As professionals helping businesses to flourish, we know that success is often a mix between observing the trends and personalizing those regarding your brand’s behavior. Then, it comes down to implementing them into the current marketing strategy. Analyzing the results enables us to do some fine-tuning. But jump from one trend to another and neglect the global strategy can be tricky. Keeping this in mind, today we want to onboard you on a journey that will teach you the fundamentals of video content and how to smoothly implement it to your strategy.

Expansion is built on stable fundaments and continued investment in those fundaments.

We will be talking about ways to showcase your products and services, your company culture, and office dynamics. This is something our design team at Ralev.com can give you a hand with. So, stay with us if you want to learn more about video content. And if you need to learn more about design-driven growth, check this blog post.

Video as the crosspoint of launching business expansion and diving into a trend

Video content is something big brands have invested in for decades, but today all brands should turn to this medium in order to align with the customers’ preferences and demands.

Videos – to be or not to be

In the 2017 annual report, HubSpot predicts that consumers’ preferences for video content are here to stay. Their investigation shows that “54% of people want to see more video content from marketers“. Today video plays an even more significant role in brand communication and creating meaningful experiences with the audience. 

In 2020 YouTube was named 2nd most popular search engine among internet users. And if that doesn’t sound wild, you should know that 1/3 of all internet users around the globe use YouTube to browse videos. Equally, the data from 2020 shows that 83% of people prefer Youtube to any other video-sharing platform available. But this trend isn’t only proven by Youtube statistics. Video is now dominating social media as well!

Over 2 billion people per month globally watch Facebook In-stream videos. Facebook attempts to attract more viewers who stay on the platform by offering:

• Short-form video for instant entertainment that can be uploaded in the feed, on stories, and Instagram reels 
• Long-form videos to build deeper connections in Facebook Watch, IGTV, and Lives
  

Facebook internal data for 2021 shows over two billion people are watching in-stream eligible videos per month. And 70% of those views are completed. 

The two social platforms should become a major content channel for brands. According to an Ipsos study, consumers claim Instagram and Facebook as the most popular platforms to connect with brands. 

Brands, video content and perspectives

Since 2019, video has been the #1 form of media exploited by content strategy pioneers. Today’s tools help us diversify the content and keep consumers entertained. This section will examine the reasons for the significant interest in this medium and the consumer’s behavior to give you a better understanding.

Why is video the preferred medium? 

Marketer’s benefits

Videos significantly increase customers’ understanding of what a product or service does and how it solves a problem. They also require a more prominent attention span in the audience. Much more significant than static visuals. People read visuals as they read text. A static visual can be seen and consumed in a matter of seconds. Videos broadcast moving visuals, so the transmitted information is multiplied by the number of frames contained in the video.

Better yet, social platforms tend to boost video content. That’s because every social platform’s goal is to keep more users active. When watching videos, users spend more time online, which results in more opportunities for advertisers and higher profits generated by the platform. But it’s more of a win-win situation as marketers feel satisfied by the ROI. No wonder videos are the best performing digital content type.  

Consumer’s behavior

From a viewer’s perspective, things look different. The “content receiver” expects all video content to be engaging, entertaining, and of extra value. If his expectations aren’t fulfilled, one will simply scroll down to the next suggestion. The completed views can track the success of a video. But what this means is that all efforts and investments in the production phase should be consumer-centric because the spectator has the final word.

Today in the USA, 85% of businesses have internal staff and resources to produce videos in-house. This is normal since most videos are produced for social media channels and some for websites. Moreover big part of content creators are aware of the importance of video for brand promotion, so they learn more and more about video production.

The average video length for business videos is less than 2 minutes long. Most millennials aren’t keen on videos longer than 10 minutes. Bear in mind that by 2030 millennials will represent 75% of global workforce.

What are the biggest challenges for businesses to produce videos?

Firstly, video creation is time-consuming. It is, but you can use stock images appropriate for your case and have something good tailored for you. So you can outsource all this to an agency like ours.

Secondly, software and tools are complicated. Even when most software options try to be more user-friendly, it still takes time, effort, and experience to create professional results. 

And thirdly, video production, shooting, etc. is out of their budget. But if you have the guts to do it, these days, you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video on your smartphone. And sometimes with a good idea and dedication you can capture great moments. As for the montage and postproduction, you can count on team Ralev. 

How to rate your video content and see if they are worth the investment?

Like most things, we need to keep track and analyze results in depth to know their worth. Advanced video analytics are often costly, but the truth is that if you’re ready to invest in software that will collect this information for you, you’re more likely to scale. If you have doubts about this investment, try to track and compare the following data from every video posted on every channel you use:

• Reach & Impressions
• Interactions
• Completed views
• Attention span
• Views by embedded location
• Drop-off times
• Attribution to sales pipeline
• Influence on revenue 

The most common video content for brand marketing

Now let’s examine the four most common videos brands use to communicate with their audiences.

Explainers

Explainer videos tend to be short-form and are mainly used for marketing and sales purposes. The goal is to highlight a product, service, or compelling feature your company offers. Those videos are often welcoming people on the index page of a corporate website.

Work out who your audience is and find out what they may need to know to sell your service or product. Is it something exciting about your company, or the people who support your business, is it about a charity cause, or a product that solves their problem. Identify it, find the right style – motion graphics or video footage. Make a scenario and find trusted professionals to produce it. 

Probably this idea may seem overwhelming at first, especially if your company is new to video content. Still, people like Simon Banks predict that by 2025 all website content will be replaced by videos. So it’s an appropriate way to kick it and be ahead of the game.

Product Demos & How-Tos

How-to videos are great to teach viewers something about your product or service. It’s often centered around a set of steps helping to learn a skill or accomplish something. In your years of experience, you’ve noticed a shared pattern or a struggle your customers have. Well, know you know the best medium to resolve their problems. What’s more, this video will provide value for years to come. 

Sales presentation video content

Lately, we see a rising trend where brands offer sales presentation videos to their prospects. Those are pre-recorded sales presentations with a voice-over. The best option for those videos is to have in-house professionals do the pitch presentation, and designers handle all visual aspects – presentation and video montage. Keep in mind that the voice recording should be good to have an overall professional experience. 

Testimonials

If you have a running website, you are probably aware of how essential testimonial videos are for your potential customers. Those videos help influence your website’s visitors, as well as your audience in social media channels and other digital touchpoints you have with your prospects. 

Internal training videos 

Welcoming new members of your team is always exciting. But sometimes, the new entries can be overwhelmed with information, especially if they are going through training. That’s why sometimes it’s better to provide video materials that they can watch again and understand in-depth your company’s processes. This will facilitate the onboarding and, in some instances, can save time for your whole team. 

What’s more, internal training videos are helpful not only for new hires but also for employees. They can serve to share more about the company culture and values. What’s more, they can help for recruiting purposes to show the office environment. 

To sum things up

Videos are great to familiarize your potential customers with the essence of your business. In fact,placing a video on your website increases your ranking in google by 50 times. Videos are also great to boost your engagement rates across social media channels. They can be a mix of in-house and outsourced work.

Our team at Ralev.com can help you with:

• Script
• Motion graphics
• Video editing
• Logo animation
• Long & short-form videos
• Video ads
• Social media videos
• Intros & outros