A lot of water has passed since social networks took root in our society. The days when static display banners and search ads were the only way to reach your audience in the digital world are over.
Today, if a business or brand is to be successful in social media advertising (and marketing in general), video ads for social networks must also be part of a broader strategy.
According to a Wave video survey on video ads on social networks, businesses are using video in advertising to drive traffic to their site, promote new content, and increase conversions.
And that succeeds them too. Of course, those who know how to use video as an ad on social networks. However, with more brands leveraging video advertising on social media, we are approaching saturation.
6 Trends That Make Video Ads for Social Networks Successful
Creating engaging social media video ads that will lead to the action or conversion you want is an increasing challenge.
What makes a digital video ad GREAT?
Good video production marketing for sure. But in this post, we will break down the key elements that will help you create video ads for social networks.
1. Include Story (Most Popular Video Type)
What will be more memorable for you?
• Video ad featuring mountains of statistics on how good and fast a good, fast and economical electric car is, or
• An ad about a husband who tells his son about his relationship with this car, their travels into the unknown, how well they care for each other, etc.
If you are like 99.999% of people, the story is something that will resonate in your mind for a long time. This is why storytelling is so important in the digital age.
The story is what makes you different and (potential) customers trust you faster. In them, you arouse genuine emotions.
According to a Wave video survey, 71% said that storytelling was the most popular type of video ad for social media marketing. This goes well beyond other types such as explanatory videos (England. Explainer video) or video type “how to do” (How-to video).
As an example, I would like to mention a very good YouTube video ad created several years ago by Guinness.
OK, now the moment of truth.
In some cases, storytelling will not increase conversions. AMPAK! It can increase the VALUE conversions. In one study it was found that the figure rose by 11% because it was below shows the artist's story.
2. Humanize the Mark and Make it Accessible
Creating video ads for your brand is a great way to expand your business reach on social networks.
And yet you should connect viewers with the company on a human level. Better than videos, they only serve to explain how much users need a particular product.
Video offers the opportunity to show faces - whether from business people or suitable representative people.
Users or viewers have been dissatisfied with these stock photos and videos for some time now. Now brands are and should be more personal in their way of communicating with customers.
More accessibility = more leads will interact with the brand. Even statistics say - in 67% of the most successful video ads, people are shown. Observing individuals, "ordinary mortals," helps viewers identify with them. To put yourself in the shoes of these people and more easily imagine how they use your product or experience its benefits.
A successful example of such a video ad for the YouTube social network is the Dollar Shave Club. It’s CEO and co-founder Michael Dubin has constantly appeared in viral videos and TV spots. They gained a lot of popularity because they found many new ways to sell to consumers.
Their viral video, which aired on YouTube in 2012, already has over 26 million views, and their TV ads have reached a huge audience online. After playing this video, their sales soared.
As an interesting point, let me just say that in mid-2016 Michael Dubin sold the company for $ 1 billion to Unilever. A true success story ... A company founded in 2011.
3. Focus is on User
63% of video survey respondents say that it's best to show your brand after the first three seconds of the video ad. While it is only understandable that you want to present your brand to the viewer very soon, viewers do not agree.
This is content marketing 101. If your video is focused on you and has no value for your audience, your message is more likely to be heard or heard. "Overlooked" or worse, they stop watching the video.
He wants your content to be perceived as useful. The most effective way to achieve this in a video ad is to know your audience as your pocket and give it value.
So you can spend the first three seconds on? Use.
Ask yourself, why would people watch your video? What solution does it offer them? What kind of pain relievers them?
Be precise. Be clear. Be extremely relevant.
4. Use Unconventional Video Formats
I won't bother you with history lessons, you know that video has been produced and watched in landscape form for generations. Television, cinema, and computer screens have traditionally followed this.
Only recently, with the increasing use of mobile phones and the development of digital media, has the phenomenal adaptation of video for smartphones begun. The status quo of the horizontal video has been challenged and has started recording and viewing in portrait (England. Vertical) format.
Today, most people visit social networks via mobile, which means that more than ever the video ad needs to be displayed in a format that will best serve the viewer's habits. Vertical videos take up more space than any other video format.
According to Facebook, nearly 80% of video viewing audiences are more excited about the vertical video and are more likely to watch it. Google also recently announced that vertical video ads are now available for YouTube campaigns. For Snapchat and Instagram, I don't even need to emphasize the importance of upright formats.
The Instagram Story platform has over 400 million daily active users, for example, and a good portion of those users also prefer to view brand stories than regular posts.
And just an example of the Instagram Story campaign they created at Lowe's, I'd like to highlight. The first episode of the campaign features a neglected space that transforms into an inspiring children's playroom through 64 short videos. The vertical room in the story fits in perfectly with the native format.
Another interesting format: 360-degree video
We have already written about general marketing trends in 2020. One thing to mention here is the 360-degree video.
Videos like this are much more interactive and in-depth. Users can explore the world you create. However, marketers always want more audience interaction.
Because users can view the details of the space or experience your event, service, or product, this helps you solidify your brand. 360-degree videos are ideal for communicating in real estate, events, museums, galleries, cars, etc.
5. Follow the Guide: “Short and Sweet”
Truth be told, most people on social networks don't have time to watch a 5-minute video ad. Content video is another song, but the ad should be packed in a shorter format with the right information that users can explore further when needed.
User attention (span) online is ultra-low. The research is diverse and assumes that we should engage the user within the initial 3-9 seconds to ensure that the video continues to be watched.
So social video ads are, in themselves, a hook for the action you want.
Take a good look at the charts. The Y-axis represents video sessions and the X-axis represents watch time. They show how long users view an ad in each format before it begins to decline. Which means they stop the ad, move forward, close the app, or hang up their phone.
The data confirms the importance of starting a video. Wave Video Surveys say the same - 83% of top-performing social network video ads are less than 1 minute long, and the most effective ones are only 15 to 30 seconds long.
One example is the 6-second pre-roll video ads on YouTube.
It may not seem like you can accomplish much in the meantime, but with a little creativity, brands can make an emotional connection with their audience and make those feelings come to mind.
6. Add a Call-to-Action (CTA)
My last piece of advice (in this post) for a successful social media video ad is to include a call to action (CTA). Although social media is ultimately intended to drive conversions or desired actions, many brands fail in this step.
A great video doesn't have that much effect, it can even be completely pointless if you don't include a proper CTA. The viewer needs direction! Tell him what to do during/after viewing, where to go, and what action to take. Be straightforward and clear. If you forget that, all the effort you make to create a video ad for social networks can be in vain.
According to a survey by Wave. Video, 48% of brands on social networks use video ads to drive traffic to their site, but only 53% of viewers continue to navigate to the company website after viewing the ad and get acquainted with the brand
This can mean two things.
First - the audience does not want to leave the selected social network, and the company might want to find a way to engage with customers without leaving the social network. Instagram has a large number of users that can benefit any business but there is an issue, that is having low followers but it can also be solved via buying Instagram followers.
On the other hand, this may mean that the CTA is not right and viewers simply do not understand what to do after viewing the ad.
Choosing an effective CTA can be time-consuming and may involve some experimentation. The point is to be aware of what you want, what the purpose of the video is, and what the next stage is in the marketing funnel.
But all great CTAs have some things in common. They are:
• Personal,
• Direct,
• Clear,
• Understandable,
• Initiate action and
• Of course, they pay off!
Last but not least, do not sell the product, but the solution!
The good thing about video ads for social networks is that this is the form of advertising with the highest levels of online interaction.
Does this mean that your next video ad will certainly perform better than your image ads? It is not necessarily.
A video ad requires a lot more work than an image ad, a bigger budget, and coordinating with more people. But the efficiency itself will almost certainly be greater. Therefore, experiment and analyze.
And general advice. Not just video ads, but advertising and marketing in general - not to sell a product, but a solution. With video ads, however, this is all the more distinct as the visual component is included.
We hope that the tips we wrote above will help you master video content and video ads for social networks and will be used effectively in your next campaign.
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