Video Marketing Ideas for B2B Companies

Video Marketing Ideas for B2B Companies

by Kaylee Lauriel, PR Intern

Video marketing is a trend that must be taken advantage of. The third ranked social commerce platform is the app TikTok, which reached one billion users only four years after its creation – for reference, it took Facebook twice that amount of time to reach that many followers, and Facebook is the top social commerce platform.

But social media can be intimidating, especially when there are already so many brands that get thousands of likes on every video. Here are five video ideas to boost engagement.

#1: Tutorial videos

Short, helpful tutorials are an effective way to release educational content about your product. TikTok has video length options up to 10 minutes in length if you want to give a more in-depth tutorial but remember that most users’ attention spans don’t last that long.

Use tutorials to highlight your product in a non-judgmental way for users who didn’t know how to use it and add in tools and tricks that users may not have known about.

Get creative with your tutorials as well! Don’t be afraid to get silly with your video – you want it to stand out against the rest!

EZ Home, a TikTok influencer who posts DIY and tool reviews, has many videos like this one giving tutorials on how to fix sinks, locks, lights and more.

#2: Partner with influencers and content creators

There are thousands of influencers across social media platforms that want to pair with brands just like yours. Reach out first and ask if an influencer would be interested in receiving a free product to display in one of their videos. You can repost those videos on your own channels.

RIDGID Tools partnered with the influencer Plumbing Sk8er on TikTok and was featured in his recent video when they sent him a new SeeSnake Mini Pro Camera

#3: Show your product being used

Show off your product! Grab viewers’ interest and make it irresistible to them. Find fun and creative ways to show off your product to entice people to buy it. Two popular ways that brands are doing this are by creating videos of them testing their products in comparison to competitors and sharing before-and-after videos.

RRBuildings, a construction influencer, posts videos on TikTok for his 1.7 million followers. Many of his videos, such as this one, show him using a product and demonstrating how it helps make his job as easy as possible.

#4: Participate in trends and challenges

Pay attention to what is trending across platforms and find a way to jump on it. Brands that participate in trends that regular accounts are doing come across as relatable and have a better chance of resonating with their audience.

A popular trend across all forms of social media are compilation videos of satisfying actions. One account on YouTube, Technical Mamaji, posts videos of construction workers doing their job in satisfying ways, amassing 16,000 views.

#5: Share educational content

Use your platform to teach your audience about something related to your brand or products. You can make your educational content humorous still and, while you shouldn’t strictly stick to educational videos, they are a clever way to vary your videos to increase engagement.

See this video by She’s a Tiny Plumber on TikTok. She uses the duet feature to react to a leak repair, and she explains each step in a comprehensible way while keeping it light and humorous.

Feeling inspired yet? Start making your own video content to get the most out of your brand!

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Five Tips/Tricks for Shooting Videos

Five Tips/Tricks for Shooting Videos

By: Kylie Stanley, PR Technician

Videos are one piece of marketing content that is not going anywhere anytime soon. With TikTok and other social media platforms promoting the use of videos, it’s important to understand how to produce the best video. The advances in technology have made it easy to whip out your phone and shoot a video for your own business without relying on professional gear. Obviously, having a clean, professional looking video is great sometimes, but authentic phone videos can help to make the video feel organic. In this blog post, we will cover the five best tips and tricks for shooting videos that you can use for your phone or camera.

  1. Plan for Your Video

Occasionally, some videos might be filmed on quick notice, but if you know that you’re filming well ahead of time, make sure to plan. When creating a video, you’re not just pressing record, but many other factors come into play like location, script, objectives and video type.

Before filming, ask yourself what the goal of the video is going to be. Are you making an educational video, behind-the-scenes or testimonial? Knowing the type of video you’re making ensures that you know what kind of videos and b-roll you’re shooting, what questions need to be answered and who needs to be filmed. Also, know where this video is primarily going to be used as that will dictate if you’re filming vertically or horizontally.

2. Lighting

Lighting is essential for your video quality when producing a high or low budget video. When it comes to lighting, there are two different kinds that you can use.

  • Natural lighting
  • Professional lighting

Natural lighting is a great cost-effective option for users—but make certain you know the risks. If you don’t have enough natural light, then your video may look dark and grainy, making it hard to see what’s happening in the video. Too much light will lead to harsh lighting on your subject or cause the video to be “blown” out, making the video not usable. When using natural light, work with the sun and overhead lights to make your video look the best.

Professional lighting is something you can invest in to help boost the quality of your video. Using a lighting kit can help to light your subject and make your phone video look like it was taken on a professional camera. When using a lighting kit, ensure you use the three-point lighting system to illuminate the scene. Three-point lighting is when you’re using light sources from three distinct positions. The three types of lights are key light, fill light and backlight.

Key light is the primary and brightest light source in the three-point lighting setup.

Fill light literally fills in the shadows that the key light creates on a subject, bringing out details in the darkness.

Backlight is the third source in this lighting technique; the backlight shines on a subject from behind, completing the light setup.

Closeup of video camera and audio equipment

3. Audio

Audio can make or break your video. If the audio isn’t usable and it’s necessary for the video, then the video is going into the trash. The best and ideal way to capture audio from your subject is to use any microphone other than your camera’s built-in mic. No matter how good your camera’s built-in mic is, it’s still not enough to replace a dedicated external audio recorder. Although, remember to listen to the noise around you before filming to guarantee you get a good quality video. Are you in a loud area? Is there a noisy HVAC system? Are there overhead announcements every five minutes? Take notice the noise around you as that audio, whether you have a microphone or not, will be picked up in the video. If you’re in a loud environment, and it’s possible, move to a quiet or secluded area to film your video.

4. Avoid Shaky Footage

Shaky footage can strain the eyes of your viewership and may cause them to stop watching. We suggest either purchasing a tripod or using the built-in stabilization on your camera to see if you’re holding the phone at an angle. Tripods obviously only work if the subject is still, so looking into external stabilizers might be the best option if you have a shaky hand.

Video camera

Many video editing software programs also have a built-in feature to stabilize shaky footage, but the results may not be perfect each time.

5. Video Composition

Video composition is how you frame your subject in your video. The ideal way to frame your subject is to follow the “rule of thirds,” which divides the frame into a three-by-three grid, creating intersections that are areas to place your focus.

The rule of thirds is where you mentally divide the frame or screen of your camera/phone into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. This grid overlaying on your screen will help you to place your key subject where the lines intersect. This means that placing your subject into the center of the screen will create a less interesting composition.

One important thing to keep in mind when filming is where the head of your subject is. Make sure they have ample head space, but not too much, as this causes negative space. Also, don’t provide too little head space as you may cut the person’s head out of frame. Framing is an important component of video production that helps tell the story of your video.

Conclusion

Filming videos can sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! By following these tips, you can increase your video production quality and know the basics when it comes to shooting. Remember, whipping your phone out to film is easy and shouldn’t be stressful. So, what are you waiting for? Get out and start filming your videos!

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Shorter is Not Always Better…At Least When it Comes to Video Lengths in 2020.

by Kylie Stanley, Public Relations Technician

With being stuck inside for the past year, 2020 became the year of videos, making some businesses embrace a digital approach and adopt new methods of marketing. From this, we can look at the key shifts for video that happened last year.

The latest report from Vidyard looks at 2020 video completion rates and other benchmarks.

Here are the key findings:

Vidyard Business Video Completion Rates by Length May2021

The average length of business-related videos increased from 4 minutes in 2019 to just over 6 minutes in 2020. That said, the majority (60%) of videos produced for business purposes (such as to support sales, marketing and communication efforts) are 2 minutes or less, with 37.3% being up to one minute long and another 23% being 1-2 minutes long.

Vidyard reports that with the cancellations of a majority of in-person events, videos over 20 minutes long saw an increase of 66% over 2019. It also pointed out that videos between 2 and 10 minutes have also increased, presumably “leaning on the trend of frictionless, self-service buying experiences to provide educational content to prospective customers upfront.”

With video content increasing, we need to keep in mind people’s attention spans. If you’re producing long-form videos, consider making simple cuts to keep your audience engaged or trim the video down.

Video is a powerful medium and adds value to your business.

Did video length for your company’s videos increase last year?

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Making the Most of YouTube

By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent

YouTube has become the prime research tool on the web. With a staggering breadth of content and connected communities for almost every niche, it’s definitely earned a place in your marketing efforts. If you don’t have a video program yet, check out articles herehere and here  on how to incorporate video. In the meantime, if video is already a part of your efforts, here are a few simple guidelines to making the most of the content you post:

No Channel is an Island

  • You can’t make your channel a one-sided affair. Make sure you get into as many “networks” as possible by subscribing to other channels, i.e. trade organizations, publications, online reviewers, people already using your products, etc.

Engage Frequently

  • Don’t be a passive subscriber. Like videos and comment, even if it’s just “great video.”  The more you put your channel out there, the more likely people are to find it.

Forget Who You Are

  • When it comes to video tags and descriptions, think like a potential customer, rather than as a salesperson. Don’t use product numbers or use common terms, instead, put yourself in the shoes of someone just starting a search, with no prior brand loyalty or knowledge of the industry, and then tag accordingly.

(more…)

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