Your Best Eight Seconds

Eight Seconds By Brien Sonzogni

It’s safe to say that marketing has changed drastically in the last ten years due to the advancements and opportunities of video marketing and social media. However, the concept of being a “marketer” means you’re more of a polymath (a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning) than anything else. Sadly, our attention span has decreased from twelve seconds to less than eight seconds in the last fifteen years, making it difficult for you to capture your audience’s attention. Whether you’re a viral, green, influence, or guerilla marketer, one thing is certain: attention-grabbing videos add value and impact to your marketing strategy. Video content is the present and the future of marketing. The concept of content marketing is based on creating trust and long-term relationships by providing users with interesting and useful information. According to Mark Schaefer, Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, selling shouldn’t be your primary focus. “The new era demands a focus on ignition, not just content, on trust, not just traffic, and on the elite people in your audience who are spreading and advocating your content,” he said.

Google Loves Video Marketing

Even when you try to avoid the inevitable, Google is a dominant force that’s here to stay. So, let’s use it! Videos increase the time spent by visitors on your site, and the longer exposure builds trust and signals search engines like Google that your site has great content. For example, your business is fifty-three times more likely to show up first on Google if you have a video embedded on your website. Since Google owns YouTube, there has been a significant increase in how much videos affect your search engine rank.

Mobile Users Love Video Video and mobile go hand in hand. 90 percent of consumers watch videos on their mobile devices. 70 percent of YouTube watch time occurs on mobile devices. Since people like to watch videos on the go and the number of smartphone users is growing, the video audience keeps getting bigger and bigger. Consumers continue to highly value video content as part of their buyer journey. While viewers most commonly use videos as a starting point to build their knowledge about a product or service, videos have also acted as a “tipping point” for an overwhelming majority of consumers—a decisive factor that convinces them to buy or download a product or piece of software.

Video Encourages Social Shares Social networks also encourage video content with their new features. Facebook has 360 Video, Live Video, and Stories. Instagram put in place 60-second videos and Instagram Stories, and Twitter has Periscope. In addition, YouTube is the second most popular social network in the world. In a social media context, businesses must remember that people share emotions, not facts. Many users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. How many of you wanted to taste some Ocean Spray cranberry juice immediately after watching the guy on a longboard grooving to Fleetwood Mac and sipping straight from the bottle on TikTok? If you have no clue what I’m talking about, prepare your tastebuds and take the Google journey to find out. Then prepare to share; it’s only natural. Solid video marketing has that effect. Facebook Feeds Video Marketing With more than 2.07 billion monthly active users, Facebook has the largest audience of any social network. That’s more than one-third of the world’s population. And a whole lot of those people are watching videos. Around 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook. Like YouTube, Facebook has a massive and diverse audience. The most important thing to remember about Facebook is that people come to be entertained. Make sure to experiment across a wide range of creative strategies to identify what works for your brand, and keep in mind that entertainment tends to win the day on Facebook with emotionally charged content. Set targets (such as total views or engagement) and track your performance.

YouTube Survives on Video

More video is consumed on YouTube than on any other social network. Over a billion hours of video are watched daily in seventy-six languages and eighty-eight countries on YouTube, according to YouTube’s statistics. YouTube is also the world’s second-largest search engine after its parent company, Google. Of the 87 percent of marketers who have published video content on YouTube, a whopping 90 percent found it to be an effective strategy. YouTube has the widest variety of video content-type of any social network with people streaming everything from entire movies to six-second clips. If you don’t have a YouTube channel yet, start with what you already know about your target audience. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind: 1. Get personal. With such a diverse platform, make sure you are targeting your specific audience. 2. Be interactive and try new things. YouTube is one of the widest platforms to experiment with. Try your hand at something new, such as new video filters, trending TikTok dances, drone flyovers, slo-mo action of you or your product in production, or video blogs of how to do specialties in your field. 3. Release new videos on a regular schedule. YouTube is eating up viewing time from TV networks, so keep your content fresh to pick up these viewers.

4. Optimize your content so it ranks. Remember, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. You’ll also be helping people find you from

Google. Write clever titles and metadata with engaging calls-to-action. 5. Make sure you’re sharable. Enable embedding so people can share the love they feel after watching your video. Go to advanced settings in your video manager. Then click on “Distribution Options” and check “Allow

Embedding.” Ultimately, it’s just a matter of picking up your phone or camera. Start recording, and give them your best eight seconds. We’re social and curious creatures, and video is the best form of message delivery. Get out there and start filming…it’s showtime!

With an MBA and a background in multiple industries, Brien has been in the marketing, branding, and project management field for over ten years. Dubbed the Ivory Gorilla, Brien brings playful professionalism to successful marketing. Brien is the VP of Marketing for Manor Blue in St. George, Utah, and focuses most of his efforts spearheading the new Black Desert Resort development marketing in Ivins. His philosophy is to provide strong, dependable digital solutions that help a business grow. Brien’s strength is defining the true business needs and then executing, measuring quickly, and adjusting to create visibly successful marketing strategies.