There’s a reason why TikTok has become so popular as a social media platform both for personal and commercial use. Brands are able to connect better with their potential clients when using video, and it came to no surprise that Instagram Reels became (almost) equally popular. However, social media isn’t the only way to leverage the power of video for your brand. We will go over ten different incredible ways to use video in order to build brand awareness and recognition, as well as connect with and attract your ideal customer.
Different Types of Videos
It would be easy to just say “Use videos – it’s important!”, but that’s not particularly helpful when you’re looking for concrete ways to incorporate videos into your marketing strategy. There are so many different types of videos you can create in order to reach and engage your ideal client. Each one has its own unique purpose and will demonstrate a different strength or side of your business and brand.
1. Brand Story Videos
Brand Story Videos help showcase what your brand stands for. Your key values and mission are going to be highlighted in these videos. If you’re a sustainability-focused brand, then these videos will showcase how your brand came to be focused on exactly that. Your audience wants to understand how your brand came to be and what the story behind it is.
These videos are essentially an introduction of your brand to your audience. They tell your story. By incorporating these videos, you’re attracting like-minded people who share your brand’s values. It allows for others to connect with your brand on a deeper level, and emphasises the fact that it’s not just about making money and/or sales.
How can you do that? Create videos, like interviews with key employees, footage of your products or services in action, and a narrative that explains your brand’s mission and values.
2. Explainer Videos
Explainer videos do exactly what they sound like they do – they explain what your product or service does for the potential consumer. If a potential customer doesn’t understand what problem your product/service solves or what it does, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll end up buying it. That’s why these videos are CRUCIAL to include in your marketing!
Most likely, your product or service doesn’t just have one use case, but several. Having videos that demonstrate the versatility of your brand is extremely important. Instead of your audience thinking that your product/service is cool, they’ll think having or using it is a must. Ultimately, that shift in thought is what converts and leads to a sale.
And even more importantly, these videos help your audience understand what you can help them with extremely quickly and easily!
What do explainer videos typically look like? These types of videos showcase your product or serve in action. They demonstrate its benefits to potential customers by using a mix of animation, voice-over, and text to do just that. This is also the time to highlight what makes it unique from the competition. Does your candle have the cleanest burn ever? Do you as a social media guru offer a social media template that makes posting regularly extremely simple? These are things your audience wants to know!
3. How-To Videos
How-to videos may sound similar to explainer videos, but they’re very different. Explainer videos showcase how to use your product, while how-to videos will focus on educating your audience on a specific topic or skill. For example, if your product is supplements, you’ll want to create a video going over how to lower your stress levels naturally. This video would showcase step-by-step different ways to lower stress levels naturally, and one of them including using your supplements.
The goal for these videos is to showcase your expertise in your industry and adding value in the process. The more value you add, the more likely you are to have that video be shared on social media, YouTube, and other platforms. These videos will also help position you as THE brand to turn to for any kind of help around the problem you create videos on.
If you’re looking for a formula on how to create these videos, it’s quite simple. Choose a problem that you can help solve with your products/service. Create step-by-step instructions on how to solve this problem. One of these steps can be utilising your product/service. The other steps should be not related to your product/service. There should be more steps that don’t include your product/service than the one that does (example: four steps without your product, one step with). This helps you come across as genuine, helps your audience relate to you better, AND shows that you are an expert not JUST on your product/service but on the industry as a whole. Since it isn’t a straight-up sales video, this will also allow your audience to re-share the video and help educate others on the problem the video discusses (including your product/service.)
4. Testimonial Videos
What’s more powerful than a testimonial? The correct answer: nothing. Sharing testimonials from happy clients is a quick way to build your brand’s credibility and social proof. The reason why testimonials are such an incredible tool is that it’s someone else showing your product/service ACTUALLY works. It’s not just your word, but it’s someone completely unbiased vouching for your brand.
Additionally, testimonial videos also help demonstrate in a different way how your product/service can help people with a very specific problem or need. These videos are important to share onto your social media platforms to build credibility with your audience.
A great way to create testimonial videos is to simply constantly ask your clients how they like your brand. Keep collecting these reviews over time to build a portfolio or library of them. Ask if they would be willing to share their experience on camera in exchange for a discount or even for a free product or gift card.
5. Product Demo Videos
Product Demo videos are helpful to showcase your product or service in action. It allows for your audience to visualise how it could work for them. If your product is a planner, then this kind of video would showcase the many different features of your planner (undated pages, a part of a page dedicated to meal planning, etc.) and show how someone would use it to plan their week.
What do these typically look like? Imagine various different shots of footage of your product being used, adding over voice-overs and text to explain the various features and benefits of your product. These are also incredibly helpful to increase your sales and the overall understanding your audience has of your product/service.
6. Behind-the-Scenes Videos
For social media especially, behind-the-scenes videos are crucial! Your audience and following want to engage with YOU and understand that there is a person or a team behind the product/service. These videos help add a personal element to your brand quickly, and allows your audience to relate to you. Not only that, these videos help give your audience a glimpse into your brand’s culture and operations.
For behind-the-scenes videos you can use footage of your team, interviews with various employees, and a narrative that explains what goes into making your product or service. Even bloopers can be helpful to include. Having an element of fun, funny, or light-heartedness can help differentiate your brand from others and allow your audience to feel more connected with you.
7. Live Videos
Live videos are perfect to connect with your audience in real-time and provide a more personal experience. Most know live videos from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram. These videos allow your brand to interact and engage with your audience directly and give them the feeling like they’re talking to you. Some platforms require you to have a certain amount of followers in order to go live, however that isn’t always the case. TikTok, for example, has a minimum of 1,000 followers that are required in order to go live. Instagram, however, does not.
Live videos are perfect for product launches, Q&A sessions, webinars, events, or even to show live an aspect of your day-to-day life. They also require very little preparation often, as the key to a successful live video is that they are raw and authentic, not scripted. This is where others want to see your personality and learn more about who’s behind the brand.
8. Animated Videos
Who doesn’t love a cute animated video? These are fabulous to create a fun and playful element to your video content. These videos typically use animation and voice-over to tell a story or explain a concept. They are great for social media, can be used as explainer videos, and other video content. Animated videos do help your brand stand out from others, so it’s a helpful tool and resource to use.
Depending on your target audience, there are different styles of animation that may appeal to different demographics. A Southpark kind of style will appeal to more mature audiences, as well as men. On the other hand, something more bright and bubbly can appeal to potentially younger or female crowds. Whatever style you choose, having a signature style with signature colours, font, or characters will help your audience recognise your videos as yours without even having to wait for your brand name to appear.
9. Social Media Videos
All of the previously mentioned videos can be used for social media. However, social media videos can also be their own category. Social media videos help create snackable content that is easy for others to digest. Depending on the platform, the length of video may vary. Instagram currently allows you to upload videos to reels that are 90 seconds or less, while TikTok allows you to upload videos up to 3 minutes in length. For longer form content, YouTube is the ideal platform, as there are no real limits to length for videos.
With social media videos, it’s important to do some editing and touching up within the platform itself. This will help your video be picked up by the platform’s algorithm and help it be viewed by as many people possible. The goal on social media is to have your video viewed by many people, commented on, shared, and ultimately have people follow your account so they see your content regularly.
10. Influencer Partnership Videos
Last but not least, influencer partnership videos allow you to leverage someone else’s audience. In the beginning stages of a brand, you may not have a massive audience. Therefore, no matter how many amazing videos you create, if nobody sees it, it doesn’t necessarily help you much. By collaborating or partnering with an influencer who either has a large audience or has a smaller more engaged audience, you’re more likely to convert their audience into either followers or even customers.
Some influencers will partner and create social media content on their platform with your product/service in exchange for money or just the product itself. There are different ways to get these partnerships. One can either directly approach the influencer through messaging on social media, find their agency and contact them, or use a third party agency that will allow you to post that you’re looking to hire an influencer for some content.
Final Words
A solid marketing strategy doesn’t just focus on one type of video. Imagine you just kept seeing the same kind of video over and over again from a certain brand. It would get boring, right? That’s why having variety is key. It also showcases that there is some legitimacy and substance to your brand. You don’t just have a ton of influencers who promote your product, but you also have testimonial videos that prove real people are also enjoying it.
It doesn’t matter with what kind of video you start, however, what does matter is the quality of video. If you need support and help on creating your set of commercial videos for your brand, feel free to reach out to us here at Curated Visuals – we’d love to help! As experienced commercial videographers in Canberra, we care about helping your brand stand out from the rest.
