Gone are the days where our only exposure to video advertisements is through television.
I think most would agree that we now live in a time where it is perfectly normal for people to encounter at least one video ad on their mobile device every single day.
This massive shift is largely due to the ever-growing amount of people using social media across the world.
As of October 2021, there were 4.55 billion active social media users across the world, which equates to 57.7% of the overall population.
Given those astonishing numbers, it should not come as a surprise to you that both marketers and businesses themselves have recognized what an incredibly valuable tool social media can be to advertise for their business.
What makes social media such a fantastic marketing tool from businesses?
Well, the short answer is very simple – people really like to watch online videos.
78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. In fact, 54% of consumers want to see more video content this year.
Many businesses have caught onto this and are tactfully utilizing video on social media to advertise for their business.
HubSpot’s 2021 State of Marketing Report reveals that video is the top content marketing strategy used by brands while social media is ranked as the top marketing channel.
While people like to watch videos online, I think it is also important to mention that most really dislike watching video advertisements (cue the “skip ad” button on YouTube).
Let’s face it, chances are you probably won’t be able to change people’s opinions about video ads.
However, there are a few things you can do to help ensure that your video will stand out from the rest:
1. Immediately Capture People’s Attention
It is crucial for you to immediately capture people’s attention with your video ad, because the average person’s attention span is estimated to be just eight seconds. While that number alone is very informative, I believe it’s also important to mention that you will most likely have even less time than that to truly capture your audience’s attention.
Roughly 94% of pre-roll ads on YouTube are skipped shortly after the first five seconds.
With shorter attention spans, marketers have only 2.7 seconds to get the attention of their audience.
Here are a few simple things you can do to have the best chance to capture your audience’s attention immediately:
1. Make the visuals interesting
- Eye catching text and motion graphics
2. Have a clear and simply message
- Know in advance exactly what you want your audience to better understand or learn from your video
- Make sure that your video clearly conveys this message through video, sound, and graphics
2. Evoke Curiosity
There are a variety of different ways you can approach encouraging or evoking a sense of curiosity from your audience.
However, instead of telling you about them, I think it would be most effective for me to show you an example:
I was watching Hulu when I saw the video ad shown above for Chime.
As I was watching it, I recall having the following questions:
“They mentioned that it can instantly help improve your credit score, but how does it work?”
“What makes it different from a traditional credit/ debit card?”
After watching the ad, I found myself still curious enough about Chime to look them up to learn more about who they are and what they do, which I’d imagine is exactly how they hoped people would respond.
So, if you can find creative ways to evoke a sense of curiosity in your audience, it could be a great way to generate leads and potentially even sales for your business.
Ultimately, if you can immediately capture people’s attention and evoke their curiosity with your video ads, chances are much greater that your content will stand out from the crowd!
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