Eight common video marketing mistakes you need to avoid
Want to embrace the growing video content marketing trend but not sure you know what to do? Here are eight common video marketing mistakes you need to avoid.
Video content emerged as a marketing trend several years ago now, and shows no sign of going away. Indeed, according to Hubspot:
- Video dominates social media, with 500 million people watching Facebook videos every day.
- 10 billion videos are watched by Snapchatters every day.
- 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter.
Still need convincing that video marketing is worth putting effort into? Here are a few more interesting statistics:
- Consumers are engaged with branded videos daily on different social media networks such as Facebook (49%). YouTube (32%), Instagram (24%), Snapchat (22%) and Twitter (22%) (Tubular Insights).
- A marketing video on social media has influenced 64% of consumers to make a purchase decision (Renderforest).
- Almost 50% of consumers look for product or service videos before making a purchase (Google).
Eight common video marketing mistakes you need to avoid
Many businesses like the idea of video marketing, but aren’t sure exactly how they can create content. Or are worried that their videos won’t be right.
To help you get started with video marketing, here are eight common mistakes that you want to avoid.
1) Making a video without a plan
You’ve probably heard the popular saying ‘when you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. Sadly, this is the biggest mistake many people, particularly newcomers, make with video.
Video content is an important part of your marketing strategy, and should be given the same planning and consideration that other elements, such as ad campaigns and written content, warrant.
So before you even think of starting to record your video, consider these questions:
- Why you are making this video?
- Who is it for?
- What do you want them to think or do after watching it?
- What do they need to see or hear to achieve this result?
If you haven’t done so already, block out a day to plan your video content strategy. Understand the purpose of your video content and decide what messages it needs to convey. Also consider when and how you’ll share your content.
2) Pushing a hard sell
It’s easy to be passionate about your own brand and products. After all, you created them! But you can’t expect your customers (or worse, people who haven’t heard about you yet) to share the same level of enthusiasm.
People operate primarily from self-interest; they need to know what’s in it for them. So simply producing a video that says how great your business is and pushes a hard sell isn’t going to cut it – especially in a world where consumers are overwhelmed by online content competing for their attention.
If you want to win a customer over, you need to give them a reason to listen. And even to watch your video in the first place. So avoid the hard sell, and the long, rambling monologues and make your videos relevant and appealing to your target customer.
And don’t make the mistake of telling someone to buy – show them why they’ll want to.
3) Making your videos too long
When it comes to marketing, studies show that we only have 10 second to grab a customer’s attention and call them to action. So it’s wise to tailor your content to suit your audience’s attention span, and avoid cramming your videos with too many questions, long explanations and dozens of animations. And instead get to your point quickly.
If you have a number of points you wish to get across, or products to showcase, record several short videos rather than one long one. If someone clicks on your video and sees that it’s 20 minutes long, they may just switch straight off without watching anything at all. After all, who has 20 minutes spare in a busy day for a marketing video?
But if they can pick a video that specifically talks about something they’re interested in, and only takes 50 seconds, they’re much more likely to invest their time in watching it.
4) Cramming in too many messages
On a similar note, if your video is crammed with too many messages – ‘we have all sizes in stock’, ‘we’re offering 50% off’, ‘order now for delivery before the weekend’, ‘we’re cruelty-free’, ‘we started our business from home’, ‘we’re endorsed by celebrities’ etc – then you’ll leave people confused.
And more than likely their brain will be so tied up trying to process all your messages that they’ll actually remember none.
So again, rather than try to cram everything into one video, make a shorter video for each point you wish to convey.
5) Having no message at all
Equally, if you’re going to invest your time (and possibly money) into a video, make sure it does have a message! This about what you want a customer to think, feel or do after watching your video. (Remember the planning questions?) Then ensure that this message is clearly conveyed in your video.
Better still, end your video with a clear call to action, so customers know what the purpose of your video is, and if they want to act they know how to.
6) Neglecting SEO
Just because a video isn’t written content, it doesn’t mean you can afford to ignore SEO. Just like a web page, you want your video to be found by customers searching for your products or services. Or wanting answers to questions your video solves.
So when planning your video, consider any keywords you’d like it to rank for. And bear these in mind when creating your content and naming your video. Don’t forget too to add all the necessary metadata to help it rank.
Are are eight ways you can help your video to rank:
- Choose the right video hosting platform.
- Add a video transcript.
- Use an engaging thumbnail.
- Write the title and description of your video carefully.
- Make sure the page hosting your video is relevant and SEO optimised.
- Embed the video you want to rank first on the page.
- Make the video the focus of the page.
- Only embed the video once.
7) Not using video analytics
It’s unlikely that you’ll accidentally land on the perfect way to promote videos the very first time you upload one. Instead, you’ll learn over time – discovering what works, and what doesn’t. So, with every video you create you get better at knowing what to do and how to get it out there.
And the key to this learning is analytics. Analytics will tell you which type of videos are more popular, where your traffic is coming from and much more. So once your video is live, make sure you monitor your video analytics regularly.
8) Making low quality videos
If you’re going to invest the time and money in video, then get it right. Poor quality videos won’t help to promote your company; indeed they could end up having a negative impact if you get them wrong.
So take the time to make sure everything – from your script to your equipment – is right. And, while hiring the right video production company will certainly ensure your videos look professional, you don’t need to spend a fortune on creating videos.
92% of marketers make videos with assets they already have using online tools and software. So don’t let a lack of budget hold you back. Follow the steps in this article, find the right video production tools and start making video marketing content your company can be proud of – and that your customers will love.
Roman Daneghyan is the Chief Marketing Officer of Renderforest, an online video production platform for creating videos. Roman is a pecialist in social media marketing, content marketing, link building and SEO and has been featured in Forbes, CrazyEgg and Upwork.
Photo by Jakob Owens
