Of all the internet rabbit holes we regularly get sucked down, YouTube is still preeminent among them. The online video site is so much more than just cat videos and amateurs searching for their 15 minutes of fame, though it offers those in spades. It’s free, easily digestible content — on just about everything imaginable, and then some — that literally speaks to you.
Online video is also far and away the largest source of internet traffic in the world. A 2014 study from Cisco Systems Inc. reported that video is expected to grow to 84% percent of internet traffic in the United States by 2018.
It raises a question for businesses: If you’re not prepared for this video tsunami, how will your message cut through the noise?
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“Online video, delivered on social channels and apps and microsites, has become an essential branding and marketing tool because it can capture the emotion of a brand and the culture of a company,” explains Scott Rippe, president of Rippe Keane Marketing. “Traditional social content — words and pictures — can’t do that nearly as effectively. We tend to stop scrolling through our social feeds when video starts to play because we know there’s an opportunity to create an emotional connection with a company or its product.”
Its in combination with social media that video can really be a brand differentiator for a business, notes Rippe. The ability to micro-target an audience, or send different messages to different segments of a customer base, is vital to video’s success, he says.
“You may not talk to a 23-year-old, or use the same voice or personality or imagery, as you would a 49-year-old. Video allows you to create meaningful and engaging content for all consumer segments, and target them separately.”
For budget-conscious smaller businesses, digital video is also a more cost-effective strategy than traditional television advertising, Rippe says, because there is no expectation for high production values in social channels. “To the contrary, if it looks like someone shot a video on their phone and edited it on their home computer, it can feel more ‘accessible’ or relatable than highly-produced TV ads.”
Hitting the right note
Just because a video looks relatable doesn’t guarantee it will be a hit with consumer audiences. Rippe notes many brands already use video to engage their audiences and there are two major trends that are very effective.
“One is keeping videos short and organic. McDonald’s recently had a 15-second video of dunking McNuggets into different sauces that people went wild for. The other tactic is to engage communities for social good. Nike likes to do little stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, like running across America. Starbucks did a video entitled ‘A Year of Good’ that showed the good deeds of their employees. The key is to be original, emotional, and short.”
What doesn’t work?
Less-than-effective videos are long, self-promoting, and look “corporate,” explains Rippe. These videos are not emotionally compelling and are a huge waste of investment.
“There is a tendency among some companies to get ‘gimmicky’ and a bit self-indulgent — producing the video more for themselves than their audience,” says Rippe. “Especially among millennials, a very sensitive ‘BS Meter’ usually identifies that self-indulgence very quickly, causing the video to backfire or fall flat.”
Case in point: a recently pulled tone-deaf Pepsi ad that featured Kendall Jenner co-opting a peace rally and solving the world’s problems with the aid of a soft drink.
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About face
Some brands are easily identifiable by the “face” of their advertising. But finding the right face to star in a video is fraught with difficulty.
Subway’s Jared Fogle was great right up until he landed behind bars. The “Can you hear me now” guy was the face of Verizon for a few years — now he shills for a rival cellular company and mocks his old employer.
A company could get lucky and have one of its leaders evolve into its face. The “rock star” CEO is an actual thing, as embodied by the likes of Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. But even that comes with challenges.
“The CEOs that can pull off ‘rock star’ status are few and far between,” says Rippe. “Here’s hoping that this ego-driven trend rapidly reverses and goes away completely. CEOs are generally poor spokespeople for their brands, because they seldom mirror their base customers.”
If you’re going to use corporate leaders to be the face of your company to consumers and prospects, they better look and sound a lot like the customer base itself, Rippe advises. Industry type tends to dictate the most effective use of the medium. The best-case scenario is that you’re positioning those leaders as users of their own products, rather than simply spokespeople.
A worst-case scenario can come when a CEO exits the company and suddenly its face is missing. “[That’s] another great reason to avoid this strategy altogether,” Rippe says. “Maintaining continuity in brand personality is vital; an abrupt change in the face of the brand can choke out that continuity.”
One more thing — companies can do themselves a favor by not using a CEO who isn’t a natural extrovert in front of the camera. “Seriously. Don’t do this,” says Rippe.
Culture club
The most impactful videos will reflect a company’s culture, Rippe says. Using staff members at all levels — rather than CEOs — in your video can improve culture and morale, and make the brand more relatable to not only consumers, but also people who may want to work for you.
“Videos are great at ‘pulling back the curtain’ on corporate culture, and viewers generally appreciate that,” notes Rippe. “The bottom line benefits when the product itself lives up to the expectations created by the video, and customer loyalty begins to build as a result.”
Ultimately, Rippe says, a brand wants to connect with its customers, and the best way to do that is to be natural and “yourself.”
“Avoid the temptation to be polished,” says Rippe. “Laugh at yourself. Include a couple of outtakes. Produce a separate ‘making of’ video and put it on YouTube to take viewers behind the scenes. The less your advertising looks like advertising, the more effective it will be. Online video gives you the freedom to escape rigid ‘brand standards,’ although don’t stray too far.”
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