping you build trust and credibility but you can add your brand’s creative flare to make it more attractive and enjoyable for your audience. Using simple graphics and captions can make the whole difference!
Now that you know some of the different types of video content you can include in your digital strategy, you can check our blog to read more about the importance of investing in video marketing. Check out our Instagram or LinkedIn page for more digital marketing tips!
