Video for your business

Video advertising on the internet via social media platforms is taking the world by storm if your not using it to promote your business then your missing out. Before we delve into analysing the online potential of this medium here are a few tips on making your own videos.

Capturing Video

When recording video make sure the video looks as professional as possible. Out of focus shots and shaky camera work can make your company look very amatuer. Using your phone to capture video content is not advisable even the latest iphone is just not up to par with modern video equipment. A decent video camera is essential and they are now cheaper than ever. Good quality sound is very important, invest in a quality microphone don not rely on a device’s internal mic. If you want your content to be edited in a pro manner and all type of effects added reach out to film students, they could want to add works to their portfolio for a small fee or even do it for free.

Social video

To successfully sell your product you need to leave a lasting impression on your target audience therefore your content is paramount. Video is an extremely effective medium at displaying content to an audience. Whereas reading requires a concerted amount of attention and focus watching a video allows you to sit back and take it all in. The comprehension of content through video is faster than through text. If a picture says a thousand words a video could say millions. At present video accounts for 78% of all traffic on the internet and is expected to continue to grow, also 73% of users prefer to inform themselves about a product by watching a video before purchasing. This is a clear sign for marketers to start investing their energy into video advertising. You are not constrained to only deal with paid ads across the web, you can make the public aware of your business by setting up on any of the highly effective social platforms.

There are so many sites to advertise on but which is best for your business? Let’s take a look.

Perhaps the best known site for video content is YouTube. With a billion users and billions of videos watched daily it is an incredible platform for viewing and sharing videos. Setting up a channel for your business if definitely a good idea but you must have content to upload, nothing looks worse than a bare channel. If you are looking to promote your product why not try an unboxing video? unboxing videos are some of the most popular product videos out there. Try and get in contact with reviewers who have good following and encourage them to do an unboxing for you. Tutorials of your product/service can go a long way as well showing customers that you are dedicated to giving them a good user experience. You can also advertise before the start up of videos on youtube but they are costly and sometimes hated by users who see them as an unwanted barrier obscuring their desired video. Inspite of what a phenomenon YouTube is, do not make the mistake of using it as a one stop shop. There are other powerful players out there to promote your business through video and you should use them.

Periscope

Periscope is a live streaming video app launched this year. You can broadcast your stream real time. This could be very valuable for businesses, if you don’t want customers to miss out on an event your business is involved in you can stream it live so they won’t miss a thing. Hosting activities for a live stream can make your business seem that the content on display is exclusive and people would be mad to miss it. It can be linked with your twitter account so your stream would notify your twitter followers. Be careful not to catch any brands in your stream which you don’t have permission to advertise. There is also another live streaming app; Meerkat, but since Twitter owns Periscope the integration between the two is a lot better than the former. Instead of splitting precious time between MeerKat and Periscope, go solely for Periscope.

Instagram

Instagram is a photo/video sharing platform that is very popular with generation X and Y, 90% of it’s user are under 35 years of age. It has over 400 million active monthly users. If your target audience are under 35 this is definitely a platform you should be exploiting to increase your brand’s visibility. Instagram is owned by Facebook so the integration of the two platforms is tight. Videos on Instagram are only able to be 15 seconds long so structure them to be get the point across quickly. In the settings menu you can select a wide range of social accounts to link to your Instagram for sharing, this will definitely increase your reach.

Snapchat

Snapchat like instagram is geared towards photos and very short clips of video which can only be 10 seconds in length. With over 100 million daily active users it is well populated with potential customers. Snapchat is also one of the fastst growing social platforms. As with Instagram keep everything short and to the point. Quickfire ads, teaser reveals of products and sneak peeks would all be perfect for your Snapchat advertising campaign.

Vine

This platform is owned by Twitter, who are making their presence even stronger throughout the social media world. Vine has over 200 million monthly active users. It is yet another short video clip service. So all our previous tips on short and sweet apply but since the allocated time here is six seconds, the more direct the better. There is no room for filler here. Six seconds could be a limitation so decide if this is a deal breaker or not. The free app lets you edit videos with a range of effects on the fly. You can hastag any type of tag line you can think of to accompnay your video on twitter, this intergation can help you reach the population of Twitterland with ease.

Facebook

Facebook is arguably the most recognisable social media platform the world has ever seen. It has a staggering 1.01 billion active daily users. It is a good playing field for businesses looking to boost their social visibility. Now the Palo Alto based company is rivaling youtube for video views, which have now surpassed 8 billion a day. Facebook’s greatest strength is the high volume of social interaction. Sharing a video on Facebook has a greater chance of it being shared and can even go viral. Unlike YouTube you cannot search for videos but they show up on the news feed. This is a great way to get users to stumble across video content without them actively searching for it.

Conclusion

Now that we have looked at some of the most popular social platforms that allow you to broadcast your business/product to the world through video content you need to start planning your campaign. Decide which platform suits your business. Take into account your target audience and which social platform they would most likely use. Make sure you produce quality content on a regular basis. Video is on the rise to the top as the online information medium make sure you go with it.