The rise of online video for marketing has been somewhat meteoric over the last few years and according to research from Celtra, half all of web traffic on mobile is video related, with global internet video traffic expected to account for 55% by 2016.
As with many different mediums, consumers interact differently with mobile advertising and as such, advertisements should be produced specifically with platform in mind.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen the launch of Instagram video send Vine spiralling downwards in popularity. The introduction by Instagram ensuring that Vine photo-shares dropped a huge amount in just 24 hours.
High Engagement
With this in mind, how can marketers continue to maximise on the use of video and more specifically, video shorts? The Celtra study found that engagement with video ads on mobile was “pleasantly surprising”, with 50% of people watching video ads to the end. Further to this, 15% of users who interacted with an ad went ahead and also watched the video.
The most interesting aspect to the study though, was interaction time, with many closing the ad around the time that brand logos appeared towards the end. As Celtra’s image shows, 100% of people watched the first 30 seconds of a video, no matter what the subject.
It was also found that ads that were specifically designed for mobile saw a higher level of engagement than those that were cross-platform and regardless of length, “quality and original content is sticky and works best”.
Instagram, Vine and Brands
Vine prompted brands to experiment with short, looped video in the first instance, in order to showcase products, reinforce brand identity and gain insight into employee culture.
However, Instagram’s large user base is proving that brands can have more reach and engagement by using the platform. Whilst some believe that video can be used on TV and this will mean more cross-platform ads that are the same, others say that this approach is dangerous, as it means the wrong tone can be delivered to the audience.
Social Marketing
One of the great things about video marketing with Instagram is the ability for users to quickly and easily share content with social networks. This drives further engagement and can be viewed directly from within Facebook.
Add to this the improved tools that Instagram offers over Vine, such as editing, integration and cover image selection, and it’s easy to see why brands may choose to use it over Vine.
Instagram can be used in a myriad of different ways to come up with creative advertising that users will love. A ‘how to’ video can often be useful for answering consumer questions before they even ask them, providing value immediately.
A narrative can also be used by enabling audio on the video, giving the marketer the chance to retell the brand’s story in different ways. Obviously it depends on industry, but businesses that have highly aesthetic products or services (such as food) can really maximise on it with video.
Events
To market events and special offers, video can also be invaluable, especially if footage from a previous event can be made into an exciting montage with music. Make full use of the description field when adding a video, using hashtags for tracking.
This is especially useful if you can show fans and followers at these events, this will help top humanise the brand, showing that it can interact with fans on a number of levels. We all know how much social media has already opened this up, and video opens the doors of interaction even more.
This year’s Wimbledon in the UK showcases a perfect example of the power of using Instagram for business, as the tennis tournament organisers encouraged fans to share moments from the game.
Before the games, fans could take a look at the Centre Court, watch behind-the-scenes video footage of the players warming up and much more. Wimbledon used hashtags to allow fans to easily find the content, such as #wimbledon and #murray.
Location tags should also be used for events and videos should be posted regularly. When it comes to it, Instagram Video marketing is much like any other, but it’s vital that the content is tailored to the mobile platform, as well as having a high level of value to the consumer to drive engagement.