2021 best practices for making quality product videos

Key quotes:

• "As visual marketing mediums like Instagram evolve and new channels like TikTok emerge, video content has quickly become an essential content pillar for brands across industries."
• "Video offers a not-to-be-missed opportunity for brands to invest in deeper storytelling and product education, to develop an impactful multichannel marketing strategy."
• "Many beauty brands’ approaches to Instagram Stories have evolved since its inception — it’s become less about the quality of the content and more about how brands are creating a compelling story — whether it be educational, clickbait, or an extension of a campaign."
• "The purpose behind Instagram Stories is for brands to tell a deeper story and engage their followers in new ways — and video content presents the perfect opportunity to do just that."
• "It’s finally paying off — with updated IGTV features like the option to add teasers to your regular feed, along with improved horizontal video functionalities, social marketers are starting to incorporate the feature into their content strategies."
• "It’s increasingly important for marketers to integrate video into their multichannel strategies to diversify their content mix and stay up to date with the latest trends in the beauty industry."

Key quotes:

• "“I’d argue that YouTube Kids, although great for pre-school, also isn’t designed for the audience (aged 7–12) which is primarily engaged with creators and influencers, versus more static content.” Instead, children flout YouTube’s rules, which require users to be 13 or over, and access the main, unthrottled site."
• "And that’s now an attitude YouTube channels, and the companies who advertise on YouTube channels or promote their products through sponsorship deals with creators, are taking to the online sphere."
• "“There’s this thirst for content review,” says Mauk, who alongside her studies provides standards and practices consultancy services for “one or two” production companies creating content for toy brands on YouTube."
• "“This is about proactively trying to identify what the risks are and how those risks are actively manifesting themselves” That’s something the NSPCC’s Burrows, and legislators who want YouTube to take more responsibility for the standard of content on its platform, would likely welcome."

Key quotes:

• "As advertising evolves, video advertising is becoming a progressively more popular marketing tactic for bringing awareness of a brand or product to an online audience."
• "Video advertising combines images, brand messaging, music, and script to tell a story; breaking the relationship barrier between businesses and the customers they’re trying to reach."
• "Best practices for video storytelling: Don’t drive away viewers by throwing a sales script in their face, use video to tell a story and make your potential clients feel connected to your brand."
• "Even taking into account holidays, peak hours, and prime-time advertising slots, Marketers across all platforms pay on average less per view than they do per click on a non-video ad."
• "For example: B2B businesses can use video to help instigate or enrich professional relationships and get their product out in front of decision makers by posting videos on B2B optimized social media sites like LinkedIn."
• "While it is the #1 social media platform for B2B companies, video advertising strategies shouldn’t be limited to LinkedIn."

Key quotes:

• "Best practices: Having a working search bar is a prominent expectation of any eCommerce website visitors."
• "Best practices: This makes for the most essential page for an eCommerce setup as it happens to be the last step of the sales funnel."
• "Best practices: Where 12 points font has been the most adopted size, it is way too small for your website and mobile user experience."
• "Best practices: When a visitor lands on your eCommerce website, they should feel welcomed."
• "Best Practices: Most of the eCommerce websites design supports a vertical filtering tab that seems to work well so far."
• "Best practices: Adding multiple columns on user entry forms, the natural flow of information gathering gets distorted."

Key quotes:

• "Fortunately, after creating hundreds of scroll-stopping ad video variations to drive millions of dollars in revenue for clients at my firm, I’ve put together a list of best practices and resources below that will help any startup or brand get their feet wet with video, starting today."
• "Rather than this, brands should be creating content that fits specifically within their ideal client or customer journey."
• "Instead, brands should be investing in multiple pieces of content specific to each of their customer personas and their unique buyer journeys."
• "Any time we engage with a new client, we always begin with strategy exercises to determine who the client’s customers are, what type of messaging resonates best with them, and where that content needs to be shown across multiple channels."
• "Ask your current top customers for a quick 30-second iPhone video talking about your product (also known as user-generated content or UGC) and you’ve got all you need to get started with this stage of retargeting."
• "Now that you know the type of video content you should be producing, it’s time to pull the trigger and simply start."