Video and social media have experienced tremendous growth in the last few years — in terms of technological capabilities, as well as in usage rates. For example, according to the B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends study, marketers’ use of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn grew by up to 20 percent between 2010 and 2011. In that same time period, video usage increased from 41 percent to 52 percent among marketers.
These technologies have presented marketers with tremendous opportunities and challenges, as the audience has high expectations.
In the Content Marketing Institute’s recent webinar, Jump-Start Your 2012 Content Marketing Strategy with Video & Social Media, Steve Rotter, VP of Marketing at Brightcove, outlined some of these accelerated consumer expectations:
Devices: Viewers demand the ability to access content on a number of different devices — not just on their PCs.
Everywhere access: They want to be able to consume content wherever and whenever they choose.
Social: They want to be able to engage with content, share, and discuss it across their social graphs on their favorite platforms.
Options: Their desired content must be available at their demand, and must offer them convenient choices for consuming, purchasing, and subscribing.
Quality: They don’t accept excuses for poor viewing experiences. Living-room quality video is essential, no matter how, when, and where they choose to view their content.
In turn, these technology speed zones have resulted in some significant speed bumps for CMOs, who face new challenges when it comes to standing out, keeping engagement levels up, and driving conversions in the face of fragmented audience attention and increased strategic complexity.
But, as Rotter says, “If you aren’t prepared to commit on these new platforms, you will miss a huge opportunity — and large portions of the audience — that your competition might grab.”
Fortunately, Rotter had some valuable insight and inspiration on hand to help improve the ways marketers leverage their content across these technologies. Framing his discussion in the context of the customer life cycle, he began by outlining some compelling ideas on how to use video to drive awareness, and offered best practices in five key areas:
SEO: Video dramatically improves SEO results, as search engines treat video content as higher-order objects when indexing web pages. Rotter suggests creating interactive transcripts of video content, as these components are searchable, drive navigation, and can create a fantastic user experience.
YouTube: As the second-largest search engine today (second only to Google), YouTube has become a powerful tool for marketers, particularly when it comes to creating content synergies. As a best practice, Rotter recommends that marketers make sure their YouTube videos point people to their own websites to maintain creative control and capture deeper viewer analytics.
Social video: Rotter stressed the importance of pushing video content onto your business’ Facebook page. He also mentioned that the functionality you create when using a white-label video player (such as Brightcove’s player), can carry over into your Facebook page, allowing viewers who discover your content on one platform to take action on other platforms as well.
Live video: Rotter described live video’s “halo effect”, where people who discover your live video may return to your site to consume additional content. This produces incremental, on-demand views that can continue long after the original video event takes place.
Online & offline integration: Mobile technology offers tremendous opportunities to engage consumers on one platform and direct them to additional platforms in a seamless way. For example, product or object recognition that results from interacting with a billboard ad can be extended through interactive web experiences by using a QR code.
Rotter also outlined some video and social media options that can be used to drive consumers further down the purchase funnel:
Branded video channels and video product demos can be used to drive interest.
Video case studies foster increased levels of trust, which can encourage trial.
Video landing pages, video embeds in email, in-player calls-to-action, and shoppable video can make trial and purchase more convenient.
Developing social-based customer communities, customer care programs, and corporate communication initiatives support loyalty.
If you would like to hear the rest of Steve Rotter’s advice and view some of his compelling case study examples, there’s still time to experience the webinar. Download Jump-Start Your 2012 Content Marketing Strategy with Video & Social Media.
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