David Lee, CEO of Shakr elaborates, as vertical video-based social media grows, businesses face a new world of marketing opportunities. However, it can be difficult to develop vertical videos. In three key steps, businesses can begin to easily incorporate vertical video content into marketing efforts
Social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram have boosted video content’s popularity to incredible heights. Because these apps are used on mobile devices, videos designed for social media must adapt to the vertical format. Just as any content shared on these apps must be vertical, video advertising has followed suit. The future of video ads is vertical. Vertical videos are gaining traction because their increased use of screen space creates a more immersive experience, but businesses find themselves without the resources to properly adapt their marketing to this new format.
As video-based social media continues to proliferate, combined with consumers’ increased engagement with vertical video, businesses are facing a new world of advertising and marketing opportunities. However, developing vertical video assets and incorporating them into marketing plans can be a heavy lift for many companies, particularly small-to-medium sized businesses – but it doesn’t have to be. Below are three steps businesses should take to begin incorporating vertical video assets with ease.
Establish your goals
The main appeal of vertical video is the opportunity to reach audiences in a new and engaging way. However, not all audiences are using vertical video platforms. Therefore, businesses must determine if their target audiences are using vertical video before making an investment in it. Once you’ve determined that vertical video is the right fit for their marketing plans, you must then decide what you want vertical video to accomplish.
Vertical video marketing is a powerful tool, but it must be implemented with a plan in mind like any other marketing campaign. Questions like “where do we want users’ clicks to land?” and “how will we re-target after the video is viewed?” can be helpful in developing an informed campaign and creating more targeted videos for the right platforms.
Plan your content
Once you have established goals, the video content must be compelling enough to execute them. Although the brand is top of mind when creating a video, the most effective videos put the viewer first. Videos should be brief and tell a story. Viewers are much more likely to watch a video in its entirety if it is 90 seconds or under. That goes by quickly, but it is all the time you need to tell a compelling story that sticks with audiences long after they’ve watched it.
To complement a strong narrative, choose compelling visuals that will keep viewers interested. Images are the backbone of videos, but they should be chosen carefully with the vertical orientation in mind. The classic wide frame shots won’t convert the same to vertical videos. Instead, the video should mainly be comprised of tighter shots with only one subject in focus that fit better on vertical mobile screens.
Develop your videos
Videos can be a large commitment of time and resources, so you should carefully consider how you can create the highest quality content at the lowest cost. When it’s time to create the content for videos, take photos, shoot videos, and create graphics in abundance so that they’re readily available for future videos and the business can avoid paying more for new shoots each time a video must be made. Previously, the typical approach was to produce only one video, leaving b-roll and cut footage unused. However, in a video-first world, this footage provides a great resource to keep content fresh and address growing ad fatigue and narrower target audiences.
Working with freelancers can be one way to create your videos on a tighter budget, but there are specific tools that you can leverage in the process as well – some may even be on your computer already like iMovie or Adobe Premiere Clip. In addition, my company, Shakr, allows businesses to easily create vertical videos with templates and built-in features. Technology has democratized the video creation process, and businesses of all sizes should leverage the many options now available for creating vertical videos on a budget.
Vertical video advertising on social media is a huge opportunity for companies to engage directly with their target audiences. The decision to prepare for vertical video creates a worthwhile, long-term vision for the business’ marketing efforts. Doing so will allow the business to keep up with technology as it continues to evolve. With careful planning, vertical video can be your business’ secret to engaged audiences, higher conversion rates, and more successful marketing campaigns.