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When it comes to engagement, video is king. It’s a popular way to share ideas and gather information, and its presence on social media and online overall is only increasing. As a result, having an association video marketing strategy is a must.
Not sure that video is right for your association? Let’s look at the statistics.
Nearly one-third of all internet users flock to YouTube for video content. YouTube users watch over 500 million hours of video every single day. On Facebook, more than half a billion people watch videos daily. Across Twitter, 82 percent of users spend time watching videos.
With statistics like that, it’s no surprise that 87 percent of online marketers embrace the power of video.
To put it simply, video isn’t a trend; it’s here to stay. Plus, people enjoy videos. Otherwise, they wouldn’t spend so much time watching them.
If your association video marketing strategy isn’t comprehensive (or is currently non-existent), you are missing out on an opportunity. Not only is video amazing for engagement, but it’s also a great mechanism for sharing your message. You can capture the interest of members and nonmembers, particularly those who might not view content produced in other forms – like email messages or blog posts – and share critical details.
Creating a robust association video marketing strategy doesn’t have to be a challenge. If you aren’t sure where to begin, here are five essential tips to get you started.
Your existing association marketing strategy can serve as an excellent starting point for integrating video. You likely have preferred platforms and delivery mechanisms in place. Similarly, your marketing strategy outlines your content priorities, giving you indications about critical topics you want to cover.
By aligning your videos with other objectives – such as conference advertising, member engagement, and continuing education goals – you can focus your association video marketing strategy. This ensures that your marketing efforts are part of a cohesive picture.
Videos work best when they are short and high-impact. On average, users will watch a video for about 2.7 minutes, so you want your content to be near that length. However, it also needs to be enticing.
If you want to capture the attention of viewers, you need to share high-quality information in an enticing way. When viewers see a video that offers a poor-quality experience, 62 percent form a negative opinion of the brand. If you don’t want that for your association, then you need to focus on both the content and its delivery.
Make sure your videos provide your audience with value. You can’t only present your call-to-action and expect an impact. If your videos are too salesy, your viewers will disengage. So, you need to make sure that the message is helpful and informative to your audience and not just a reinforcement of your marketing objectives.
For example, teach your viewers something that can help them in their professional or personal lives. Share interesting facts and trivia that align with your association, making the content interesting and sparking curiosity. Make your marketing message a side thought, as, by boosting engagement, you won’t need to be as forceful.
Once you have your content concept, you need to make sure that video quality is part of your association video marketing strategy. When the picture is blurry, or the audio is subpar, it creates a less than stellar experience.
For example, bad audio frustrates viewers as they can’t understand what’s being said. Poor lighting makes videos look cheap, prevent visuals from being clear, and may cause the video to be too dark on the screen. Skipping a script or not rehearsing can cause the person delivering the points or narrating the video to stutter, pause, use filler words (like “um,” “uh,” and “like”), or otherwise seem unprepared.
Ultimately, you want your videos to appear polished, so pay attention to your video and audio quality. Additionally, spending a little time in post-production can make a world of difference, allowing you to remove mistakes, add background music, and insert text, graphs, or images for a better final product.
Today, video marketing isn’t about creating one showstopping video. Instead, you need a strong catalog of videos if you want to boost engagement.
Since your association video marketing strategy should focus on shorter videos, consider how you can produce them at scale. Often, this involves focusing on a highly defined point or topic for each clip, allowing that message to take center stage without any distractions.
Consider your main marketing objective and how you can break it down. If your goal is to boost conference attendance, examine the entire conference experience and pick out a variety of highlights. For example, will there be an amazing keynote speaker? Is a new technology being unveiled? Are you planning a catered networking event that shouldn’t be missed?
After doing the breakdown, you have topics for a range of videos. Then, you can create a catalog of relevant offerings by creating a video for each one.
Once you have your videos, you need a distribution plan. After all, your association video marketing strategy won’t produce results if no one sees the videos.
Video distribution is no longer restricted to large advertising agencies with multi-million dollar television ad buys. With the prevalence of web video and social media, you can develop a meaningful grassroots distribution plan — and you can scale that up as you start to see results.
A smart video distribution strategy for associations will include some or all of these channels:
Consider using several approaches. For example, post them on your social media accounts and add them to your association website. Video advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn are also worth exploring, particularly if you’re going to entice nonmembers into joining.
By adding the word “video” to your email subject lines, you can see open rates increase by 19 percent and click-through rates jump by an astonishing 65 percent.
If you want to boost open and click-through lengths, adding video to your email campaigns is a great way to start.
While most email clients do not support video embedding, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with static content in an email. One useful tactic is creating an GIF from your video. GIFs — short for “Graphic Interface Format” — allow you to create short videos in an image file format.
GIFs are highly compressed and don’t support audio, but their small file size and compact format make them a great choice for email campaigns. You can create GIFs from your videos using a free web service like GIPHY.
By following the tips above, you can create an association video marketing strategy that works. Then, you can reach members and nonmembers alike, expanding your reach and boosting engagement to achieve the results you need to thrive.
Are you thinking about creating more video for your association? Dozens of leading associations are using Gather Voices to collect videos from their members, all across the world — without the need for expensive video crews and coordinating production schedules. Our video platform empowers marketers to collect member video anytime, anywhere. Schedule a demo to learn more!
