Cleverly shot, concise and professionally produced video will be one of the most powerful marketing tools used over the next 12 months. Whether these are uploaded to Youtube or hosted on other social media platforms, that appetite for this type of communication will only get stronger and develop further as technologies grow.
It all started as I understand it in 2010 when there was a quick news grab, ‘News in 90 Seconds’ service played on one of the many iPhone apps. Every day I religiously turned to this app to get a quick glimpse of what was happening in the world in just 90 seconds. For me, that was enough. It was quick, efficient, I knew what I had to know and felt happy that a new war or major crisis had not broken out. Simply put, my time is very limited and I need to get as much information; whether its the news or not, in the shortest period of time possible. I have been so overwhelmed with online content over the pervious couple of years that this short 90 second brief was all I was prepared to invest time in.
Over the last say 24 months I have seen the uptake of this type of video streaming become more and more popular. In fact I cannot go to an online newspaper, without some kind of video pop up coming right at me. Whether it’s selling cars, holidays, travel sites or internet dating, the use of video content has exploded and in an exponential manner.
In fact my social media feeds seem to be around 50% video and 50% text. This is way up form the year before and if you are a marketing manager you should be starting to think about how all this will effect your marketing mix, moving forward. I have been so accustomed to video feeds now, that if I do not see one I start to think that somethings gone wrong.
If you look at the current trends and read all those statistics you will see that online video watching is growing at an even, steady pace, but the interesting point to note here is that mobile device browsing of videos is exploding at a quicker rate than ever. If you take a second to absorb this and think about it, just think about your own mobile video watching habits and you kind of get the general drift of where I am coming from. For me, I love to watch YouTube clips on my iphone and I know that my partner absolutely loves to watch her dogs play around on live mobile video streaming from their day care. In fact, even overseas we can keep tabs on what they are up to. It’s pretty amazing stuff and the possibilities for marketing your product, business or service are unlimited. What about the power of Facebook and uploading a product video on there for all your followers to see. If they like what you’ve got they will share it with friends and even Like it. It is not uncommon for a video to receive hundreds of thousands of hits a day. Never before in the history of the marketing landscape has a medium been so over powering. You can safely say that online video content will be the next big trend. One point to note however, if you are planning an online video content campaign then make sure it’s well thought out. You do not want it falling flat on it’s face and destroying your image. An image broken by bad PR is very hard to fix especially if people post comments on other review websites.
It is important to note that roughly 10% of SME’s which opens up all kinds of interesting opportunities for those internet savvy marketing people looking for another medium or channel to sell their products or services in to. And the absolute beauty of this is that any one can do it on any type of budget. Start ups with little or no money can create video content using their phone and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo.
Following a a few small pointers to help you out if you are thinking about creating a video.
Make Sure the Video is Planned: Have some kind of script or cheat notes prepared. It is harder than you think coming up with dialogue that looks half decent, and is not embarrassing to watch. Perhaps you may need to look at getting a copywriter on board to help you draft something that will sound like you know what you are talking about. If you feel that this is not necessary and you feel like you are in total control of the dialogue then perhaps just make a few notes to keep you on subject.
Sound is very important. People are very visual and if they have spent the time downloading your video then they want to hear what you have to say. Speak clearly and directly into the microphone and never talk from a distance. If you want to add music, watch out for copyright issues or intellectual property infringements. What may seem like a good idea to you, might at some point down the track, cost you money.
Keep it entertaining. By this, I don’t mean that it as to be a comedy where people are laughing, but it has to keep them interested enough to stay to the end. You are the only person that can determine what this will be, so be careful not to offend or deter watchers. Being inspirational is a great way to go. Again, it’s your call but if you are going to all this effort and are wanting your mobile video content to gain traction then you will need to seek the services of a team of content experts like us at Hopping Mad Designs. We have the the whole packages for you so you don’t have to worry about anything. In our team we have copywriters, video producers, graphic designs, web experts plus an all round business + marketing advisor who can take a good hard look at what you are trying to achieve and come up with some great advice and input. All we need is a brief, and you can sit back and leave the rest to us.
Short n Sweet: Keep it under say 1 minute – no one wants to view a full length feature film. So the mantra here is keep it simple and quick. If you have a product that you want to video then a quick shot is fine with some basic voice over. If it is a service then a full 60 seconds outlining exactly what you do and why you are different it sufficient at this stage. Make it a teaser style video and leave them wanting more information from you.
Just remember, if you can have a little fun whilst producing your mobile video content then in most cases it will be well received by mobile phone users.
If you think that you would like to know a little bit more about all your video content options then please contact us here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514 or email us at info@hoppingmad.com.au