What Companies Should Know About the Video-focused Marketing Trend

Anyone scrolling on social media platforms may have noted the rise of short-form video content.

Marketers are also taking particular notice of this trend. Keeping your ears to the ground is a large part of marketing, and companies have a particular challenge when it comes to following social media trends. 

Video-focused marketing may be trending, but not all marketing videos are created equal. Keep the following tips in mind when incorporating video into your company’s marketing strategy. 

Why You Should Prioritize Video Content

First, it’s important to understand why videos are preferred over photos for marketing currently.

While photos seem easier to take and post, videos are key to boosting social media marketing performance. Some sources claim that humans process video 60,000 times faster than text. However, this argument —known as the 60,000 fallacy — has since been disproven. 

However, there here are several reasons for the popularity of video content, particularly short-form: 

• Accessibility options like captions and audio;

• Engaging storytelling; 

• Enhanced immediacy and trust;

• Quick formats for easier digestion of info.

91% of consumers want to see more video content from brands in 2023. 89% of people report that watching a video led them to purchase a product or service. Whatever the reason people are watching videos more often from brands, it’s clear that video marketing is a great tool to reach your audience if done successfully.

How To Use Video Marketing Effectively

When building your social media marketing strategy, you can use much the same tools and planning as you have for images and text content. It’s wise to plan out videos on a content calendar, but there’s more to it than that. 

Pick the Right Platform(s)

Most social platforms have picked up on the video-focused user behavior surge. Facebook and Instagram have Reels, TikTok specializes in short-form videos, and YouTube has Shorts and their ever-popular option for long-form content. Even Pinterest has started showing more short videos on home feeds. 

You are most likely already aware of which platforms see the most engagement for your company. You can do a competitor analysis and find out where similar brands are posting video content and how well it’s doing. Pick a platform and focus on it. You can edit your video content to fit other platforms and repurpose it in the future.

Create Quick Yet Quality Content

Not everyone is a videographer, but viewers don’t expect you to be. The emphasis is on authenticity. Get up to speed by learning simple video editing techniques. Learn what editing features are available on your platform of choice.

Above all, figure out what content you can create that is quick but yields engagement and is of a certain quality. Sustainable social media content is evergreen, repeatable, engaging with the community, and adjustable to viewer feedback. You don’t have to use top-notch video technology to garner results. Figure out what your audience wants to see, set up a tripod with a smartphone, and start capturing behind-the-scenes at your company or anything that you can.

Cater to Your Target Audience

You also are likely keenly aware of your brand’s ideal consumer. Whether you’re marketing to Gen Z, millennials, or any other generation or demographic, video content is still relevant. The type of videos will be slightly different, however. Figure out what types of videos are popular with your specific audience and try to emulate them. Your content should provide some value, whether that be information about your product and how to use it or pure entertainment and brand awareness.

Pay Attention to User-generated Content

A big trend in video marketing is to utilize user-generated content. You should pay attention to what users are posting using either your product/services or similar ones. Scroll on social platforms and watch these videos as much as you can, being aware of TikTok trends or popular sounds being used. 

You can also stitch or duet videos, meaning that you can respond to or build off of user-generated content. Forward-thinking brands like Dunkin tend to hop on trends and appeal to their target audience in a trendy way. They use popular sounds and meme formats, as well as work with influencers to create videos of their products. This can make a big difference with specific audiences — 93% of Millennials, for example, trust online influencer reviews. Just make sure to elicit genuine reviews instead of paying for only the positive ones.

Be Transparent and Sincere

A trend that falls in line with video marketing is being authentic. It sounds simple, but today’s social media users are more perceptive to inaccuracies and brands or influencers trying to pull the wool over their eyes. People are quick to “cancel” someone for falsely claiming something about a product. 

This may seem daunting, but the best way to create effective video marketing content is to remain sincere. Don’t pay for false reviews or push a narrative that isn’t fact-checked. If you do make a mistake, own up sincerely. Today’s social media users just want to see videos that are informative, entertaining, and sincere. Cater to that, and video content will be more likely to boost your marketing efforts exponentially.