Video Best Practises in Social Media Marketing
Sales videos can range from a simple clip showing different views of a product to a complex, original feature that demonstrates the benefits of the product. For example, InterContinental Hotels features video concierge tours on its hotel Web sites.
Lead generation.
Items such as cars or financial service packages that are less likely to lead to online transactions, can use video for lead generation. Merrill Lynch has a series of customer testimonial videos about working with financial advisors on topics such as retirement and estate planning.
Customer service.
Organisations can save money as well when using online video. Several industries such as consumer electronics and computer hardware/software, use online video as a self-service customer channel. For example, Dell has created an entire video portal that offers “tech tips” videos for the consumer, small business, and IT professional.
Busting some YouTube Myths.
YouTube's group product manager Baljeet Singh recently, wrote a piece for NBC Chicago stating a lot of videos are successful that don't have high view counts, and small businesses need to know there is more to success other than views.
Misconception 1: Your Video Must Be Viral Or It's A Failure
The Rokenbok Toy Company is one of Singh examples. None of Rokenbok's videos are "viral," but in a time when specialty toy stores were closing down, Rokenbok started a YouTube channel showing entertaining and informative videos. These videos, along with participation in YouTube Promoted Videos and True View In-Stream Ads, have led to the store flourishing when they otherwise would be out of business.
In other words, you don't need to find millions of people to watch your video, just the right people. You have a target audience, and if you can make videos with great content showing what you're about to the right people, you don't need a viral video. You only need the amount of views that makes your business profitable. Here's an example:
Misconception 2: Videos have to be funny
Singh mentions Ceilume, which publishes ceiling tile videos. The Ceilume channel has recorded more than a million views and a 15% increase in sales. The videos are only about quality and price of ceiling tiles.
According to Singh:
Instead of focusing on being clever, focus on being relevant. Videos that engage your audience by showcasing product features or explaining a difficult concept can be much more impactful.
"Relevant" is the key. It is one of the most often words in The YouTube Creator Playbook. There are 800 million people watching YouTube, and millions are just looking for instructions, information, solid advice. Not everything has to be jokes. Look at this:
Misconception 3: Only Young People watch Youtube
You are looking for a target audience, and believe it or not, there are a lot of older people on YouTube. Singh provides this interesting metric:
Did you know that YouTube reaches 20 million Females aged 35-54? That's more 19 million more than Oprah's website.
There are also a lot of older men watching YouTube videos. You just have to target them if your business caters to that demographic.
Here's a video of "what women watch" on YouTube:
Misconception 4: People Only Watch YouTube For Entertainment
Singh says that "How-To" videos are searched three times more than "Music Videos." How-To videos are in high demand. If you need to know how to improve your home, or cook a special recipe, or change a flat tire, YouTube has a video for it. Singh mentions BBQGuys for grilling tips as an example: