It’s no secret that social media is slowly permeating the world. Hate it or love it, daily communication occurs more often in comments, tweets, likes, and pins than face-to-face or print media interactions. Thus creators are forever under the pressure to unearth easy-to-use platforms that produce pro-quality animated videos, websites, web stories, and social media posts and graphics. With their new web platform and mobile app, Adobe has sought to fill this gaping need with Adobe spark! The concept is simple; Spark allows you to create “visual stories” for any device and on any device, alleviating the need for web development, video making, or design experience. It’s a one stop-shop for Adobe aficionados and beginners alike.
Given the proliferation of video marketing in today’s world, with 61% of businesses incorporating video as a major marketing tool, we asked Amy Copperman, the editor and community manager of Adobe Spark, about the indispensability of video content to marketers today and various elements of design that allow video marketers to create engaging videos to leave their customers enthralled:
1. Do You Think That Video Storytelling Has Become Indispensable For Brands Of Today?
Yes absolutely. For the first time video isn’t just for brands with big budgets and tv commercial spots. And video is only getting more integral to how everyone communicates online. Video captures attention like no other media. It gets more engagement than other types of posts on social media and including video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%.
Experts even predict that video will account for 80% of global internet traffic by 2018. Now is the best time to master the medium. Luckily, it’s never been easier thanks to the powerful cameras we all carry in our pockets and easy, free editing tools like Adobe Spark.
2. What Kind Of Videos Glean The Most Impact? And Why?
We’ve found the most successful videos capture attention early—even in the first 3 seconds. You have to get thumbs to stop scrolling! You do that with eye-catching videos and photos and lively, snappy copy. On social, most people don’t have the sound on so using text to communicate or having captions are very important. Short videos tend to work best on social media, and some platforms, like Instagram, even impose a time limit. But the most important thing is to inspire emotion in the viewer – captivate them, move them, show them how you’re going to solve a problem or why you’re the best or different from the competiton. A big mistake we see businesses make is not being clear on what action they want the viewer to take after watching their video. Be specific and make engaging with your business easy for the viewer.
3. What Marketers Or Businesses Should Know Before Incorporating Video Content At The Heart Of Their Strategies? Heads Ups?
Marketers and businesses should know there are lots of ways to conduct corporate communications through professional video on social media, and each platform is a little different in terms of audience and how people interact there. Tweets with short videos or gifs get more retweets, while Facebook and YouTube will reward longer content that gets engagement. Live video on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram Stories, and Twitter continue to be important to boosting engagement on social media and connecting with your audience, but because of its ephemeral nature, it shouldn’t replace more polished videos that explain what you do and can be used over and over to drive business results. The best marketers will blend a variety of video and invest in creating the best videos for the platform where their customers hang out most.
4. Video Production Is Expensive. What Are The Option For Smbs On Budget? Or How Individuals Or Marketers With Little To No Designing Experience Can Create Stunning And Eye-Grappling Videos?
Video production used to be expensive. But that’s simply not the case anymore. Yes you can spend a lot of money on talent, video production, editing software etc. but there are other options for any kind of business and any budget. Today our smartphones take awesome photo and video and apps like Adobe Spark Video (which is free!!) put the power of video creation in everyone’s back pocket.
The best videos use a variety of media—images, video clips, text, and narration—to communicate. And all of that is available in Spark Video. With the editing easier than ever, it frees marketers and storytellers to focus on their message, on telling a compelling story and honing their visuals. We offer tips on visual storytelling on our blog. I’d recommend checking out these articles to get started:
- The 7 Videos Every Brand Needs for Social Media Marketing Success
- 4 Video Lessons from a Pro You Can Do with Your Phone
- 16 Time-Saving Tips for Getting the Most Out of Spark Video
5. What Video Marketing Trends Do You Believe Would Reign Supreme In 2017?
Live video wil continue to be popular in 2017, in large part because the platforms, like Facebook, are prioritizing that content. Live videos are great for showing your brand’s personality and connecting with your audience in real time. It’s important to know who they are in order to deliver more relevant content and products. But marketers also need to create polished, visually stunning content that won’t go away once the moment is over. In 2017, helpful or how-to content will continue to be popular, just as Buzzfeed’s recipe videos skyrocketed the news organization’s traffic in record time last year. Or free football streaming apps break records all the time. Videos that treat text as a character and the main method of communicating will be the most successful at reaching audiences scrolling through newsfeeds. Videos need to work just as well without the sound on in order to have impact.
6. Can You Offer Some Valuable Video Marketing Tips To Help Businesses Maximize Their Influence?
It doesn’t matter how visually powerful or compelling your videos are if no one sees them. You need an effective distribution strategy, especially in order to be shown in Facebook’s algorithm. We’ve seen businesses and have personally had success by using Facebook’s targeting capabilities to reach a very targeted audience with just a little bit of ad spend. Choose your audience based on demographic, location, and interest and put a bit of money behind it (even $5 can help) to reach that audience. The key is to reach an audience that will find that content highly relevant. If they engage with it (like, share, click), your next piece of content will do even better. The key is narrow audiences and small spends to move the needle. If you’re posting videos to YouTube or your website, you need to include keyword-rich descriptions so it’s discoverable on Google and compels people to watch the video. As for platforms like Instagram, hashtags work well to get your content seen. Content with 11 or more hashtags see more engagement than content without them.
7. Can You Share Some Of Your Favorite Video (S)?
Spark users amaze us every day with what they’re creating. Here are some of our favorites from small business lately:
- Snoozzz Organics promotes a sale: https://spark.adobe.com/video/CkMQr9nc49FUI
- Persnickety Prints sums up what their business is all about: https://spark.adobe.com/video/cJpfILuorLlXK
- Effective business storytelling featured on our blog: https://spark.adobe.com/blog/2017/02/27/6-ways-to-craft-a-killer-small-business-video/
Do you have a query you would like to ask Amy Copperman? Do let us know in the comments below.
