An important rule to remember when engaging in social media is that you need to engage with your target audience before you try to sell to them. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are not platforms for direct sales. A very rough rule when creating a social media strategy is 80% engagement, 20% sales. The same rules apply for online video marketing.The temptation for all online video marketing is to use all videos as ‘commercials’. The logic used is that, because the business produces so little video, it needs to have the maximum impact. Online video is costly, the argument continues, so it needs to be used as a direct advert.
The truth is any online video needs to have maximum impact, but in order to achieve this it needs to be engaging, have compelling content, and add value for the person watching it. Commercials are the things they switch over from when watching TV or skip when on YouTube.Additionally, web video production is perhaps not as costly as some think. Costs are probably the same as the professional design and print of promotional marketing material, or the cost of a series of press or trade adverts. Web video is however much more measurable; you can see who is watching, and for how long.
