Nicole Leinbach Reyhle is the Founder and Publisher of Retail Minded, the Co-Founder of the Independent Retailer Conference and a regular Forbes contributor. The author of "Retail 101: The Guide to Managing and Marketing Your Retail Business" and Spokesperson for Small Business Saturday from American Express. Follow her on Twitter @RetailMinded.
Alright folks, there’s no time to waste here. Let’s get straight to the point…People are busy. You’re busy. And yet too often, consumers – including you – are bombarded with so many marketing messages via advertisements, social media, texts and more that it’s hard to absorb everything. Fortunately, some things tend to slow potential consumers down more than others, and one of those things is video animation. Facebook alone averages 8 billion video views from its 500 million users daily while the average Facebook user saw a 75% increase in posting videos in 2015
Keeping this in mind, when was the last time you used video animation to help promote or support your business? Whether you’re a video animation newbie or a self-proclaimed video animation expert, consider the three reasons below that video animation can help strengthen consumer engagement, increase business visibility and even enhance customer sales.
Consider what your own brand messaging is, and how this may be possible. For example, do you have a product or service that you sell that would benefit from an explanation video? Or possibly you offer something for sale that needs to be seen to be understood. Animation videos also provide avenues for companies to deliver new product announcements or help clarify a recent challenge or concern consumers may have had. The opportunities are endless – as are the ways to get creative with the company messaging. The real attraction here, however, is that these videos help your audience pause for just a bit to experience whatever it is you are share. This connection is priceless in today’s very saturated world of brand messaging.
As any company can attest to, loyal customers are extremely valuable. And likewise, capturing new customers is vital, as well. To help do this, video animation can reach your immediate followers through email marketing, social media and other channels where you have a committed audience. This same audience can help you attract potential customers by their engagement with your video. Every “like”, “heart” and so on is an opportunity to be viewed in a social network feed other than your own. This extended reach helps access more customers and ultimately, helps to broaden your overall brand messaging.
Take your own experience scrolling through a social media feed or reviewing new emails in your inbox. What keeps you most engaged? Videos are proven to increase customer engagement, with an estimated 80% of internet users reportedly viewing a video within the last 30 days. Of those viewers, 46% responded with some sort of action after viewing the video by either searching for more company information, engaging with the social media post via a comment or like, visiting the brand’s website or purchasing the product featured in the ad. When you consider engagement retention among consumers, wouldn’t you like your audience to do these same things?Of course, having reasons to create animated videos can’t guarantee that your video creations alone will engage customers. To help, you want to make sure you are scripting engaging narrative that clearly tells the story you aim to tell, whether it’s meant to educate your audience, offer humor to them or deliver a powerful message. Complementing this narrative should be images that also engage your audience by captivating their attention and keeping them fully enthralled throughout the duration of the video. Visual effects, enticing graphics, interesting brand messaging and thought-provoking images can help do this. Together with the right narrative, you are on your way to creating a memorable, entertaining video that can connect you to existing and potential customers – both of which can help lead to sales.
Finally, ask yourself what the most memorable or top-of-mind experiences have been for you while scrolling through your own social media feed. Was it a graphic? A video? A simple post? Finding balance in your own social media engagement, brand marketing and overall business promotion is critical in creating the right recipe for business success.
Have you used video animation before? What were your results? Share below.
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