Ever wonder how some brands seem to effortlessly build an audience and following on social media? Chances are they have mastered the art of video content marketing.
Videos are one of the most engaging content formats, and when done right, they can help build brand awareness, connect with your audience, and drive connections. The good news is with the tools available today, any business can utilize the power of video to nurture their brand.
This article will walk you through the importance of video marketing, formats, and how to optimize your videos for the best results. If you’re ready to take your content and social media marketing to the next level, it’s time to learn how to build your brand using videos.
Table of Contents
Why video content is essential for brand building
Types of video content to make for your brand
How to optimize your videos for maximum reach and engagement
Measuring the success of your video content marketing
Conclusion
Why video content is essential for brand building
1. Reach more people
Video content is essential for building your brand as it helps reach more people. Videos are highly shareable on social media, which allows you to target new audiences and gain more exposure. Videos account for 65% of all the internet traffic and tend to rank higher in search engines like Google, so you’ll get more traffic from SEO as well.
2. Build trust and connections
Nothing builds trust and connections like the human face and voice. When people watch your videos, it enables you to personally connect with your viewers and build a lasting relationship with them. People want to do business with brands they know, like, and trust, and video is the best way to do that.
3. Educate and inform
Videos can play an important role in educating and informing your customers. Explainer videos and product videos are an excellent way to showcase how your business or product works to large audiences.
Videos allow your viewers to see exactly what you stand for or what your product offers and how it can benefit them. In the end, this helps to establish your expertise and authority.
4. Versatility
Another advantage of video content marketing is the versatility of videos. There is a large variety of videos you can create, including behind-the-scenes video footage, explainer videos, product demos, live videos, and instructional videos, among many others.
You can use videos for promotions, email marketing, or your website. You can also post them on various platforms. The options are almost endless.
Types of video content to make for your brand
When it comes to video content, you have many options to showcase your brand identity. Here are some of the top types of video:
1. Product demo videos
Demo videos are a great way to visually display how your product or service works. You can walk through each feature, showing how your target audience can benefit from using what you sell. These videos are especially effective for complex products or software.
2. Behind-the-scenes videos
These videos give viewers an inside look at what goes on in your company. You can film short clips or team meetings, your office space, or how you make your products.
People love feeling like insiders, and these authentic peeks behind the curtain help to build trust and connect with your audience.
3. Educational videos
This type of content teaches your viewers something useful while positioning you as an expert on the subject at hand. For example, if your online store sells turbochargers for high-performance vehicles, create a video on how a turbocharger works or the benefits of adding a turbo to your car.
Educational videos are a win-win: viewers get valuable information and you get to promote your brand as a knowledge leader.
4. Customer testimonial videos
For this video type, you let your happy customers talk for you. You can interview clients about their experience with your product or service for video testimonials. This proof of use by regular customers is highly persuasive and assists in building your credibility.
5. Live videos
You may also consider going live on social media platforms to engage directly with your viewers. You can ask questions, share updates, or chat with fans in real time.
Livestreaming is an easy, low-cost way to connect with real people on an emotional level and show the faces behind your brand.
Using a mix of these different social media video styles will help provide value for viewers and spread brand awareness to wider audiences. Consistency is key, and the more valuable and engaging content you create, the more your audience will come to know, like, and trust your company.
How to optimize your videos for maximum reach and engagement
Once you have created your videos, you need to optimize them to gain significant reach and the most engagement. This means making them as discoverable and shareable as possible. Below are the best practices you can adopt in order to do so:
1. Choose an attention-grabbing thumbnail
A great thumbnail should be part of your video marketing strategy as it is the first thing people will see when they come across your video. According to YouTube, 90% of the best-performing videos on the platform have a custom thumbnail.
It then pays to make your thumbnail as striking as possible. Bright colors, exciting images, and minimal text will increase the chances of people stopping to click and watch your video.
2. Pick an engaging title and description
Create a title and video description that immediately captures people’s interest and makes them want to watch. Mention the benefits and solutions offered by your products while also including various keywords your potential fanbase are likely searching for.
There are plenty of powerful tools, such as Google Trends, Tubebuddy, YouTube Autosuggest, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, and VidIQ, that can help you pinpoint the best keywords to insert in your video title and description.
3. Add captions and a transcript
As well as aiding various disabled communities, adding captions and a transcript to your video can help boost your video content marketing efforts. They make your content accessible to more people and help with search engine optimization since search engines only scan text. Many people browse social media without sound, so having automatic captions can also help grab users’ attention.
4. Promote your videos on social media
When publishing your marketing videos, distribute them on all your social networks, like Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. You can then engage with commenters and sharers of your video. Another option is to run paid video ad campaigns to boost your views and shares.
5. Leverage YouTube features
You can take advantage of YouTube features to help increase your views. Adding your video to relevant playlists or including suggested videos at the end of your video can boost the chances of people continuing to watch your content and subscribing to your channel.
6. Embed on your website
Embedding videos on your website is another way to increase your audience’s reach and engagement. Placing videos prominently on your homepage, blog post, or product/service pages makes them highly visible to anyone who visits your site.
You may also want to consider starting an exclusive video series or podcast to drive more traffic to your website. As more people watch your online videos, the more the increase in the conversion rate.
7. Collaborate for cross-promotion
Another tip is reaching out to influencers and brands with a similar audience to see if they are open to collaboration. You can create YouTube videos together, interview each other, or share each other’s content. This helps their audience to discover your videos and vice versa.
You should go in knowing what value you can offer to the other person or brand. Some collaboration tips that can gain you exposure include:
- Contribute guest blogs by writing a post about your video content, making sure to embed details of other relevant videos within the post
- Appear on someone’s podcast to discuss your video marketing tips
- Co-host a webinar on how to build a small business through videos
- Sponsor or co-sponsor a contest or giveaway
Measuring the success of your video content marketing
After creating and publishing your video content, it’s time to measure how well it performs. Tracking key metrics will show you what is working and what’s not so you can optimize your future videos. Key performance indicators you should track include:
1. Views
The number of views is an obvious metric, but it only tells part of the story. While more views are preferable, focus on consistent growth and how views compare to your other videos. If your view count is stagnating, promote your video on social media or your email newsletter to increase views.
2. Watch time
A huge view count means little if people only watch for a few seconds. You should aim for at least 30 to 60 seconds of watch time for short-form videos (under 2 minutes) and 2 to 3 minutes for longer videos.
Drop-off points will show you where you are losing viewer interest so you can make improvements. Watch time should help you know that you should provide valuable information right away to keep people watching.
3. Likes and comments
Check how many people like your video and are commenting on your YouTube channel and other video-sharing websites. This shows how engaging your content is and how well you are connecting with viewers. You can respond to the comments in a friendly, helpful manner. Also, ask open-ended questions to spark discussion and keep the video interactive.
4. Shares
How many shares your video has is another key metric to measure. As viewers share your video on social media, it gains traction, extending your reach to new potential customers. Here, you may consider making share-worthy content such as animated videos while focusing on being helpful, insightful, and entertaining.
5. Traffic to your website
You should also include a strong call-to-action in your video that directs viewers to your website or ecommerce store. Track how much traffic the video drives and see if it achieves your business goals, such as generating leads or increasing sales.
Conclusion
Here, we’ve provided just a few tips to help you create and promote video content to build your brand. While it may appear to be a lot of work, creating video content is one of the most effective ways to reach your target market and increase your online presence.
So, start making high-quality videos to promote your message and connect with the people who matter the most: your customers. The more you do it, the easier – and more rewarding – it will become.
