Harness the power of video marketing to drive your brand
Discover the benefits of video marketing and learn how shooting reels can boost your overall marketing strategy
In today’s digital age, video content marketing has emerged as a powerhouse for brands looking to connect with and expand their target audiences. From boosting brand awareness to driving customer engagement and enhancing sales conversions, the importance of video marketing cannot be overstated. This article delves into video marketing and how integrating this into your overall marketing strategy, with a nod to social media and Reels, can help boost your digital marketing game and drive brand growth.
What is video marketing?
Video marketing involves using video content to promote and market your products or services. As Hotspot mentions in a recent article, video marketing fulfils the complex task of educating consumers and customers. It increases the chances of your brand appearing in front of your target audiences and, when featuring valuable storytelling, can help convert strangers into loyal customers. In other words, video marketing has become integral to any marketing strategy due to its versatility and effectiveness in conveying complex messages quickly and engagingly.
The benefits of video marketing
One of the primary benefits of video marketing is its ability to capture attention. Brand videos, product videos and explainer videos are more engaging than text or static images, making them a powerful tool for attracting specific audiences and cultivating regular interaction. Additionally, videos help build trust with consumers. When creativity and compelling values merge to develop video content, businesses can significantly enhance their position in the marketplace and the consumer ecosystem.
Furthermore, video content's flexibility and adaptability enable creative teams to unlock innovative narrative opportunities. Videos allow brands to tell their stories in a more compelling way, building a deeper connection with the audience while fostering trust and loyalty. Moreover, the immediacy of videos makes them ideal for raising brand awareness. Videos effectively showcase and embody a brand’s identity, character, and values, making the brand messaging accessible to anyone.
How to leverage the power of video marketing?
By now, you've likely realised that a comprehensive marketing strategy can’t rely solely on static images. Video marketing is a must to truly engage and build your audience. But how do you ensure your marketing strategy is bulletproof, positioning your business as a valuable and relevant voice in the online space for your current customers and target audiences?
Creating an effective video marketing strategy involves more than just producing compelling content. It's about understanding your audience and their behaviours and using this knowledge to create content that resonates with them. It's about knowing how video can complement other marketing efforts, such as email advertising campaigns, social media, and SEO, and planning your content accordingly. From your company’s website to email marketing and social media, there are many ways to incorporate videos across your channels, but do they all deliver similar results? Spoiler alert: they don’t.
The rise of Instagram Reels
With social media pivoting to a video-focused approach, Reels or short-form video content have become increasingly popular. Instagram is pushing this type of content hard. It appears prominently in users’ feeds and Explore pages and is also receiving higher priority in the algorithm.
Reels offer a range of creative tools, such as AR effects, music, and text overlays, providing significant room for personalisation and creativity. Short-form videos generate over 50% more impressions than static content, driving more likes, comments, and shares, increasing the potential for broader visibility (Dash Hudson).
Positioned at the intersection of entertainment and relationship building, Reels are a considerable resource for accessing new demographics and building trust at a minimal cost. It is no surprise, therefore, that Reels comprise more than half of content reshared in messages. And over half of Instagram users interact with this type of content (including liking, commenting, or sharing) at least once a week (Instagram Business).
We have discussed how Reels can significantly enhance your brand’s visibility and engagement on social media. Let’s now explore how shooting Reels can help your brand to be framed as a relevant and trustworthy voice in the market. Be ready to roll up your sleeves and experiment with creative content ideas that promote your products and convey what your brand is really about.
Shooting Reels to grow your brand
Authentic connections are a huge driver of consumer engagement. The more genuine and relatable the content is, the better it will perform. According to Sprout Social, 72% of users feel more connected to a brand whose employees share information on social media. And over 76% of consumers say they would buy from a brand they feel connected to over a competitor.
Additionally, consumers turn to social media for entertainment. Entertaining content can significantly enhance engagement and brand loyalty.
Hootsuite’s Digital Trends 2024 report notes that 34% of consumers are turned off by "too much self-promotion," while 56% believe brands should be more relatable.
The Flywheel approach
The traditional promotion funnel has adjusted accordingly, reflecting increasing consumer expectations from the brands they follow. While marketing strategies used to be understood as primarily aimed at pushing products and their characteristics, today, brands' roles and impacts have exponentially widened.
Hubspot has attempted to explain this shift using a flywheel chart (see below). In a nutshell? Video marketing is leveraged to support layered and trend-focused storytelling, striving to (continuously) captivate not-yet-loyal following and non-following online users. Once efforts have been implemented to build innovative content that attracts new demographics, the engagement phase follows.
Source: Hubspot
In this phase, videos help cultivate and deepen relationships with the brand's audiences by showcasing relatable experiences, demonstrating emotional connections, and presenting trustworthy values. The engagement phase ensures that online recipients feel understood and acknowledged.
Finally, brands should aim to impress their online audiences by disseminating expert commentary within their industry. In this last phase, or the “Delight” phase, the focus should be on communicating and delivering memorable content. This adds value to your audiences to cement your brand and its identity as a trusted advisor for your audiences.
How to shoot a successful Reel
Testing is the key to finding the best visual styles, filters, effects and trends for your brand. Creating an engaging reel involves a few easy steps:
Plan your content. Decide on the message you want to convey and how it fits into your overall marketing strategy.
Top tip: Choose a message that aligns with your brand’s values and resonates deeply with your audience’s desires.
Shoot your video. Use a high-quality camera or smartphone and ensure good lighting and sound. Depending on the length of the final video (15-, 30-, 60-, 90-second video), make sure to shoot all the material you need to create content that sparks interest.
Edit your video. Use Instagram’s editing tools to add effects, filters, transitions, music or voiceover, and text overlays. These are all great tools for ensuring your content is accessible and highly personalised to reflect your brand’s image and tone. You don’t need to use apps like Adobe Express, Canva, or CapCut to edit complex videos unless you’re keen to try this.
Optimise for engagement. Include captions, hashtags, and a compelling cover image to foster direct engagement. If applicable, you can even explore the shoppable feature!
Track your results. Remember that numbers are more than just statistics; they’re valuable insights into your audience’s preferences. Review this data and inform your future marketing actions accordingly.
Conclusion
Incorporating video marketing into your overall marketing strategy is no longer optional. With billions of daily active users, social media is the perfect place for video marketing, offering a vast audience for your videos. Video content provides numerous benefits, from boosting brand awareness to driving engagement to encouraging conversion rates.
Whilst TikTok started the trend, Instagram has successfully managed to keep up and, as a result, has increasingly popularised (and continues to push) short video formats. Understanding the power of video is crucial to articulating successful marketing efforts and connecting with your audience in meaningful ways.
Introducing short-form videos or Reels has transformed the video marketing landscape forever. From a linear approach to marketing efforts to a “Flywheel” or circular approach, social media platforms have allowed customers and consumers to enter the marketing funnel at any stage, making it even harder for brands to reach the right audiences.
Try captivating non-followers with relatable and entertaining content, nurturing a community with relevant videos that actively add value to your brand identity. Impressing loyal and target audiences with expert comments that showcase your expertise within the industry.
A compelling narrative built in a high-quality format ensures that Instagram bumps your content, maximising exposure. Why not leverage in-app interactive tools to enhance personalisation? Lastly, be sure to review and track analytics to inform your following marketing efforts.
Despite the many benefits, keeping up with fast-changing social media formats and trends can take time and effort. Need some help? Contact us to enquire about bespoke social media and video marketing consultancy.
