How to Create a Successful Video Marketing Strategy in 2022

Video marketing started earnestly in 2005 after the launch of YouTube and has skyrocketed since then. The rise of smartphone technology made the creation of quality video much easier, but that is not the only reason why video marketing is so popular among marketers.

According to Statista, online videos make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. Also, new research revealed that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch a video compared to 10% when they’re reading it in text. However, the icing on the cake is the fact that 64% of consumers purchase a product after watching social videos created by brands.

So, how do you create a successful video marketing campaign to enjoy the same benefits for your business? Continue reading to find out.

1. Set goals

You need to set goals at the beginning of every marketing strategy. In this case, think about what you want your videos to accomplish and where you want them to make an impact in the marketing funnel. Three of the most common goals for video marketing are increasing brand awareness, increasing engagement, and lead generation or conversion. These goals touch on every stage of the sales funnel, but at the start of your video marketing journey, you might have to focus first on the stage that is most important to you. If you are a new business, you may need to start with creating videos that attract customers to your business.

2. Fing your target audience and figure out where they spend their time

Now that you’ve set your goals, the next step is to find your target audience. Having a specific audience in mind when creating your videos is crucial so that you get your messaging spot-on, so how do you go about finding your target audience?

The key to this puzzle is developing a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. You can create one by conducting research, surveys, and interviews with your customers, prospects, and other contacts in your database. Use the information you gather to determine your target audience’s basic demographic information, interests, challenges, and goals.

Once you understand your audience, find out which social media platforms and communication channels they use the most. For example, Instagram has a firm hold on Gen Z and Millennials. The majority of its users are between 25 and 34, closely followed by 18 and 24. However, if you're in the B2B realm, delivering your video via LinkedIn or an email may be better suited. Understand where your target audience is the most engaged.

3. Decide on platforms to host and distribute your video

Besides your target audience, there are a lot of factors that determine which platform you should use to deliver your video. These factors include:

• Size and sound limitations
• Average view time
• Budget
• Promotion
• Communities
• Contact data

Trying your hand at social media video marketing? Older platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram support different types of video and have fewer limitations. That said, new platforms such as TikTok make it easier for your content to go viral and favours short-form video. Every social media platform has its benefits and drawbacks, so do your research before deciding which one to use. Here is a guide to help you pick the best video platform for your campaign.

Want to take your video marketing strategy to the next level? Transform your everyday marketing communications with personalised video. Combine data with video to deliver engaging, dynamic and personal video messages to your audience. Deliver your personalised video via email, SMS, landing page and more to speak to your audience where it matters most.

4. Select video format

When creating social media marketing videos, you must take two things into consideration; your content and the form in which you present it. Here are some of the most popular types of video:

• Commercials: They are brief, attention-grabbing videos that highlight your company’s product with beautiful imagery and a clear call to action. The primary goal of commercial videos is to create brand awareness and attract new customers.
• Behind-the-scenes: BTS videos give your audience exclusive insight into your business, allowing them to be part of the making of it. They help brands be raw and authentic, which helps build trust and loyalty.
• Educational: There are different types of educational videos, including tutorials, guides, instructional videos, and explainer videos. They are a great way to establish your company as an expert in the industry and create awareness. Our interactive video solution can be a fantastic way to bring your educational video to life and drive action.
• Entertaining: All work with no play makes Jack a dull boy, so it’s important to incorporate light and fun videos into your content plan. While the purpose of these videos is solely to entertain your audience, they can also help to emphasise your brand voice and create a sense of community. Skits, parodies, bloopers, pranks, and animal videos are great examples of entertainment videos. Social media platforms are the channel of your choice for entertaining video content.
• Testimonials: These are one of the most impactful marketing videos, especially when your contact is at a crucial stage of their buying journey. They showcase satisfied customers using your product which helps create social proof and build trust among new audiences to get them over the line. These are especially important in the B2B space and even play an important role in influencer marketing.

5. Promote your videos

Sticking to social media video content? Then once you’ve created and published your video on your chosen platform, you may want to promote it so it reaches more of the right audience. You can optimise the text surrounding your video for SEO, craft alluring thumbnails, upload your videos on multiple platforms to maximise reach and pay for sponsorship if you're trying to grow your audience. Repurpose, cut or resize your video so that it is suitably adapted for each channel or platform, for example, you can upload a trailer video on Instagram stories to help promote your YouTube videos.

Want to promote your personalised video? Opt for a multi-channel approach, via email, SMS, an application or even integrate it into a key customer touchpoint so that it reaches them in the right space at the most opportune time.

6. Use analytics to measure the success of your video's performance

The last step in any marketing strategy is analysing and measuring performance. Views, average watch time, engagement, and video reach are great metrics to measure the performance of your video and see where improvements can be made.

At VideoSmart, we understand the importance in analysing the performance of your video campaign, which is why every single campaign we deliver has a personal dashboard where you can find your qualitative and quantitative results. Every day in marketing is a school day, so why stop at video?

If you need help creating personalised and interactive videos for your business, or, if you would like to send 1-2-1 video messages to your clients and customers, then get in touch with us today and talk to our team of professionals at hello@videosmart.com.