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Have you developed a video strategy as part of your content marketing plan? It can be an incredibly powerful way to gain exposure for you and your organization – on this episode of The Social Business Engine Podcast, my guest Nathan Veer, a senior product specialist at Brightcove, shares a simple, yet powerful, 3-step plan to develop a video strategy that generates results.
Nathan knows what he’s talking about when it comes to developing a video strategy that gets results. You’ll also hear Nathan share examples of everyday brands you’ve never heard of – not the mega-corporations – who apply this simple method to succeed with their video strategy.
Video Strategy Step #1 – Do You Know What to Talk About?
When producing video content specifically to get the attention of prospects – or even to connect with those who are interested in your industry – you need to be able to talk about things they care about. If you don’t, you’ll never even get them to click the “play” button.
Nathan suggests a number of resources you can draw from to find content ideas that attract engagement.
- Have you attended an industry event lately? Why not create a video covering your takeaways or tagging the new connections you made there?
- Your company’s FAQ page is a goldmine of video content ideas. You could make a video about every topic on the page and know they are things on your prospect’s minds.
- Have a conversation with your customer service reps. What issues are they dealing with repeatedly? Those are great subjects for a video.
- Don’t forget about your sales team. What objections and hurdles do they face most often? Create amazing pre-sales resources by addressing them on video.
Step #2 – What is Video Good at?
When you ask this question, you’re trying to assess whether or not the topics you have in mind will be effective in video form. The reason is simple – not every topic is created equal.
Nathan uses a great illustration to make his point – imagine that you’re looking at two vehicles, and both of them have 800 horsepower engines, but one is a Ferrari and the other is a tractor. The Ferrari won’t pull farm equipment very well, just like the tractor won’t win any races. They each have their unique uses.
Using that analogy, video is like the racetrack. Not all ideas are going to be able to zoom down the video track effectively because the topics don’t lend themselves to video well.
What kinds of ideas work best for video?
- Complex concepts – Video enables complex things to be broken down simply in a short amount of time by using visual, verbal, and text-based cues.
- Personal appeals – Video connects you to prospects in a more personal way than print, graphics, or even audio. Facial expressions and tone of voice are powerfully communicated in video.
- Emotional topics – Video allows marketers to deliver stories powerfully. Never underestimate the power of a good story – like client successes, case studies, and lessons learned.
Do the ideas you’re considering for your video strategy land in one of these 3 areas? If not, you may want to communicate the idea using a different medium.
Step #3 – Where Should Your Video Live?
At first, it seems obvious that videos can live in a variety of places. YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram Stories, and more. But Nathan points out that the “where” question is key to knowing exactly what kind of video you should produce.
Will your video be the flagship video on your website home page? Then it needs to be professionally produced with the best audio and lighting, since it represents your brand and mission. Will the video be distributed primarily on Facebook? If so, it won’t need as much attention paid to production value and can be more casual. Will the video be sent via email? You can be more personal and “natural” since you’re speaking one to one.
Your Video Strategy Takes Form Based on Your Answers to all Three Questions
As you apply Nathan’s three questions to your video ideas, you’ll come up with the ideal use case for your topic. This enables you to hit your exact target prospect, with the topics they’re most interested in, via the channels where they’re most likely to interact with the video.
To further prove how powerful this simple video strategy is, Nathan shares a handful of stories of Brightcove clients who’ve put the process to work.
Some of the specific examples he shares resulted in companies experiencing…
- Support tickets dropping dramatically and increased SEO
- A 60% shorter sales cycle
- Improved training of team members and resolution of role-related challenges
How might these three questions help you to develop an effective content marketing video strategy? Listen to learn how to answer Nathan’s three questions so you can use the answers to create videos that reach out to your prospects, position you as an expert in your industry, and increase sales.
Author: Bernie Borges
Courtesy: www.socialmediatoday.com
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