In a world of constant change, it’s important for businesses to remember that when it comes to attracting an audience, ‘short’ and ‘worthwhile’ are the two most valuable words to keep in mind. By focusing on your customers’ daily needs and concerns, video marketing becomes your strongest asset. But with 100 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute, 5 tweets per second containing a Vine link, 150 million users on Instagram and 675 million people tuning in to watch Vimeo videos – how do you break through the clutter?
How can marketers leverage video to generate leads, engage customers, show off their brand, and ‘humanize’ their content to appeal to more people?
This post will break down the leading video marketing platforms including Vine, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo & Google Hangout. Learn how to use each network effectively, compare the pros and cons, and check out which companies are doing it right (providing you with the inspiration you need to crush it!)
Vine is an app that’s thriving heavily in the realm of short, creative blips of video content. Its system is set up in such a way that it is dependent on its users. It’s a community-minded mobile application that allows interaction between users and audiences, exclusively, to engage and bounce ideas back and forth, with the potential of promising more exposure for those involved in sharing. “Brand Vines are shared 4x more than other online videos, and 5 Vines are shared every second on Twitter,” says Heather Taylor, a vice-president at Ogilvy.
It’s essentially a trade-off, because it’s focused on individual ideas and creativity as well as your audience. It’s no mystery that its users are exploring various avenues to grab the attention of followers and stack up the “likes”, using speed to their advantage. And you should too.
GE’s ‘6-Second Science’
Lowe’s ‘Fix In 6′
GE’s “6-Second Science” and Lowe’s “Fix In 6” series’ are great examples of using Vine right. Instead of droning on about business, these brands show us something fun, interesting and helpful. This approach increases customer activity and showcases what a brand has to offer without seeming like a cheesy infomercial.
More great Vines go to Brands on Vine
Instagram is a marketing platform that, like Vine, allows brands to advertise in a more traditional yet technologically-friendly way with photos and short video clips. According to Simply Measured, 59 % of the world’s top brands are now active on the app. It’s cost-effective and easy to use, which is extremely valuable when you’re trying to get fast exposure in a creative way.
“The primary reason brands take to Instagram, is to create a ‘community and culture’ channel, in which brands show what it is like working at their companies.” – HubSpot
The app famous for filtered photos has hit a few milestones since its introduction three years ago: as reported by The Wall Street Journal, the platform reached 150 million users at the start of September, a 50% increase since the last update in February of this year. Instagram gains one new user per second.
It’s no surprise that Instagram is so popular for both brands and consumers. HubSpot reports that 40 % of people respond to visual content versus written and videos generate 3x the amount of inbound links than written posts.
Instagrammers are using hashtags in video sharing to promote favorites, contests, and to make posts more searchable with keywords. Because of that, brands can formulate a more specific setting for their fans to share photos, giving themselves the upper hand with a ton of user generated content.
GE is great at using hashtags: “Watch this time-lapse of fan blades being installed on a #GEnx #engine, filmed last week at our #GEInstaWalk in Peebles, OH. #GE #AVgeek #Video #Technology”
Social Media Examiner tells us that Sharpie has reaped a harvest of 89% market share, thanks to the use of social media. Check out how Sharpie is using Instagram to revive ‘boring pens’ into something teens can get behind.
More great Instagramers: GE, Nike, Whole Foods Market, Target & Starbucks
So how do you use the world’s largest video sharing site and No. 2 search engine to successfully market your business, with over 72 hours of content being added every minute?
First, ask yourself, “Is YouTube right for my brand?”
If it’s product-focused content that seems more like a sales presentation geared toward pushing people through the sales funnel, then try a paid hosting service like Wistia or Vidyard. Or If you’re looking to build links to your pages, YouTube is not the way to go. Embedded videos only connect back to the platform, not your site.
You should really only consider having a YouTube channel if your customers or whoever they’re following are watching videos related to your field. According to comScore, 90% of online shoppers find brand videos helpful when making a purchasing decision and 65% of consumers will visit a brand’s website after viewing a video to learn more.
It all depends on the industry, the content, and the goals you have for your business. Use what you feel will promote growth.
Viral isn’t the only way to go with video marketing (and, honestly, it’s going to be pretty hard with the amount of video pumping into YouTube every second). Caring for and catering to the needs and interests of your audience is what’s important, and that’s what you should focus on when creating content that will have a lasting effect on your viewers and clients.
YouTube can do some work on its own, but most of the time it’s left up to the video’s ability to drive consistent viewing traffic.
Allstate is doing big things with their branded YouTube channel. It’s completely custom and really showcases the great spots they have, including the Mayhem ads we’re all so fond of. They’ve also linked their Twitter feed for increased engagement.
More Great Brands on YouTube: Old Spice, PartSelect, Zappos, Blendtec
YouTube is probably your first choice when it comes to video marketing since it has the most traffic, but have you ever considered a different platform? You may have better luck with a less trafficked, more loyal community.
As Jamie Cartwright puts it in his article on B2C, “Vimeo screams professionalism in the same way that LinkedIn does.” I couldn’t put it any better way.
Vimeo is a niche community of people (filmmakers, their fans and quality content producers) and is the opposite of YouTube. Call it…refined. If your target audience is the creative crowd, Vimeo might just be the place to be. The viral potential is much lower, but the video quality and presentation is much higher than its counterparts. Videos are better organized, easy to find, and typically of much higher quality – the type of quality your brand should be. And when it comes to quality, Vimeo has had that on their mind since inception. They were the first video sharing site to support consumer HD.
There are many advantages to Vimeo – Namely, when your video is finished playing, ‘related videos’ from your competition aren’t shown. On top of that, Vimeo is ad-free and your customers will appreciate that! They’ve also removed all commercial, gaming and non-user generated content and continually monitor to keep it that way. No cat videos getting in your message’s way!
This Honda campaign is stunning. Honda worked with Vimeo and Wieden+Kennedy to produce this full page takeover that is synced with the video. The experience goes way beyond just the gorgeous and entertaining video.
More great Vimeans: Lincoln Motor Company, Nokia, BMW, HTC
There’s so much more to Google Hangouts than remote video communication with clients and partners. This free platform allows you to host interactive video conferences with up to 10 participants – staff, clients, partners and people all over the place. During the Hangout, everyone’s free to post comments or questions and share screens, all in real time. No need for travel, you can build strong relationships and connections right in front of your screen.
Google Hangouts is extremely versatile. Answer customer service questions with a real-life person, collaborate with teammates and clients, share screens to help problem solve and push new content to keep customers wanting more of your brand!
There are a lot of businesses out there that are already experiencing the benefits of using Hangouts and Google+. Cadbury really stands out. They utilize their G+ account to share exclusive content that fans can’t get anywhere else. Google reports by promoting their hangouts, Cadbury’s follower base grew by 150,000 people. Read the full case study here or here.
“What’s different about a Hangout is that it’s eye-to-eye, face-to-face contact…We can’t directly connect with every person who buys our chocolate, but we can connect with some of them. Then more people see the Hangout, and feel they’re part of the experience. It’s a new frontier.” -Jerry Daykin, Social Media Community Manager at Cadbury
More great Hangouts: H&M, Dell & Mashable
Focus on using video marketing to increase visibility and share content that’s full of flavor, excitement, and practical tips to engage your audience. What’s your aim? Figure that out, and then build your viewing around it. Try thinking of each platform as a potential audience, and develop your marketing strategy based on what you’re wanting to accomplish with each one. You’ll probably have to spend more time in the creation zone and gather a following, but you’re more likely to draw people to your business with a unique branding personality. Be authentic!
Throughout this post there has been some hands down awesome video stats. As a bonus, we encourage you to share them with your followers so you sound super smrt. And don’t worry, you can change the tweet text before it goes out :)
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Hi Eric,
This is a well detailed, analytical post on the power vested in video sharing websites.
While companies in the west are fast embracing this, companies in Africa are seriously lagging behind and this is what I aim to tap into.
But obviously as a marketing consultant, which service is advisable to use because using all of them for a companies project can be really tasking!!
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for the kind words, Dare. All I know is Africa is an emerging tech market and it will surely catch on soon. As to which platform is best right now, I can’t answer that. I’ll see if I can get an African tech friend to chime in here. Cheers!
Thanks Eric – all good info here :-)
Thanks, Andy. I’m extremely happy to hear it’s been useful!
Awesome post Eric! We’ve seen a lot of brands using Instagram, but mainly with images. Very few are experimenting with video, but pretty sure things will change.
The video component of Instagram is still so new. I’m sure it will just take some time for mainstream adoption. But there are some early adopters that make it look very promising!
Thank you for sharing Eric! Extremely helpful for our start-up Calamity Gym. Your blogs are so helpful and I am encouraged by all I can learn on what to do right without making costly mistakes. You are very appreciated. Please keep them coming!
Absolutely. Extremely happy that everyone is finding it so useful. More than happy to contribute!
Thanks Eric for your response.
Fingers crossed and will be waiting for your helpful response.
Thanks for this great post I’m a big believer in video. Though it takes a lot more effort to produce, a great video seems to outperform almost any other form of visual content out there, especially if you leverage cross-promotion on an already established channel like I did.
Agreed. Glad you’ve had such success!
Wow this is great info. I knew a little about YT marketing but not too much about Vimeo and absolutely nothing about Instagram and Vine, so thanks.
So far I have been just making tutorials for using different applications for IM, so not sure if that would work on other sites other than YT…
Hi Ralf! Thanks for commenting. YouTube sounds great for what you’re doing. It’s a common place for many how-to and instructional videos.
Awesome Guide Man. In my case when it comes to Video Marketing, I preferusing Youtube and Google+ Hangout, not because they are Google Products but they are the best one and easy to use.
Hello Eric,
Thank for this guide; I’m excited and enthousiast to use Youtube now for my video broadcast. you have probably heard the next big update of Youtube about live streaming, I think this will be a great innovation for video marketing.