est. read time- 2:28
We’ve heard it before: “No one watches our videos. Videos just don’t work for our business. Our customers don’t watch video.”
But invariably - when we start asking questions to dive deeper into the issue - we find out that the prospect made one (or more) of the three most common video marketing pitfalls we see.The good news is that these pitfalls, as common as they are, are completely avoidable with a little prep.
In this post we’ll outline these three trouble areas and explain simple methods to avoid them.
1. You’re not sure who you are trying to attract.
Do you and your team have documented Buyer Personas? Because maybe you think you know who are trying to attract, but the rest of your team thinks your ideal customer is someone else.
Make sure you're all on the same page before you begin pre-production. Sit down in a room with the core people of your team and discuss your ideal customer.
Do you have a happy customer who would agree to an interview? Take them up on it! Draft a list of questions. If you aren't sure where to start, check out this downloadable template.
2. The video length/content isn't relevant to your ideal customer
Now that you know who your ideal customer is, let’s talk about what type of content they prefer.
What do we mean? Well, we could mean any number of things, but let's start with video length.
Recently The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) partnered with Millward Brown Digital and Tremor Video and released a comprehensive PDF called “Multiscreen Video Best Practices.” This report holds some great pieces of data you and your team may find helpful.
For example, did you know Millenials prefer 10 second videos while Gen-Xers prefer the standard 30 second video?
So go back to your target audience. Cater to their preferences and you’ll have a much better chance at success.
You’ve only embedded it on your website (and shared it once)
You’ve done all hard pre-production work until this point.
Really tough, but satisfying work. Now it’s time to see how your content optimization plays out.
Please, don’t make all your good work obsolete and only share your video on one platform, once.
"We embedded on our website, but we didn't get many views." Is your website Facebook? Is it Instagram? How about Snapchat? No. Well...there's your answer to 'Why'.
Go back to your Buyer Persona and think about your ideal customer. Where do they hang out online?
Create a social campaign around your video. Share it multiple times across your target audience’s favorite watering holes. Play around with the title of your video; experiment with hashtags; share the video at different times of the day.
Now collect all that data over a period of time and put that new knowledge toward your next video!
(Looking for more Do's & Don'ts, check out this article.)
In short, the If You Produce It, They Will Come attitude just doesn’t work.
I’m not sure it ever really did, but I can tell you with certainty that it doesn’t work in 2016.
People are used to watching what they want to watch where they want to watch it. They’ll seek out your content if you prove to be a great content creator. But that takes time and does not happen over night.
So, take the time and do the work. Then measure and refine; measure and refine. You won’t be disappointed. And your audience won’t be either.
Looking for a starting place to brainstorm video ideas? Download our 7 Must Have Videos!
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