Short, Sweet and Honest: Video Marketing Tips for Success

Editor's Note: This popular blog post was updated with updated content for 2024. If you want to get the latest tips on video marketing, this updated blog post is for you!

In 2024, there are so many things vying for our attention, which is why effective video marketing tips are essential. Texts or instant messages. Social media scrolling. Work emails and Slack pings. The stock market. NFTs. The news. Netflix. And then there is spending actual quality time with your family and friends, of course.

These days, everybody has a lot going on all the time. That’s just life in today’s world.

So, what does this have to do with short video content? We just established that people don’t have much time for anything so that ten-minute product or service video with high production values costs a small fortune to make? Yeah, nobody is watching that. Sorry!

But do you know what people will watch? It is a minute-long video with a CTA that’s funny and engaging and piques people’s interest in the first few seconds. Improve your video marketing strategy with these tips to make your video marketing efforts count.

Short and Sweet Videos Win Customer Attention

Approximately 85% of consumers will happily watch a business or product video with a duration of one minute or less. 

So, a good rule of thumb when it comes to videos is that shorter is better. However, it also depends on where you plan to share your video and the type of video.

If it’s platforms like LinkedIn or YouTube, chances are you will retain some engagement even on a longer video if it’s a good video (we’ll come back to this point shortly). If you are active on Instagram or TikTok, you’re probably already aware that those audiences prefer much shorter videos, but it’s worth reiterating: a ten-minute video is not going to prosper on TikTok.

Facebook estimates that 47% of a video’s value is delivered in the first 3 seconds. This means that regardless of whether you make a thirty-second video for Instagram or one that’s over ten minutes for YouTube, the success or failure of either video hinges on the quality of those first five seconds.

You’ve heard the phrase “first impressions matter,” and that’s also true for short video marketing content!

Video SEO: Rank Your Videos on Google

Improving the visibility of your videos on Google involves nine straightforward SEO strategies:

1. Create Videos on Relevant Topics: Selecting topics that align with popular search queries is important for improving your video's visibility on Google.
2. Optimize Video Titles: Include relevant keywords naturally into your video titles to improve their discoverability on search engines.
3. Improve Video Descriptions: Optimize video descriptions by including your main keyword and compelling statements to attract YouTube's viewers.
4. Design Eye-Catching Thumbnails: Create visually appealing thumbnails that accurately represent your video's content and capture viewers' attention.
5. Add Time Stamps: Use time stamps to highlight key moments within your videos. This will add value to the user experience by allowing viewers to move to specific sections easily.
6. Embed Videos in Relevant Webpages: Embed your videos into relevant webpages on your site to expand their reach and increase engagement.
7. Implement Schema Markup: Include schema markup on pages containing embedded videos to provide Google with additional context about your content.
8. Build Backlinks: Acquire backlinks from reputable websites within your industry to boost the authority and credibility of your video-embedded pages. 

Tips for Video Marketing & Content Marketing Strategies

The million-dollar question!

Get to Know Your Audience for Conversions

From what we’ve discussed, it’s clear that one of the most important components of successful video marketing campaigns is knowing your audience. We’ve established that you need to tailor your videos to the specific platforms you plan to share them on, but knowing your audience goes beyond that. What do they like? What do they dislike? What pain points do they have? What’s their sense of humor? Take the time to learn about your audience's interests and habits.

The answers to these questions will give you valuable insight into how best to create your video, what tone and style to use, what content to include, the product's features to highlight, and, ultimately, what story to tell to build brand awareness.

One key point here is that if you don’t fully understand your audience, you probably shouldn’t make a video. Just because short video content is effective doesn’t mean it’s going to work simply because you’re doing it. So make sure you create a high-quality video production!

Be Transparent With Your Title and Description

There’s one surefire way to immediately lose viewers watching your content before they even get to the ten-second mark: tricking them into watching a video that isn’t what they think it is. Don’t get any funny ideas. You won’t win them over; you’ll just lose them.

We highly recommend using all available real estate﹘so the video’s title and description should be as transparent and straightforward as possible about what people will be watching if they choose to play your video. No surprises = a good viewing experience.

With the emergence of social media platforms that focus on brevity (TikTok, Instagram), short video consumption is rising. Predictions for 2024 suggest it will account for 90% of all internet traffic. As a result, savvy marketers are taking notice and integrating more video content into their marketing strategies. In fact, according to data from HubSpot, 53% of marketers who used short-form videos last year said they were going to up their spending on videos this year, while 38% said they’d spend the same amount.

Instagram Reels have become a hub for creative expression through short videos, attracting millions of users worldwide. Meanwhile, TikTok continues to dominate the short-video market with its algorithm-driven content discovery, enabling users to quickly go viral and amass large followings. These platforms not only serve as entertainment hubs but also as powerful marketing tools, allowing brands to engage with audiences in authentic and innovative ways, further fueling the growth of short video consumption on the internet.

By getting to know your audience, keeping things short, and being transparent about your content, you, too, can take your video marketing to the next level and reach your overloaded, short-on-time audience! Contact WSI if you would like more video marketing tips!