When it comes to video marketing on social media, every brand has its own objective, but there is a grand prize coveted by all: Creating a viral video.
Everyone wants to be the next Gangnam Style, to make something that enters the social media sphere with a bang and sets it on fire.
Today, let’s explore how we created a video that racked up almost half a million views for the health supplements brand, Nature’s Way.
The video was distributed via 3 channels as below:
- Brand Facebook views: 235,000
- Brand Instagram views: 36,439
- Celebrity Instagram views: 162,410
BEAUTY VIDEOGRAPHY
Balancing the science of emotion and promotion
We were tasked with promoting Instant Natural Protein, a protein supplement traditionally used for muscle strengthening in mature-aged customers. Our challenge was to rebrand it and make it appeal to younger customers as well.
So how did we change the public’s perception of this ‘old’ product? The secret was in balancing the science of emotion and promotion.
When it comes to video marketing, emotion and promotion work hand in hand. You cannot make a video memorable without emotional appeal, and no amount of emotional appeal would make an impact if it did not utilize the right strategy and reached the right people.
With so many videos done by competitors on similar products, we did not want ours to be lost in the sea of generic, forgettable videos. Here’s how we did it:
1. Know your target audience well, and use the right platform
Our primary target market are youngsters aged 35 and below. According to the above stats, this demographic is the most active on social media. Of all social media users, overall, 91% are on Facebook and 70% are on Instagram. So, it only made sense to use these two platforms as our main promotional channels.
2. Tell a unique, shareable story
People do not like being sold to, they like stories. That’s why the traditional “problem + product solution” formula does not work as well on social media. When you’re fighting for attention among a cluttered feed, your video must be simple, snappy and unique enough to hook and reel them in.
We decided to take an unconventional approach by making our video a parody, showing the ‘behind the scenes’ of a social media influencer promoting her sponsored product and her cute dad trying hard to follow along.
Each scene was short and the concept repetitive, making it easy for audiences to catch on the story. The whole video was just a minute long, perfect to fit into Instagram’s single posting and not become draggy.
Then, the video must be something that propels the user to share it with their friends. People usually share things that make them laugh, inspired or touched in any emotional way.
Our video uses elements of comedy (Bella’s dad being goofy and clumsy with social media), relatability (we all have embarrassing parents who fumble with technology) and emotional vulnerability (the moment when Bella explodes at her father, only to find out her dad was just trying his best to connect with her).
You know they say: You might not remember what someone did, but you always remember how they make you feel.
3. Strong branding
With only less than a minute to make an impression, strong branding is paramount in social media videos. The shorter the video, the sooner you should showcase your brand.
For us, our branding was constant throughout the video with the product being the main fixation of our characters. To avoid it being overly pushy, we saved mentioning product benefits and went for brand awareness instead of prolonged visual exposure to the product.
4. Utilize star power to broaden the reach
Never underestimate the power of social media influencers and celebrities, as they could be the catalyst that skyrockets your brand into a household name.
Pick your brand ambassadors well; you want to conduct proper research into making sure they are someone with a genuine following and content that matches your brand’s personality, not a phoney who bought likes and has a bad reputation.
Bella Astillah is a famous local actress and online personality with over a million followers and high engagement rate with her fans on Instagram. When she posted our video on her Instagram page, it received hot responses from her fans and also an influx of new followers and inquiries to our client’s brand page.
5. Timing is key
It’s not only what you post, but when you post that matters as well. Besides digging into your analytics to see when your followers are most active online, take advantage of popular events and occasions that tend to draw higher traffic.
Festive seasons like Christmas and New Year are popular global events that you can leverage on to market your brand and strategically time sales and promotions.
Our video was made with a Father’s Day theme in mind, a time when people are actively searching for gift ideas. We released the video two weeks before Father’s Day to give time for audiences to consider getting Instant Natural Protein for their dads.
6. Use digital advertising to beat the algorithm
It’s no secret that the final weapon of social media marketing, the extra edge it takes to truly make a mark in the space is $$$$.
Yes, it is inevitable you have to pay to have Facebook, Instagram or Google maximize its potential, but when done right, advertising is a truly worthy investment to grow your business.
Advertising is especially crucial on Facebook, even if you are using influencers as they tend to have less influential power there as compared to Instagram. As long as you’ve got a good video, the correct target audience and a decent budget, just sit back and watch your video take over the world!
