The Best Ways to Use Video Content to Connect With Customers
When it comes to digital marketing, one thought should constantly be in your head: Always think about the fact that you need to convey a certain emotion with a message and that the most important thing is that your target group recognizes itself in that message and identifies with what you want to say.
When it comes to the effects of posts, those that are relaxed, start with a question and communicate some positive feelings have most reviews and interactions. In order to get an answer to the question of why this is so, you have to put yourselves in another role, the one you are in every day - the role of the customer.
At the same time when YouTube became an increasingly used social network, which it is nowadays, many companies have decided to create video-based campaigns. However, that decision is not brand new and is not accidental. According to some analysis, as many as 55 % of online shoppers said that a video on social media helped them make a decision to buy something in 2020.
Ask Yourself Which Product You Return to Regularly and Why
Despite the fact that it is known how much sugar and additives Coca-Cola contains, many simply must buy it for Sunday lunch and holidays, singing famous verses from its ad. Why? It reminds us that it is family time, a time for a shared meal, and that familiar sound of the bottle opening promises to quench your thirst even when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees.
How Coca-Cola manages the feelings of millions of customers would be the topic for a whole series of blog posts. The point is that the sound of opening a bottle would never have been tied exclusively to Coca-Cola if you had not seen a lot of commercials (not to mention those New Year’s commercials due to which children began holidays every January with anticipation of Santa Claus and Coca-Cola as their favorite drink).
If it were not for these recognizable commercials, we probably would not care if we buy Coca-Cola or some other drink for Christmas. Therefore, we can freely say that the possibility of placing content, in this case, video advertising, as a means of connecting with customers is brilliantly used - Coca-Cola created a situation where, when deciding to buy, we are guided almost exclusively by feelings. Their marketing team made a real success.
Of course, the growing popularity of video platforms, as well as the availability of video and audio equipment, has made video content a good strategy for a large number of companies today. In other words, as you will see in this article, you do not need to have huge marketing budgets to arouse the desired emotion in your clients.
But let’s go back to the beginning…
How to Communicate the Most Expensive Thing With Video Content - Trust?
When creating a marketing strategy, ask yourself what you want people to think first when they hear the name of the brand you are behind. Product benefits? Quality of service? The openness of the company? Customer care? At the same time, come up with a catchy name of the brand and build a functional website, either by yourself or by employing a professional developer. These two steps should never be skipped.
What is built over the years and causes customer loyalty is the trust they have in your company. We keep the money in the bank we trust the most, we travel with agencies that we have heard take care of the safety of passengers, our doctors are the ones whose expertise we do not doubt…
Although we are fans of new technologies, we love when we know that behind the whole system we use is not only the program but also humans. That, when a problem occurs, we will not come across a standard answer but that someone will really make sure that our problem is solved. Because of all this, it is important to say who is behind your brand and what you are doing.
For example, how did VISA do it? They posted a video on their website, in the “About Us” section, in which all the leaders of the company appear and talk about the values of VISA but also about the responsibility they have to make a system like theirs work properly, as well as how much effort they invest in all that. They bring the human element back into the brand.
People Are Still Reading, but Sometimes It Is More Interesting to Watch a Video Tutorial
Let’s face it, writing blogs is still an indispensable part of any company’s online presence strategy. Marketing-related articles are still being followed, the news is being read, and interesting blogs are being followed. However, sometimes it is much easier and more interesting to watch an educational video than to read long texts. If the beginning is interesting and promises a sequel with a good point, there is a good chance that the user will make the decision to watch the video until the end. An example of how successful this content is today is certainly CrashCourse, which has more than 12 million subscribers on YouTube alone.
On the other hand, it probably happens to you that even though you explain the details of a product or service on your website, write a blog post about it, promote it, after only a few months of promotion, you get questions from new users about details that are not clear to them. Video is a great solution in this case: the content can explain all the details, make even the most complex questions simple and understandable through pictures, and if it is interesting, your old users will be happy to see it as well.
Most Important of All? Idea and Emotion
That effective video content does not have to be based on complex and expensive production is also shown by behind-the-scenes videos from offices that you must have noticed, especially on social networks, wherein large corporations this way try to give a human face to everything they do. They are not difficult to record (they are mostly recorded with cell phones) and do not have to look strictly professional. It is enough that everything is natural and you will already have a special relationship with your customers by showing who is really behind everything, not to mention how proud each employee will be that, in a way, he/she is the face of the brand for which he/she works.
Okay, now you know that you need a video, but if you have not recorded and published content like this before, you are probably wondering where to start. The options are really numerous: from animations that explain the product/service, through educational videos, to those fun videos from the office that are adapted to social networks. If you have doubts and are not sure what exactly you should post on your YouTube channel, here is a universal, yet sufficiently effective solution.
The recommendation of many marketing experts, which was proven to be a good solution, is testimonial videos. The basic idea of this type of video content is to make your customers/clients main actors in the video, in which they will testify why you are their choice.
Praise Is Worth Gold
The fact is that a satisfied customer is the best advertisement. How many times have you tried great pastries at a bakery in your neighborhood, then bragged to co-workers or took them to your new favorite breakfast? However, if there is already someone whose products you adore and you have been a fan of for years, then even the best advertisement can hardly convince you to try pastries elsewhere.
And now imagine your friend, a widely known gourmet whose taste, when it comes to food, you have no doubt, coming to you and saying: “I know, I had breakfast there every morning too, but when you try this, trust me you will return there again.” And here you are - one step closer to a new place.
This is a whole principle that most marketing professionals have been using for many years. The first and foremost thing that is nurtured in a company is creating value for the customers. If they are satisfied, in addition to being loyal to you, they will brag to others about their choice, which is the best advertisement for you, with exactly € 0 of advertising cost.
So, as not to wait for the whole process to happen on its own, take matters into your own hands. You have probably noticed on most sites that there is a slider with the words of the company’s actual customers, set as a place for those who are on the website for the first time to read product impressions. Not to mention Google reviews, which today are becoming a haven for all (dis)satisfied customers.
“Why would you just quote customers when they can share their satisfaction in front of the camera?”
You Don’t Believe Until You See...
We have reached the moment of video production because why would you just quote customers when they can share their satisfaction in front of the camera? The fact is that people today respond much better to visual content. By not being classic promotional video commercials, they retain far more audience attention. Your customer stands in front of the camera and talks about the way you solved his/her problem and your connection to you. The whole process gives your brand authenticity and makes the whole business alive. Do not forget about the community you build in this way and about encouraging other clients to share satisfaction in a similar way. The company Slack is one of the most famous examples of such content.
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that you should not record content like this just to talk about yourself. Build a story about your customer. If they praise you in such a video, then it gives the additional effect of a sincere and true recommendation. Everything else will act as paid advertising or acting, so you will not achieve a much better effect than usual and uninteresting hymns about yourself.
Build the story of your customer in an old-school way: introduction, elaboration, and conclusion. In the beginning, it is very important to present who the customer is and what are his/her achievements, which can build trust with the viewers. If you are wondering who to choose, here is the answer: someone you are proud of for being among your customers/clients. If you know the target group you are addressing, then let it be someone who is exactly part of their community and whose opinion they highly value. At the heart of the story should be the customer experience, while at the very end comes the moment of sale. Celebrate his/her successes, your merits, and end the story in a positive tone. Also, note that you only need to transmit one message, which means that there is no reason for the video to be longer than 3 minutes.
Is This Kind of Content for Smaller Companies as Well?
What is mostly misleading when it comes to creating video content is that it is a big expense and is reserved for large corporations with huge budgets. However, those involved in video production beg to differ. Video content is often an unexploited resource for many companies for this reason. Keep in mind that even when you come to them with a limited budget, professionals will know how to optimize it. Sometimes little things can reduce costs: for example, everything can be filmed in one place and in one day - all you need is a good shooting plan and idea.
These are just some of the ways you can use videos to get closer to your customers. There are also a number of technical things that can encourage you in your decision to create content like this: although the number of people that have seen the video can be and is always measured, you can adapt the same video to different social networks. Not to mention a Facebook algorithm that favors original content, such as video, especially if users watch it multiple times.
The possibilities that creating video content give you are numerous - from entertaining followers on social networks and attracting attention, to educational content that can help your customers in their decision to buy something. Of course, a strategic approach and good conceptualization of the messages you want to convey are a must.