It’s Time Enterprise Technology Embraced Social Video

Throughout the month of October, members of InkHouse’s B2B technology practice are taking control of the Inklings blog. Keith Giannini continues the series today.

Video captures more eyeballs and holds our limited attention spans more effectively than just about any other form of content, including print and static images. Not a news flash, you say? True, but we’ve identified emerging trends for B2B technology to incorporate into your integrated marketing campaigns.

Historically, enterprise tech vendors have focused on “explainer” videos, customer testimonials or even recorded webinars on their home page or YouTube channel. While these have inherent value, it’s the social, “iPhone-style” videos that are starting to garner that desired audience engagement. These guerilla marketing efforts are more cost-effective, quicker to produce, and can enable you to infiltrate your target audiences’ social streams, with both organic and paid options.

So before you grab your iPhone (or call your agency), step back and approach your social video creation as you would any other piece of content. It starts with the emotional drivers of your target audience—identify their pain points or motivating agents. Next, think about what catches your own attention in a social stream. For a lot of people, some level of entertainment or humor is most important, so scrap the explainer whiteboard and look for something a little more engaging… and eminently shareable. Something that would halt your scroll and make you watch.

While you want to be entertaining, the brevity of the social video forces you to state your message succinctly and early on. A recent HubSpot survey found that 65 percent of B2B audiences watch at least three quarters of a video. Get to your point quickly as you will likely lose scrolling viewers before it finishes playing.

The beauty of the social video lies in its simplicity and shareability. Rally your co-workers to share it on their networks or put some paid social investment behind your video content to micro-target those audiences that matter to you. Don’t forget to add captioning, as most people still view their social feeds without sound.

You may not be Steven Spielberg, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create engaging social videos to help round out your integrated content marketing programs. LIGHTS! IPHONE! ACTION!