Seven Video Marketing Tips to Follow

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten thousand more. Video marketing is a way to promote your business’s product or service, educate and interact with customers, and increase engagement on your social media profiles.

By the end of 2021, more than 80 percent of online users watched videos monthly. Consumers are more likely to retain knowledge about a good or service that’s discussed in a video than they are by reading about it through text. Your business can improve its video metrics such as visibility, engagement, and conversions, by following these video marketing tips.

Two hands form a frame showing a video screen with a play button.

1. Create a posting schedule

Creating a posting schedule helps maintain organization and consistency within your business’s video marketing plan. Consider recording and posting a video in its entirety or break the video up into parts. Posting the full video is a direct marketing method that answers the consumers’ questions all at once. However, segmented videos encourage consumers to keep returning to your business’s page to view the next update. No matter which method you use for your final videos, it’s important to release them on schedule so consumers know when to expect new content from your business.

2. Diversify the types of video posts

Incorporating different types of videos in your video marketing plan is a creative way to keep consumers aware and engaged. Some popular video marketing trends include event videos, expert interviews, how-to videos, customer testimonies, and live videos.

Event Videos

Event videos are used to show consumers why they should attend your business’s next event. These videos typically highlight footage from past events and show the excitement, knowledge, and other benefits the consumer gains from attending the event.

Expert Interviews

Expert interviews are used to give your product or service credibility. If you sell skincare products, you might have an esthetician or dermatologist speak on how the ingredients in your products promote healthy skin. Consumers may be more willing to test out your product or service if an expert cosigns its benefits.

How-To Videos

How-to videos are explanatory videos that new, returning, and potential customers find helpful. Potential customers can use your how-to videos to make sure your product or service fits their needs. New customers will follow your how-to videos to learn how to use the product and get the most out of doing so. Returning customers will use how-to videos as refreshers on the steps they need to take when using your product.

Customer Testimonies

When shopping for a new product or service, one of the first things consumers do is look for reviews. Potential customers want to hear about the benefits of your products or services from real people who are like them. Incorporate customer testimonials in your video marketing plan to give potential customers the reviews they’re looking for.

Live Videos

Live videos allow your business to engage with consumers in the most authentic way. Take consumers behind the scenes for different events or to show how products are made. Host live Q&A sessions with experts and consumers so that potential customers can get immediate answers to their questions. Including live videos in your video marketing plan allows you to immediately interact with consumers all over the world.

3. Record engaging videos

Consumers might find your videos boring if you stick to the same script in all of them. So instead of selling the product or service, sell the story. Good visual storytelling techniques help provoke emotions in the consumers while helping them find solutions to their problems. Use a video subject that has a bursting personality to tell the story well. If the subject uses their personality, consumers can relate to them, and they’re more likely to listen to what they are saying.

Three women sit in front of a tablet while eating popcorn.

4. Incorporate customer videos

In the age of social media, it’s not hard to find customers who record themselves using products or experiencing services. If you see a video of a customer enjoying one of your products, reach out to them to get permission to share the video on your social media pages. Most customers won’t mind being the star of the show, and potential customers will see that if others are enjoying the product, they might enjoy the product too.

Two children play with a soccer ball in a yard.

5. Include calls to action

All video advertisements should include a call to action (CTA). CTAs are verbs that tell customers what step they should take next and help increase the conversion video metric. To create a strong and effective CTA for your next video:

Determine what action you want the consumer to take. Do you want them to visit a landing page or a product description page? Do you want them to sign up for an email list? Do you want them to watch more of your videos?
Decide what emotion you want to provoke in the consumer. Should they feel angry that a problem exists? Do you want them to feel excited about what’s next in your line of business?
Find a verb that encourages the consumer’s next ideal action while considering the emotion you want to provoke in them. If you sell skincare products, it might be a problem that consumers waste money on new skincare products just to find out how they irritate their skin. You could then create a video that offers a solution to this problem through free trial-sized products, and you could use a CTA such as, “Order your free trial face wash.” Tell customers what to do, how to do it, and when they should do it if there are any time restraints.

Examples of other common CTAs are:

Book an appointment
Sign up today
Buy now

6. Track the video marketing plan’s progress

Once you start executing your video marketing plan, keep track of its progress. This will provide insight on what types of videos your consumer base interacts with the most and least, what CTAs are most effective, and how many people are seeing your video advertisements. Tools, such as the Microsoft Audience Network, can help your business boost awareness, adhere to its posting schedule, track conversion rates, and manage your video advertising budget.

A hand holding a tablet that shows statistics and graphs.

7. Optimize the video advertisements as needed

Use the results from your video marketing plan to optimize your video advertisements. If your results show that more people are engaging with vertical videos more than horizontal ones, consider republishing your old videos in a vertical format. You might also need to change your video’s title, description, CTA, or aspect ratio to improve your results. If your business is doing well with other types of ads, add a video extension to those ads. You can combine your videos with ads that are already performing well on the search engine results page and social media platforms.

Get started today

Use the above video marketing tips to improve how many consumers view and engage with your business’s video advertisements. Adhere to a posting schedule, use different types of videos that tell a story and are filled with personality, and keep track of your video metrics using Microsoft Advertising. Get started using video advertising today.