Videos are taking on steam in the content marketing world. According to research from KingFishMedia, 35% of corporate managers/marketers are currently using a YouTube Channel as a social media tactic, with 44% planning to do so in the next 12 months. This is the tactic with the biggest projected growth in the next 12 months.
So, what makes a good video? Here are six examples to get you inspired.
All in Good Food
GE Monogram, a slightly higher-end unit of GE kitchen appliances, introduced a series of videos this year starring the appliances themselves. But instead of making it a series of appliance beauty shots, they have taken the higher-order need of their customers into consideration — that is, show WHAT can be CREATED with this great line of appliances. Folksy, accessible chefs (Chef Brian and Chef Joe) guide viewers through different meals and cooking skills. When you think that the last thing the world needs is another celebrity cooking show, GE Monogram allows the recipes and food to be the stars. The video efforts, called “foodcasts,” are housed in the broader All in Good Food website, which also includes the chefs’ blog, tools they use, and (of course) recipes. The brand understands its consumers: This is not Wolf, Sub-Zero, etc., but Americana that wishes to improve a bit on their skills and cache in their kitchens.
Contributed by Keith Wiegold
Dive Rite, Inc.
Dive Rite (a client) deployed a video channel last year that now includes more than 40 internally produced videos. Each one has 1,000 to 2,000 views. The company is definitely making itself relevant to its audience by providing quality, educational content.
While this doesn’t have the big viral bang of the infamous Will It Blend? video series, the accumulative views of the videos are contributing to Dive Rite’s status as a trusted authority and a definitive resource about its core business, i.e., technical SCUBA diving gear. This is a very realistic example of what small B2B/B2C can do to implement content marketing approaches affordably and effectively to build community engagement. According to Dive Rite’s Marketing VP Kathleen Byars, the content deployment that started in 2007 has contributed to Dive Rite’s ability to weather the economic downturn.
Contributed by Russell Sparkman
Suitemates
One of my favorite videos is Suitemates by Kinaxis. In a hilarious six-episode video series, viewers are entertained with a satirical look at frustration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) offerings for the supply chain.
Viewers are drawn back to view each episode because of the high-caliber acting and entertainment value. Just as important, the videos are part of an integrated social media marketing campaign, which includes a blog, an online community, and participation in LinkedIn and Twitter.
What can other marketers learn? It’s OK to inject humor and entertainment into your marketing – just be sure that even this content is tied to your strategic goals and that you can measure the impact.
According to a post by Enquiro (the agency that Kinaxis used for SEO), Kinaxis wanted to drive awareness and double its leads year-over-year. As of April 2010, the company had more than tripled its leads, and boosted the number of registered community members by nearly 38%. The series even won BtoB Magazine’s Best 2010 Award for creative use of online video to drive site traffic and create buzz among its audience.
Contributed by Stephanie Tilton
Hyperion: A True Story
This video we did for Hyperion Asset Management in Australia got a lot of attention for its irreverent tone in a very conservative market (which included calling the CEO a “hard-ass”).
The market is also full of sterile slash animation, so we thought it would be fun to go down the Monty Python route and do a stop-motion collage video.
The video was picked up by bloggers and magazines who associated the out-of-the-box style with Hyperion’s own unconventional investment style.
Contributed by Doug Kessler
Create your own ezytire website
One of my clients, E-Solution Professionals, dabbled in instructional videos for its “ezytire” software product without much success. The company knew it had a good product but was having a hard time attracting prospects. I wrote a short script for an online demo showing how easy it was to start a trial, which resulted in this video. The discipline of having scripted content made all the difference in the end result. E-Solution has used the new video at conferences and now has it attached to its website, http://www.ezytire.com.
Contributed by Sarah Mitchell
Living with ADHD
In order to create awareness around ADHD, Janssen Emea and Story Worldwide (my company) created a social media campaign with an animated film called Living with ADHD at its heart. The subject is tackled head-on, by shooting the film through the eyes of a child with the condition. Using a creative technique called rotoscoping (where the animated film comes to life as an animation by “painting over” footage of actors), the viewer feels emotionally involved. The non-branded film blends scenes of the child’s day, including sitting at the kitchen table with their parents, with educational facts that dispel previous misconceptions of the condition.
The video is clear and simple, and helps people of all ages understand what living with ADHD is like, as well as dispelling myths about the condition. The campaign has raised awareness and has fostered discussion about the topic, specifically in the YouTube comment area.
This is a great example which shows that videos that are useful, entertaining, and tell a great story will spread. Provide tools that allow discussion to be fostered. You can monitor that discussion, but only to catch the rare bad apple.
The video has been viewed over 131,000 times, nearly doubling the goal. It is Europe’s most successful viral pharma film.
Contributed by Chiqui Cartagena
Any other videos to add to this list? Share them in the comments below.
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