Video seems to be taking over social media. For B2B marketers, it’s time to jump into B2B video. The numbers don’t lie, and all the evidence points to video being an important way to grab attention in the B2B marketplace.
Given this rise of video, we’ve added B2B video marketing advice to our LinkedIn Secret Sauce: Extra Hot Edition, and think it’s time you give video a try yourself.
Look at the landscape of video and think about what grabs your attention. What makes the video compelling? That’s a great place to start if you are considering creating your own LinkedIn Video ads.
Here we dive into the best practices, from choosing the optimal type of video for your ad to tracking performance.
What Is The Objective Of Your Video?
As with any content, it’s best to start with an objective. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish, and let that question drive the creative vision of your video. The best way to do this is to focus on personas and stages of the marketing cycle. Let who you are targeting and where they are in the cycle drive your creative vision.
Brand Awareness
The key here is to not give everything away while still inspiring trust and confidence in your brand. Use this stage to create content that captures attention, showcases your brand, and drives the viewer’s curiosity.
- Video length: Keep it short. Think in terms of leaving the viewer wanting to learn more. Anywhere from 5-30 seconds works well in this stage.
- Type of content: This is where you want to tell people about your brand. Share your mission, showcase talent, or provide thought leadership.
- How to bid: To drive views, bid by cost per view (CPV).
Brand Consideration
At this point, a potential lead is interested in your product and looking to learn more about you. For this mid-funnel stage, you want to drive home the point that you are a market leader and showcase more about why your solution is right for the customer.
- Video length: You’ll need to provide more information. Make sure to establish your point early, within 5 seconds, but videos can be 30-60 seconds.
- Type of content: Showcase more of what you do. Consider including a case study or product showcase, or highlight a solution.
- How to bid: To drive website visits, bid by cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM).
Demand Generation
It’s game on at this stage. With demand generation videos, you’re thinking about converting viewers into leads. You can give more context, and will want to drive them to take action, such as sending them to a signup page.
- Video length: Videos can be longer and more comprehensive, as people who stick with it are more likely to become a lead. These are often a minute or more.
- Type of content: Give context that will make people want your product to create leads. An event promo or free trial are great options in this stage.
- How to bid: To collect leads, bid by cost per click (CPC).
Create Content That Tells A Story
Storytelling is one of the key elements to content marketing. It helps you connect with your audience and create a message that resonates. This is just as important in video as it is in writing.
The great thing about video is that it breaks down a wall. You can put yourself in front of the camera and speak directly to the viewer in a way you can’t in writing or on social media. It’s important to use this to your advantage to create videos that will resonate.
Using storytelling is also an opportunity to create interest. You want to grab the viewer's attention in the first few seconds so that they’ll stick with you.
Make It Human
Video offers a chance to humanize your brand. If you are your own brand, it allows you to literally introduce yourself and show your personality to the viewer. Even if you are marketing on behalf of a brand, there are several ways to humanize your video content:
- Add a personal greeting
- Showcase your talent or brand culture
- Highlight relevant current events or holidays
- Use humor or personal stories
There’s a casualness to video that allows you to make a personal connection, while still projecting a professional image. Use that to your advantage.
Establish KPIs and Test Your Content Type
In order to generate results, you need to know the B2B metrics that drive business results. This brings us back to the beginning of our post: establishing your objective. Here are some KPIs, and the ways you can optimize your content to meet these objectives:
Click-through Rate (CTR), View-through Rate (VTR), and social clicks: Focus on storytelling to see results. These metrics will track how many people engage with the individual video, which will give you a good indication of how interested people are in the content.
Video completion rate: To see results here, you want to optimize your video for length. Users are more likely to watch a video in its entirety if it’s less than 30 seconds. You also want to test other parts of the video, such as audio, subtitles, and video text to see if those affect completion rate. Subtitles are especially important, as videos autoplay on mute in social media feeds (and many people start a video with the sound off).
A/B Test To Drive Results
Once you’ve determined your objective and the KPIs, you’ll want to take the time to do A/B testing to refine your ads and maximize results. Make sure to test different options for these key areas:
- Content types
- Length
- Introductory text copy
- Headlines
- Landing pages
Simple tweaks can drive significant results. The only way to know what works best for your campaign is to test different variables.
Ready To Take On Video?
You now have the tools to begin your own video campaigns. It can be a valuable tool for taking your content marketing to a new level.
If you’re looking for more tips on how to accelerate your LinkedIn marketing results, check out our guide, Secret Sauce: How LinkedIn Turns Up the Heat on Their LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns.
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