Video Content Marketing as a Viable Tool for Small Businesses
If a decade ago video marketing wasn’t a viable option for small businesses, now it’s easier than ever to create video content. YouTube didn’t have a wide reach and TV ads were expensive to buy and create.
With the rise of social media, small businesses can promote video content with ease and reach their target audience.
Marketing and Advertising
It is important to know the difference between video marketing and video advertising. Video marketing entails the distribution of video content on websites, social media or other marketing channels you might have. Video advertising means buying ad space across different mediums.
Your video marketing strategy might be focused on TV, online or a combination of both. Online video advertising is more cost effective for small businesses that are targeting a local area and specific buyer.
Brand Positioning
Know how you should position yourself according to your brand and business size. The size of a small business can vary from one person to under 500 employees. Sometimes, it might be acceptable to use a smart phone to record your video content, if it fits the brand.
It’s also okay to start out a video marketing strategy with minimal investment. However, high quality video content will always be discernible and will set a brand apart.
Moreover, the more professional your brand, the more professional your video needs to be. For example, as a luxury brand your video content needs to reflect that.
Video Length
There is no rule set in stone for how long video content should be. If you are building a new audience and need to capture attention, it’s generally better to keep the video short, at around 2 minutes.
At the same time, when you create informational content and already have an audience that is engaging, a 10 minute video will achieve better results in the long run.
Nonetheless, keep in mind that users are increasingly browsing on mobile devices and long-form video content might fail to catch their attention. A solution to this is to partition the content in several short videos. The user will have an easier time digesting the content and you have the upside of sharing and linking between multiple videos.
Use Paid Advertising
While producing video content, you should not completely avoid paid advertising. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all provide video advertising services. Especially in the beginning, it can be extremely hard get social traction until your posts start showing up in the feed of your audience.
Video ads are one option to reach your current following and gain new followers. You can also target people who have expressed interest in your product or service in the past if they have provided you with some contact information, such as an email address.
