How To Use Video Content More Effectively to Boost Your Brand

Video content can push a brand’s content strategy over the top, so find out how to use video content to your advantage, keep reading.

How To Use Video Content More Effectively to Boost Your Brand

Video is an integral part of content marketing. While written content is great for search engines and explaining things in detail, it doesn’t have the same relatability as a high-quality video. Following a few basic principles to video content creation can help improve any team’s video production work, setting them apart from the rest of their industry or other forms of competition. These tips are a few of our favorites.

Not everything has to go viral

When working in video production for businesses, it is likely that someone in charge of the business will at some point mention that they want their company’s video to go viral. It turns out that most people and companies want this for their content, given that the goal is for as many people as possible to see the content that is being produced. But while the desire is to put together a massively popular video, the goal should always be to create content with your audience in mind.

As is the case with clothes, music, and any other item that contributes to popular culture, video content is not a one-size fits all enterprise. Different audiences have different tastes, and while many cases would see marketers wanting to appeal to all of those different tastes, that isn’t always attainable. A business to business enterprise, for example, has no use for viral content if the majority of the viewers don’t own a business that can consume their products.

The goal for any video content should be to make sure that it fits with what an organization’s goals are. If it happens to get popular along the way, that is great, but that desire shouldn’t get in the way of creating something that accomplishes the original goal.

Get others involved where possible

One of the best things about the world today is that anyone has the technology to create great content. Smartphones, body cameras, and similar devices make it so people can get high quality footage and edit it without having to be professionals. When possible, taking advantage of that ability to get content from consumers is a plus, as it helps bring those consumers closer to your brand.

This can be done in a number of ways, including holding contests where consumers should submit video content or simply an open call for submissions. While this approach is not for everyone, the more creative members of your audience could provide quality content in the present while providing ideas that can be used for future videos.

Some companies have even made it possible for their users to automatically create videos via screen recordings to make it easier for consumers to promote a brand without having to shoot an entire video of their own. Getting that kind of promotion from consumers can be a big positive, whether your organization has the capability of helping your consumers create their own videos or if they do it on their own.

This, again, is something that has to fit with the mission of each individual brand. User submissions for a clothing company, for example, would feel a lot more positive than those for a funeral home. But if user-created content does work for your brand, it could be a wellspring of fresh ideas.

use Video Content

Video creation no longer requires an elaborate camera and lighting setup

Be funny, but only if it fits

Humor in video advertising is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and has given birth to some of the more memorable advertisements in the history of the medium. And brands are smart to incorporate humor in their video content where possible in order to make their videos feel more approachable and less like an uncomfortable sales pitch in a store. But, like with anything else, humor needs to have a natural fit within content for it to feel organic and funny.

This is another case where knowing your brand’s audience is the first place to start. If you have an audience that skews young and your product is trendy, comedy would appear to be on brand. But if your organization is focused on a more serious product or service, or has an audience that would appear less receptive to comedy, it might not be the best idea to go for laughs with video content.

Funny videos, especially those centered around something topical or current in pop culture, have the potential to be popular among your audience. But the goal of most organizations is to sell a product or service rather than to be popular in a given moment on social media. Remembering that before jumping into comedy with both feet could prevent a misguided production.

Don’t forget about quality

As we mentioned earlier, the barrier to entry for video content is much lower than it’s ever been thanks to the presence of technology that allows people to create high-quality content from their phones and other devices. But that doesn’t mean that organizations should forget how important it is for their video content to be of high quality.

When a video comes from a consumer, it might have some blemishes. Those blemishes might even make the content more endearing in some cases. But when it comes to videos from your brand or organization, no detail should be overlooked to make sure that your content looks like it was created with the goal of standing out from both the competition and fans of your brand. Even using high-quality free video editing software can help cut down on some of these mistakes.

Even small details like making sure that text is aligned properly if it is used on-screen can be the difference between a video that looks like it is of professional quality and one that was done by an amateur. Striking the proper balance between the volume of background music and that of the speakers in the forefront of a video is another often overlooked area.

These are just a few of the things to remember when creating video content that can make your content both relevant to your audience and of high quality once your audience has their eyes on that content. If done well, your video will check both of those boxes and be successful in helping to achieve the goals that were set out for each piece of video content created.