Let’s just shake on it. Consumers are watching more and more videos. That’s a fact we’ve stated month in, month out.
Staying ahead of competitors in a post-COVID, post-lockdown landscape where brands are frantically repositioning themselves to remain relevant in a changing world is tough going.
One way of achieving that goal is to incorporate video marketing into your strategy fully. Any video creator will tell you the same. Treating video as an afterthought, ignoring it altogether or churning out endless clips won’t do at all.
ZAK works closely with film and video creators of High Stakes Films. As a result, we like to think we’re embracing the latest video marketing trends in 2021.
The Live Stream
Live video holds viewers’ attention 10-20% times longer than a pre-record. In addition, live streaming is on the up, growing by 93% in 2019, with millennials being the biggest consumers of live content, especially on social media platforms.
A live stream is ideal for mobile users and an excellent way for brands to forge a fast connection with their audience by offering up something different and unpasteurised.
Video-Sharing Sites
Recent Ofcom data tells us that 75% of UK internet users watch content on video sharing sites. We’re talking about YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Snapchat. This goes up to 90% of 16-24-year-olds and 88% of 25-34-year-olds.
When we work with brands keen to attract Gen Z and millennials, one of the first things we’ll tell them are these stats. We don’t want to bore you; we just want you to know what works best.
Short-Form Video
Yes, long-form content is becoming more popular, but the short-form video hasn’t gone away. Why else would Instagram Reels, LinkedIn Stories, TikTok and YouTube Stories exist?
Brands that want to be visible and embrace new cultural trends are waking up to the advantages of creating fast-paced, relevant and exciting short-form videos full of energy and promise.
Check out our work for New Balance or Top Deck Travel.
User-Generated Content
Popular sites like YouTube got up to 10-fold more views and branded content. That doesn’t mean branded content isn’t worth doing; it just means user-generated content has some fantastic advantages.
You’re allowing your target audience to buy into your brand, be part of its journey, have some fun along the way and appear on your social and ecommerce sites.
A 2020 report found that people who arrive at a website thanks to user-generated content are a whopping 184% more likely to buy something and spend twice as much time there. Convinced? Us too.
If your brand is heavily influenced by user reviews, and which brand isn’t? – then this type of video content has the potential to make things very exciting.
Video Ads Are on The Up
Brands spending part of their marketing budgets on video ads show no sign of slowing down where this particular trend is concerned. In 2019, digital ad spend amounted to around £6.2 billion, and today, it’s more than doubled to £15.7 billion and counting.
The reason? Because the return on investment (ROI) is good, with almost 90% of video marketers agreeing.
While this means the competition has also increased, with brands all clamouring to impress their audiences with the best video marketing ads on the planet, there’s always room for more if the creativity is right.
And they don’t have to take long. The video creators at High Stakes put together this campaign for New Balance: 5 films in 4 weeks. Not bad, even if we do say so ourselves.
Shoppable Videos
Brands are increasingly switching onto the idea of the shoppable video. These are interactive videos that give an audience the chance to buy products straight from the video content. It speeds up the interaction consumers have with brands and simplifies the entire shopping process. There is no need to leave the platform to search for products; instead, it’s all done from one screen and one medium.
Brands can make their shoppable videos more attractive with calls to action and add shopping cart functions, giving their audience a fast way of interacting with them with video content that leaves them wanting more.
Are you ready to embrace the latest video marketing trends? Talk to Zak hello@zakagency.com.
