YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram, Vine. The number of video marketing platforms is vast. Each has specific functionality to suit your marketing strategy and budget – are you using it to grow your company’s awareness, digital footprint, and revenue streams? If not, here’s how you can get started. In 2021, there is absolutely no excuse for shying away from video marketing.

Technology authority, TechCrunch, states, “A few minutes of short-form video here and there can really add up – YouTube’s average video length may be quite constrained, but in aggregate, viewers are watching a billion hours of its clips per day.” What a powerful statement! That’s hundreds of millions of potential customers who could watch your content and purchase your services and/or products.

Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing Survey comments that “most strikingly, 87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI — a world away from the lowly 33% who felt that way in 2015.”

In just over five years, there’s been a 54% increase in businesses making money from video marketing. The revenue is there waiting, but you must make sure you use the correct platforms to position your content to resonate with your audience as well as short, medium and long-term goals. 

Top video marketing platforms

Here are a couple of examples of video marketing platforms:

Facebook Live Video

With lockdown restrictions, you’re likely to have seen ‘live’ videos increase in frequency and popularity over the last year. It’s provided businesses with an interactive way to foster/continue connecting with potential and existing customers.

The appeal is that it gives viewers a raw look into the content a business has to offer.

The benefits include

• Minimal equipment required.
• Viewers can comment and respond to the video. This is especially important during the pandemic because it allows people to voice opinions and receive real-time responses.

 

Vimeo

Personalisation is one of the critical elements that all businesses need to increase client retention while simultaneously building trust and loyalty in the brand. Vimeo allows you to create high-quality content to share with your audience. Unlike other platforms, it enables you to have more control over the content in terms of personalisation and customisation.

Benefits of Vimeo include:

• Allows its users to upload and share high-quality videos, enhancing the user experience.
• Strict acceptance criteria, which means they don’t have to deal with bulk video uploads daily. This allows them to focus on superior video quality. PC World comments, “This also implies that videos shared on Vimeo hold a higher value as compared to those on YouTube since anyone can post anything on YouTube, but Vimeo is all about meaningful content. Overall, Vimeo videos are more artistic and professional, which is also reflected in its audience.”
• The basic Vimeo plan is free.

 

YouTube

The content-sharing titan hardly needs an introduction. As mentioned earlier, one billion hours of content are watched every day on the social network juggernaut. Therefore, if you are yet to establish your video marketing presence, YouTube is your ideal starting point. Instead, start with the vehicle that will give you as much exposure to your prospective audience as possible; once you’ve started seeing a favourable ROI, think about looking into other video marketing platforms.  

Benefits include

• Establish and gain authority.
• Build your brand’s reputation by posting quality content.
• Find new PR opportunities.
• Showcase your products and/or services.
• Feature customer testimonials. This will help build loyalty and trust from consumers.
• Channel creation is free.

 

Instagram

Instagram is one of the most dominant, influential photo and video sharing social networking services worldwide. Today, it’s an expected platform for businesses to attract new consumers – this is where they’ll search for you; they may not even bother taking the user journey any further if you don’t have an Instagram business account.

SEO authority, Search Engine Journal comments that it’s a vital trust signal, “having an Instagram account – especially a verified Instagram account – is one more signal that your business is reputable, real, and transparent.” If you’re doing online business exclusively, having yet another social account where your customers can get to know your business is highly valuable. 

Benefits include:

• You can create a business account
• Customers can provide feedback and reviews by tagging your company.
• Excellent for brand reputation management.
• You can tag, promote and sell specific (or all) products.
• You can use many other platforms; it just depends on how you want to reach your audience.

You can use many other platforms; it just depends on how you want to reach your audience.

Types of video to consider

Explainer videos

Do you want to explain the different elements of your business clearly and concisely? Speak to a reputable video production company about creating an explainer video. These videos usually consist of 3D animations and a voice-over artist enlightening the viewer about its products and/or services. Take a look at Fio’s awesome explainer video.

 

Interview videos

Audiences want to see authenticity more than ever before; they want to know the people behind the brand’s veil. Interviewing your employees who can give the viewers a look into the company’s inner workings is extremely valuable content. Remember, there is no substitute for brand personification.  

 

Entertaining/informative videos

The bottom line is that people watch a piece of content to be entertained and obtain information. So, you need to be agile enough to adapt your product/service offerings. E.g. if you sell technology, shoot some unboxing videos of products before their official launch to give viewers an exclusive preview of the latest tech. You could also demonstrate certain products so the audience can familiarise themselves with their functionality.

 

Company culture videos

What sets your company apart from your competitors? Company culture videos can highlight the character, vision, mission and culture that your company exudes. The purpose here isn’t to sell your product or service; it has an overarching goal: to market your brand from a holistic perspective.

 

Customer testimonial videos

Why not get customers to market your products and sell the brand for you? It’s an authoritative statement, and when potential customers see your passionate, enthusiastic audience, they’ll want to have that experience too.

These are just a few of the videos that Fio’s experts can produce for your business. For more information, contact us for a consultation.