Its time for all who have been waiting in the wings to finally turn to video marketing to boost their business exposure. If your company does not yet have a marketing video or some form of video marketing you are going to be left behind. You cant ignore the changes, have your business suffer and then say " I don't know what happened." You know exactly what is happening. Video is dominating online marketing and it's time for your business to take the leap. If you don't, you only have yourself to blame.
So to get to the heart to of it, you need to have some videos made and then you need to post them on paid an non paid platforms. They each have their benefits but the paid platforms are more likely to get the results your business needs. The reason for this is that the biggest online platforms like Facebook and YouTube want to make money too so they make sure that the most effective marketing tools are the paid-for ones and not the free ones. They are smart business people so don't expect anything else.
If you are still in the habit of posting social media junk to your social media channels everyday because someone told you that it was a good way to get your business noticed, then you are in a sorry state for sure. Ask yourself, how often do you read other companies posts? How often do you interact with those companies because of the the junk "daily quotes" and " free e-book" offers?
The problem with marketing is that you only seek out a business or service if, and when, you need it. If a plumber constantly posts daily motivation quotes, will you keep them on speed dial for your next geyser leak emergency? No ! When you see water dripping from your ceiling you pick up your phone and begin searching and asking around.
So why would you think your customers would be any different?
There are two ways to advertise. One is to constantly put out marketing so that your brand is recognised and the other is to be where people will search for you.
The brand recognition is all about trust. When people see your brand or company name a lot, they will more likely trust you over an unknown company. If however your company offers a service that nobody knows any of your competitors names or yours, then being found the easiest is key.
So if you are the latter then be sure you are visible on places like Google or other service related search websites. If you want to build your brand recognition, you need videos about your company or service to be seen by as many appropriate eye balls as possible.
That means constant ongoing video marketing using services such as YouTube. These two services can also be used in combination to achieve both brand exposure as well as being findable in a search.
Your video can also help with SEO for Google by providing a backlink to your site and as an embedded video on your site.
The video on your website can, and should, be different to the marketing video that your potential clients will see on places like YouTube. The video used on YouTube and other marketing platforms, should be the hook to bring the clients to your site. The video on your website should "close the deal" by explaining all they would need to know about your business while leaving them wanting just enough to contact your business. For example, a YouTube video could say "Get this amazing offer etc etc" .Your website video could explain how your service works and how they can take up the amazing offer and providing another hook by saying " This offer is limited so call now..."
There is also an " About Us " video which should be on your "About Us" page. This should not be confused with the marketing video on YouTube or the introductory video on the your websites first page.
The "About US" is really there to build more trust by talking about your company and how your services are well respected and what benefits your customers derive from your business along with some testimonials.
There are so many types of video, so which ones should be used for video marketing and when should you use a video production company in Johannesburg to create your video?
While businesses and online marketers are constantly encouraged to make use of video to market themselves, and their businesses, there is often the distinction between professional video and those done on a cell phone as a selfie video. The argument is often between these two types. Many would argue that a video done by a video production company is better than the DIY type of video.Others would argue that because the selfie videos are free to create that they are in fact better. The truth is that both of them can be used to great effect. It is important, though, to know when to use each type.
The reason is that each form of marketing has a different target and a different intention.
If you were marketing your company as a professional operation, the selfie video is a bad idea. If however you wanted to build some hype or want to offer an up to date, latest news sort of marketing then the selfie video can work wonders.
The distinction often comes between business marketers and affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketers often believe in only using the selfie videos because they are cheap or free so are more helpful. Business marketers often believe only high end corporate video will work. Actually there is a place for both in both scenarios. Some very successful affiliate marketers have realised that once they become successful they can no longer only do the selfie video because they need to show a level of successes to bring in a new audience and and new clientele. In the same way, business owners have realised that there are certain instances where a video production crew is either not available or not appropriate such as at an impromptu celebration or achievement. That is where a cell phone can be pulled out and used to capture the moment.
The distinction should not be between what is cheap vs what is not. It should always be about what type of video is appropriate. Both can be beneficial and both can be effective but only if used correctly.
While video production companies are not marketing companies, their experience with creating video for marketing can give you enormous insight into the right use of video at the right time.
There are also different ways video can be done with video production companies such as social media clips versus a full production. Video can be embedded or used as a stand alone advert.A video post can work well as an update on the business activities or to announce specials. Each type of video has it's place. There is no one video type that works in all situations, so be sure to know the differences and how to make the best use of them.
It is also important to know where to use videos for marketing and which rules apply to which video marketing platform. One question many would-be marketers ask is what technical specs apply to video marketing. There are different video codecs such as MP4, AVI and MOV. There are so many different types of video but the best for most marketers is to stick to the most common and most compatible format which is MP4 (H264)with a bit rate of between 4 and 7 Mb/s should work fine. If your video size needs to be limited then you could go below 4 Mb/s but the video quality would begin to degrade. Keep in mind that broadcast video can be as high as 150 Mb/s. So if you intend to advertise using broadcast video the cameras being used must start by recording at 150 Mb/s or above. For online HD video there is no minimum requirement but quality can begin to degrade below 7 Mb/s.
Most importantly the type of video being used should match the platform and the audience correctly. An advert is not an About Us video. It is not a documentary. It is not a bragging video. It is a message which answers a pain point or need of a customer combined with a strong call to action. The purpose of a marketing video is to get people to buy or at least contact your business in some way. If the video does not achieve this then it is not a marketing video. It might be a branding video but it will certainly not bring buyers.
So to the question "What type of video should I use to market my business", the answer is a targeted, effective, appropriate and of the correct size and quality video. This is why it helps to have professional assistance to create great marketing videos.
Video marketing has been accepted as the go-to for business marketing. Businesses understand the power of video to reach an audience and to bring in new business. So successful businesses have high quality videos made and continually market themselves with it. Where many new comers to online and video marketing get stuck is where to use the video. For most businesses who are inexperienced with marketing with video the process is the same.A video is made and it is put on the company YouTube channel and that's about it. The company then hopes that somehow people will find the video and will watch it.
It is important to understand that the video production is only the first step and that the video is only a tool not a solution in it's self. Once a video is ready it should be used in a number of ways to create multiple streams of potential customers. That means posting the video on as many social media sites as possible and used on paid for advertising platforms.
Before this is done though it is very important to know what the requirements are for the video to work on each platform. The most common mistake is to make a 30 second or even up to 2 or 3 minute video and thinking it is a one size fits all type of video. The problem is that not all advertising platforms have the same rules. Facebook for example only allows a video to be 15 seconds long as an advert. If you want to post a video to Facebook on one of your pages, it can be very long but not as a paid for advert. Each platform has a different set of rules regarding the size length and content of the videos. Make sure to check what the rules are for each.The easiest way to do this is to create an ad campaign on the platforms you want to use. In many cases, you will be able to go all the way to the point of uploading the video where the restrictions will become evident.
What is a good ideas is to make different lengths of video for different audiences. It might be better to make completely different videos for each platform as your targeting will be different on each as well.
Once you have had your beautiful adverts made by a professional video production company and you have established what platforms to use, and what specifications are appropriate, it makes sense to link them all together. This is where the SEO of video comes in and where your video can make a difference, not only to being visible, but also boosting your SEO for Google and all the other social media platforms you use.
The linking can be as simple as having a link to your other platforms in the description of the video when it is posted. It is different when you use the video as a paid for advert as there is no description area but when people click on the video in many advertising platforms, such as Facebook, the viewer can be sent to, for example, your website or landing page.
In some cases there is no linking at all, such as on YouTube adverts, so be sure to have a clear and and strong call to action with a memorable destination for the viewer to go to. Where a lot of video marketers make a mistake is to not know that "pop ups" on YouTube do not work on many environments such as XBOX ONE. The YouTube video will play but there is no ability to see or click on a "pop up" or even to click a link in the description. Annotations have also been removed on YouTube so it is much more difficult to get a viewer to click on a link.
With all of this said, your video must be worth viewing.You can go around spreading your video across all platforms but if nobody wants to watch it, you would be wasting your time. Be sure to make your video as high quality and attractive as possible. It is not a good idea to dabble with video production. If it is the first time your company will be making a video, be sure to use a respected video production company and, if possible, get advice from a professional. Local video companies in your areas such as the video production companies in Johannesburg can walk you through the process and explain the pros and cons to you.This can help you save a lot of money in the short term and provide much greater success with video marketing and the the use of video for marketing in the long run.
Marketing with video and has seen an enormous jump recently and video production companies are working together with marketing companies to produce amazing videos for business marketing. Video production companies in Johannesburg are moving more and more towards online marketing and away from broadcast video adverts. The problem is that many newcomers are taking short cuts and making bad decisions with video.
In this article I am going to look at some of the most common mistakes businesses make with marketing with video.
It is important to understand that there has been a divide between professional and non professional video creation. Many small time marketers like multi level marketers and affiliate marketers have pushed the message of self filming. This has brought a slew of bad ideas and bad productions.
So lets look at the three top ways that video marketing is being done badly.
Video Marketing mistake number 1:
One size fits all:
With many online marketers there is a sense of video being a grudge purchase. Too many people see video as an obstacle to overcome so they want a fix-all solution that has worked for other people so they can do the same.
This approach has not worked in the off line marketing world and will certainly not work online. Just because a video idea works amazingly for one company does not mean it will work for yours.
Simply copying and pasting ideas from one industry to another often falls flat.Even copying an idea within an industry can end badly because many of your potential customers will think you simply copied your competitor which doesn't say good things about your company.
While there are tried and tested techniques such as the flow of the advert, or marketing video, and a good call to action, simply copying a video verbatim is a really bad idea.This is especially the case where you may go the cheap route and make a cheap knock off of a video done by a professional video production company.
The question you should ask is "what is the problem or pain point that your customer has?" and "how can you speak to that?" This way your message is targeted and way more effective.
Video Marketing mistake number 2:
Viral video
The myth of viral video has probably done some of the most harm to small businesses compared to anything else. Firstly, viral video will not bring more customers. It will simply bring more viewers from which you will probably gain nothing. The classic funny cat videos, can garner multiple millions of viewers and result in zero sales. This is because the entertainment factor is high and the shareability is high but the business message is exceptionally weak or non existent. The only people who make money from viral videos are content creators who post the videos on platforms like YouTube and make money from YouTube's advertising.
An effective video is not a viral video. An effective video targets your potential clients and gets them to follow through with a call to action. The approach of getting as many views as possible and then praying that it converts to sales is a really bad idea. Effective targeted video is what has helped many businesses grow.
Video Marketing mistake number 3:
Poor quality.
While newcomers are always looking for more cost effective ways to market their business, the short cuts have many pitfalls. The all too common mistake is to buy a camera or even worse grab your cell phone and begin shooting. This idea was possibly birthed by the affiliate and multi level marketing industry where personal interaction is gold. This approach can be very effective in a very specific niche. If you want to convince people that you are real and want them to connect to you personally then a shaky cell phone video can work. The problem is that many small business think that this approach translates into business marketing. Nothing could be further from the truth. If your potential clients see you doing that sort of thing, their sense may be that you are a fly-by-night sort of a business and there is no trust whatsoever.
The video work, and overcoming being in front of the camera, can result in damage to your company image instead of boosting it. This is money badly spent and even worse, can damage your company in the eye of the viewer.
There is a place and a time for "low quality" video but it does not work in every situation, especially if you have high paying clients who expect quality, value and trust.
While there are many other mistakes that newcomers make with marketing with video, avoiding these three could make a huge difference for you. It is important to remember that there are no guarantees in marketing of any kind, even video. Many people have seen success with their video marketing but that does not guarantee that it will work for you and your business. That is why it is important to get professional advice when embarking on a video marketing campaign.
Online video marketing can be way more affordable compared to the old way of broadcast advertising but that does not mean that it is cheap, free or guaranteed to bring your business any results. Be sure that you understand your industry and get good solid advice on how to market your business.
Marketing with video has become the prime focus for many marketing companies and company owners who need to market their small businesses. Many people have heard about the power of video and are convinced that it is the option for them. They have seen the statistics, read about the success stories and so want to do the same for their business. The problem is that most people know very little about video, how to use it and and how to make a success of it.
The result is either blindly doing it themselves with little to no experience in either marketing or video productions or they approach a big expensive video production company and hope to leave it in their hands.
Neither of these approaches are the best idea. Firstly video production companies are mostly not marketing companies and the DIY route is fraught with peril.
It is therefor important to have at least a basic understanding of video production and a basic understanding of marketing. This information is however hard to come by in a format that is easily digestible and easy to implement. That was until now. Absolutely AV video productions in Johannesburg has started to put together a series of eBooks to help small businesses to understand, and to begin using, video for their marketing.
While most video training will go straight to the technical details to be more educational, the amount of information can be very intimidating for most people. What is more import than having tons of technical learning is rather to have an overall understanding of video and how it is best used for marketing your business. This way if you use a video production company in Johannesburg or anywhere else in the world you will at least have enough understanding of the process and, more importantly, the road map to be sure that you make a success of it.
In the same way that you don't need to be able to fly a plane to make use of the airline services more effectively, knowing how it all works, in a way that affects you, will potentially make or break your success in arriving at the final destination.
In this vein, video productions require expertise just like flying an airplane but you don't need to have those skills. You do however need to know how to avoid being overcharged, being misdirected and spending on wasteful video productions and marketing that delivers no returns. Video marketing is not something that should be seen as a throw-away. As much as there are no guarantees in any form of marketing, knowing some basics and having inside knowledge of how the professionals have had success with it, can help you save a lot of money and dramatically improve your chances of success. Return on investment is what it is all about.
Effective marketing becomes self funding because of the impact on your bottom line. Gone are the days when business could see advertising as a tax write-off . Now adverting, and especially combined with the additional expense of video, needs to provide effective measurable results which not only improve your branding but actually bring new clients and make your business more money. The video production company is part of the overall solution.
One of the key take-aways of the eBook is that the video used has to fit the desired result. Many businesses make the mistake of thinking that any video will do as long as it promotes the company. This is very misguided as the vast majority of people simply do not care about your company or what you have to say.They are interested in what they can gain from using your companies products or services. So it is very important that the video not only speaks to the needs and wants of the viewer but that there is a call to action which gets potential buyers to follow through with some some sort of action which could be a purchase or simply some sort of activity that will begin communication between this person and your company. The belief that the video by just being a video is good enough is simply ridiculous. For marketing to be effective it must reach the right people and show those people why using your product or service is not only in their best interest but is in fact a no-brainer.
The belief that simply pumping out a message over and over will bring more sales, is as old as it is pointless. Effective marketing brings result.
The eBook is available for free by contacting Absolutely AV on info@abav.co.za
It's easy enough to find statistics on how effective video is at increasing conversion rates, stats on the rate of growth of video use on all social media platforms, and the internet as a whole, but do you know how to use social media video effectively?
As with many new things, a lot of people like to dabble a bit. If they succeed they will continue, if they fail, they stop doing it. This is very much the case with social media video whether the video is done personally or by video production companies. The internet is littered with poorly executed social media video. It's as though the world wide web has become a dumping ground for bad video productions. While there is nothing wrong with giving it a go, social media video is a very unforgiving set up. The viewers have no problem ignoring your video or clicking away while watching it, to go see some other more interesting video. There is no sense of obligation or guilt on the part of the viewer to not hurt your feelings. If they are not interested in your video, you feel the cold shoulder of the masses.
So with a clear understanding that nobody owes you any favors in the world of online marketing and that it's a highly competitive market, let's get to how you can improve your chances of having your video seen and having it make a difference.
The two main differences you want from your video marketing online are traffic and SEO.
These are two separate but equally important parts of the effect of video in social media. They both take a long time to build up and both can change your business marketing forever.Let's begin with traffic.
At the end of the day, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is also about traffic. Although it is about being ranked high in a search engine, if that rank doesn't result in traffic, it is pretty meaningless. It is also important to know that the numbers showing traffic are not the same as traffic. This may be , on the surface, a bit odd. Isn't it all about the numbers? You want to see high numbers on your viewership right? Well not really. The numbers can be a good indication of an increase or decrease in viewership but it does nothing more than that. Unless you are trying to earn money on YouTube from Adsense, the numbers mean little. What you want is clicks on your website or action being taken by the viewer. This is where many video marketing campaigns go off track. The obsession with having the number of views go up can be self defeating .
Firstly, it is important to know that views can be bought. Let that sink in for a second. There are many videos on YouTube and other video platforms with tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of views that have barely even been watched by a handful of people. How is this possible? Its very simple. There are a range of services that offer "real" viewers at a super cheap price. The views are simply bought and the numbers show the growth in views. Many of these services include "subscribers" even "likes" and "dislikes" to make it look authentic. Many buyers are so convinced that they simply spend money on growing the number of views. A completely pointless exercise. If those views don't result in any gain for marketing, then what is the point? There needs to be some form of action after watching the video to make the video meaningful to your marketing.
It can be said though that buying your first few views can help with first impressions but it will not help in the long run. Many people will not watch a video with low viewer numbers. Like the people who will only stand in long queues because they think that other people wanting something is a reason for wanting it themselves, so viewers want to see what other viewers want to see. So starting off with a few bought views can't hurt but what matters is what happens after that. Do they actually keep watching your video? Do they interact with your video? Do they come back for more?
These are the things that really matter. It may seem daunting but it can be achieved. The first thing is to not try to be something you are not. Many would argue that being funny or controversial is the answer. As much as this does work in many cases, it may not work for you. It may not even benefit your business, even though the viewers may be flying in. Remember, effective video marketing has results. Measurable results. Also not all videos need to be super high end like those made by video production companies in Johannesburg. They should however not be unprofessional. Quality is still important.
So lets get to the meat and potatoes part of video marketing on social media. Now whether you are using a video production company or you are making them yourself, the same set of ideas apply.
They are Relevance, Targeted and Constancy.
Lets start with relevance. This not only applies to the content of the video but relevance to your business. Having a puppy video may bring in an audience but if you sell industrial equipment you are wasting your time. Your mission is not to provide entertainment. Your mission is to bring in a buying audience. You can be entertaining in the process but the focus is not entertainment. Try to find topics that interest your target market.
This brings us to the targeted part. Being targeted does not mean having a general coverage of a vaguely similar audience. A target is precise. The age, gender, social standing, industry, price bracket etc are critical bits of information about your market that can make or break your targeting of the correct audience. When your videos go out they need to appeal to that audience.
Then consistency comes in. You may have heard consistency thrown around in all fields but in social media marketing, this is hugely important. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it takes time for people to trust you and your message. Secondly it's because the audience you created will fall away if they come back to your channel only to find that your messages have stopped.This is where dabbling in social media can be a killer. All the work can end up with no results and, even worse, the sense of despondency will kill your eagerness to try again. Its better to do an average job consistently than have a random bit of greatness.
So how do you get started with your video marketing? Before you put something out there, it is important to cover some basic topics. Whether you use a corporate video production company or make your own videos with your cell phone, the rules are the same. They are image quality, sound quality and packaging. If you are not going to use a professional video production company then
these are very important. Most video production companies in Johannesburg have got these parts down so its a weight off your mind. If, however, you are doing it on your own then these are very important. It would take more than a few blogs to share that information but the basics would be: use light, more light and then some more light. Don't shoot in dark areas without experience. Make sure your audio is loud and clear. Not too loud that it distorts and not too soft that the audience will struggle to hear it. If you can, use a lavelier, or lapel, microphone to improve your voice recordings.
Make sure the video audio is mixed and leveled correctly. Turning up your speaker volume can create the illusion that your audio is fine. When it goes online you will discover the problem. Make sure its loud and clear compared to other audio like music etc.Also having too much graphics in the video can take away from the personal appeal. Having some basic short graphics like nice clean titles and logos can make the video look more professional but don't over do it.
Now comes the choosing of the idea for your video. This although technically easier, can be the hardest part for most people. The problems is not just finding a good idea, its consistently finding a good idea. Remember its not just a once off. What can help is to find an idea and make it a theme for a bunch of videos. For example if you sell gardening tools, you could do a series on removing unwanted things in the garden. The first episode could be about weeds, the second about bugs, the third about chemicals etc. If you sold on-line products like training programs you could take tiny parts of the training and share them as teasers. If you owned an exhaust and tyre shop you could give out advice on car maintenance tips or insider secrets to keeping car performance at its best.As you can see the topics for the video productions are similar but not exactly like the product in many cases. The idea is to attract people with similar interests to your product/service you are are selling.
This way they don't feel like you are selling to them. They have a sense of knowing your brand, trusting your message and having a sense of reciprocity. They, when they finally need your product or service, would more likely chose yours over your competitor because they feel like they know and trust you. Once you get this right, like the shampoo bottle says "rinse and repeat".
Having an audience that likes what you are doing will bring in bigger and bigger audiences who will grow in trust and liking of your business.
Many video marketers make the mistake of turning their marketing into a money generating video service. This can be a big problem for many marketing campaigns. While it is nice to make a few extra dollars form your videos, the trust can be damaged. The amount of return from the sales through your business as a result of your video marketing can massively outweigh the small gains from money earned form adverts on your video. Even worse is that your competitors can end up advertising on your video. You bring the audience, they get the results. Your video marketing should be to bring in your audience, to direct them eventually to your business. Nothing more, nothing less.
Your videos can also have a big impact on your SEO. This means that your videos can help with your business ranking. While many video production companies can make great videos, what hey might not be experts in is the application of the videos. Many SEO experts will tell you that embedding and back-linking is key to SEO. The embedding is where your marketing videos, on places like YouTube, are embedded into your website. Then your YouTube video can have a back-link to your website. This works well for boosting SEO. It also helps for your audience to be able to find your videos.
There is so much video being used and so much confusion as to what video to use for social media. Many video production companies are producing tons of high quality video for marketing but are they effective marketing tools on social media? Its time to look at what video should be used and when, with social media marketing.
Before we look at the problems we need firstly to define social media. This basic step is often overlooked and is part of the problem. Firstly not all social media is made equal. Different social media requires different video. You can not post a video to YouTube and think that it is the same as twitter or Facebook. Some social media platforms don't even allow for posting videos. So it is important to know which ones do. There is also a different audience on each platform so its important to know the demographics of your client base and which social media platforms match that audience. It makes no sense to have a huge reach to an audience that has no interest in your product or service.
Many businesses, due to their lack of knowledge about social media, get suckered into the notion that to stay relevant they have to reach out to a young and connected audience. Although the temptation is always there to try to be hip and in touch, if they are not your client demographic or potential buyers, they are not relevant. Be relevant to your actual client base.
Each social media platform also has its own limit on size of video.This means bit rate and quality as well as length of video can be critical. So many companies make one video which they think can simply be plastered on all networks, not knowing that this is impractical. The video production companies in Johannesburg and around the world are only too happy to make these videos but the audiences will also respond differently to the same video on different platforms so the prodcution companies need to create ones that are appropriate.
One of the main causes of incorrect video usage on social media is self indulgence. Way too many companies will spend 3 to 7 minutes talking about themselves as if they are some super star who everyone is interested in. Reality check...You are not and they are not interested. A hard pill to swallow but if you don't break the cycle of self indulgent marketing, your businesses marketing will be feeble at best. The world today is filled with people who are only interested in what benefits them. They will not even watch 30 seconds of a rant about how amazing your company is. Video productions should be 100% about what benefits the client and not your business. The video is not only about getting the message to the client about how your company can benefit them but the video itself must be a benefit. This part is hard for many to comprehend because they never look from the buyers point of view, only from their own. Many corporate video production companies Johannesburg put together fantastic videos that are technically amazing and visually appealing but are of absolutely no benefit to the clients marketing strategy. The client is happy because their ego is stroked with the pretty video and the video production company is happy because they get paid whether the video brings new clients or not.
What video production companies should be doing is pointing out what video is most appropriate for which social media platform and how to use it. A video that provides value to potential clients is what should be used on YouTube such as a "how to" video or some sort of free advice. This is of great value to the potential client and will draw them in willingly. On platforms that only allow for short small , videos where the viewers attention span is short a video that is either entertaining or provocative and very sharable is what should be used. When a company is putting together their web site a completely different video is needed. There are two types, the one being an "about us" video which goes on the about us page of the website and a "reason why" the client should use the business service or product video should be on the landing page. These can be hosted on YouTube or Vimeo and embedded on the web pages. These videos however will do nothing to bring in a new audience or potential clients but work well to close the deal with a person who has already landed on the website.
To draw in a new audience or potential buyers you need to go where they are.
While it makes sense to use professional corporate video production companies to make your range of videos, it is not their responsibility to know where to use them. That is either yours, or your marketing companies responsibility. There should be a clear communication between your marketing department and the video production companies to ensure the video is appropriate and targeted for the correct audience and social media platform.
For example a simple Happy Easter video can be as short as 5 seconds, to simply target existing clients. Like the video below.
This video will not bring in new clients and will do nothing for social media marketing but can be good for staying in the clients minds for future business.
Some simple inspiring short video clips can also work really well on many platforms. As long as it is short, interesting and sharable, then you stand a good chance of getting some decent exposure but its import to to keep testing to see which ones are responded to best and which ones bring in the most traffic. There is no silver bullet when it comes to video productions and their use on social media but these simple guidelines can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of the video and of the marketing on social media platforms.
When going through a list of production companies in Johannesburg, the production companies in Gauteng should offer you a range of video lengths and formats to be used on a range of social media platforms.
Its been long accepted that video killed the radio star but the question is : Did video kill the TV star too? Truth be told video did not kill the radio star at all.Radio is as strong as ever, just in a different way. If the United States is the only consideration, then its actually syndication that did the most to kill the radio star as we know it. The saying actually comes from when MTV came to life. It was believed that people would flood to music videos over music on its own.This belief exploded MTV into a super channel known world wide. As you may know MTV however is not a music TV station anymore. Its seems radio made a comeback. To really understand what the future holds you simply have to look at how people love convenience. Its not the music video versus the music but the convenience versus past systems. Satellite radio made an initial dent on radio because of the ability to listen to a wide range of services and to have music without advertising.
This however was not really the final nail as streaming became the greatest threat to all forms of broadcasting. Some thought that it meant simply putting the existing broadcast onto online streams as a new delivery system for the same programming. This turned out to be far from the truth. The public became instead a consumer of sound bites and video clips. The world seems to be spinning faster everyday and most people just don't have the time to listen to a full news broadcast and music or talk shows.
If you look outside the United States, the picture is quite different. Many countries don't have satellite radio and many have very poor streaming if you are moving. This makes listening to streaming radio problematic because the signal often breaks down as the signal jumps from one cell tower to another.
With all things, technology will change over time. This means that when signals are clear and stable for a high percentage of the time across the planet, the full change from broadcast will most likely happen. That discussion however does not address the question of video.
Many thought websites like YouTube would be mild distractions at best with silly cat videos and illegal low quality copies of movies, being just another piece of junk TV.
Those in the know, like Google, realized otherwise. After Google took over YouTube the platform become a real contender for news, music, entertainment and a platform for people to voice their opinions on subjects ranging from fashion to politics, dating to global affairs.
A place to put your home video became not only another form of entertainment but a massive new business platform. The potential for advertising was suddenly realised in a way most could never have foreseen.
One type of star that has appeared is the YouTube star. Self made celebrities have begun competing with broadcast TV and movie stars. Some have termed them "Internet famous" vs "really famous".Oddly many of the "Internet famous" have more followers than traditional stars.Many of them are also self made millionaires.
The question then was : Do businesses take YouTube advertising seriously? Would companies reputation be tarnished in anyway by being associated with what many might see as unprofessional ?
At first all went well and many companies took full advantage of the cheap exposure and made huge leaps in their marketing. The fairytale however was short lived. For what ever reason many companies found that their adverts were played on channels not flattering to their image.They banded together, according to mainstream news, and demanded that YouTube control better, how and where the adverts were placed and what channels were acceptable. Many successful YouTube channels quickly became demonetised.
The question hung in the air of "what does this mean for online video marketing?" Just as marketers got to grips with the world of video commercials online, they had to rethink their strategy.
The changes not only affected YouTube channels and companies but also video production companies who had changed their services from broadcast advertising to online video marketing. The changes were not just technical as with the format and compatibility but also in understanding the diverse audience. Unlike TV channels of old, it was found that if the wrong target market was chosen, the marketing became pointless. Video marketing was no longer about making a pretty 30 second commercial and pounding it over and over on broadcast TV.The marketing with video now had to be more focused. Luckily, the algorithms that Google has been working on, have been able to help marketers to direct marketing to the appropriate audiences. Video production companies also had to come to terms with the idea that many of the video platforms were becoming more and more "live". With Periscope, Facebook Live and other services making it possible for individuals to "broadcast", the standard ideas of advertising changed. Many people believe that the video production companies in Johannesburg and around the world have a handle on the changes happening but in fact it is such a fast changing industry that even marketing companies along with video production companies are trying to get to grips with the changes. While many of the changes have made it more viable to target a niche market, the terrain is still unknown. Many mistakes will be made and hopefully lessons learned from them. The many casualties along the way might not care too much about the lessons learned when they see their income disappear. Many YouTube channels have had to turn to outside sources for income besides advertising.These ranged from donations through many services and even printing T shirts and other merchandising for their followers to purchase.
One of the biggest problems is that their is no official broadcast authority. YouTube and Google have began monitoring and attempting to filter content for what is more "appropriate". Some have argued that the choices are wildly biased in political and social spheres. While cat videos are still considered by many as "acceptable" , independent news channels claim that they can be demonetised for holding the "wrong opinion".
While it has always been the responsibility of marketing companies to navigate the industry, video production companies have become the first contact for small and medium sized businesses. This means that corporate video production companies in Johannesburg are expected to not only understand the online industry but be experts. They are expected to have an inside knowledge of how to market video correctly that best helps the businesses. Although it shouldn't be the video companies responsibilities, if the clients think it is, then it is.
With all this chaotic changing of the rules, online marketing has begun to look like a "loose cannon".
TV broadcasting of old suddenly looks appealing because of stability. The truth is though that the sheer expense of broadcast TV simply makes it out of the question for most marketers. This means that no matter how rough it gets, the price factor will keep small and medium sized businesses looking to corporate video production companies to make it work for them. So did Video kill the TV star? Clearly not ...well not yet. Only time will tell how video changes, how its delivered and how it will be used for entertainment, news and marketing.
Big companies have clearly seen the benefits of video marketing online and understand how much more affordable and effective it is compared to past expensive broadcast advertising. Small businesses are however less convinced. The sad thing is that online marketing should actually be benefiting small businesses due to its low cost and accessibility. Small businesses though are always tighter with their spend. This is totally understandable because they have less to spend and less ability to take risks. The small companies that do see the enormous benefits have taken up the challenge and seen huge benefits. For many people advertising is seen as a one to one exchange where all the money that is spent must be immediately visible as a return and therefore if no immediate returns are seen it seems to them to be a loss and a waste of time. Many small businesses pour good money after bad into low quality traditional advertising such as print media or phone books. The returns are minimal to say the least but they stick with it because they know it well and are comfortable with it.
When a good video campaign is put together by skilled people in a video production company the returns can be fantastic but because it is new territory for small businesses they often shy away from it.
Video production companies are in many cases also part of the problem because of their inability to distinguish between large and small companies. The expectations and the disposable funds are not the same. Large companies expect the videos to be very high end requiring expensive equipment and expertise while small businesses do not have the same expectations and have much less to spend.
Some might argue that video companies should not differentiate between big and small companies and treat everyone the same. This is a confused and short sighted approach. Any wealthy businessperson may well buy an expensive imported car while a small business owner may be more likely buy a smaller, more affordable car. Does this mean the two people are being treated differently? Clearly not. The same should apply to video productions. Smaller companies should have more affordable video productions available to them. This does not mean they should accept inferior quality but rather a service which best suites their budget.
It has been assumed by many that the only way to get a cheaper video made is by using a student or a new comer to the industry. While this thinking greatly benefits the students and newcomers by the lessons they learn, they are learning their lessons at the clients expense and the expense may be great when loss of business is factored in.
There also many dangers involved with low skilled videographers. Many don't have the basic understanding of copyrights and privacy laws. This lack of knowledge can have very costly results in the form of legal action and danger to individuals. The professional small business should really be looking at professional corporate video production companies to create the video that they need for their online marketing. There are more and more skilled video production companies who are beginning to offer affordable video productions that can greatly benefit small businesses. With many services in a free market, competition drives prices down making it possible for small businesses to take advantage of these services.
There are some important factors to keep in mind though when using these more affordable high quality video production services.
The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that video marketing is not SEO. SEO which means Search Engine Optimisation, is a completely different field. While video can play a major part in the Seo work, it in its self is not SEO. The very skilled SEO experts know that video is an intrinsic part of a good SEO strategy but they also know that video cannot stand alone. If you were to put your fantastic video onto YouTube and just wait and watch if anyone will see it, you are in for a mountain of disappointment.
Videos need to be promoted just like any piece of content. If you created a typed piece of marketing material, you wouldn't assume that it would promote its self.You would know that you need to pay a publisher of some kind to promote it. A print add needs to be printed in a publication that is distributed. The same applies to video.
Different videos have different purposes. An "About us" video is great for your website and YouTube but it can not be used for social media. Videos need to be tailored to each format. There are also different price tags for different types of videos. There is no "one fits all" video. Corporate video production Johannesburg companies are often asked for a quote on a corporate marketing video of a few minutes, as if video is sold by minute like meat is sold per pound or kilogram. This is not the case with video. A video of a person speaking in one place is very different to moving graphics, aerial video footage or even a heavy edit for effect. No video can be quoted as a fixed generic amount.Each video, with its own complexities will have a different price. Many small business owners make the mistake of wanting a TV style advert for their business. The advert on TV often costs hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars or rand to produce. Small businesses don't need these adverts. Also many small video production companies in Johannesburg can produce much more appropriate videos at a lower cost.
Its not a once off. Videos are often seen like websites, where once it is all done nicely it is a "set and forget" situation.This may work for a reasonably long while for websites but it does not work on videos. With social media becoming so pervasive in the marketing of all sizes of business, it has affected the need for high volumes of content. With video becoming more and more important to social media, video has become a high turn over piece of content. Video productions put together by video production companies in Johannesburg were mostly seen as a low turn over high price type of marketing material. This has changed and video production companies have seen the importance of responding to the demand.The growth in demand for high turn over low price content may eventually over take the high priced video productions. This reluctant acceptance of this change will completely change the playing field of video production and the field of marketing.
Video being used for social media is not seen in the way that video productions were originally seen. They are however as important as the full blown corporate video production Johannesburg companies provide . Some might say that they are now the most important. The video used though is on a much smaller scale and more of a throw away type of product. Because social media moves so quickly, and the content disposed of so quickly, it can become a very expensive exercise for most small businesses to keep up.
The over-cooking of small videos for social media can be an overkill. It is important to maintain quality but there are ways to reduce the cost of video for social media. There are some important ideas to keep in mind when deciding on the video content but there are no hard and fast rules as the use of video for social media as it is so new and ever-changing. Sticking to hard and fast rules would be a bad idea.
Although the playing field may change wildly and quickly, human behaviour remains the same in most cases. People's attention spans are low to say the least and the flood of information has numbed most people to marketing and advertising. So the idea is to grab their attention and get the message across quickly and memorably in the least irritating way. Worst case scenario you want it not to be an expensive exercise.
Online marketing should really be a much more affordable and effective way of marketing than traditional broadcast media. This means that if a company's online marketing budget begins to look like a broadcast budget, the company would have to rethink their marketing strategy.
Sometimes the content that is to be used is to be as throw away as possible to make sure the campaign can be ongoing. Having one amazing piece of content every blue moon is less effective than reasonably good content on a consistent basis. This type of content is not widely available at good prices because the ones who hold the keys to the equipment and skills to create the content are the same people who provide the high quality, high priced, video content for broadcast and corporate video marketing. They don't want to be seen as companies who create low quality throw away media.
There, however, is a rising market of video production companies in Johannesburg and around the world who are seeing the growth of a huge market for short, low cost, medium quality content. The important part is that it must be video content. Although images and text do play their part, the rise of video content is staggering. Video has all but over taken all other forms of content for social media, however most of it is low quality DIY nonsense. The video production companies who take up the challenge of creating the highly sought after video content will be part of one of the greatest digital media gold rushes ever seen.
To understand what this content is we have to look at people's behaviour. Firstly it must be eye catching to grab people's attention over other less attractive content. It must get the message across quickly because people lose interest very quickly. It must be memorable enough for people to want to share it and it must not look cheap even though it is. Most people are very judgemental when it comes to poor quality marketing. It's for this reason that the quick and cheap route is a tricky one.
The most popular form of social media content was info graphics.They held the lions share of the desirable content landscape for a long while. Short videos have however started to challenge info graphics for the title of "King of social media content". Info graphics are not cheap so the leap to short video is not that far.
The difference though is the source of the content. Most info graphics are put together by graphic designers, while social media video content is mostly put together by corporate video production companies and by a new bread of content providers.Video production companies Pretoria based or around the country can provide the same content as online providers with a local connection. While most types of content can be bought online, sometimes the sense of disconnect with unknown providers overseas can feel awkward. Local providers can often be just a phone call way to communicate about any issues with your content. Also payment and invoices are a lot easier because most online services work in dollars and not local currencies. The invoices are often also not valid for local tax purposes. Corporate video production companies Johannesburg based may be slightly more expensive but because the services are tax deductible and the communication is often better, the extra expense may not be that problematic.
For most small businesses a price range of a few tens of dollars or few hundred Rand per piece of content is about as big as the budget will go. There is a type of content that is fairly affordable but has a sense of quality to it. This type of content is based on basic templates that can be customised to suite each message for each company. The four important parts to any content are attractive, informative, memorable and sharable. This can be easily achieved with a short animated video adapted to have text suitable for the company message.
The formats can vary from 1080P HD to portrait and even square format. The reason is that most social media is consumed on mobile devices. The aspect ratio on PC is good for HD and many mobile devices, if turned on their side can also use the same aspect ratio, but most people hold their phones upright which means a portrait format is better. The format the can work on both portrait and landscape is the square format of equal height and length. While full marketing videos are best kept to the 16 by 9 aspect ratio of 1080p HD, social media is consumed in too much of an unpredictable manner so the square, or 1 by 1, ratio can be more useful.
The square aspect ratio is not as attractive but is highly shareable and easily consumed. These can sometimes be more important. When going through a list of video production companies in Johannesburg, make sure the company can provide a range of services for online marketing.
The variations on the content include simple typography, which is words floating around the screen, animated characters either as actual animation or as white board type of characters.Then there is the logo animation which basically turns a standard logo into an animated logo. The animated logo does not work well on its own but as part of other content. One of the most popular types is using a combination of typography, visual graphics with photographs and ending with a logo animation. This combined with music and even a voice over can be spectacular. They can be more expensive though so having it without music and voice will cut costs and a lot of social media is consumed using mobile devices with the sound off. So it will not have much of an impact to remove the audio all together.
