Storytelling through video has become part of the

required content marketing toolkit for brands looking to

create awareness in their market. The power of video to move consumers to act has

played out nicely in the numbers. YouTube users watch

more than 6 billion hours of video per month; that’s

up 50% over last year according to YouTube execs.

Meanwhile, there are reliable predictions that two-thirds of the world’s

mobile traffic will be video by 2016. So, clearly, this ship

isn’t sinking any time soon.

 

Short-format videos are in

Let’s start with the short-format videos being used on

platforms such as Instagram and tik tok. They’re hot,

they’re new, and users are flocking to them in droves.

Over 59% of the world’s top brands are now active on

Instagram alone.

What’s great about these platforms is that they allow

you to tell visual stories in the form of “content snacks,”

or bite-sized bits of engagement. Much like Twitter has

done for microblogging, these platforms force short-form

storytelling by limiting the length of the videos. They also seem much more conducive to share, and they’re perfect for branding.

“Brand videos are shared 4x more than other types of content.

 

Regardless of form or viewing device, video is an ideal

medium to engage, inform, and entertain prospective

buyers and clients.

Here’s what you need to know to get in on the action.

  1. Understand the difference between a

conversion video and a brand-building,

engagement video

According to a recent Wordtracker post, “There are two

main types of videos a business will want to make.

Conversion videos are designed to drive sales, whilst

engagement videos can work well to get people to

subscribe to a YouTube channel or join a facebook community.”

Don’t confuse the two. If what you need to do is drive

sales, make sure your video strategy has that goal

clearly defined. Otherwise, you could end up spending

hard-earned cash on awareness videos without ringing

the register.

 

  1. Make your videos accessible

Many individuals look for more information after seeing

a product or service in a video,

With that in mind, it’s crucial that you make your videos

accessible and thus shareable, so that you can get your

message out in the wild.

The easiest way to do so is to create branding and

sales-related videos for promotion on open discovery

platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook. There are

also a host of other opportunities in which video can be

very effective:

  • Product detail pages
  • Emails
  • Landing pages
  • Thank you pages

 

  1. Tell great stories

“The story is the key. What you have to

understand is that storytelling is the way you build a

brand. And storytelling is not dictating your story in a

press release. Storytelling is a give and take.”

The most compelling messages come from the questions

you should be asking yourself: What is my brand’s

narrative? What experience am I promising? What is the

human element that my product or service represents

that sets it apart from every other widget on the market?

You can’t persuade people to buy something they don’t

care about. So what is it about the product that moves

them? All successful videos have that in common: the

ability to tell stories that make you feel something.

 

  1. Know your audience

Understanding the personas that gravitate to your

product will let you know how far you can push the

boundaries, to whom you should be targeting your

message, and, most important, whom you can ignore.

One of the pitfalls of mass appeal is mediocrity. If you

try to speak to everyone the same way, no one will

pay attention.

 

  1. 5. Be bold and make a statement

So maybe you’re still on the fence. Maybe you think

everything has been done with marketing videos to build

brand recognition and the rest is bandwagon waste. But

don’t forget that there are a few successful product videos that clearly

push the boundaries of humor, comfort, and, depending

on your perspective, taste. The takeaway is that you

have to do something to be seen above the noise; just

make sure it works for your brand and your audience,

or you could risk alienating customers important to your

bottom line.

 

Believe that nothing is impossible, and your belief will help create the fact.Frizzle n Bizzle