Ways to employ video in your business
The saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”. It would only follow that for video — a moving picture — it should be worth even more. In fact, Forrester research suggests that “a minute of video is worth 1.8 million words.”
As humans, we are programmed to depend greatly on what we see as we are highly visual animals. Arguably no other sense provides as much information, colour, texture, distance, mood — we gather so much through what we see.
This lends itself even to your business. People love visual content, especially videos. Employing video in your content marketing for your business is not only a good idea, but can be essential to getting in front of your ideal client. In addition, thanks to social media and the availability of high-quality smartphones, and reasonably priced high-quality cameras, video creation has become easier and simpler than you might think.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the statistics show.
• Over 500 million hours of video are viewed each day on Youtube. ( Business Insider)
• Over 100 million hours of video are watched each day on Facebook. ( Techcrunch)
•Every week, approximately 45 per cent of people watch over an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos ( Hubspot)
•Social video generates 1200 per cent more shares than plain text or image content. (Wordstream)
•Four times more customers would prefer to watch a product video than read about the product. (eMarketer)
•More online video content has been uploaded in the past 30 days than the total of the past 30 years of TV content. (Blue Corona)
So, now that we know the facts, how can you employ this key tool in your business?
I’m glad you asked. Here are six ways to employ video in your businesses.
1. Create a how-to video for your customers
Do you sell a service or product? Video is a great tool to use to educate your customers. A short how-to video showing how to use your tool, style your clothing item, or use your food in a recipe, is a quick, simple and easy way to incorporate video in your marketing strategy.
2. Do a video introduction of your company
Why not create a video of yourself, or even introducing key members of your staff and team? In it you can also explain your company’s vision and mission, who you are and what you do. This video can then be placed on your company’s website or social media pages. If you have an actual office, the video can even be played at intervals on the lobby television if you have one.
3. Show behind the scenes of your company with video
Showing the behind the scenes of your company tends to get great engagement as it allows customers to feel in the know and a part of your company. In addition, it allows them the opportunity to see the human, everyday side of your business.
4. Do promotional videos to build buzz for an event or launch
An absolutely great way to use video is as a promotional tool. Have an event coming up or product being launched soon? Then use video along with few key influencers or brand ambassadors to promote the event. You can ask the performers, guest artistes or even past attendees to send a short video endorsing the event. This builds buzz and transmits the excitement of the product launch or event to come.
5. Film short customer testimonials
Have customers send in short testimonials or reviews using your product or service. In the video they can explain the value or benefit your product/service to them and why they would use it again.
6. Turn a blog post into a video
Finally, if you are really out of ideas, why not turn an old blog post into a video? This is an excellent way to reuse old content.
GET OVER THE FEAR
We know that at first getting into video can be daunting. There is the issue of overcoming being video shy or even dealing with insecurities about how you might look or sound. However, in truth, if you are offering an engaging, interesting watch, the customer really won’t care. They will instead be genuinely entertained and impressed with the content you have provided.
Instead of worrying, just ensure that the video is of a good quality has clear audio, and is relevant content your customer would find interesting,
In all honesty, there are many more elements to consider when creating video for your business, such as tone, style, setting, choosing the right person to present, or even whether to hire a professional or do it in house.
A video after all is a video representation of your company’s image, product or values and so doing it right will be important. The tips above however, are a good start on the road to including video in your company’s psocial media and content strategy.
Hanniffa Patterson is a communications professional who trains companies and individuals on how to leverage the power of social media in their business. You may contact her at hanniffa.patterson@gmail.com