By Adam Wakefield

A new advertising El Dorado? 

“Video is a wonderful storytelling medium that can bring a brand personality to life. It offers information in a simple, fast way that is easy to digest, and at the same time inform, engage and convert consumers, build relationships and enhance overall customer satisfaction,” says Chris Heaton, managing director at brand, advertising and sponsorship agency Brand inc Creative Group. 

Heaton also feels that video converts customers better than other types of content, with the medium being “the golden child of marketing on social media”.

Heaton points out that according to Cisco, 80% of all Internet traffic will be streaming video content by 2019, up from 64% in 2014. It is an exciting time for video marketing, and like television advertising, what matters the most is great storytelling, with social media enhancing traditional channels.

Not convinced yet? In an announcement made to investors following the release of its third quarter 2015 earnings report in November last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the platform enjoyed eight billion average daily video views from 500 million users, up from four billion views just six months before. 

Lana Hindmarch, managing director at video production and creative agency HolyCow, says social media by its very nature, aided by algorithms that provide users with the most relevant content according to their interests, means you’re talking directly to your target audience.

“Add on the fact that more people would rather watch a video than read text, and that they’re already spending more than half their online time on social channels, it makes sense that video and social media would be a winning combination,” Hindmarch says.

Video and dealing with silence  

Hindmarch says marketers have cottoned onto the power of video to engage an audience, convert leads and drive sales, with it being known that without an online video strategy with clearly defined objectives, their campaigns are invariably going to get lost in the noise.

“In the same way, social media has become an advertising-rich playing field, because that’s where audiences are spending most of their online time. Advertisers and marketers have also had to learn to adapt to the new space,” Hindmarch says. 

“In one example, Facebook’s auto-play feature has changed the way advertisers conceptualise their video campaigns. Because most users don’t click on the video to activate its sound, advertisers have had to adapt by conceptualising powerful and silent commercials that still engage an audience and deliver the message through visuals alone.”

There is also the growing trend of interactive videos, which work well on social media channels because the space is already primed for user interactivity. 

Heaton notes that as Facebook and Twitter move to replace YouTube, brands and marketers will need to change the way they use video, capitalising on auto-play functions and “surging mobile use”.

“Brands will need to consider not only silent video but also making those first few seconds count more than ever before,” he says.

Drawing the narrative

Another area of video exploration is animation. While different from live video, it offers a number of unique advantages. 

"For one, you don’t have to hire professional actors, lighting crew, locations, etc. You have free reign to set your story on Mars if you want, because animation automatically allows an audience to suspend their disbelief," Hindmarch says. 

"It all depends on the brand, tone and message. A video campaign highlighting political or social issues is usually more powerful when filmed live action, because audiences will more likely engage with human faces." 

However, the opposite is also true, since using animation to highlight the same issues can be as equally effective, possibly more so, because it allows an audience to invest themselves in the "blank canvas" nature of animated video.

Viral is as viral does 

Both Hindmarch and Heaton stress that if a client is asking for content to be created that is guaranteed to go viral, they were making the wrong request.

“Firstly, don’t try and make your content viral. Clients have a bad habit of briefing a job by saying ‘We want this to go viral!’ Viral content is always incredibly unique and unexpected and generally defined by the audience’s appreciation of the content,” Heaton says. “Try and make your content distinctive, engaging, and valuable which means that whether it reaches a large or small audience, it will be effective in achieving your marketing goals.”

Hindmarch says brands should not expect a piece of content to go viral. Rather, brands should be focused on the primary business objectives such as engagement and sales, and they should have the parameters in place to measure these goals.

Are you planning your next video campaign? Tell us about it in the comments below.