This post is one of many in which I will share my first hand knowledge of driving revenue for using video and social media. For the past 10 years I have worked with hundreds of companies to design and implement video content strategies that drive hard ROI through lead generation and marketing intelligence. I’ve brought this knowledge and experience to 50Wheel where we are changing the way brands are engaging with prospects and customers via video.
Online video marketing has become vital to any company’s content marketing strategy today. We only have to glance at some statistics and results to see that that’s true. But to reduce sales cost cycles even more, you need to pair video with things like organic search, social media, and email, increasing click-throughs and engagement on a variety of platforms.
In later posts I will be going into how to create channel-specific content, messaging, A/B testing, and conversion. To be truly effective, you’ll want to produce specific content for each network, often repackaging that content in different ways, getting more bang for your production buck. You’ll want to position the videos in the right way, whether that’s in a short Tweet, Instagram or a longer Facebook post. Using A/B testing, you can more easily determine which messages are effective with your audience. And once you’ve got your followers hooked on your content, you’ll want to convert them into engage-able contacts.
Video Across The Buyer’s Journey
Just like with other types of content, you can use video in every single part of the of the buyer’s journey. In the awareness stage, you’ll want to provide content that is relevant to as many people as possible–your audience–content that isn’t focused on your company’s specific features or services. This content may address a problem or attempt to convince the viewer of a new viewpoint.
I’ll refer back to “Awareness Content” a few more times throughout the series, so it’s important to understand what this content looks like for your company. Once you’ve established–through your content–that you’re a thought leader and have insight to share, you’ve got a lead in the door. You can then provide more specific video content that addresses problems or interests of that person, based on what they watched during the awareness stage.
As you gather information about your followers, based on the videos they’re watching, you’ll target them even more. Sharing things like customer case studies and testimonials, which provide quantifiable evidence that your product is what they need, will move folks from leads to opportunities. When you use video throughout the buyer’s lifecycle, you can lower costs, reduce the manual follow-up required for potential customers, and retain customers more easily.
The next post will go into more detail on the types of content to use for each social media channel.
