Are you wondering how to drive more community engagement with video content? Video marketing is undoubtedly one of the best ways to drive engagement with your community members in a short space of time. Unlike other marketing tactics, videos provides your audience with the personal touch of engaging storytelling.  In 2017, internet users watched around one billion gigabytes of videos each month and it's estimated that video will become a major content channel in the future.  If you're looking for ways to increase your community engagement, using video marketing as part of your content strategy is the way forward.

What is video marketing?

Video marketing turns textual copy into stunning visuals and clear storytelling that perfectly conveys your audience's pain points. Using video marketing helps you to get more engagement by capturing your audience's attention, even at a glance. There are loads of different types of video marketing, such as explainers, testimonials, product videos, tutorials, promotions, and more. Each has a different purpose like spreading awareness or initiating action.       In this post, we'll provide you with 10 tips to take your community video content to the next level.

1. Determine your goals

First, you need to understand your video marketing goals. Without a clear purpose, you'll waste your time not knowing where it goes. One of the best approaches is to look at your marketing objectives.  If you're a new community, you can implement the basic steps like raising awareness to your target audience. From this point on, you know what your video marketing campaign is for and what to do with it. An explainer video and tutorial are ideal types of video in this field. These videos are designed to increase awareness of your community's purpose and mission quickly. On the other hand, if you want to convince people to join your community, you'll need social proof that demonstrates how trustworthy your community is. Testimonials and/or product demos are your best bets.

2. Target relevant members

After you determine your video marketing goals, you need to define your target audience. Ask yourself, 'who you create the video for?.'  According to Alina Mulova, a marketing team lead at CleverFiles, a data recovery software developer, this step is essential before processing further action. The reason is that viewers define your video marketing success. For example, if you fail to match your buyer persona, you won't get any engagement because the audience isn't meant to watch your video.  That's why it's crucial to take this part seriously. First, create a buyer persona by defining your ideal member's online behavior. Then, include your target market's demographic to ensure getting the right people at the right time. If you're clear on who your audience is, you'll know the best way to reach and connect with them.

3. Focus on the stories

People value content that impresses them. If your video focuses on simply talking about a product, for example, you'll lose viewers in a matter of time.   Instead of going too hard with marketing promotion, try creating a story highlighting your target audience's problem. The more your videos sound hard-selling, the higher the chance your viewers will get bored of you. They won't hesitate to ignore your video entirely and move on to engaging content from competitors. On the other hand, if you succeed in bringing in an impactful story, more viewers will love your offering. Ultimately, they start looking for information about what you offer to them.

4. Create customer-generated content

User-generated content or customer-generated content is any form of content that's created by people instead of brands. This type of content is likely to gain a lot of viewers. When you provide a video relevant to your viewers, the chance of getting an impression is higher. Creating user-generated content is nothing new in the marketing world. In fact, it's common to use customer-centric video as it evokes the audience's feeling as part of the story. Moreover, content like this will inspire them to share the video promotion with their close friends and family. They want others to join the euphoria of watching the video.

5. Use the first 10-seconds effectively

It's vital to hook your member's attention within the first ten seconds to ensure they continue watching.  Users' attention span is just 8.5 seconds nowadays, making it more difficult to catch their attention in such a short time. However, you can overcome this obstacle by clarifying what your video is all about from the get-go. You can put a tail baiting thumbnail to impress the viewers and use thought-provoking questions. These strategies can excite your viewers to continue with the video and inspire them to continue watching.

6. Add captions

Did you know that there's a chance people may fail to understand your video message? The reason is that some people consume video with sound-off, which can result in undelivered messages. As well as this, it's vital to offer a medium that is supportive for those with hearing disabilities.  Closed captions make your videos accessible for all and ensure you increase retention for those who don't have sound on.

7. Optimize video search

People rely heavily on online platforms to look for information. Internet users perform over a billion Google searches each day and YouTube also receives a huge search surge for video content daily.  If you don't optimize your video search it means you won't gain the engagement rates you hoped for. To boost your video marketing performance, you can insert relevant keywords in your title. Don't forget to add video descriptions as it can help search engines to track possible words that relate to the user's search. And you can also use YouTube's tag feature to make your video appear as a related video on a viewers' board.

8. Stick to a schedule

It's vital to make a regular video appearance as it shows how professional your community is. People expect consistency. By providing regular content, you can keep people engaged with up-to-date information that inspires them to remain a part of your community.  You can begin by creating a content plan and breaking it down into weekly updates to help you keep track of your posting schedule. You can also end your videos with a taster of what to expect in the next video.

9. Include a call-to-action

When creating videos, don't forget to include a call-to-action (CTA). For example, if you want your members to download a guide or attend a more in-depth Livestream you can add this to your description and talk about it in your video.

10. Evaluate the metrics

Last but not least, don't forget to evaluate your performance. By assessing the data, you'll know what to double down on and what needs some improvements. With this understanding, you can implement the same approach or improve your existing plan for future content.   You can also check the metrics to analyze how many times the video is played and shared. If you collect this information well, you can maintain success and enhance your video content over time.