There are a whole host of methods for creating effective, entertaining and sharable content, from written articles to infographics, but the medium that is growing in popularity online is video. Cisco have predicted that video will generate 69% of all consumer internet traffic by 2017.
If you’re looking to use video content to expand your content marketing capabilities, we have spoken with some of the best content marketing agencies in the UK in order to gather actionable advice for creating video content.
Below we have insights from Jonathan Bright, the creative content lead at Southerly. Southerly is a creative content agency that specialises in web design, content marketing, social media, internal communications and SEO.
How important is video in your in content marketing campaigns?
It’s important, definitely. The wonderful thing about video is (a) it’s very shareable, as people find video easy to digest and instantly engaging, (b) it significantly bolsters your online visibility as YouTube is a huge force in the SEO game (it’s actually the second largest search engine), and (c) the potential for unexpected or innovative creativity is unparalleled. You can have a lot of fun with it.
What advice do you have for businesses looking to incorporate video content to their marketing strategies?
We’d advise anyone thinking of using video in their content marketing to think back to their marketing strategy and goals. Awesome video content directly addresses your audience’s needs, so ask yourself: at whom is your video targeted and how does it answer their needs? Contrary to belief it doesn’t need to be expensive, but an outstanding video does require investment of time and effort, so be sure you’re getting all you can from it!
Finally we have advice from D’Arcy Doran, the head of content at TCOLondon. TCOLondon is comprised of writers, artists, filmmakers and photographers who craft content to connect big brands to human stories.
How important is video in your in content marketing campaigns?
It’s massively important. The growth in online video consumption is rising by about 250% year-on-year and that growth is accelerating as mobile video consumption increases. The web turned every brand into a publisher, now online video is turning every brand into a broadcaster. Now when we work with brands, we nearly always recommend exploring what stories we can tell together through video.
We have the privilege of having our own channels, the film brand Little White Lies and our youth culture brand Huck. These give us an opportunity to constantly chase stories we love and experiment with ideas, design and new ways of storytelling. We apply what we learn through them to our work for brands such as Google, Microsoft, Levi’s, O’Neill, Dainese and Sony. We have also been fortunate over the past year to develop and produce brand content with Maker Studios — which has been a great way to learn from working with amazing YouTube talent.
What advice do you have for businesses looking to incorporate video content to their marketing strategies?
Don’t just go through the motions and post anything in video. It’s a noisy world out there and to stand out, you need to create something that counts. First, it has to feel authentic, you want surprise people and offer something that they will want to share.
Brands know how to tell their story, but sometimes they need to tweak their thinking away from a ‘sell’ story. You’re not making ads, great content is about story. The other crucial thing is you need an activation plan. The old thinking of posting and praying that your video will go viral does not work. You want to create something with organic sharing in mind, but to ensure you get the audience your content deserves you need to have a budget to amplify it — especially in the first 48 hours. You do want your content to be lasting, long tail assets, but when you first launch it, that’s when you have a real opportunity to engage with wider culture.
We hope that the guidance from these two top content marketing agencies have inspired you to start incorporating video content to your future marketing strategies.
Author Bio: Garth Haley is director of Hyperfine Media.