Video marketing is incredibly valuable. That’s because video, in practically every format available, can help you capture and hold the attention of your potential customers.
Did you know:
- The average video post on Facebook generates 135 percent greater organic reach when compared to photo posts, according to a study by Social Bakers.
- Facebook now serves a staggering 8 billion video views per day, with 45 percent of people watching more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
- 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook.
As more people reach for a mobile device to access all that the internet has to offer, there is a significant expectation that video viewing trends will continue to rise.
Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all investing in ways for users to watch and create videos. Facebook’s expectations are so high that it now has a separate video-only feed for mobile users.
Video, both organic and paid, is still the best option to cut through the social noise.
It’s easier than ever to get more value out of your video marketing:
- The expense of creating video content continues to drop.
- There are tons of new apps on the market to help create video posts quickly.
- Recording original video is free and relatively easy with a smartphone, a few basic skills, and a little production savvy.
All of this means we’re reached a tipping point. If you aren’t already using video to market your brand or business, you’re going to fall behind.
Live Video Opportunities
Depending on whether you’re using your personal profile to build your personal brand or your business page, Facebook gives users the option of broadcasting from either a smartphone or a desktop computer. Broadcasting from desktop can now be done by page admins and live contributors.
If you want to invest in live video, Facebook also gives you options to use external cameras and live switching software. Learn more about using streaming software in Facebook’s Help Center.
Twitter’s option for live broadcasting is mobile only, with the integration of Periscope. You can save the live video you captured on your phone to edit and repurpose elsewhere.
Instagram’s live video is available in the “Story” section of Instagram. This is the option I recommend trying first if you need to build up your personal comfort level with live video. The videos are only visible while you’re broadcasting. As soon as you end the live video, it goes away.
YouTube
YouTube’s live broadcasting option is desktop only for most users. It takes a few clicks to get to the Creator Studio, but once there you can go live immediately or schedule your broadcast sometime in the future. The scheduled broadcast can be shared and embedded in advance just like any other YouTube video. It can also be viewed live on any channel where you’ve shared the link.
YouTube knows there is a demand for mobile live streaming. First, they started testing with channels with over 10,000 subscribers. Then mobile live streaming opened to channels of at least 1,000 subscribers. Hopefully Google will roll out live mobile broadcasting to all YouTube mobile users soon.
Mobile Video Opportunities
Along with live broadcasting, Facebook has also opened up a video-only news feed for mobile users.
All indications are that Facebook’s ad load in the main news feed is about to max out. With the limited screen size of mobile devices, the company has to find other ways to meet advertiser demand, and the mobile video feed will provide the necessary expansion of advertising opportunity.
Right now, this dedicated video feed is a great organic opportunity to grow your fan base.
Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn
All of the other social networks offer video content viewing in their mobile apps.
- LinkedIn is the furthest behind the pack at the moment. Video embeds from YouTube and Vimeo have been supported for a long time. Posting scheduled live YouTube events in both personal and company updates gives LinkedIn connections the ability to view the live video in the LinkedIn player. But, LinkedIn doesn’t offer a native video option.
- Pinterest doesn’t support uploads of organic videos, although they have continued to invest and improve the video advertising options on the platform. They are in the process of testing auto-play video ads with brands like Visa, L’Oreal, and Toyota. For now, most Pinterest advertisers have a click-to-play promoted video option that behaves like a GIF or cinemagraph in a user’s Pinterest feed.
- Instagram and Twitter offer the most organic mobile video options outside of Facebook. Short mobile-friendly recorded videos are still the mainstay of both these social channels.
Getting More for Your Investment
The problem with posting video content or creating live videos, particularly in social media, has been that people will watch but rarely engage beyond the view. Many brands and marketers find it frustrating that they succeed in holding audience attention, but don’t get any further follow-through.
Thanks to a few tools and a little savvy about creating audiences based on behavior in Facebook and Google AdWords, marketing teams can turn a passive video audience into qualified leads.
Facebook Engagement Custom Audience
Facebook has given advertisers the ability to create custom audiences based on engagement with content published to a Facebook page. In particular, you can target Facebook users based on how they watch your videos.
When you select this option to build a new custom audience, the top option is for video engagement. You’re now able to “create a list of people who have spent time watching your videos on Facebook,” and target them with related content.
You can refine that audience based on how long they spent watching your Facebook videos.
Google Remarketing to YouTube Viewers
If you link your AdWords account to your YouTube channel, you can do video remarketing. You can create campaigns that target people who have watched, liked, and/or commented on your videos, visited and/or subscribed to your channel, or any number of combinations of those factors.
Marketing teams are not limited to only showing more videos to this audience. A video remarketing audience can also be used for search and display ads.
While video is a natural for introducing consumers to a new brand or product, video is also an excellent medium for demonstrating a product, showcasing a service offering, or explaining a complicated concept.
Let’s consider a hypothetical yet practical example.
A big factor in driving an audience to a publication like Search Engine Journal is the expertise and experience that the writers and producers bring to the material. It is often necessary to demonstrate that expertise. Marketing experts could consider doing live “Ask Me Anything” style videos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.
Due to the investment of time to promote and create videos like that, we need to get more than video views out of the exercise. We need to secure traffic and possibly qualified leads.
That’s where remarketing to video viewers plays a huge role. Once someone watches an “Ask Me Anything” about social media advertising, for example, we can then retarget that audience with a promotion of the next Search Engine Nerds podcast or webinar as well as popular articles about the same topic on Facebook, in the Google Display Network, and in Google search. We take a relatively passive but highly interested audience and draw them deeper into the publication.
Since video viewing behavior creates a strong positive connection to a brand, the next time the social media audience sees branded content elsewhere on the web, the more likely they are going to feel comfortable in clicking through.
Summary
Without a doubt, video is successfully capturing the attention of mobile users. The options to turn that behavior into real business abound. How will you choose to integrate social mobile video into your marketing plans?
Image Credits
Screenshots by Michelle Stinson Ross. Taken May 2017.
