Back in the days, the most common thing for a marketer was to buy print ads, tv-ads, or to do outdoor advertising. The campaigns were planned well in advance with quite some lead time. However, that has completely changed.
In the digital world of today the choices and possibilities are endless, which can be quite a headache when it’s time to plan your campaign and create your marketing videos. In this article we'll show you how you can create a kickass Facebook video strategy that will give you the results you're after.
How to create a kickass Facebook video marketing strategy
Follow the plan
Natalie Eriksson.
– The problem is that you often want to do too much of different things at the same time. It’s hard to prioritize when you try to accomplish everything at once, says Natalie Eriksson, marketing consultant, author, and speaker focusing on social media.
The risk is that your message becomes sparse and unclear. Also, trying to say everything at once makes it more challenging to reach the customers you want. One way to solve this problem is to start making some tough decisions.
– The best thing is to decide what you want to say, to make a plan and stick to it. In our job, we collect a lot of data, and that often leads to marketers poking around in their content too quickly, says Natalie Eriksson.
Wait on results and know your target audience
Sticking to your plan is a good rule since there are some pitfalls when setting up a content strategy on Facebook. One advantage when working online is that you immediately see the audience reactions and video performance. However, it’s easy to start making changes a bit too fast. Instead: try waiting a day or two to see if your original plan might have been the best after all.
You also need to know which target group you are trying to reach with your video marketing and what to talk about with them. An excellent place to start is to ask yourself what your audience know about your company and products. For example: a well-known company can probably create another type of content than an unknown organization.
Grab the attention!
So, if your company or organization have a plan, a goal, and a target audience, and you want to start creating video content for them – How do you make sure your video is reaching through to that audience?
–- Catch their attention immediately! You must put the most engaging and exciting things first in your video. You also need to make it very clear who the sender is, don’t just put your logo in the end: very few people will see it there, says Natalie Eriksson.
She also raises a warning flag for trying to cram as much as possible into your video content.
– Your content must be coherent. Say your company starts a competition on social media to get the audience engaged. But then you also want them to follow your page and like your content. Also, you urge them to subscribe to a newsletter. This kind of content often seems spammy and unserious. Decide what you want to do, says Natalie Eriksson.
Keep an eye on the Facebook algorithms and be consistent
You also need to keep an eye on the algorithms. In the past, it was much easier to get organic reach with your content. It’s still possible to get your content out there without spending money on it, but it’s much more difficult. Natalie Eriksson believes that the basic rule is to have a continuous strategy where you consistently publish content. Publishing one or two bigger pieces per year won’t do the job. Also: don’t start spending your money too fast.
– Post your video content and let it live in the feed organically for a day. After that, you can sponsor it. Then you reach both those who would see it anyway and those who would have missed it. You put your money where it is needed, says Natalie Eriksson.
Good content is key
However, as always, your primary focus has to be on the content you are creating.
– The most important thing is to create good content. Consider the length of the video and the quality of the pictures. Also, remember to create relevant content, then you’ve already come a long way, says Natalie Eriksson.
5 top tips to succeed with your Facebook video marketing strategy
- Have an apparent message, don’t mix too many things into it.
- Have measurable goals. This is the best way to know if you are doing the right thing.
- Get to know your audience.
- Keep an eye on how your content is doing and video performance. But stick to your plan and give every piece of content a chance to succeed before you start changing it.
- Have a target audience in the target audience. If you, for example, want to sell a gym card, you can try to use different images/video footage and different messages in your posts to try to reach two different parts of your target group. Then see where you get the best results.
4 things you shouldn’t do in videos!
- Using low-quality images. People prefer to look at things that look good.
- Take too long to tell your story. Of course, you need to take your time to tell your story, but nobody will stay until the end if he or she loses interest. Write an effective video script, cut out everything that isn’t necessary.
- Put your message at the end of the video. On social media platforms, you only have a few seconds to catch the viewer. To leave the good part to the end is a very bad idea.
- Wanting to do everything at once. You can’t ask people to like, comment, follow and sign up to a newsletter at the same time.
