The medium social media marketers will need to pay the most attention to in 2015 may be video, if updates to major social media platforms at the end of 2014 are any indication.
“Every social network has begun to turn efforts towards the improvement of native video distribution and promotion services,” Juan Mendez wrote for Business2Community Jan. 21.
Facebook, the platform probably on most marketers’ minds, will continue to prioritize video, with founder Mark Zuckerberg even commenting multiple times that he expects much of people’s newsfeeds to be filled with videos, rather than text or photos, in the near future. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has also launched a 15-second video ad option.
Twitter, too, added native promoted videos to feeds for the first time in 2014, and has amped up analytics options in an effort to draw marketing dollars.
And in December of 2014, Google announced a revamp of AdWords for Video reporting to make it easier for marketers to see how YouTube statistics are playing into their overall marketing and search engine optimization efforts.
Successful Video Forms
The types of videos marketers will find most useful will depend on campaign goals, but Mendez recommends that brands or businesses familiarize themselves with the basic guidelines of micro-videos, explainer videos, screencast videos and webinars.
Steven Beller, also writing for Business2Community, suggests that there are, however, a few characteristics that successful marketing videos have in common. They tell great stories and are both fun and helpful to the customer. They’re also focused on a specific strategy and include calls to action to prompt consumers to follow through.
And underlying all types of marketing videos, as Jon Mowat wrote in a Jan. 23 article for ReelSEO, is a balance of both emotion and logic.
Logic is used to demonstrate the technical aspects of a product and explain to customers why it would be useful to them, while emotion can create a lasting connection between a consumer and a brand.
“I don’t think this concept of logic vs emotion needs to be that complicated,” says Bryan Bolan, Founder/Creative Director, b-Mc Creative. “It’s up to the creatives involved to take a step back and really simplify what the goals are and hone in on the emotional benefits for the viewer. Less is more and I think companies, especially small to mid size are being led astray into believing in certain creative executions, that in reality, aren’t necessary and don’t portray the true essence of their brand, goals, or initiatives.”