The past year has brought on a major shift in the way people consume and interact with digital media. A recent report found that people’s consumption of media content has doubled in the last year, from a bit over 3 hours to a whopping 7 hours per day spent on our devices. The biggest increase of 48% was seen in social media consumption with video being a big part of it.
This may sound like good news for brands who rely on online engagement to reach their audience. But research shows the overabundance of information has had a negative impact on our attention spans over the years.
So what is a marketer to do?
The good news is that video is still performing well when it comes to getting — and keeping — people’s attention.
- Consumers are twice as likely to share a video with their friends than any other type of content.
- 80% of marketers find that video increases “dwell time” on their website, a key metric for SEO.
That said, traditional video production can be expensive and can take a long time to produce. Here, we share 5 video marketing strategies for businesses that you can apply today to scale your video marketing efforts without breaking your bank and engage your audience in new, meaningful ways.
1. Opt for Short-Form Videos
One great way to scale your video marketing content is to focus on short-form videos. They are less costly to produce and can even perform better than longer content. Most people tend to drop off after the second minute in a video, so why not focus on producing impactful, short videos instead?
Most short-form videos fall between 30 seconds and 2-3 minutes long, but it varies depending on purpose and where it’s published. Remember, you don’t need expensive shots to make your videos impactful. Entertainment and authenticity go a long way in keeping your audience engaged.
Take this short video from Dollar Shave Club, which uses simple shots and plenty of comedy to promote their services.
It took just one day to shoot, no fancy props or guest actors. And it went viral, resulting in 12,000 subscriptions and crashing their website with the unprecedented traffic from YouTube.
How short can your short-form video be? Even a few seconds can be long enough if you tell a story. When Fiat wanted to promote the new Fiat 500X, they created a video ad that was a mere 9 seconds long, but as you’ll see below, that was enough time to set the scene and connect with viewers.
There were thousands of versions of the ad, varying based on user data. While the viewer didn’t get quantity (a long video), they did enjoy quality — an ad tailored to their interests. The campaign was effective compared to benchmarks:
- 14% increase in performance
- 56% higher CTR
As you think about creating video content, think of ways to make shorter content dynamic and engaging.
2. Personalize Your Videos
Did you know you can personalize videos at scale, both audio and visual content, by dynamically pulling data from your CRM (or wherever you keep customer data) so it updates the video in real time?
Personalization adds a human touch to your video marketing efforts. The customer doesn’t see just any video — they see their video, something you created with their unique situation in mind.
And it works. For example, Ubisoft used personalization to recap 5 years of gameplay for nearly 5 million gamers, and gamers loved it. The campaign saw a 5x uplift in social sharing, a 3x uptick in video downloads and a 2.7x increase in CTA click-through rate.
You might be thinking that’s great, but how do I do this at scale?
Luckily, nobody needs to generate 5 million videos manually. Technology saves the day. Use a Personalized Video platform to effortlessly link customer data to video scenes based on designated parameters. It’s easy. Brands ranging from universities to banks to retailers do it all the time.
3. Repurpose Existing Video Content
Who says that your existing repository of videos should only be used once? If you’ve been producing branded videos for a while, the chances are you have hundreds of scenes that could be repurposed for other content as well.
Get creative. Reusing existing content is a great way to get a bigger bang for your buck while still generating fresh content for your viewers. Add to this personalization and you’ve made your old videos instantly more relevant.
Allianz did exactly that when they created personalized onboarding videos for their customers. Instead of a generic welcome video, they filmed several scenes which they later mixed and matched depending on the individual plans and personal information of their clients, to create a personalized message. (It’s worth noting that the mixing and matching was done with logic — and technology — to generate videos en masse rather than individually for each plan variation.)
Take a look at the video below to see how it worked.
The campaign was so successful that it was named the best data-driven campaign by the Deutscher Digital Award and placed silver in the MAX-Award in Germany.
4. Leverage User-Generated Content
In a world where we’re inundated with ads created by brands, online reviews and user-generated content stand out as a more trustworthy source of information. As such, they can go a long way in influencing consumer behavior.
One consumer study revealed that 73% of shoppers find that UGC increases their purchasing confidence while 61% said that UGC encourages them to engage with brands. The impact is even greater among those aged 18-29 — 97% say UGC has an extreme influence on their purchasing decisions.
There are a few video marketing strategies marketers can use for leveraging UGC.
Ask Customers for Content
You can play on the growing popularity of social media to invite users to share pictures and videos with your products and then repurpose them for your wider content strategy. Parachute, a bedding and bath brand, used this approach to promote its products with some amazing results. Their UGC ads generated 35% increase in click-through rate and 60% lower cost-per-click.
Video can be a bigger ask, though, so you might be looking at using photos in a montage. A prize for winners who contribute the best content can help sweeten the deal.
Partner With Influencers
Alternatively, you can join hands with influencers to commission UGC content. Chipotle created a great buzz with their user-generated “space burrito” ad which has already had over 100,000 views on TikTok.
Creating UGC videos at scale can be costly though, so you might want to think about how to make the most out of each video. For instance, you can commission several, shorter influencer videos and mix-and-match them as you see fit for any future campaigns.
Send Users a Video They Can Update
As you can see, the challenge with UGC is a balance between cost and user convenience.
- Customers creating content: Low brand cost, high user cost (time)
- Influencers creating content: Higher brand cost, no user cost
One way around this paradox is creating the video yourself and allowing users to update it easily. It’s convenient to the user since they don’t need to create a video from scratch, and it’s more affordable per video since you’re creating one video that can have millions of iterations (as users update the video) rather than paying for hundreds of individual videos by influencers.
Try it yourself below in this video created to thank essential workers during the pandemic. Click the lightning bolt to customize the video with text and audio of your choice.
This video uses drop-down customization options, but you could easily let customers add their own text or even upload photos or video files.
5. Focus on Gamification and Interaction
Similar to personalization, gamified and interactive videos allow users to have a unique experience each time they interact with your content. Not only is gamification and interactivity a great way to scale your video marketing, but the entertainment factor can further drive retention and customer engagement.
Interactivity, in this context, can come in many forms depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
Promote Your Brand With a UGC Contest
GoPro does a great job with this. They regularly invite customers to share their GoPro videos as part of a contest.
Each challenge also comes with its own hashtag, driving further visibility and engagement for the campaign. The one above, from Justus Zils, has already racked up 75,000 views in just a little over a month.
Engage Viewers with Embedded Quizzes
You can use video branching, quizzes and other forms of interaction to let consumers get more involved in the narrative. Resuscitation Council UK does this with their Lifesaver educational content, using a branching video to put viewers in the context of a real emergency so they can see if they would know what to do next.
Drive Sales Through Clickable Links and Product Tags
Interactivity can be especially helpful when it comes to driving sales. We see this with Instagram’s shoppable posts. Not only do they make for a more seamless shopping experience, but they generate far better results than traditional ads. One retailer reported a 32% lift in CTR and a 90% increase in traffic.
This technology is available in videos, too. Check out our Video Inspiration Gallery and click the Living Video option to see videos with interactivity.
Final Thoughts on Scaling Your Video Marketing
Video marketing has never been more important for business success. Whether you’re looking to launch a new product, engage a new market or promote existing services, video is one of the best ways to engage your audience and make a lasting impression. Being able to scale your operations and personalize your videos can help you stand out from your competition and meet your customers wherever they are on their personal journey.
Ready to take your video marketing to the next level? Download our ebook on how to master video marketing.
