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91% of businesses use video content marketing because savvy marketers are tapping into the growing consumer trend of relaxing with a short video during stolen moments.
Optimizing video content marketing ideas for specific purposes increases engagement and returns. Using different formats helps you tailor content to keep target audiences interested. Speedily presenting critical information is vital.
66% of consumers prefer short-form videos under one minute long. Short-form engagement rates are around 50% because shorts are bingeable, shareable, and highly entertaining while being memorable.
However, text isn’t dead. You’ll still need text for SEO so that audiences can find video content. Also, many people still prefer text to video because text is scannable and can be faster to consume. The benefit of combining text and video is higher returns for less effort in creating a more robust marketing effort.
What Are the Benefits of Video Marketing for Brands?
Telling a memorable story that resonates with your target audience is easy when creating video content because you have many elements to work with. You can combine audio, video, and action in limitless combinations using a variety of engaging formats on the internet's hottest video platforms. You can gain these measurable benefits:
Brand awareness grows
95% of marketers say that video helps them grow brand awareness. Video can build trust and loyalty by:
- Showcasing brand personality
- Featuring customer testimonials and reviews
- Demonstrating social responsibility and impact
Reach New Customers and Audiences
When your video messages go viral, you can get your brand in front of more consumers without increasing ad spend to increase reach.
Viewers share your video with their friends. You reach potential buyers you haven't targeted with word-of-mouth advertising — the most effective kind.
Video Reaches Decision Makers
Forbes says 59% of executives prefer watching videos to reading text. Quality video can impart information faster in a more relaxing format.
Conversions and ROI improve
Video content marketing can increase conversions and ROI because it can be:
- Cost-effective — videos shot on mobile phones are highly popular on TikTok and Instagram
- Evergreen — using the many types of evergreen content keeps traffic flowing
- Versatile — videos can engage consumers in all stages of the sales funnel for B2B and B2C
- Measurable — you can use view count, likes, comments, shares, click-through rate, conversion rate, and many more metrics to measure video performance
You can generate these benefits and more with the top 11 video content marketing ideas.
Top 11 Video Types and Ideas To Increase Engagement
Enhance your video strategy and increase engagement using a video idea matching your purpose, product, and audience.
Your production process for all 11 video types below will improve if you build an outline or storyboard before writing a YouTube video script. You'll be able to see how each element in the production process fits together to create an engaging presentation that meets expectations.
1. Explainer
The purpose of one to two-minute explainer videos is to render complex ideas about a product, service, or concept understandable. Explainers should grab and hold attention by getting straight to the point. Aim for short, sweet, and engaging rather than trying to explain everything.
Pacing the video correctly is critical — too slow is boring, but too fast is overwhelming. Every stage in the video can address pain points, deepen understanding, demystify tricky concepts, and remove barriers. The end needs a CTA to move viewers along to the next stage of the buyer’s journey.
2. How-To
96% of video marketers state that video increases understanding of their product, while 95% say brand awareness grew. 91% saw traffic rise.
How-to videos usually demonstrate step-by-step how to use a product or perform a process. Videos about how to develop a skill are often gated content because people are willing to pay to add skills.
Unboxing videos are a popular way to show consumers product use from beginning to proficiency and can be great marketing tools. They should last as long as it takes to lead viewers from opening the box to successful use.
3. Tutorial
Right at the video’s beginning, clearly tell your audience what they will learn and the steps you will guide them through. Tutorial videos are often long, running to ten minutes or more, so providing captions and a written explanation can be helpful.
Pictures, infographics, and special effects can illustrate points and break up monotony to recapture wandering minds. Doing a screencast with a webcam video inserted helps hold interest because viewers can see the narrator talking while following the onscreen demonstration.
4. Behind-the-Scenes
People love behind-the-scenes videos because they humanize companies. Viewers feel special — like they’re peeking into how your team works to bring them a product or service. You build trust and authenticity.
In-action videos showing what your team does best aren’t the only possibility for behind-the-scenes peeks. You can also do updates, moving locations, and openings. Presenting personal facts like bios, a day-in-the-life, or fun facts reveals your humanity.
Behind-the-scenes video example
5. User-Generated Content (UGC)
People trust what other consumers say about your brand much more than what you say about your brand. UGC videos created by users instead of marketing professionals can be testimonials, vlogs, amateur videos, or live streams.
UGC videos can generate powerful impacts on social media, your website, or in emails. The many helpful benefits include:
- Cost-effective: you don't have to pay expensive video production costs
- Grow brand awareness: UGC creators usually share their videos on social media, which can spark curiosity
- Drive traffic: curious viewers often click through to your social media pages or your website
- Increase conversions: when viewers see influencers or peers using your product, they want it, too
6. Webinars
Webinars are a vital marketing strategy for organizations. A successful webinar showcases your expertise or product to a group of buyers who are interested enough to spend an hour of their time watching and listening. Offering information and insights unavailable elsewhere works well to attract viewers.
A professional webinar platform like GoToWebinar can help with all aspects of webinar production.
Popular webinar formats are:
- Product demo
- Case study interviewing a client
- Q&A with an expert or a panel answering audience questions
- Single presenter doing a how-to or tutorial
- Interviewing a guest expert
7. Product Reviews and Testimonials
Marketers need customer testimonial videos and reviews to build social proof for potential customers.
Product reviews focus on the customer’s overall experience with you and are usually informal and short. Reviews can be a mix of positive and negative comments, which makes them appear unbiased.
Testimonials are usually about specific results the customer has experienced. They are longer and often overwhelmingly positive, so they are sometimes suspect in consumers' eyes. Providing a list of questions for customers to answer in their testimonials helps them focus.
It's easy to get reviews and testimonials. You can ask for them at the point of sale or by email or phone. Be careful not to offer incentives. The Federal Trade Commission has made it clear that this is a big no-no.
8. Interviews With Subject Matter Experts (SME)
SMEs have expert knowledge about a particular area or subject. Interviewing an SME who is prominent in your field can increase brand authority, relevance, and engagement.
You can use an SME video to:
- Draw in new audiences
- Attract high-quality leads
- Provide quotes
- Address pain points
- Ask questions
- Stay on top of the latest research and trends
You should select your SME carefully to match your topic and the audience’s interests.
Before the interview, do enough research to guide the SME and keep them on track. Prepare a list of open-ended questions in advance. Sharing them with the SME ahead of time will help the interview go smoothly.
During the interview, your job is to prompt and guide the SME to elicit the information most valuable to the audience.
SME video interview example [Note from editor: Recommend using some of Compose.ly's webinar interviews here.)
9. Animated Videos
Cartoons entertain while conveying educational information in a way that holds interest by being dynamic and fun. Because animated videos are visually appealing and use concise storytelling, they can enhance communication and demystify complex concepts.
Cartoon videos are effective for customer-facing purposes to promote products, simplify explanations, and engage audiences. Internally, they work well as instructional videos for onboarding, training staff, and process demonstration.
You can choose the animation style that best suits your message, brand identity, and target audience. Styles include:
- 2D animation
- 3D animation
- Stop motion
- Motion graphics
- Whiteboard animation
- Cutout animation
Having the creative and storytelling freedom of animation makes it feasible to illustrate imaginary scenes, abstract ideas, and products that haven’t been created yet — all while offering cost and time efficiency.
It’s easy to evoke emotion, grow brand recognition, and maintain brand consistency through the unique visuals animation makes possible.
10. Interactive or Gamified Video Ads
Interactive videos mean people can click links in your video to take action. Making it easier for viewers to click allows them to act on impulse. You remove significant barriers — especially for mobile users.
75% of people surveyed said they prefer watching interactive videos to learn about a product over speaking to a sales representative. And 78% of businesses said online sales improved when using an interactive video instead of a static one.
Giving viewers the ability to click on links in your video makes it possible for them to:
- Take action instantly
- Go from the video to any website page
- Request more information
- Jump around in the video
- Click your CTA
- Put a product into your shopping cart
Video viewers can download content like ebooks or white papers. They get access to valuable resources while you get to educate prospective customers. You can also collect leads by providing a free trial or demo link. Adding interactive video to your social media production can produce significant benefits.
Example of an interactive video
11. Product Demos
Product demonstration videos showcase a product or app’s features, benefits, and functions. It demonstrates how your offering works and makes it easy for audiences to understand and appreciate value.
Demo video marketing on YouTube can captivate viewers through screen-recorded, animated, or live-action elements. Your business can communicate complex ideas simply in an engaging, memorable way.
Because you show precisely how a website, app, or product works, demo videos create realistic expectations about your offer. Seeing the product in action is a powerful educational tool that demonstrates the benefits clearly.
Make your demo video successful with these tips:
- The production style needs to match your product and audience.
- The right length is critical; too long is boring.
- Focus on the features that will get your target audience excited.
- Ensure your video is engaging and fun to stand out from the noise and get shared.
The video marketing tips above can spark video advertising ideas that will generate content aligned with your product and audience. Then, multiply the benefits you reap through repurposing your video content to reach more buyers for less cost.
The Importance of Repurposing Your Video Content
It’s possible to skyrocket growth through strategic repurposing, which makes repurposing content the holy grail of content marketing.
46% of marketers said turning videos into blog posts or other media is the most time-effective repurposing strategy. You expand reach and keep costs low when you rework content and present it to different audiences on various platforms.
Other benefits of combining blogging and video marketing are that it:
- Saves money. 65% of marketers agree.
- Increases website traffic and engagement by offering different types of content to your audience.
- Boosts SEO ranking and visibility by increasing dwell time and using more relevant and diverse keywords, tags, and metadata.
- Showcases your expertise, personality, and values, which grows brand awareness.
And 42% of marketers say repurposing content has led to successful marketing campaigns for them.
Create High-Quality Blogs From Your Videos With Compose.ly
The most effective content marketing combines video and text. Video grabs interest, while SEO-based text gets your videos found and provides well-researched explanations, which increases credibility.
Publishing a high-quality SEO blog with your video embedded in it demonstrates professionalism. Authority grows when written content presents more in-depth information on subjects the video raises: brand recognition and trust increase.
However, creating a blog from your video content that boosts traffic and engagement takes much more than simply pasting in a transcript, as you might do below a YouTube video.
Compose.ly writers are skilled at weaving information-packed stories using Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. You’ll get blogs that:
- Reach and engage audiences
- Include the keywords you need to rank for
- Get backlinks to build website authority
Skyrocket your growth while spending less time and money on marketing. Have a vetted, professional Compose.ly writer transform your videos into meaningful blogs to drive traffic.
