“Show” Your Story with Video Content
Video content has been the fastest growing media among marketers and companies for the past four years. It’s also the hardest content for a company to produce, as it relates to costs and resources, but delivers the most return in terms of audience engagement.
Demand for video content has increased 69% over the previous year across varied messaging platforms including advertising, social media, website, editorial, and PR. However, while the need for video content is increasing, 81% of survey respondents say video content is the most difficult to create. Despite the challenge of video content production, 70% of participants say it drives the most engagement, thus the investment is justified.(1)
Video content has traditionally been utilized for advertising on digital platforms but its’ uses are growing. It can be an effective medium for internal corporate messaging, tradeshow booth and kiosk displays, employee recruitment and customer support, testimonials, process explanation and simplification, and countless other opportunities.
Many B2B companies are taking a page from the B2C industry and their long-standing use of video content to market and connect with their audience. People connect with video due to creative storytelling, human emotion and the depiction of ourselves on screen. Utilizing these factors to create video for your B2B company can help to build audience, transform actions, grow business and drive revenue.
There are several ways B2B companies are diving into video usage:
Social Sharing
We encounter social video content throughout the day in our online interactions. B2B companies are beginning to bring their video message to these channels as a way to deliver timely, relevant content that excites and informs their viewers. In a callback to our May article “Data Informed Design”, utilizing data to inform your design, message and platform can bring your brand to the forefront. Social outlets offer highly sophisticated audience targeting that gets the right video content in front of the right audience at the right time.
And social video is popular! A recent Google study found 70% of B2B buyers watch videos on social platforms along the path to purchase.(2) Social video generates 1,200%more shares than text and images combined.(3) However making sure your message is on the right platform is imperative.
A LinkedIn study found that more than 46% of B2B marketers believed a top challenge was to find a quality environment to reach decision-makers with their video content.(4) This has led to their announcement that companies will be able to share native video ads directly in their LinkedIn feed as stand-alone posts. LinkedIn’s beta testing shows this service gives brands the opportunity to build awareness and drive traffic to collect leads through calls-to-action and LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms tool.(4)
LinkedIn is an especially relevant platform for B2B as its’ robust targeting capabilities allow advertisers to select their audience on traits around job title, company, industry, etc. The LinkedIn platform can also provide analytics and conversion tracking on the videos – leading to more data and further insights into messaging, targeting and video effectiveness.
Lead Generation
Lead generation through video content is another growing segment. Prospects watching webinars or clicking through video ad units allow for marketers to build their lead-gen lists. B2B marketers can also create downloadable, evergreen video webinars to extend the shelf-life of the content and ease constraints on resources for creation. The LinkedIn platform straddles both social video sharing and lead generation by giving companies the ability to engage a user, capture their information and further connect with the contact.
Live broadcasts
Live streaming events has become expected among many special event audiences. However, live video content can also be a conversation starter. CEO announcements, panel discussions in the office, or even man-on-the-street style “reporting” can be a great way to connect with an audience at a personal level. It is easy, doesn’t need to be scripted, can be filmed on a mobile screen and gives the viewer the sense of a behind-the-scenes insight. The conversational tone of these live streams leads to audience engagement with the brand or a call to the sales team to continue the discussion.
At Ballyhoo we’ve experienced a significant uptick in investment in our video production solution. Our team brings years of experience in video to the table and we’re able to guide our clients to the right message, in the right format, on the right platform. From production for a singular video viewing to helping create on-going video series, we’re there to write scripts, source talent, film, edit, provide motion graphics and cover all the necessary and effective details that bring your story to life.
Whether it’s a branded documentary – telling stories that relate to your organization and brand values and resonate with your audience in an authentic way – to tutorial videos that can serve as a reference to your audience to help guide them through the sales funnel, to helping extend your brand through regular social communication to your employees and constituents, Ballyhoo can help you show your work!
Let’s talk about how you can engage your audience with video content.
(1) 2018 Report: Engaging Your Audience with Visual Content produced by Libris and Contently