We’re talking about planning a video content strategy here at the ‘Peg since video content is becoming increasingly popular. Like anything else we do, this will involve some planning.
Why Video?
Video marketing is no longer optional which is why we’re adding it to our content strategy plan. Plus, video marketing can create great results when done right.
People feel much more comfortable doing business with a company when they get to know the people behind the brand. While we do some of that brand building on our Facebook page, the photos of our cats only go so far. As a result, we’ve been talking about adding video to our marketing as a way to create engaging content which goes beyond the written page.
A great video strategy will let you share your expertise and show off your “human element” by including compelling views into life behind the scenes at your business. If you are passionate about what you do, video gives you a way to share that passion.
Unfortunately, if you’re like us, you aren’t in the video business, so establishing a process to create video on a regular basis is an important first step. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Starting From the Top
In the age of fast paced mobile devices and short attention spans, many audiences prefer to get their information from short videos or audio snippets, so whatever you produce needs to be in manageable bites. Start with understanding that your videos must be brief. Then, you need to ask: “What should I produce?” Here are the questions to ask your team to figure out what you can turn into video content:
- What content do we publish on a fixed, regular basis? Does it bring in great traffic?
- What kinds of content do we already know our audience loves? When they rave about our content, what do they talk about?
- What internal content do we already provide for our clients as part of our regular products/services? Would this content make for good video?
When we applied these questions to a working meeting here at Roundpeg, we realized we create lots of interesting and relevant content which we could turn into video. For example, we publish one blog post a day. It makes sense then to re-purpose some of this content into 30 or 60 second video snippets which summarize the post for people who don’t want read a full article or a simple podcast they can take with them on the go.
Creating Video to Fill the Gaps
In addition to extending the reach of your existing content, look for the gaps in your current production strategy. Ask yourself these additional questions and use them to fuel your discussion:
- What’s something our customers constantly ask about which could be answered in a 30 second video snippet? Your customer service team may have lots of good suggestions.
- What don’t our clients know about our culture? How could a video interview get the message across? – do you have office pets? Fun routines? Things you do to break up the monotony on a slow day? All of those things will help prospects get to know you.
- Do people know what our day-to-day activities look like? Can we capture some of these tasks in a short explanatory video?
As we talked through some of these questions, we filled the whiteboard with ideas. For example, we saw a gap in how we present training materials to clients. Using informative training videos which remind our clients of the things we talk about in our training sessions will be a handy reference when they forget something. We don’t expect the video to replace the face to face training, but we hope it will cut down on the need to explain over and over again how to reset a password, upload a photo or add a blog post. The videos will enable clients to resolve questions without the need for a phone call during business hours. They can watch the video on their own schedule.
Infusing Personality and Passion
Videos are great for fact-based information, but how do you add the human element? Simple: it all starts with people. As we brainstormed video ideas for Roundpeg, we identified pieces of regular content – written and developed by actual human beings – which we could turn into relevant, narrative video, including blog recaps and candid “out and about” videos.
We’re going to try inviting employees in front of a camera to talk about their areas of expertise. We hope when they use their own words it will translate lifeless text into visual reality. If you’re going to try this, let your employees be candid on film. Encourage them to be silly if they want to; let them share their passion for their skills.
Check out some of the top vloggers – video bloggers – in the market right now.
Your audience wants to know people – real people, just like them – who can answer their questions and make their projects successful. Everything from a quick 15 second daily update about something fun happening in the office to a larger, annual “From Our Employees” update video helps break the barrier between your brand and your customers.
We’re just dipping our toes in, but we can see the possibilities. Stay tuned to see our progress.
What about you? Are you ready plan your video content strategy? Here’s my challenge to you: bring your brightest minds together, brainstorm some fun video concepts and start shooting right away. Let me know what you come up with!
Listen to our conversation on More Than a Few Words to learn even more about video marketing and why it’s no longer optional.
This post was updated on May 20, 2019.