There has been a drastic increase in the popularity of video content, indicating a rapid shift in the behavior of consumers. Once a neglected content method has now become the most preferred medium for online users around the globe.

Your potential customers are more likely to learn about your services or products by watching a video. Whether you have a small local business or are running a multinational organization, incorporating video content into your marketing strategies can be highly beneficial for your business.

The best thing about making video content is that you don’t need a large-scale production house or a massive budget. All you need is a good idea, unique and valuable content, and you can end up creating the most successful video content using just your smartphone!

Here are some tips for creating successful video content:

Establishing Clear Goals

Just like any marketing campaign, the most important factor in video content making is setting your goals and objectives. You need to make sure that the content creation aligns with your overall content marketing strategy.

Invest time in identifying the aim of your video content and how it will work with your strategy to attain the expected results. The video content can assist your business in numerous ways, including:

• Generating leads by educating your target audience, creating authority in your niche, and gaining their trust
• Promoting the company’s culture by showing the testimonials of employees or the everyday functions of your office to market your business as a great workplace
• Establishing your business as a leader by sharing relevant insights and the latest trends in an easily understandable way to educate your target audience
• Building brand awareness by explaining how your products or services can benefit your potential clients, thereby encouraging them to make the purchase

However, it is essential to keep in mind that the success of video content isn’t solely based on the number of views, but instead by the actions taken by your target audience after viewing the video. Therefore, remember to include a strong call to action to encourage customer views to make an action.

Utilizing Psychology in the Strategy

Grabbing the attention of your audience is not the same as holding on to their attention. It is essential for video creators to understand this. Simply using an eye-catching headline as clickbait is never going to work. Your video must have strong substance and value to maintain their attention till the end.

To successfully do this, you must identify the emotional triggers of your target audience and incorporate them into the video. Applying buying-behavior psychology in your video content strategy can help make the content more engaging.

Your video content must:

• Stimulate your target audience’s curiosity so that they are compelled to take the right action
• Hook their attention right from the start of the video
• Be short and clear to retain their attention
• Trigger your audience’s visual senses; for instance, utilize the right color scheme, tone and style to create the image of your brand in their minds
• Establish a strong narrative since viewers tend to remember stories better than recalling logical information
• Gain the trust of your target audience by backing up any claims you make through case studies or statistics, or including an expert to validate your point

It is highly recommended that you create a script of the video, identify the tone and language you want to use, and task an individual with a strong camera presence to bring all of the information to life.

Optimizing Video Content

While video content is created to attract your audience and educate them about your brand, this certainly doesn’t mean you don’t need to optimize the video for social media and search engines. Since search engines lack proficiency in indexing videos, you must optimize them to ensure your target audience finds your videos.

Here are a few ways to do this:

• Include relevant captions in all your video content to make it more accessible even to individuals who don’t speak your native language
• Post the complete transcript of the video, so that it is easier for search engines to analyze and identify relevant keywords
• Always add meta details with the video, including description, title, and tags
• Be sure to incorporate vital keywords in descriptions and titles

Utilizing Relevant Promotional Strategies for Different Platforms

Since there are various popular social media platforms nowadays, you need to understand that one strategy might not work for all of them. You need to modify and use the relevant strategies for different platforms:

• Facebook – many users prefer to watch a video without sound, so add subtitles in it. Include the most interesting element in the first few seconds of the video, otherwise, the viewers will move on. Be sure to post the video on your page directly, instead of sharing the link from another platform.
• Instagram – this platform is all about aesthetically-pleasing content. Keep in mind the video posted on profile has a limit of 60 seconds, stories have 15 seconds limit, and the IGTV time limit is one hour. Therefore, utilize the time accordingly for maximum results.
• Twitter – the time limit for twitter videos is 2 minutes and 20 seconds, but the best results are for videos lasting 45 seconds. This is used as a micro-blogging platform for brands and influencers sharing real-time live updates.

To attain optimal results and maximum reach, collaborate with influencers for these platforms.

With high competition in today’s world, every business is trying its best to attract users. Therefore, it is essential to create compelling and intriguing content to ensure your brand stands out from the crowd. Be sure to determine the right time of posting these videos as well. If done right, video content will not just spread awareness about your brand and products, but will increase the engagement and improve your overall revenue.

Guest article written by: Qamar Zaman is the founder and CEO of Kiss PR Storytelling Framework, a Dallas-based digital and SEO organization that was founded in 2003. With over 28,000 stories that increase by the day, the company aims at helping small to medium-sized businesses succeed in their target markets.