Video has become one of the most important parts of any digital marketing strategy. Research shows that 1 minute of video is as powerful as 1 million words of text, 85% of consumers are more likely to buy a product or service after watching a marketing video and video content is 12 times more likely to be shared on social media than regular images.
Once you have decided that you need video, you need to consider the different ways a video can be used to promote your business and then decide which ones are best for you.
So, what types of video can you have and how and where should you use them?
Overview of company services video
This video provides a high-level overview of the different goods and services that your business provides and should be one of the first videos you consider producing.You don’t want to make the video too long, but it should give a good, clear overview of what your business does and the benefits a customer will gain from working with you.
You would want to have this shown on the home page of your website and if you have a web page giving an overview of services then you would include it there too. You will also want to share this on all your social media channels and you may want to consider pinning the post that features this video to the top of your social media feeds so it is clearly in view for anybody looking at you. If you have a Facebook business page, you can consider using this video as your page banner, as Facebook has now rolled out the facility.
Product / Service description videos
You should consider producing a video highlighting the benefits and features of each of your services or products. The video should feature the benefits potential customers will gain from using your goods or services. Once produced, the video should feature on the appropriate product/service page on your website, as well as being featured on your social media channels.
If you write a blog post featuring any of your products or services, you should feature your appropriate product or service video too.
Promotional video
Promotional videos can be used for marketing any sales or product promotions you are currently running. The video should feature the benefits of the product or service you are promoting, along with details of the promotion and how long the promotion is running for.
You can also use video to promote any events you are running or any occasions where you are exhibiting or speaking. Make sure you feature all relevant details, such as the location, date and if relevant the time you will be there.
Customer Testimonial videos
Having a video of your customers providing a testimonial about your product or service is an extremely powerful marketing message, so you should look to create some of these as soon as the opportunity arises. You should ask your customers if they are willing to be recorded when providing you with a testimonial and record this if they are willing.
For many businesses it can be difficult to get customers to be available or willing to be on camera to record a testimonial, so an alternate style is get customers to provide written testimonials and to turn these into slideshow videos.
Video Logos
You will notice that all of the example videos shown feature a video logo. Having a custom video logo created for you helps to present a powerful, coherent branding for your business throughout your video marketing.
Case study videos
Case studies are a great way to demonstrate how your customers have benefited from your goods and services. Explaining these in a video is a very strong way to get your message across, telling the story of the work you have done for your client and how it has benefited them.
What to do with your videos
Your videos should feature on all the relevant pages on your website. It is best to do this by hosting the video on a video hosting site such as YouTube, Vimeo or Wistea and embedding the hosted video into your web page rather than trying to host the video directly onto your website, as these hosting sites are optimised to stream video and have the bandwidth needed to do this, where your website probably doesn’t.
You should also share your videos on your social media channels. It is best to upload your video to each of the channels rather than sharing the hosted link, as all social media channels have now optimised the algorithms they use so that it favours videos hosted locally. This means that videos loaded directly to each social media channel are more likely to appear in people’s timelines.
If you are considering using videos for your business and would like to know more about the video production services we can offer you, please call on 02392 265725 or e-mail video@redknightsolutions.co.uk
We recently came across this infographic giving some detailed statistics about video marketing and felt that we must share it. This infographic was originally produced by Hyperfine Media
It is really important to have a digital marketing strategy and at Red Knight Solutions we have developed a 6 step process for developing a successful digital marketing strategy. We will work with you to help you develop and implement yours.
The 6 steps are:
Know WHAT you are promoting;
Know WHO your target audience is;
Know HOW to engage with them digitally;
Develop a detailed plan showing WHEN you will be doing things;
Take regular Action, following your plan;
Measure the outcomes
The most common mistake companies make is to start doing digital marketing, often just trying to copy the latest trend, without developing a detailed picture of what they are promoting and who they are promoting it to. The outcome is normally an expensive disappointment.
Know what you are promoting
Build up a detailed picture of the product or service you are looking to promote digitally. This should include a detailed description of what the product or service is, what problems it solves, the benefits gained from the people using it, how much it costs to produce, how much you can afford to spend on marketing it, profit margins that you are generating, whether there are any associated products you can upsell, whether these are likely to be one-off or repeat purchases.
Who you are marketing to
The detailed picture should include age, gender, existing or new customers, location, what their needs, wants and fears are, how they are likely to want to be approached, what their likely budgets are going to be and whether they are business customers or consumers.
Know how to engage with them digitally
Now you have your detailed pictures of your product and customers you can consider all the options available to you for digital marketing. You need to consider which are the best social media options to reach your target market and how best to use more traditional web tools.
Develop a detailed plan
Your plan should detail how you are going to use each of the digital marketing options, when you are going to use them, how you are going to use them and who is going to be doing these for you. You should also include details of budgets available, as although some digital marketing options are free, others will need to be paid for.
Take Action
This may appear to go against the advice this article is laying out, but it is important to take action, quickly once you have your plan laid out. One of the slogans that Facebook use in their offices is “Break things – Fast”, which is good … provided you fix them fast too.
Measure your success
Make use of all the available digital marketing tools to keep an eye on your digital marketing campaign. Use Google Analytics to see how visitors to your website are increasing and what they are doing, use the analytical tools available on social media platforms to measure the effects of your social media activities and other tools to track your progress up the Search Engine rankings.
Do more of what is working well, do less or even stop doing things that aren’t working and don’t be afraid of trying new things either, as digital marketing is evolving all the time.
Help with your strategy
Although it sounds simple to develop and implement a digital marketing strategy, there is a lot of expert knowledge required to do it right. If you would like to know more about the services we offer to help you develop and implement a strategy, call us on 02392 265725, e-mail us at enquries@redknightsolutions.co.uk or fill in the form below:
As 2016 comes to an end and 2017 looms over the horizon, I thought it was time to stare into my crystal ball and see if I can predict the big things that will happen with digital marketing in 2017. It will be fun to look back at this post towards the end of 2017 to see which, if any of them, will come true.
Video – even more important in 2017.
Let’s start with something that’s a safe prediction – video will be even more important for digital marketing in 2017 than it is in 2016, which is saying something as it’s a major influence in Facebook and Twitter’s algorithm already. The functionality of Facebook Live will continue to be enhanced and the use of Facebook Live will get even better results in their algorithm.
There have also been announcements of live video streaming developments both for Twitter and Instagram and I wouldn’t be surprised if LinkedIn and others followed suit.
In summary, you really need to include using video within your digital marketing mix in 2017.
Augmented Reality and 3D
The success of Pokemon Go earlier this year was the first real demonstration of augmented reality, where the digital world was overlaid on the real world, in real-time. There will be more games like this in 2017 and this will lead to digital marketing opportunities for business.
The 3D world is also developing at pace. Facebook has made an investment in this technology, as our many of the games consoles and Samsung are now promoting a 360-degree camera to support it, so it’s coming. I don’t think it will be big in 2017 but I can see it happening in 2018.
Google – it’s plans will influence your website
Google will continue to refine its algorithm and these will focus on improving the ranking of websites that perform well on mobile devices, so your website needs to be designed for mobile. Key things to focus on are a mobile responsive design, use of AMP pages and quick loading pages. I predict a further refinement to Google Adwords too. Oh and don’t forget to post those videos onto your website too.
Social Media
Facebook
Facebook will continue to go from strength to strength. Video and Facebook Live will become increasingly important and influential in the performance of posts. I am expecting some augmented reality and virtual reality features to be introduced in 2017, but these technologies are still in the development and experimental phase so it is difficult to predict exactly how this will be done. Back the right option and you will get an advantage but there will be many false starts. The developments that have started in Messenger for businesses will continue to deliver additional features.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn was purchased by Microsoft in 2016 and I believe that their influence on LinkedIn will grow in 2017. Some areas of LinkedIn, such as the company page, have already been revisited and revamped and this will continue across 2017. I can see groups being re-vamped as LinkedIn groups seem to have lost out to Facebook groups in recent years.
Twitter
Twitter is going to have an interesting 2017 and its success or otherwise will depend on who eventually buys Twitter and the direction of travel they take it in. Salesforce were rumoured to be the most likely buyer and if this is the case then there is the potential for some exciting developments towards the end of 2017, assuming the sale takes place early in 2017. Whatever happens as far as the potential sale, I predict there will be enhancements made to the paid advertising feature.
Other social media
Pinterest and Instagram will continue their rise in prominence within the digital marketing sphere and there will be a social media channel that develops from left-field. I don’t know which one but either SnapChat or WhatsApp appear to be well placed.
Is this the year of the small business app?
I read an article recently that predicted the death of websites and the advent of app only internet marketing. I wouldn’t go that far, but I can see the introduction of simple apps for small businesses becoming more popular, especially as we consuming so much of our digital information via mobile devices and apps work so well on them … definitely one to keep an eye on and even if it doesn’t happen in 2017 it is going to happen in the next few years.
Summary
In summary, it will be interesting to revisit this post regularly during 2017 to see which, if any, of these predictions comes true.
Finally, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, where digital marketing plays a big part in your success.
Helping you with your digital marketing
If you would like help with your Facebook marketing or any other aspects of your digital marketing, call Red Knight Solutions on 02392 265725 or e-mail us at enquiries@redknightsolutions.co.uk to find out more about how we can help your business thrive online.
Are you a business owner who is frustrated by the impact of your posts on your Facebook business page? Despite working hard to gain lots of likes for your page, Facebook is hardly showing your posts to any of your followers – statistics show that often less than 1% of people who have liked your page will see your post.
If this sounds familiar, despair no longer, here are 5 tips to follow that will see your post reach increase dramatically.
Facebook loves Video.
Video is the number 1 way to boost your posts, as Facebook loves video and its algorithm is heavily weighted to extend the reach of posts that feature video. If you really want your post to reach its maximum potential use Facebook Live for the video feed, as Facebook is really promoting Facebook live.
If you’re not comfortable using Facebook live then produce a video, but load it onto Facebook if possible rather than hosting it on YouTube or any other video hosting platform, as Facebook does favour hosted video. If you are producing a video, it is also a good idea to include captions on the video or produce the video in such a way that it communicates its message without sound, as a high proportion of the people that will see your video on Facebook will do so with the sounds off.
A further benefit of having the video hosted on Facebook is the detailed analytics that Facebook provides you with.
Include a picture when you post on Facebook.
If you are unable or unwilling to include a video, include one or more photographs with your post. Facebook likes seeing photos with posts and it is also more eye catching in timelines that Facebook does add your post to.
If you can post several pictures that relate to a post, then you should use these to create a slideshow. There are facilities for doing this in Facebook or you could you a tool like Animoto or ripl. Facebook will treat a slideshow you have created as a video.
Encourage Interactions with your post.
If people are reacting to your post, the Facebook algorithm will give your post a boost. There are three types of interaction you should try to encourage, sharing, commenting and liking. They all have an impact.
Sharing your post.
You can extend the reach of your Facebook post by sharing your business page post into any groups you are a member of where your post will be of interest. You should also share your post on your timeline.
When sharing your post, you should include a comment that encourages interaction from group members – shares and comments seem to have the biggest impact on posts, but likes have influence too.
If you employ staff, you should encourage them to interact with your post and share it. If you know other business owners, then you should consider asking them to share your post too, with a reciprocal offer of sharing their posts too.
Page Settings
There are numerous business page settings that affect where and how your post will appear on Facebook, most notably your preferred page audience. Use these to let Facebook know who your target audience is and your posts are more likely to appear on the timeline of people who match this description. There are options available to help with selection across the 150 odd attributes that Facebook holds about its users.
Boosting your post
If all else fails, you can consider boosting your post. If you decide that you want to boost your post, don’t press the boost post button, but got into the ads manager to boost the post. This is because Facebook advertising manager lets you choose what the purpose of boosting your post is and if you look closely at the options available, boosting your post doesn’t necessarily achieve the outcome you would expect it to.
Helping you with Facebook
If you would like help with your Facebook marketing or any other aspects of your digital marketing, call Red Knight Solutions on 02392 265725 or e-mail us at enquiries@redknightsolutions.co.uk to find out more about how we can help your business thrive online.
