Whether you are a business with a multi-million pound turnover or simply a start up you should know that your customers will be spending a large chunk of their day online. Every month over 6 billion hours of video content are watched on YouTube(sounds a lot? yes, that’s 114,000 years). They will be flicking through websites on their tablet in bed, on a desktop at work, checking Twitter on the loo…. You need to be where your customers are, engaging them in a way they want to be engaged. If you hook a consumer in with a video they are more than 84% more likely to buy your product.
So how do you make your video stand out amongst all the others?
Your business offers something unique, that not even your arch rival competitor has. You want to shout about it and your target audience want to listen. Craft a message within a video that speaks to them in a different way to your competitors. Take time to understand your audience – where do they socialise? What do they like watching? Where do they shop? And create a video that will resonate. It needs to be helpful, amusing, or strike an emotional chord. Only then will it be shared.
Lauren Luke has become a global YouTube sensation after a wish to sell more of her make up range on eBay. She decided she would create her own make up tutorials online. They have become so successful that the domestic violence charity Refuge have used her in their campaign ‘Don’t cover up’ to raise awareness of this growing issue and encourage women to speak out. Check out the video:
If I had a penny for every time a client said to me they wanted a viral video…unfortunately you can’t make a viral video. You can make brilliant content that goes viral. You are at the hands of the viewer and their friends, and the friends of their friends and…you get the idea…to make your video a viral sensation. To ensure your content gets millions of views you will need to be consistently making engaging and interesting videos that solidify your brand. You want to reel in the viewer and inform them at the same time.
Here are some Best in Class examples:
BlendTec – This is amusing, consistent and inexpensive content production. It works on a theme and is produced regularly to maintain interest:
Internet Explorer – Child of the 90s – Incredible response to Google Chrome’s campaign, this spoke to the target audience unlike any other tech brand:
The hard bit is over, you’ve managed to create a dynamic and interesting piece of branded content and the viewer has watched it. What’s next? The viewer goes off and shops for their boyfriend’s birthday present or to do the washing up. Although you will have got the brand message across during the video, push the viewer further with the brand at the end, whether that’s a URL to your website, a hashtag or link to watch further videos, make sure you include one.