10 Ways to Use Video to Make Your Business and Social Media More Profitable

How long does it take you to whip out your phone, pop open the app for your favorite social media platform and type out a quick sentence and hit POST?

Probably about as long as it took you to read that first sentence. In this post, we’ll talk about 10 ways to use video to make your business and social media more profitable.

So why, you may ask, should you bother to take all that extra time to add video to your social media posts?

Great question. Let’s start with a bunch of relevant statistics that will help make the case.

In 2016, here’s what Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa told Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International Summit: “In 5 years (that would be 2021) Facebook will be definitely mobile and will be probably all video, too. If we look already, we’re seeing a year-on-year decline on text,” she said. “We’re seeing a massive increase, as I’ve said, of both pictures and video. So I think, yeah, if I was having a bet, I would say … video, video, video.“

Why did she tell us that? Was it because Facebook woke up one day and thought “I think that I want to make all of Sharyn and Hank Yuloff’s Private Business Coaching clients do more work?”

Well, as much as we would like to think that Facebook is thinking about us AT ALL, that was not it. The reason is that 500 million Facebook users are watching 100 million hours a day on the platform.

Before we talk about how to use video, allow us to prove our point. Here are a few more current video marketing volume statistics you should see (Stats from WordStream):

• On Youtube, it is over 500 million hours a day and has 500 million users. That includes us at Yuloff Creative’s YouTube Channel.
• More video content is uploaded to the internet every month than the major US television networks created in the last 30 years. That’s a lot of episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.
• 87% of online marketers use video content. Do you want to keep up? Better grab your cam, folks because 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every MINUTE.
• 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
• The Millennial generation currently watches the most online videos and the men in that generation spend 40% more time watching them than women.
  
• One third of the time people spend on the internet is watching video and over half of that video content is viewed on their mobile devices.

• This is very important. Take notes. 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others. Social videos generate 12 times more shares than text and images combined.

• Native videos (posted directly to the platform instead of shared from another source) on Facebook have 10 times higher reach compared to YouTube links.
• Video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more.
• How long should your videos be? Great question. Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement. BUT – if you are shooting a HOW TO video, it can certainly be longer. Honest fact here, we have a challenge in hitting that limit on our blog videos, but our Facebook live videos rarely hit that length.
  
• Did you know that if you include an initial email with a video you can increase your click-through rate by almost 100%? And 46% of users act after viewing your ad.

Mendelsohn also told her audience that video offers you a better way to tell stories. We think that she is right. It is why we add a video to almost every blog we have ever posted.

We know that a lot of you prefer to get information from us in video form even though most of you prefer to read it. Your marketing tip is ALLOW YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS TO CONSUME YOUR INFORMATION IN THEIR PREFERRED METHOD.

59% of executives said that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are most likely to choose video.

Video also allows your potential clients to get to know you better through video. If you have watched our videos, you will see that we are very much the same on video as we are in person, which allows you to make a faster and easier decision to work with us as your business and marketing coaches. The same will work for you and YOUR potential clients.

Here are 10 Ways to Use Video to Make Your Business and Social Media More Profitable.

1. Create a series of How To videos.

How often have you gone to YouTube to figure out how to do something? You and millions of others do it every day. Some of our most watched videos have been How To videos. They also tend to be longer because you have to get all the details into them. We suggest you have all your talking points written out so you don’t have to go back and shoot it again. Keep them simple and hack-filled. These are great ways to promote you and your service. Our ‘How To’ Social Media videos are very popular.

2. When People Send You Questions, Answer them on video.

If you get potential clients asking you questions, answer them on video and post the link on social media and tag them. You can also add a Frequently Asked Questions section on your website and answer them on video as well as with text. Let the viewer know where they can go to get more information.

3. Emotions Are Good.

It is completely OK to appeal to people’s emotions. Especially if your ultimate goal is to sell your product or service. And if you are reading out blogs, we are going to guess that IS your goal. The music you use, your facial expressions and the words you use can all add emotional appeal. We love humor, but inspirational content is always remembered. One of the best examples are the ASPCA ads which use the music of Sarah McLachlan. Yes, we are popping one of them right here. Why? Here’s a Super Secret Ninja Marketing secret: Your positive feelings about helping these animals will be attached to our blog.

You can also SPOOF someone else’s serious ads. Sarah McLachlan did it on herself:

Here is one that a car dealer did with McLauchlan’s music, but the voice over does not begin until a minute in. NOTE: THEY DID NOT GET THE COPYRIGHT. YOU ENDANGER YOUR BUSINESS IF YOU DO NOT PAY TO USE SOMEONE ELSE’S MUSIC.

4. Take your viewers behind the scenes.

When we are about to begin a trade show, or our Small Business Breakthrough Bootcamp, we will quite often take the time to take you behind our scenes. This allows you to get to know our brand and what we are all about. When you do this, you will build a stronger brand loyalty as your users connect with you. We shot this video before we exhibited at a multi chamber mixer:

5. One Message Per Video.

We want your clients to pay more attention to you. They will do that more if you limit your videos to one message. Talk about one product. Talk about one success story. Talk about one event that is coming up. Talk about one item you have on sale. You get the point, right?

6. Do It Live.

The excitement is palpable when a major television network advertises that they are going to be running a live television show. Of course, their sports division says ‘uh huh, and the difficulty with that is?’

Many people tune in just to see if the actors are going to blow it. It’s why Saturday Night Live made such a name for itself when it began. Now it is normal to see some of the actors come close to breaking that fourth wall, but live has more excitement. It is as if the viewer is watching in person.

We do a Facebook Live each time we cross the Arizona border into California. The reason is simple: we want our audience to equate seeing that video with our arriving in Los Angeles for speaking engagements, which means they can get a huge marketing boost for their business. We always add a marketing tip or two as well.

If you are holding seminars, you can add to your attendee revenue by allowing potential clients to ‘dial in’ to the seminar remotely. The cost is usually about a quarter to half the cost of attending live. You can offer the action guide as an upsell to the video seminar attendees. If you broadcast your seminars, you should have someone watching the screen so you can answer their questions in real time. This will help with conversions.

7. What is Their Next Step?

When we teach our private coaching clients like you to blog, they are reminded to always add a CALL TO ACTION to the end of the blog. Someone will read it and must be told what to do next. That is why every long form advertisement consistently has the 800 phone number at the bottom of the screen. They are telling you what to do next.

For example, if you are ready to make a huge difference in your business you should go to www.TheMarketingEvent.com and sign up for us to create your marketing plan in just 2 ½ days. Or you could call 800-705-4265 and we will add you to the attendee list (limited to 50).

Like we just gave you a call to action to save your business, you can give your video viewers a call to action and get them to connect with you immediately. The most effective place to add your Call to Action is at the end of the video. You can do it verbally or by using captions and subtitles.

8. Create a Silent Movie.

If your video has strong visual appeal, then voice overs could become less important. In fact, they may stand out even more from the universe of videos. You can use dramatic music that is either free or with inexpensive royalties. You can add subtitles and title slides which will tell your story. Take your time in filming a simple story so that when viewing the subjects the mind of your viewer can fill in the details. If the video is posted on YouTube, make sure that you tell a complete story in the description section under the video and add a HTTP://www in front of your website in the description because that makes the links clickable inside YouTube.

Here are a couple of videos that do just that:

9. Video and Audio Quality.

You want to make the video and audio quality are as high as possible. We all hate it when the sound levels change or the video is hard to watch. More people will click off quickly if you don’t fix it. It also takes away from the credibility of your brand and what you are selling. Make sure you watch your video all the way through before you post it. This does not mean you have to use expensive video equipment, because cell phone quality has become far better than just a few years ago.

We have found that background noise, when you do not pay attention to it while you are shooting it, will be very apparent when you play it back. Off camera microphones with lapel clips will assist in eliminating the background noise, but you should pay attention to them. Planes, trains, and automobiles are obvious, but HVAC units and refrigerators can also make noise. We have even had our landscapers come by when shooting videos.

Your lighting makes a difference as well. You do not want shadows on the your faces. This means that if you are outside, you will either have to face the sun, or you will have to use well lit shaded areas. If you are inside, you want to make certain that the room is bright enough so you are easily seen.

10. I want to tell you a story.

When you read that headline, did you get curious to hear a story? I did, and I WROTE the headline. Your viewers want you to tell them a story, too. The most powerful videos you will shoot are story filled.
This is the hardest thing to learn when you begin to shoot your videos. Most people just recite a bunch of facts.

Think of the number of times you have paid money at a box office to watch a movie in a theater. You went because the story seemed interesting to you. A story should be easy to understand because you are only talking about one thing in the video.

In conclusion:

We have tried to make as strong a case as possible for you to use video to promote your business. That’s why we gave you 10 ways to use video to make your business and social media more profitable. We live in a video friendly environment and you can take advantage of it. Yes, it is more difficult to tell your story using video compared to text, but you will be repaid many times over with increased sales. You will also get a huge jump in Search Engine Optimization, but that’s a blog for another day.

If you want to discuss how to use video for YOUR business, connect with us for a free 30-minute business-focusing call. Answer a few easy questions at www.FreeMarketingConsultation.com before you are given a link to our calendar so we can begin our conversation.