Anyone who has spent any time on the internet lately will have noticed that videos are everywhere, if you don’t believe us check out Angus Australia’s YouTube Channel
Video marketing has infiltrated every corner of every industry. We’re at a point where if you’re not taking advantage of video marketing in your business, you’ll soon be left behind.
Video marketing has been proven to increase sales, build brand awareness, as well as trust, keep current customers informed, and to reach out to potential new customers.
YouTube recently announced an amazing statistic – the platform now serves one billion hours of content per day to viewers. That figure towers over last reported numbers from Facebook (100 million hours of video content per day). Searching for something on YouTube is now as commonplace as ‘Googling’.
As Australian consumers increasingly get information through video, it makes sense to present your brand with appealing, interesting, or informative videos. Now is a great time to jump on board to attract customers to your business and keep up and/or stay ahead of your competitors.
Now that most sales and open days have moved online, people are seeing the convenience of viewing animals from the comfort of their homes or offices. This is an opportunity to take advantage of a market that can more easily access what you have to sell, rather than only those who may be willing to drive several hours to come and see you personally.
The main factor that holds many businesses back from jumping into video relates to not knowing if it is a form of marketing that will work for them and their business.
If you decide that you do want to try out the video format for your organisation and want to be able to track its efficiency, here are some key metrics to keep track of its effectiveness:
- Cost of video production (money, time, and effort)
- Increase in brand awareness or increase in sales
- Number of views or ‘engagement’ signals
- Direct web traffic from the video to your website or social media page/s.
- Video click-through rate
- ASK – it’s ok to ask people if they saw your video and what they thought of it. This is often a great way to get feedback on whether people are seeing what you’ve made and if they can think of ways that you can improve what you’re doing.
Keep in mind that the video format has been used for marketing for quite a few years now and viewers are aware of what qualities convey a professional standard from a business. Filming something on an old mobile phone with poor lighting and bad sound quality isn’t going to win you any merit points.
Engaging in video marketing should be taken as seriously as all other aspects of your business. You will need to ensure that the quality and content are displaying you at your best. A poorly filmed video can be detrimental to your message and your business.
- Successful videos are quality videos.
- Your video should provide value to your users – tell them something new or interesting, make them laugh, give them something they can make use of.
- An effective video marketing strategy combines great ideas and great execution.
- Video content with bad visual or sound quality may leave a bad impression and will not position you as a leader in your industry.
Aside from pure information or focusing squarely on sales it’s important to make sure that these aren’t the only videos you create. Interesting videos can increase audience engagement with your business and resonate with your target audience, conversions will follow.
Sales may not be immediate but if you produce interesting content, your business will come to mind when a customer is next looking to make a purchase. Viewers will become more engaged and will stick around to learn more about your business if your message is interesting.
So you’re convinced, but what are the next steps? It’s time to start planning!
Here are some ideas for creating interesting videos:
Property Walk Through – show viewers around your property. This is a great way to show off some happy cattle and what makes your business stand out from the others.
Your breeding objectives– Tell people about your production system – the who, the what, the why. Get the word out there on what’s special about your cattle and your breeding achievements. Show off your star animals and why you’re so proud of them.
Who’s who and what they do – fairly self-explanatory, introduce everyone on staff (at least those willing to be on camera), and what they do. If you run a small operation, it could just be you and your family members, for larger organisations, you could do custom video profiles of everyone or just a walk around and get everyone to say hi.
What’s happening – seasonal updates or anything new that’s happening. Calving season? You may have noticed that cute videos get a lot of traction online, definitely take advantage of showing baby calves. Got a new tractor? Cool! Show off what you’ve got. It all shows that you’re investing in your operation to increase the value of what you grow and sell. Even typical day to day stuff is great for a quick video on Facebook or Instagram (or both!). You’re better off sharing videos regularly, even if they’re just filmed on your phone. It all helps to keep you fresh in peoples’ minds.
Informational videos – tips and tricks for how you handle certain common problems or how you look after your animals.
Recipes – Head into the kitchen and share what you do with your beef, it could be tips on how to prepare and cook and awesome steak, your grandmother’s beef wellington, roast beef, even side dishes that complement a meal.
Testimonials – Follow up with people who have bought from you before and who are happy with the results.
In the next part of our video marketing guide, we’ll take you through filming basics, what you’ll need to start producing your own videos and easy steps you can take to make them look as high quality as possible.
