Seven Tips for B2B Marketers Using Video
1. Keep it Short
With video, less is more. 15-60 seconds is ideal on the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
LinkedIn is different. Our contacts at LinkedIn tell us that users on their platform are willing to watch for longer, with drop-off rates occurring later in the video.
With this in mind, videos on LinkedIn can be longer, as long as all of the content remains relevant.
With YouTube, user behaviour is different to that on the other channels. People are actively searching for video content, which means they are willing to spend a little longer viewing, allowing you more opportunity to get your key points over.
2. Use a Problem/Solution Story Approach
Think of your video as a short film which needs dramatic tension. We try and take a problem/solution approach, outlining the issue that a customer faced, before offering the solution.
With Soler & Palau for example, we persuaded the Chef Training Manager at Punch Taverns to be interviewed about the problems of traditional ventilation systems in commercial kitchens, including excessive noise and poor working environment.
3. Use Multiple Edits of One Video
One shoot doesn’t mean just one video. We advise using multiple edits to highlight specific issues or product attributes for different audiences.
For example, with the Punch Taverns video, we used different video edits – with the Chef Training Manager used to target the chef-owner market, and the Property Director for the building services sector.
The two edits promoted the same product, were shot on the same day, and had the same ultimate end goal of generating sales but, with different edits, we were able to identify the unique pain points of the two audiences.
We then deployed the building services video on LinkedIn, and the chef-owner edit on Facebook, the most relevant channels for each audience.
4. Keep it Pacey
The golden rule is don’t make your video too sales-focused. No lingering product shots that pan for 10 seconds, the key lies in adding some value for the viewer.
You need to get straight to the detail because the first few seconds are crucial to capturing the user’s attention. An end slate and a logo throughout the video will do the branding job just fine.
5. Use the Off-Camera Interview Style
Face it, you’re not Jon Snow from Channel 4 News and neither is your customer. Talking direct to camera is incredibly difficult, because even the slightest sideways glance looks shifty.
That’s why we use the ‘off-camera’ interview style which allows us to act as an interviewer off-camera, prompting the interviewee and generating a more natural interview. Our voice is then removed during the editing process.
6. Use Subtitles
Most B2B marketers will either watch your video in the office or at home. That means your audience is probably watching with the sound muted and will need subtitles to follow the story (in fact, 80% of LinkedIn users watch with the sound off).
With Facebook, it’s different. Our contacts tell us that it’s best to plan for users listening with the sound on, which means that music that matches both the pace and sentiment of your video is recommended. That said, we’d still include subtitles as a precaution.
7. Use Animations
With so much video content now available across all the social media platforms, it’s important to find a point of differentiation, to create that ‘thumbstoppable’ video which will avoid your content being scrolled past and overlooked.
Whether you overlay facts and stats onto live footage or photos, or create a video that is entirely animation-led, creating content with an element of animation enables you to stand out from the crowd.
Feel free to carry on the conversation by connecting with me on LinkedIn.
The author: Andy Williams is an account director at WPR Agency, specialising in content marketing for B2B audiences.