What are the goals of the Video Campaign?
When creating a video campaign, it’s critical that you have set realistic and measurable goals. You might be seeking to create an overall branding video, a specific product video, or a social video that broadcasts an event or experience. Each type of video campaign has a different set of parameters and challenges. With the preponderance of video content seemingly everywhere, all the time, it can be easy to underestimate the degree of difficultly, cost or time required to create appropriate content. Some video campaigns can be created for no cost, captured via a colleagues cell phone, on the spur of the moment. If that video is capturing the delight of a consumer using your product or service, then that would be an excellent piece for your campaign. But if your goal is to communicate your overall brand promise, or promote a specific new product, you would need an entirely different approach.
Develop a Creative Brief
Once you’ve decided what the goals of the video are, you’ll need to create what’s known as a ‘creative brief’. A creative brief is a comprehensive document that contains the parameters agreed to by all internal and external stakeholders on what the objectives are for the video. These include parameters regarding the appropriate tone, voice and mood and also describe the intended audience for whom the video will be targeted to. also This document is also used to brief a writer or creative team as they create the script. Creativity helps sell, so make sure that you take the creativity aspect seriously, but define clear boundaries and parameters for the creative team.
Define a Distribution Plan
Another key question to answer when creating a video campaign is ‘where will these videos be distributed’? If it’s a brand video, it will likely live on your homepage. But make sure you account for secondary and tertiary distribution channels like Instagram and YouTube as well. Perhaps your campaign is primarily geared for cable or network television distribution. If that’s the case, great, but it’ll be important to think of where else the content might be sent out into the world.
Create Modular Content
Once you’ve defined a distribution plan for your video campaign, you’ll want to tailor content for each channel. This doesn’t mean you’ll need totally different content for each channel, rather, it means you’ll want to tweak the content for maximum optimization in distribution. For example a :30 second television commercial would need to be repurposed for Instagram distribution. Content for distribution on social channels will likely need to be cut down into shorter versions, for example. If it’s going on Facebook, you’ll want to make sure capture their attention within the first 5 seconds with animation, graphics or some other compelling feature If your content is built modularly, you can tailor the messaging and lengths of each piece to maximize impressions.
Create Content that Encourages Engagement
Whenever possible, you’ll want to encourage engagement with your content on social channels, especially if the content is created primarily for social distribution. For Facebook, this could mean creating a “Surprise + Delight” moment for a consumer along with a hashtag. MasterCard uses #priceless on their social posts. You’re likely promoting a smaller brand or tech start up, so you can create something fun and ownable. This will also give users a chance to recreate their own versions of your content, by adding the branded hashtag. Any social engagement provides invaluable metrics and data the brand owner, so put some extra effort and thought into this.
Amplify distribution?
There’s a endless parade of content everywhere, all the time. To get noticed you’ll need a crafty, creative video campaign with a hook, something that captures people’s attention. Once you’ve done that you’ll want to get as many eyeballs on it as possible. Think through any potential public relations angle that you can leverage for your story. Even branded content can get free press or ‘earned media’ if you’ve lined up the right publications who might take an interest in your video campaign.
If you’re looking for an engaging medium to boost your site’s conversion rates and produce financial returns, using video to sell your product is the solution. Interested in creating a video campaign? Contact Blend Today.