I have recently found my admiration for the comments section. For example, I came across an article on the “Advertising Age“. The article discussed how the Zen baby Zen ad campaign got it all right. While it did give a lot of insight into what practices make a video content click, I found myself drawn to the comments below the video itself. It was interesting to see people write that “this is the best commercial ever”(with multiple exclamation points)” or that if the viewer had a baby, she would buy this product. It got me thinking that in this ever-changing world of content, it must be hard to create that rule book which specifies how the content can click with its audience. But in the meantime, we can all look at examples and try our best to get it close to “right”.
As the article mentioned above states “The launch of the “Zen Baby Zen” campaign raised the brand’s share of attention (accounting for both paid and earned/organic views) from 5% to over 50% within the baby diaper category.” This statement goes to show the impact that a good video can have. In fact, in one of our posts – Importance of videos to Drive Traffic and Customer Adoption, we show you that “people remember a whopping 70% of what they see and hear.” But here is the catch- you need to make sure that it is worth remembering. In short, it has to click.
We all know that for the video to click the content must be engaging and entertaining. There has to be a message, or a dash of humor to spread a few laughs. But there are other aspects as well that play into this ball game. We list four of them below.
Knowing Trending Topics
While your product may vary, it is important to keep track of the topics that are trending on social media. This will make the content of your video relevant. It goes without saying that sometimes it might not be possible to tie the two together. However, trending topics are still worth exploring. Put yourself in your viewer’s shoes, not just for the content but also to understand how they would share the same. This post in Think With Google throws some light on creating content which is share-worthy
Create versions and assess
With so much content floating around, it is getting harder and harder to get it all right in the first go. In one of our previous blog posts “Tapping the Facebook Continent with Powerful Interactive Videos”, we wrote about understanding the performance of your videos. While it is important to analyse the video performance metrics, it might also be a good idea to “Create different versions of your videos for each target audience, then implement a split testing schedule with a concrete strategy for what will be split tested when.” By looking at the conversions for different target audiences, you can decide which version had a better impact. If you sniff around a little bit online you will see that changes as small as rephrasing a specific video title for an optional video to a more generic “watch video” has shown a huge change in impact.
A Checklist to keep track
When I look for resources, I always try and include one article, which simply gives you a list of things to keep in mind. Chief Marketer’s “Best Practices For Video Content Marketing”, lists 8 points for a bit more indulgence from your viewers. Yes, it is important to get to the point in the first few seconds of your video, however, as the 5th point in this list suggests, it is also important to ensure that all your campaigns across different platforms convey a similar message. Right from designing content to distribution these 8 points sure help you stay on track.
Look at creative outlets
Once your video is ready, yes you will be posting it on YouTube and Facebook, hold on- I am not done yet! You should also consider other outlets for your videos. Try posting short videos on Instagram or even Twitter for that matter. If you have a well researched write up along with your video, you can publish a post on LinkedIn with the video. Have you stopped by the NatGeo Instagram page? Some of their videos have more than a million views. So yes! Spread the word as far as possible.
What we are trying to say here is that:
For more interaction from your audience try to create content around trending topics.
But….. don’t forget to stick to your message across platforms.
Speaking of platforms… try new outlets for your videos like your company Instagram account or publish a post on your LinkedIn page
And…. Don’t forget to try out different versions of your videos, tweak things around a bit to get the best results.
Bridge the gap between your product and your future consumer without making it too annoying for them. Good luck!!
