How video can transform your paid social ads 

Why is video content so important? 

If you’re new to video, you might be wondering why you should use it for your brand. Or even if you should be using it for your brand 🤷

Whilst video won’t be right for everyone, if you get it right, it can really help you to stand out from your competition and attract more customers to your website. 

One of the biggest reasons to use video content is…

🤳It’s what consumers want 

The demand for video content is higher than ever. Research shows 54% of consumers want to see more video content from the brands and businesses they support or follow. Depending on your audience, it makes sense to adapt your content and strategy to meet the needs and wants of your target audience. 

Plus…

📈Video content is proven to drive better results 

There’s no doubt that video drives better results from your campaigns. In 2023, 92% of video marketers say that video provides a good ROI and is their preferred ad format. 

Static designs and photos can still provide great results but video tends to be more effective at capturing your audience’s attention and engaging them. 

We know that video can be a huge investment for some brands but, if you get your strategy right and use it as a sales tool, the return on investment is great. 

In fact, the average click through rate of video ads in mobile apps is actually 7.5 times than for display ads.

And finally…

📱Video content educates your customers 

Video provides a quick, easy and engaging way to educate your potential customers on who you are and what you do. Making a digestible video that quickly tells people more about your brand, product, or service can be really effective for generating interest and driving more customers to buy from you.  

These are just some of the reasons you should incorporate video into your social media ad campaigns - there are many more. 

But, as we have already mentioned, video can provide great results, but you need to have a strategy behind it to get the best results. 

Here are our top tips on how to effectively use video content for your paid social media campaigns. 

How to use video effectively in your paid social campaigns 

Creating videos and distributing them might help you to get some results but, like any other digital marketing strategy, planning, executing, testing and measuring your results is the best way to learn whether video is effective for your brand and the results it’s driving. 

Follow these steps to get the most from your video campaigns. 

1. Tailor your video content to the marketing funnel 

If you’re going to create video content for your brand, you’ll need to think about how it fits in with your marketing across the funnel.

📖You can find out more about marketing through the funnel in our blog: Marketing through the funnel: Making your digital marketing strategy more effective.

The video you create needs to work in context for your audience across all stages of their buying journey. For example, an introduction video to your brand will mean more to a first-time viewer than it will to an existing customer who is already familiar with your brand. 

We suggest breaking your audience and video types into the below 👇

Top of the funnel 

These customers are in-market for your products or services but they’re not aware of who you are or what you do just yet. They might not even be in-market yet but they could be at some point in the future. 

At this stage, you’re looking to increase awareness of your brand and let potential customers know what you do. Key video formats to consider here include: 

✅ Explainer videos 

✅ Introductions to your team 

✅ Storytelling videos 

The aim is to get people to engage with your video and improve your brand recognition so that potential customers consider your brand when they’re ready to buy. 

Middle of the funnel

Customers in the middle of the funnel are already aware of your business (they might have engaged with a video or seen other posts on social media) but they haven’t bought from you yet.

You want to lead customers to visit your website, purchase from you or fill in a form so you have their contact information. The best type of video to consider are: 

✅ Product reviews 

✅ Product demos 

✅ Customer testimonials 

Video is a great tool for building social proof or excitement about your business or a new product or service. 

Existing customers 

These are the people who have already bought from you and who you would like to come back again. You can use videos at this stage to drive repeat purchases and build brand loyalty. 

Promo videos for new products or services you’re looking to launch and product explainer videos can help you keep existing customers engaged with your brand over the long-term. Being willing to share helpful content even after they’ve purchased from you shows customers that you value them.

Breaking your audience and video content into these segments and providing them with the ads that will resonate with where they are in their customer journey, your advertising efforts are likely to be much more effective. 

2. Choose the right channels 

There is now an abundance of social media channels available to you, all of which are either already video focused or are making the switch. 

If you haven’t used video before, we recommend using the channels where you’ve already built an audience and build out from there. Plus, you need to make sure you’re using the channels that your audience is using too - otherwise, you’re pushing content out on platforms where they’re never going to see or engage with your videos. 

The graphic below shows the channels that are most likely to be used by consumers and brands for video content over the next 12 months. 

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*Source: Sprout Social 

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3. Choose the type of video you want to use 

Once you know which channels your audience is using and the stage of the funnel you want to target, you’ll also need to think about the type of video that’s going to work best for your customers and brand. 

Not all videos are the same so you need to think about how they will support your business goals and lead your potential customers to make a purchase. 

We recommend the following types of videos: 

🎓Educational videos: these videos should be informative for your customers and focus on your specialism and expertise to build awareness of who you are and what you do. These videos can help you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry and build trust with potential customers. 

These videos also work well for current customers too but will need to be more focused on how-to guides and tips on how they can get the most from your product or service. 

📣Explainer videos: These are similar to educational videos but they focus more on giving your audience a quick overview of the products and services you offer. Explain your brand in 60-90 seconds, what you do and the problems you can help your customers to solve. 

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📺Behind the scenes videos: Use video to showcase your brand personality and show how your business works or who your employees are and what they do. These are great for entertaining your customers and providing a sneak behind your brand to show them who you are and what’s different about you. 

🎙️Interview videos: Why not interview members of your team or guest speakers and let customers know more about your business? This helps to give your brand personality and adds authenticity. 

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🛒Customer testimonial videos: see if you can get your customers to film a review or a testimonial for you. These are great for social proof on your social media ads. Additionally, videos that show how a customer uses your product or service and their satisfaction can help to push potential customers over the line to make a purchase. 

📹Product videos: Use videos to showcase the features of your most popular or profitable products or services and show it in action. Make sure you get your USPs across to help your customers imagine themselves using it. 

4. Promote your videos

Once you’ve produced your videos, promoting them is key to getting as much as you can from them. Use them in your ads and test them against static images to see what works best. You can also collect audience information for the customers watching your videos on each channel so you can retarget them with more information to lead them down the funnel towards a purchase and beyond. 

Videos can be used more than once and they’re perfect for adding to your website and organic social posts too so get them out there as much as you can. 

Key takeaways

As you can see, video can provide a highly effective way to reach your target audience across all stages of the funnel. If you want to boost your paid social ads, we highly recommend testing video content. 

This is the content consumers want to see so, if it’s right for your brand, it can really set you apart from your competitors and get your brand seen by potential customers. 

If you’d like to know more about using video for your paid social ads, please drop us an email on hello@logica-digital.co.uk or request a free digital marketing audit. 

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