Five video marketing tactics you can’t miss in 2023

From social media to online stores, from landing pages to emails: it’s very likely that you will watch a video, even for a few seconds, while updating your Instagram feed or searching for news about a particular topic on any search engine. If well thought out and executed, video marketing can offer companies important benefits in terms of visibility, engagement, and conversion rates.

How do you get more value from your video marketing strategies? Which video marketing tactics ensure the highest return today? Here, we have identified those that are delivering on their promises of having the best performance in 2023.

1. Influencer marketing

Videos used for influencer marketing ensure that the brand can be more easily recognized and remembered. The benefits of influencer marketing are very real and result in a greater revenue stream: one out of four marketers who take advantage of the potential of influencer marketing now achieve the second-highest ROI of any other marketing tactic. 

Influencer marketing is part of the so-called “creator economy,” which refers to the collection, creation, and distribution of content in the contemporary digital world.

The creator economy

At the heart of the creator economy is social media, the platforms on which users and content creators form online communities by interacting with each other based on similar interests. Creators who manage to monetize their activities are able to convert this ability to establish connections into new forms of wealth.

In July 2022, the creator economy reached over $100 billion (six months earlier, the total value was $20 billion, just one-fifth), and today 75% of marketers leverage content produced by creators (a number that is expected to rise to 86% in the next three years), demonstrating the ample profit margins for organizations who invest in the creator community. 

In the content economy, influencers directly target a particular type of online audience that is composed of consumer niches. This is why they are increasingly sought after by companies. Brands that establish a partnership with one or more influencers do so to strengthen their digital presence by leveraging their communication skills, reputation, and pool of followers.

Redefining the brand-creator relationship

In working with creators, brands need to be careful in selecting talent and ambassadors, as not all of them can be guaranteed to achieve the expected results. Consumers are also becoming increasingly critical in assessing the authenticity of partnerships between brands and influencers. People who are part of a community based on shared values expect the brand to rely on people who are informed, passionate, and deeply knowledgeable about the topics the community is interested in. Only then can you create a deeper connection between influencer, brand, and audience. Video marketing campaigns that arise from these types of interactions must distribute relevant messages from an omnichannel perspective: they must simultaneously exist across multiple touch points and reach users on their preferred platforms. 

As much as influencers express themselves through a wide variety of formats (writing, photography, podcasts), influencer marketing is mostly about video.

Why is video the best content for influencer marketing?

With influencer videos, marketers can achieve a higher level of credibility and relevance. Emotional matching makes the message even more personal. Video marketing that is focused on the role of influencers can conquer a number of goals: 

• increase the chances of the target audience to recognize the brand
• improve understanding of the advertised product or service
• foster and accelerate purchase decisions
• more easily win the attention and trust of GenZ
• help establish social proof and create awareness

Which type of videos are used most often for influencer video marketing?

1. Unboxing videos. Unboxing videos, where one or more products are unpacked and shown by an influencer, provide the viewer with an up-close experience and help build hype for new releases. These videos offer a more intimate perspective: the influencer unboxes the package while sharing their reflections and impressions, and the audience feels as if they are participating in her own shopping activity. 
2. Video tutorials. Video tutorials show how a product should be used or show how to take full advantage of a given service. They save valuable time and are popular with those who don’t need extensive details but want to quickly get the information they need to solve a problem. Video tutorials are especially useful for products that are difficult to assemble.
3. Reviews. Reviews are a great way for influencers to share their opinions about a brand’s products or services. In this case, videos can provide a more personal account of a product than a regular advertisement and are therefore perceived as more unbiased.

2. User generated video content

In talking about user generated video content, the second of our video marketing tactics, we are still operating within the creator economy. User generated content (UGC) is original content created by customers and posted on social media or other channels. UGC comes in many forms, and video is the most effective.

If consumers today are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated content than brand-created content, it’s because they perceive it as more authentic. To take advantage of a trend that will continue into the future, companies need to develop the most effective techniques for employing UGC at all stages of the video marketing sales funnel and across a wide variety of channels such as social media emails and landing pages.

• UGCs are persuasive because they are authentic. In an environment where shoppers are increasingly selective, brands must compete to win their attention. For 60% of marketers, authenticity and quality are the key elements in attracting customers’ interest. And there is no more authentic content than UGC. 
• UGCs grow brand loyalty. Through UGC, customers have the opportunity to actively contribute to the growth of a brand instead of merely being spectators. This participation greatly increases their loyalty to the brand and to the community that gathers around the brand. Sharing user generated content develops and deepens the relationship between audience and company. At a time in history when organizations must work hard to establish themselves as trustworthy, UGC represents the perfect format for appearing trustworthy. 
• UGC increases conversions and influences purchasing decisions. User-generated content acts as social proof: by testifying “firsthand” to the quality of the product or service, it directly influences the outcome of the final stages of the purchase journey where the brand stakes a real chance of achieving a conversion.

3. Live streaming videos

According to a survey by GWI and DataReportal, one out of four people have used social media platforms to view live streams. Therefore, it’s not surprising that live streaming video is one of the must-have video marketing tactics for 2023.

Live streaming marketing refers to the strategy of broadcasting live to an audience on social media platforms. It’s a technique that influencers and video content producers use to speak directly to their audiences. However, over the past couple of years, brands have adopted live streaming tactics to market their products with a “one-to-many” approach. Live video does a great job, not only because it attracts and engages audiences, but if distributed correctly, it can also be extremely useful as a conversion tool.

• In addition to allowing you to connect with many customers at once, streaming live footage brings out the human element more strongly: viewers expect real people to talk directly to them. 
• Live streaming can be more convenient than other types of content because it can take place via social media accounts and through free tools such as Facebook Live, Instagram, or Periscope. 
• Live streams are a versatile content format. They can take the form of explainer videos to clearly and concisely describe how a product works. Or they can take the form of video announcements, which companies use to communicate important news or information to their customers, employees, and stakeholders.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Users find your website or come to your social channels because they are looking for something. To help them in their search and enhance their visit, you have to provide relevant content from the very beginning, you have to explain the benefits your solutions offer, you have to present them with useful information before they move on to the next content. Follow these steps to develop a carefully crafted SEO strategy:

• Define the purpose and placement of the video on the page. 
• Carefully choose the keywords in the title and description.
• Make the most of thumbnails by prioritizing custom images over generic stock photos.
• Optimize video quality and upload times.
• If you are going to upload the video to YouTube, always include the correct categories and tags.
• Consider including captions and subtitles.
• Be consistent, both in creating and posting video content and in updating your site.
• Keep track of critical metrics such as audience retention, exit rate, bounce rate, number of subscribers after viewing, and number of likes. Use this information to improve your SEO video marketing strategy.

SEO is a video marketing tactic that allows you to intercept customers just when they might need you most. Optimizing videos is not something you can choose not to do—it’s a technique that must be implemented now if you don’t want to miss the opportunity to connect with your audience.

5. Email marketing

With its ability to create a consistent channel of contact with target audiences, email marketing is a powerful digital communication tool—now more than ever. However, sending a simple text-based email may not be enough to win over increasingly fierce competition.

Incorporating video into emails or newsletters means introducing a more immersive mode of communication that can take your email marketing a quantum leap forward.

Why use video in email marketing?

Using video in email marketing offers a number of important benefits: it promotes audience engagement, increases your chances of creating new business leads, strengthens your brand profile, and improves return on investment (ROI). Moreover, given the wide variety of videos that can be created today, video can enrich any text message by making it more interesting and engaging, from company videos to product videos.

According to a study by Marketo and Clearfit by Vidyard, using video in email messages significantly increases open rates. Not only that, by combining the analysis of email open data and data involving video viewing, you can segment the list of users and then decide which groups to invest in (for example, viewers who watched more than half of the video). 

For all these reasons, the use of video in email campaigns has become a popular tactic for marketers and companies in a wide variety of industries.

If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” a video made of 27 frames per second is worth 27,000 words per second. The knowledge gained, both from an emotional point of view and in terms of the information conveyed, is much greater than what we could get, given the same amount of viewing time, from any textual content. This assertion is all the more true in light of the five video marketing tactics we have described: influencer marketing, user generated content, live streaming video, search engine optimization, and email marketing provide the most effective techniques to be able to implement video marketing best practices and enhance your videos throughout the consumer journey.

Babelee

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