Are you using influencer video marketing to promote your brand?
If not, then you are missing out on one of the most effective business strategies for growing your brand digitally.
This is because influencer marketing stands out as the best way to create and increase brand awareness. Customers trust their favorite influencers and also trust their recommendations.
By working with an influencer who appeals to the customers you are targeting, you can increase your sales and generate positive publicity for your brand. Besides that, influencer marketing is very versatile since you can use different strategies such as contests, giveaways, and referral programs to get sales.
The possibilities are endless when you decide to use influencer marketing services to grow your business. Combine that with video and you’ll have created the perfect strategy for engaging your customers.
What Makes Video a Great Tool for Marketing?
When I say video marketing is a proven strategy for building brands, I have lots of evidence to prove it. Many brands have used video as a marketing tool to great effect.
A study by Wyzowl found that 86% of marketers use video as a marketing tool. Out of this number, 92% of marketers say video is an important part of their marketing strategy.
So, what do marketers say video has helped them achieve in their business?
Well, a lot.
The same report goes on to say that marketers have achieved tremendous success with video marketing in the following capacities:
- 87% of marketers have used video to increase traffic to their website and other marketing assets;
- 82% of marketers have used video to increase dwell time;
- 94% of marketers have used video to improve understanding of their products or services;
- 86% of marketers have used video and lead generation software to generate more leads;
- 81% of marketers have used video to increase sales and overcome the challenges of CRM;
- 93% of marketers have increased brand awareness with video.
As you can see, video is such a strategic marketing tool. No other content format comes close to the effectiveness of video in brand building. If you want to grow your brand, then you need to start creating video content right away.
And what are the popular types of video marketers use to engage their audience?
Wyzowl found that explainer videos to be the most popular type of video. Marketers use these videos to explain their products to customers and show them how to use them effectively.
Other popular types of videos include:
- Social media videos
- Presentation videos
- Video testimonials
- Video ads
- Sales videos
The Customer View
With all the statistics shared above, it’s evident that marketers adore video. But is that also the case with the end users?
Do customers prefer video over other forms of content?
Absolutely, yes!
Customers love video for its effectiveness in delivering a message. When asked how they’d want to learn about a product, 73% of customers said they would prefer to watch a video.
This is in comparison to 11% who would prefer to read an article and 4% who would rather view an infographic.
When it comes to the amount of time spent watching videos, Wyzowl found that people watch an average of 19 hours of video per week.
With your target customers spending a lot of time online watching videos, influencer video marketing could be an effective way to connect with them and let them know about your products.
You need to create engaging videos for each platform where you are going to share your video. You need to make edits to videos that help your customers to understand your products and service in a more effective way. Use the right video editing software to add subtitles, music, and special effects to your videos.
How to Use Influencer Video Marketing to Grow Your Brand?
It’s clear that influencer marketing, especially influencer video marketing is an excellent way to engage your audience. To help you achieve maximum benefits with this channel, here are five event related tips to grow your brand with influencer video marketing.
Create an Unboxing Video
If you sell physical products, creating an unboxing video is a great way to leverage influencer video marketing to grow your brand. Find a micro Influencer and do a partnership with individuals who appeal to the type of customers you are targeting and ask them to film themselves unboxing your product.
Of course, you will have to provide the product and a detailed explanation of the features so the influencer knows how best to promote your product. With that set, the influencer can go ahead and film themselves as they unpack the product.
They will share their first impressions of the product, describe the features, and use cases. They will also tell customers where to get the product and other important issues like shipping costs and ongoing promotions.
Unboxing videos can be used for just about anything – not just expensive tech gadgets. They are particularly helpful when a brand wants to create excitement around a new product.
The videos usually feature the influencer’s reaction and thoughts about a product, which gives viewers a personal and more relatable perspective.
Of course, if you have followed the correct product development process, such as creating a proof of concept, conducting thorough market research and business intelligence tests and finally an MVP, you should have a good idea of what your ideal customers’ thoughts and reactions can be, to your product. That also helps unwanted surprised such as bad branding.
In the example below, beauty influencer Claire Kelly (@diaryofabeautygeek) unpacks a box of beauty products from Beauty Edit. She displays the contents of the box and shares a code buyers can use to purchase the box at a discounted price.
Teach Customers How to Use Your Product with a “How-to” Video
A “How-To” video is another effective way to use influencer video marketing to grow your brand. Your customers may need guidance to use your product effectively. You can work with an influencer to create a “how-to” video to show them how your product works.
For many brands, “how-to” videos are a great way to:
- Introduce a new product to your customers;
- Demonstrate the value of your products;
- Showcase detailed instructions on how customers can gain maximum value from your product;
- Explain what makes your product better than the competition.
How-to videos are convenient for many people who don’t have the time to read a lot of text to learn how to use your product. They are also useful for explaining complex products requiring multiple steps to assemble.
Some of the industries that regularly use “how-to” videos as an influencer video marketing strategy include beauty, fitness, technology, and food.
For example, this YouTube video features a beauty influencer demonstrating how to apply makeup from a particular brand.
Brittany, a beauty influencer, collaborates with Huda Beauty to show her audience how to use beauty products from the brand to achieve the perfect look. She also shares links customers can use to buy the products. If you want to go a step above, you can even promote these types of videos using PPC ads or Facebook ads to increase the reach and engagement.
Use a Q&A Video to Promote Your Brand
Hosting a Q&A session is an influencer video marketing strategy where an influencer answers the questions customers have about your products. Sometimes, the thing that’s preventing people from buying your product is they don’t have all the necessary information about your product.
You may have shared everything about your products and how to use them effectively on your website. However, modern consumers are very lazy or don’t have time to read through all the details in your manual.
That’s why it’s important to invest in influencer video marketing and have an influencer your customers trust to answer the questions customers have about your products.
Here’s what you need to do to create a Q&A video for your audience:
- Launch a survey or other forms of market research using effective market research tools to collect customer feedback about your products;
- Come up with a list of questions from the issues raised by customers in the survey;
- Share the question with the influencer so they can come up with relevant answers;
- Record the influencer answering the questions ;
- Publish the video on YouTube/ Instagram/ LinkedIn/ Twitter or other social media platforms, relevant to your brand.
Harrods, a luxury department store partnered with Estée Lalonde, a content creator, for a Q&A on beauty and makeup. In the video, Estée answers the questions customers have raised about the beauty products sold at Harrods and how customers can use them to master their skincare regime.
Run a Contest on Instagram
Brand giveaways are a great way to use influencer video marketing to increase views and engagement to your Instagram Reels. Partnering with an influencer to run a contest not only helps you create a buzz among your followers but also introduces your brand to new audiences online.
People love free things and would gladly participate in your social media contest for the chance to win branded items. To be considered for a prize, a social media user would have to do something that grows your brand such as following your official pages, liking your content, or inviting friends to follow your page.
Simple ideas for your influencer video marketing contest include:
- Like, comment, or follow to win
- Tag a friend to win
- Best photo caption contest
- Trivia-based contest
- User-generated content competition
In the example below, SmartSweets collaborates with Destiny Schriver for a social media contest on Instagram. For a chance to win a box of sweets, users have to follow the brand and tag a friend who loves candy.
Silence Your Competitors with a Comparison Video
Want to get one over your competitors? Then you should consider using influencer video marketing to create a comparison video.
The objective here is not to roast your competitors, but to convince customers that they should choose your brand.
There are two ways to show customers that your product is better with influencer video marketing. They include:
- Compare your product’s best features versus the same features in your competitor’s product;
- Make a side-by-side product comparison to show viewers what makes your product better.
When choosing an influencer for your comparison video, ensure they have some experience with product comparisons. Otherwise, they will not do a good job of making your product look better than the competition.
In the image below, Mrwhosetheboss and MKBHD compare the Android and the iPhone. This is not a typical influencer video marketing comparison video since the creators are not paid by the brands.
However, the video captures what a product comparison video should look like. The two compare ten different aspects of the phones and decide which one is better.
Conclusion: Influencer Video Marketing and Branding
If you want to increase brand awareness and generate more sales, one of the top strategies you should consider is influencer video marketing. The reason many marketers continue to use this strategy is because it works.
So, go ahead and choose any of the strategies shared above to get started. Just ensure the influencer you are working with matches your brand values for the best results.
Need help with your business growth? Send us an email at adhip[at]winsavvy.com or book a meeting for free here!
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Author Bio – Reena Aggarwal
Reena is Director of Operations and Sales at Attrock, a result-driven digital marketing company. With 10+ years of sales and operations experience in the field of e-commerce and digital marketing, she is quite an industry expert. She is a people person and considers the human resources as the most valuable asset of a company. In her free time, you would find her spending quality time with her brilliant, almost teenage daughter and watching her grow in this digital, fast-paced era.
Social connects: LinkedIn, Twitter
