When you hear the word content what are you thinking about? Text? If so, then you need to expand your view of “content”. In today’s marketing environment, there are many forms of content, one of which of course is text. But, as businesses are trying to find newer and more innovative ways to bring in clients, we are left with a whole set of choices when it comes to content.

One of the more famous ones that has in recent years become so popular is video. Video marketing has become a very important part of an effective marketing campaign due to one simple fact – people love video. They just do. Today, I will share with you 20 insightful and actionable tips by marketing experts specifically geared towards 2016.

Video Marketing Tip #1: Start Live Video Streaming

Bruce Himmelblau, a Video Producer/YouTube Strategist at Blue Sky Productions, shared with us the fastest growing part of video marketing:

The fastest growing section in video marketing is live video streaming. Businesses can engage in real-time with their audience to offer helpful tips or share behind the scenes of their operation.

Periscope offer the scope for 24 hours as a replay or it can be uploaded to YouTube. Other notable live streaming platforms are Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Blab.im, MeeVee, and LivitNow which is 360 & VR live streaming.

Video Marketing Tip #2: Spread The Word Everywhere

Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder & CEO of Mighteor, urges video marketers to format their video for all the major platforms:

Get creative about editing your video for multiple formats. Don’t just focus on YouTube and Vimeo. Embrace additional cuts for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat – you’ll get more out of your video budget and you’ll maximize exposure.

Video Marketing Tip #3: Include A Call To Action

Hannah Eisenberg, Chief Strategist at 3P Creative Group, recommends to always include a call to action in your video, but not just any call to action:

Include a call to action that relates to the content of the video. Always make sure you map out the next step in the journey for your visitors – don’t let them hanging.

Video Marketing Tip #4: Create Useful Content

Lisa Chu, Owner of Black N Bianco, reminded us of the most important part of any video marketing strategy – actually create content that people want to watch:

I believe the best video marketing strategy for 2016 is to create content that is useful to the target audience your business is trying to attract. The video will help build credibility and brand presence in your industry.

By sharing your knowledge through the videos you will establish your business as an industry leader. Don’t be intimidated by making videos for your business, if you are a genuine and sincere person, it will come across in your video and help grow your business.

Video Marketing Tip #5: Recycle

Kent Lewis, President & Founder of Anvil, shared with us a sneaky little video marketing strategy:

Recycle! Video may be the highest and best-converting media life-form on the Internet, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be efficiently recycled. Start with a 2 minute video upload to YouTube as your foundational presence online, since YouTube is the second largest search engine in terms of volume.

Next, take a 1 minute edited version and upload it to Facebook, as native uploads get preferential treatment. You can use a 30 minute video for advertising on YouTube, LinkedIn and other platforms. Trim down a 15 second version for Instagram and a 6 second version for Vine/Twitter. With 1 recording, you’re able to syndicate to four or more social platforms. That doesn’t even include stripping out audio for iTunes, text for blogs and images for Pinterest and Instagram.

Video Marketing Tip #6: Be Funny

Sean Dudayev, the Founder & Director of Marketing at InsureChance, urges you to include some form of humor:

The biggest video marketing tip I can give is be funny. Funny makes you likable and likable converts. I have found funny videos to be shared much more and reach a wider audience.

This is true especially in boring industries. If you can educate your viewers while making them laugh you will occupy a place in their mind and their hearts. And if that’s not good branding I don’t know what is.

Video Marketing Tip #7: Give People An Experience

Sloane Berry, the Co-Founder of Odesso, said that you need to create positive emotion in the people watching your video:

Give people an experience. You have to make people laugh, cry, or get turned on from watching your corporate mission statement.

Look at Geico, Toms Shoes, and GoDaddy ads for example – you have to push on the emotion button. And for the love of god, no gross cliché light leak transitions!

Video Marketing Tip #8: Create Longer Videos

Alex Genadinik from Problemio, share some of his personal experience with video marketing on YouTube:

Contrary to what many people think, longer videos tend to do better on YouTube if they are about some topic that an audience craves. So creating listicals of top 10 ways or strategies to do something will make for a better headline and give your video some necessary bulk to be competitive in the total minutes watched metric which is a ranking factor on YouTube.

I would also advise to do extensive keyword research to make sure that you are in a niche which has demand, but not too much demand that it makes it impossible to be competitive. Additionally, here is a little YouTube secret: 90% of the time, when you are #1 on YouTube for some search term, your video begins to come up in Google search for that search term as well.

Video Marketing Tip #9: Short Is The New Long

Matthew Mercuri, the Director of Marketing at Dupray, said that when it comes ti impacting your audience, all you need is a few seconds:

The shorter the better. Short videos are performing better than long-form videos in 2016. Need evidence? Take a look at the success of Vine.

It takes 6 seconds to impart and convey a specific message. Imagine what you can do with 60 of them.

Video Marketing Tip #10: Prioritize Value

Ed Lawrence, the Founder of Business Film Booth, said that you need to get your video marketing priorities straight:

The most important tip we can give businesses for video marketing in 2016 is to stop selling and start being useful. Build yourself a business community of supporters, fans and prospects and don’t be afraid to take risk and show your personality.

Video Marketing Tip #11: Make Your Videos Look Professional

Ben Risinger, New Media and Community Relations Specialist at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, gave us a few tips on making a video look professional:

1. Lighting – have decent light as it makes a world of difference.
2. Doesn’t have to be polished – people are going for small Instagram and Snapchat videos now. You don’t have to have a professional “polished” piece.
3. Use livestream with video – Periscope, Facebook Live and Google Hangouts. You can’t beat a livestream that is recorded.
4. Sound – sound is key just like lighting is now. You can get very cheap and good mics that work with your smart phone and DSLR camera. Spend $50 and get some good sound going for your videos.

Video Marketing Tip #12: Make Sure You Can Execute Your Strategy

Sarah Pease, the Director of Marketing at Events.com, said that it’s good to have a solid video marketing strategy, but you also need to make sure that you have a team that can execute it properly:

The next frontier of content marketing is already here and it’s video. If you’re not leveraging video to tap into the emotions of your audience, you’re already way behind the curve.

However, having a content strategy without the ability to actually execute doesn’t do any good. A team of strong creatives – writers, designers, videographers, and developers – that can turn your plans into solid content pieces is crucial.

Video Marketing Tip #13: Ask Your Satisfied Customers For Help

Zondra Wilson, the Owner of Blu Skin Care, said that you can use your satisfied customers to bring in even more customers:

I will ask satisfied customers to send a video of themselves using my product. It shows that my product must be good if my clients are taking time out of their busy day to send a video testimonial.

I will also post a video of me either making my product at a craft show or just out and about. Customers want to get to know me in other ways, not just as a business owner.

Video Marketing Tip #14: Set A Goal

Tracy Willis, a Content Strategist at N2Q Consulting, said that you need to have a clear vision of what you want your video to achieve:

Video is such a huge trend in digital marketing right now. Without a strategy and measurable goals, your video marketing campaign may not meet it’s potential. Make sure you have a clear focus on what you want your video to accomplish and track it’s progress.

Video Marketing Tip #15: Create A Story

Evin Anderson, CEO & Creative Partner of Waverley Knobs, urges marketers to create an engaging story around their video:

Create an engaging story around your video marketing campaigns that not only entertains your audience (hopefully pushing them to share your videos) but that can be elaborated on for future content.

Look at Progressive and Old Spice, who have had great success with stories that their products/services are immersed in.

Video Marketing Tip #16: Build Personas

Sage Smith, the Creative Director at Limitless Interactive, shared with us a very important fragment of the video marketing process:

Build content marketing personas: A persona is truly the most important document in your marketing plan… and the one most often ignored.

Building your video assets according to your content marketing personas can help you better attract qualified viewers, upgrade your targeting methods, and build materials people actually want to watch.

Video Marketing Tip #17: Make Memorable Videos

Chris M. Sprague, Founder of VCN TV, urges you to focus on memorability:

Focus on making your videos memorable and not necessarily viral. Memorable videos surprise, entertain and show things your ideal client can relate to.

Your ideal client can picture themselves in your video and they can picture you helping them. When your ideal clients remember your video, they remember you, your brand and your business.

Video Marketing Tip #18: Shock Your Audience

AJ Saleem, the Academic Director at Suprex Private Tutoring, said that your video should stop the viewers in their tracks and get their attention instantly:

A marketing video should make the audience stop what they are doing to simply watch the ad. Therefore it must be striking and memorable.

It needs to have a catch phrase that will be recognized anywhere, and it must be original.

Video Marketing Tip #19: Create A Short & Easy To Understand Message

Deborah Sweeney, the CEO of MyCorporation.com, said that you don’t want to bother your audience with too much complexity – ergo, keep it simple:

Our best video marketing tip is to make the video short and sweet. We try to communicate how simple our product can be in short, easy messaging.

Keep it short, show success stories and give a tip or two to potential customers, but don’t overdo it!

Video Marketing Tip #20: Adapt Your Content To Each Platform

Sean Murphy, a Content Strategist at Verdin, said that you should adapt your content to each platform:

Adapt your content to each platform, not the other way around. Know your audience, and tell them a story instead of selling them something. Keep it short, and get the brand mention in early.

Ensure your messaging is effective even when silent, as most viewers never even unmute. Cross promote channels, and diversify!

Summary

As we go deeper and deeper into 2016, video marketing will become more and more relevant. You can now see video ads popping up almost everywhere and it’s not a coincidence. Video is an extremely effective fragment of marketing so if your business is not yet leveraging it, you are falling behind for sure. Don’t fall behind.