It seems like it’s getting harder to connect with your target audience online given the abundance of media, shorter attention spans, and advertisements floating around every corner of every website on the internet. But, there is a way to connect with people by harnessing the power of video content.
Video content viewership continues to rise and has become an essential part of many businesses’ web marketing strategies. According to recent research findings from Brightcove’s 2018 Video Marketing Survey, “76% of consumers report they’ve purchased a product or service after viewing a video.” The survey also found, “45% of consumers overall…feel that video is more engaging than other forms of content.”
With the right strategy, video content is a way to connect with people on an emotional level. It also allows companies to humanize their brand and educate their customers. Different industries require different video strategies, but they all share common techniques when it comes to video engagement.
Know Your Audience
There is nothing more important than knowing who your audience is and what their interests, goals, and needs are. Knowing those things will help you become more empathetic toward the audience and that empathy will allow you to put yourself in their shoes to create a video that’s engaging and really hits home. Without having the audience insight, it will be very difficult to make a connection and create a relatable video.
Collecting primary and secondary research will help you get a better understanding of your audience and their underlying motivations. Many times, companies create videos without doing research and end up getting poor results because they weren’t speaking to customers’ interests and needs. You can gather the data you need through focus groups, interviews surveys, and pre-existing data. The valuable data you gather will help you create an engaging experience through video.
Engage Your Audience
Start the video off by sharing a statistic or fact that can tie into your business. Give viewers something that competitors haven’t. If there’s some insight about your business or industry that isn’t commonly known, you’ll gain interest. This will make the audience feel like they’re getting value and it allows you to show them a different perspective than the typical spiel they’re used to hearing from your competitors.
A good way to think about engagement is through storytelling. Every good book has to hook the reader from the start in order to grasp their attention. The same could be said of a video. You want to tell a good story, whether it’s your company story or how the product or service you’re offering is going to save the day.
Relate to Your Audience
In order to create a connection between you and the customer, you want to make them feel like you know their pain points and then you can show them exactly how you’re going to solve a problem or make their life easier. Finding a way to connect your product or service to something that everyone in your target audience goes through is important.
Viewers should feel like you’re speaking directly to them, but you also want to appeal to your audience as a whole. Being authentic and transparent can show who your company is in an intimate and engaging way.
Affective Video
When we think about creating emotion, we tend to think about those commercials that pull on your heartstrings and even bring a tear to your eye. But creating emotion doesn’t necessarily mean sadness. Depending on your business, you can invoke a variety of different emotions like excitement, motivation, or even the fear of missing out which can lead the customer to take your preferred action like signing up for something or purchasing a product.
Ensuring you know what action you want your customers to take is important. Knowing how you’re going to go about it is also key and it must be simple for the customer to do.
Conclusion
Increasing your online visibility and engaging with your audience takes research and dedication. Gather the insights you need to really understand your audience and commit to making more videos. Make the time to create and get the results you’re looking for.
If you’re just starting to incorporate video into your strategy, make sure to test different channels online to see which platforms get better engagement. Be authentic with your audience and create something that is memorable.
At New Target, we help our clients with a digital strategy to communicate their message and reach their target audience. Video will continue to grow, and our team can help your organization grow alongside it. For questions on how we can help your business, fill out our online form.