Make use of emerging video marketing technologies to safeguard your strategy for the future. With the availability of information and direct connections to brands, modern consumers are savvier than ever. They can research and follow brands, ensuring that they align with their values, provide accountability and transparency, and care about customer questions and concerns.
Often, this comes in the form of video marketing. Videos gained popularity because they convey information in formats that are entertaining, clear, and succinct, which are ideal for social media users with short attention spans. In fact, video is expected to account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2025, while video streaming will make up 91% of global video internet traffic.
However, it's easier said than done to create successful video campaigns. If you’re overwhelmed at the prospect, emerging video technologies take a lot of the stress out of the process. You can create polished, engaging videos that capture your audience’s attention and stand out in a sea of content.
Why Are Videos So Popular?
Within a brief amount of time, videos have become household names. While video has always been more digestible than written content, online consumers shifted during the shelter-in-place orders of the pandemic to prioritize videos on social media for information, entertainment, and more.
But what is the appeal of videos? Here are some reasons video is dominating online:
Visual stimulation: Watching videos requires more of your brain to interpret images, facial expressions, and visual cues. This is a different experience from reading a text-heavy article and engages learning ability, promoting better information retention.
Algorithm appeal: Many social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, favor video content in their algorithms, promoting more visibility. On platforms like TikTok, video is the preferred content.
Authenticity: Videos, particularly live videos, may be perceived as more authentic. Viewers can pick up on cues that the subject is genuine, such as facial expressions and body language, that they can’t in text.
Shareability: Videos are shared more than other types of content. People who use social media have busy schedules and short attention spans. Videos provide an easy watch and escape that gives them something in return for the time they spend watching, encouraging them to share it with others.
Educational opportunities: Not all video content is vapid or sales focused. Some videos provide a learning experience about a brand or its products, especially for jargon-heavy or complicated product demonstrations, allowing audiences to better understand the real-world benefits.
The Video Technologies Shaking Up Video Marketing
Videos used to be limited to huge brands with virtually limitless resources to hire production companies and create professional-quality videos. Now, technologies have emerged to remove the barriers and make video marketing more accessible to brands of all sizes and industries, even with a limited marketing budget.
Video's popularity has been aided by these technologies. Examples of video technologies and their disruptive effects on marketing are as follows: Short-Form Video Content
The pandemic ushered in a new era for online behavior and consumer preferences. TikTok became the most popular platform, proving that consumers wanted not only videos but short, digestible content with authenticity and entertainment value.
Since then, TikTok has been setting the trends for other platforms to follow. Instagram created Reels and Stories and YouTube created Shorts – a break from long-form content on the platform – with features like audio, text overlay, stickers, in-app editing tools, and more.
Interactive Features
Quality videos don’t need any extras to make an impact, but new technologies offer an opportunity to add the X factor to your videos. Interactive elements like clickable buttons, quizzes, and branching narratives make content more engaging and encourage active participation, rather than passive viewing.
Interactive videos have advantages for the user as well as advantages for the brand. You can track the decisions that consumers make when they engage with a video, such as the decisions they make, the content they choose to see, and the features they engage with most.
Virtual Reality and Panorama
Videos can be created on nearly any device, including computers, tablets, smartphones, or directly in social media accounts. The majority of these formats are made for standard videos, but app features let you use panoramic views, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) to make the video look better. For example, virtual walkthroughs use VR and panorama to give users a real-world experience of touring a property, visiting a museum, or shopping in a store. These features are helpful in tourism, real estate, entertainment, and gaming, but there are plenty of ways creative brands in all industries can leverage the technology for success.
Shoppable Video Features
Standard videos are often formatted like a written article. They contain an introduction, body, and conclusion with a call to action (CTA) that tells the user the action they should take. While this can help with leads, there are ways to get more out of your CTA with seamless shoppable video features.
For example, fashion and accessory brands may use shoppable features on a runway ad to help users find the products featured in the video. When the users click on the button, they’re directed to the product page to complete their purchase seamlessly, rather than navigating away from the site to search for the product – and possibly losing interest in the process.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology that’s been making waves across all industries. Brands that need to make the most of their video production resources can take advantage of AI's unique advantages. Video is no exception. For example, AI can assist with the time-consuming, less-human aspects of video production like video editing, captioning, and visual enhancements. You can streamline these aspects of the process, leaving the heavy creative lifting to your human team members. AI can’t create your videos for you, but it can cut down on the time- and resource-intensive aspects to help you stay on top of rapid social media trends.
Marketing is just one of many different kinds of industries that are constantly being transformed by new technologies. With new technology tools, you can streamline the video production process, provide a more unique and engaging experience for viewers, and maximize your results.