Fads come and go, but brands know that video is here to stay. According to a new study by Demand Metric and Vidyard, more than 90 percent of marketers said that video content is becoming more important. In addition, more than half of participants produce 11 or more videos per year. Nearly half of respondents said they use internal staff and resources to produce videos, up from 38 percent a year ago.
The State of Marketing Benchmark Study Report revealed that social media is the preferred method for delivering marketing videos, second only to the brands’ own websites.
Linking Analytics To Return On Investment (ROI)
“The use of advanced metrics has become imperative for organizations that produce higher volumes of videos annually,” Demand Metric’s report noted, “as these metrics enable optimizing performance and understanding the true ROI of their investment.”
While 96 percent of participants said that conversion performance for video has stayed the same or gotten better, 59 percent reported an improvement in video return on investment (ROI) compared to just 38 percent last year.
“Study participants reporting that the ROI of their video is changing for the better were twice as likely to use advanced metrics to measure video effectiveness than those who report their ROI is unknown,” the report noted. “Respondents who use advanced analytics are twice as likely to say their ROI is better and more likely to increase their video budgets year over year.”
Instagram videos come with the benefit of Facebook’s on board analytics tools, making it a prime location to connect with its user base of 500 million.
Marketing Video The Insta-Way
“Instagram content should be encouraging and aspirational,” Caroline Collins, director of social media at Ayzenberg Group, advised in the fourth quarter Earned Media Value index. “By resisting sales offers and focusing instead on content that serves as a visual celebration of our brands, the platform can be used to strengthen brand love amongst advocates.”
(Editor’s note: [a]listdaily is the publishing arm of the Ayzenberg Group.)
The beautiful thing about producing videos is that anyone can do it and the medium is conducive to any lifestyle brand from entertainment to food, clothing to travel, tech to child-rearing and more. Instagram, in particular, allows brands to experiment with a more relaxed approach to marketing, as well.
Epic Games uploads Instagram videos and images frequently to its Paragon account, highlighting new playable heroes, game modes or patch notes. The developer utilizes humor and cinema-style storytelling rather than hard sells to get fans hyped for its free-to-play MOBA.
Nest, a tech company offering home security cameras, thermostats and smoke alarms, gets its consumers involved by inviting them to share amusing home footage of pets when their owners are away. Users enjoy sharing videos of their furry friends, other users enjoy watching them, and Nest enjoys a bit of free and entertaining publicity.
Since Instagram’s feed is no longer chronological, Stories—and now live video—are great ways to engage consumers in between those main posts.
“Because businesses play such a rich role within our community, we’ve seen they are the profiles that have led the way and really innovated in [the Stories] space,” Jen Ronan Instagram’s brand development lead told The Drum. “They’re telling stories of behind the scenes, of the day to day, and really building their brand in that way.”
