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Video has now become a critical part of every marketing plan. Here’s how video is benefitting our clients, and how it can be a boom to your business, too. If you’ve heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” just imagine the value of video content. That is the foundation of video marketing. It allows you to reach current and potential customers in a way that is entertaining, educational and engaging, effectively making them part of your marketing campaigns.

A Renderforest Survey found that videos have helped businesses increase brand awareness by 70 per cent, website traffic by 51 per cent and sales by 34 per cent. With stats like these, it’s easy to see why big and small businesses alike are increasingly incorporating video into their marketing strategies.

So, how do you “do” video? It’s not as complicated as you might think. You’ll find many businesses are employing video in many creative ways. In order to be effective and engaging, video needs to “speak” to your audience. Who are they, how and where do they shop and what type of content resonates with them? What are their “pain points” and most importantly, how can your product or service help?  If you are business manager or owner you may likely already have this information.

Now let’s start putting it to work.

CREATING VIDEO CONTENT

There are lots of different styles of videos, depending on your business offerings, the platform on which you plan to share the video, your audience and your budget. You may choose to record it yourself using your smartphone, or opt for produced video content that looks more polished and professional.

From our experience, regardless of the type or style of video, Eventful PR starts the process in the same way – by working with our clients to develop an outline of their video goals and messaging. From there, we define the details. We pay attention to the location of the shoot, and we understand that capturing all the footage is a process. If outsourcing ensure you have these details decided beforehand and share them prior with your videographer to save time and extra costs.

Another key consideration is the platform on which you plan to share your video. From this perspective, pay attention to the length of the video and its dimensions you will need ahead. Scroll to the end of this blog post for a quick, handy guide.

CREATIVE CONCEPTS

There’s no right or wrong way to do video (as long as it’s done well, of course) but here are some ideas that have brought our clients success.

Behind-the-scenes video: Behind-the-scenes videos can provide engaging content for your marketing channels. You can use it to show your audience how things are done, and are a great way to strengthen your brand image and humanize it by showcasing your day-to-day activities and how your company operates.

Product service process: An informative video showing the benefits of your product or service, giving customers a better understanding of your business offerings.

Videos from photographs: These are straightforward videos that are more like slideshows showcasing some aspect of what you provide, typically accompanied by text and a narrative audio.

Personal message video: These videos are great to showcase your business and the people behind the brand, highlighting your company’s various team members and creating an opportunity to connect with your audience (video max frames 60fps)

GET YOUR VIDEO OUT THERE!

With the proliferation of social media and digital platforms, getting your content “out there” and seen has never been easier. Social media literally is putting content at our fingertips and offering endless opportunities to connect with current and potential clients. But, note there are some decisions to make along the way.

Will you share your videos organically, or as part of a paid marketing strategy?

If you’re in it to win it (and by “it” I’m referring to clients and business), you’ll need to ensure your videos are being seen. It’s not enough to just hit “publish” on a post. Even with followers on your social media channels, putting some spend behind your video content ensures more eyes on it, more engagement and hopefully, more sales.

Plan for how to intend to promote your videos, where and to whom.

Many social platforms make this easy on the back end, so long as you have done your research in terms of who your audience is, how they consume content, what kind of videos they engage with, and where they consume them.

As part of our collaborative process, Eventful PR will help you tell your story, by developing the “storyline,” with talent behind the lens and a creative plan to get you seen!

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO SPECS

Recommended video dimensions 1280 x 720 for Landscape and Portrait.
Minimum width is 1200 pixels (length depends on aspect ratio) for Landscape and Portrait.
Landscape aspect ratio is 16:9.
Portrait aspect ratio is 9:16 (if video includes link, aspect ratio is 16:9).
Mobile renders both video types to aspect ratio 2:3.
Max file size is 4GB.
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
Video length max is 240 minutes (45 minutes if uploading in Sprout).
Video max frames 30fps.

Recommended to upload the highest resolution video possible.
Recommended resolution: 1080×1080.
Recommended aspect ratio is between 9:16 to 16:9 (Horizontal: 16:9, Square: 1:1, Vertical: 4:5 or 2:3 and Full Portrait: 9:16).
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
Max video file size is 4GB.
Video length max is 240 minutes.

Recommended resolution 1080×1080
Aspect ratios: 1.91 to 9:16, with colored gradient bars rendered above and below videos under 9:16. The text field will also be placed under below videos smaller than this aspect ratio.
Max video file size is 4GB
Duration is 1 second to 2 minutes
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.

Minimum resolution for all formats is 1080 x 1080Recommended horizontal pixel resolution is 1920
Multiple aspect ratios are supported: Landscape aspect ratio is 16:9, square aspect ratio is 1:1, vertical aspect ratio is 4:5.
Max file size for all formats is 4GB
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
Video length is 3 to 60 seconds.
Recommended frame rate is 23 to 60 FPS.
Recommended data rate/bitrate for posting through Sprout: 5 Mbps (Megabytes per second)

Recommended resolution is 1080×1080.
Aspect ratio is 9:16.
Max file size is 4GB.
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
Video length max is 2 minutes for ads and 15 seconds for organic. If you upload a longer video on organic, it will be clipped into multiple Stories ‘slides.’

Recommended resolution is 1080×1080.
Aspect ratio is 9:16.
Videos can be either 15 or 30 seconds long.
Max file size is 4GB.
Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
Reels will display in the feed in slightly cropped portrait dimensions (4:5 or 1080×1350).

Recommended resolution is 1080 x 1920.
Minimum resolution is 720.
Aspect ratio is 9:16 (recommended), or 16:9 is also supported. In-feed previews show at 4:5.
Videos are minimum 1 minute and maximum 15 minutes long when uploading from mobile. You can upload a video up to 1 hour using desktop.
Max file size for videos less than 10 minutes is 650MB. For videos up to 60 minutes, it’s 3.6 GB
The required file format is MP4

Recommended resolution: 1080×1920
Aspect ratio: 9:16 recommended to fill a standard mobile phone screen (1:1 with letterboxing)
Length: 15 seconds recorded in-app, 60 seconds in-app (4 sections of 15 seconds), or over 60 seconds when uploaded from another source
Maximum file size: 287.6MB
Video formats: MP4 or MOV recommended

Resolutions must be at least: 540×960, 640×64 or 960×540
Aspect ratio options: 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9
Length: 5–60 seconds, but 9–15 seconds is recommended
Maximum file size: 500MB
Bitrate minimum: 516 kbps
Ad description character limits: 1-1000 Latin characters or 1-50 Asian characters
Video formats: .MP4, .MOV, .MPEG .3GP, .AVI

Recommended dimensions: 426 x 240 (240p), 640 x 360 (360p), 854 x 480 (480p), 1280 x 720 (720p), 1920 x 1080 (1080p), 2560 x 1440 (1440p) and 3840 x 2160 (2160p).
Aspect ratio is 16:9 (auto adds pillarboxing if 4:3).
Max file size is 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less.
Accepted video formats include: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
Video length max is 12 hours.

Recommended dimensions: 426 x 240 (240p), 640 x 360 (360p), 854 x 480 (480p),1280 x 720 (720p), 1920 x 1080 (1080p), 2560 x 1440 (1440p) and 3840 x 2160 (2160p).
Minimum dimension is 426 x 240.
Max dimension is 3840 x 2160.
Aspect ratio is 16:9 (auto adds pillarboxing if 4:3).
Max file size is 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less.
Accepted video formats include: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
Skippable video length max is 6 minutes (skippable after 5 seconds).
Non-skippable video length max is 15 or 20 seconds (30 seconds in some regions).
Mid-roll video length minimum is 30 seconds.
Bumper video length max is 6 seconds.

(Specs courtesy of Sprout social)

During our one to one discovery call we can share how we can help with your PR and overall marketing media strategies. We will share how can best help you and answer all of your marketing questions  and ultimately prepare you to kickstart your journey into getting your brand noticed! Connect with us and start the conversation.