How brands can engage audiences with video

In a world where we crave to be impressed and engaged, brands are struggling to really connect with their customers. More and more brands are seeking out the medium of video to connect with their customers, says Emily Tate (pictured).

Let’s start off with the breakdown of what we are talking about:

Video marketing that engages viewers with creative, emotive and unique campaigns.

Video that tells creative stories that deliver awareness.

Video that creates engagement with the brand.

Regular engagement allows you to build loyal customers as well as data to create a better brand experience for everyone. Video and interactive video can enable the viewer to feel as if they are a part of the company and allow them to feel like you are catering to them.

“Engaging and interacting with consumers is paramount when it comes to video, and a big component of this interactivity is meeting the demands of an increasingly mobile consumer,”  – Willem Schngel, global digital manager of Philips Consumer Lifestyle.

Take a look at Maybelline’s ‘Big Eye Beauty Adventure’. It’s a great example of how video can be used to provide multiple emotive pathways within the video format.

Your audience is picky

The main reason why video is making such a splash may be sitting in your hand as you read this. Be it a smart phone, tablet, TV, or gaming console, the internet has changed the way we view content by connecting people from all around the world in a split second. Though now, due to this high speed connectivity, we are picky in what we want to see – we only want to see the content we desire anytime we want.

To the dismay of marketers and advertisers everywhere though, this is can cause a problem. It is no longer sufficient enough to film a broad commercial based on generalisations, or to send one video out to the masses hoping it reaches someone. Now, advertising must be tailored to the audience in hope of engaging with them.

The power of big data and video

Big data have provided vast insight into what certain people, groups, age, and sexes search for, how frequently, and items that they might like. This is valuable information to marketers as big data provides real time marketing optimisation, programmatically targeting users and serves information to the right user at the right time.

Big data makes it easier for our ads to target the right people at the right time increasing the percentage of people who will stop to watch in an overcrowded marketplace.

This provides for full engagement with new interactivity opportunities in digital media. The aim of video is to ease the path of faction for the consumers – to make is as easy as possible for them to click and by your product. Past delivery methods have been passive – a waiting and wishing game – now the control is seemingly placed in the hands of the consumers so they can choose what they want to watch and how they want to experience it. The campaign works to create a relationship between the customer and your brand as a two-way dialogue.

Let’s get scientific:

There are certain characteristics that as viewers we love about video. Wittiness, joy, good vibes and feelings and all things that can make us smile and feel.

The left hemisphere of our brain is the side used for logic, analysing, and mathematics or aka the “thinking” side. The right hemisphere of our brain is the emotional side. This is where we hold our precious moments. This is the direct line to our heart and where all stimuli are triggered. That being said, would it not make sense that we would want to trigger the right side of people’s brain? That way we pull them into the heart of the company, to reach a more personal level and ideally a more memorable level.

In the example of Photoshop Live – Street Retouch Prank. Photoshop really displayed its power in this setup. What do you think they would have done to you if you were standing at the bus stop? View it here.

The power of Interactive video

Let the customer lead the way. This is the idea behind interactive video. Enabling consumers to shape the way they consume your content you can offer a more customised experience for them. Letting the information that is most relevant to the user advance to them faster.

Audience engagement skyrockets when viewers feel as if they are the ones calling the shots (we all love to feel as if we are in control). Brand experience will be higher as well for both you and your viewers. This is the beginning of a strong brand loyalty and 360-degree relationship that is destined to succeed. The outcome could come with side affects of more products placed in shopping carts and smiles popping up all around.

MTV recently put out Death Grip – Gif Me More Party. MTV didn’t stress their brand or products in the interactive video but rather showed that they know how to have a good time. Giving their majority viewers, ages 16-28, a way to escape into someone else’s life. Gif Me More Party gives you the ability to watch through not just one, but multiple people’s observations of what is going on during a pool party. See the project here.

Our attention spans are shortening and we want our every need to be catered to as customers. Interactive video directly caters to those needs. It can take us away and give us control.

I hope that after looking at these inventive campaigns they can inspire your own creative outlook and creation. Engaging your audience is one of the most powerful things you can do for your company and brand. Time to get started and make your imprint in this growing new market.

Email Tate is marketing manager, Phink.