Cooking up quality video content.

Did you know that 63% of consumers now watch video once a day. Of this group, 58-60% access their video content through Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

 

Build preference with video content marketing.

It’s unsurprising that all industry statistics show the use of video trending rapidly upwards, and not just for teen and tween audiences. The move away from mainstream television is much more profound. All age groups are consuming and engaging with more video content, and with increased frequency.Patchwork uses GoPro Hero8 Black cameras

The rise of professional ‘You-Tubers’ is bringing higher quality online video content into our homes and businesses, and driving a change consumer behaviour, away from traditional television consumption, onto the Internet.

It’s simply not an option to leave video content from your marketing strategy in 2020. We are now in a video-first world, but luckily, it’s easy to join the crowd.

At Patchwork, we have a few local clients that rely on professional quality video content marketing to reach their audiences and we’re keen to bring video into the toolkit of many more Marlborough and Nelson businesses.

Currently going through pre-production in our studio is a series of short outdoor backcountry videos, some kitchen tool tests, a cooking shoot, an ongoing series of reviews & still image creation of sporting goods for a specialist importer/retailer, plus we’re building our own library of Top of the South outdoor footage across Marlborough, Tasman, North Canterbury and the upper West Coast to apply to future client work. It’s an eclectic mix of video content marketing work.

Our clients will use this content to:

  • Demonstrate products and provide reviews
  • Showcase locations and workplaces
  • Educate on new techniques
  • Celebrate milestones
  • Share special events
  • Show their industry leadership
  • Share content internationally, particularly when air travel is difficult

It’s important to have a plan that looks ahead at least a quarter, preferably a year for established businesses, that focuses on structuring your content creation to progressively roll out informative, relevant and fresh content. Think of possible stories lines, even seasons, to keep customers engaged.

 
Thirteen Video Content Marketing Tips

If you are planning to produce your own video content marketing in-house, here are thirteen tips to get you thinking:

  • Make a simple video content plan to get you started, and update it as ideas come to hand
  • Your video content should be as short as appropriate & of professional quality, in keeping with your brand attributes
  • Make the content relevant to your audience – think FAB (Feature/Advantage/Benefit)
  • Don’t try to produce each video for all your audiences; segment for greater engagement
  • Regularly produce different videos that span your different audience groups
  • Educate and inspire – be informative, rather than promotional, unless it’s a promotion!
  • Ask the viewer to do something via a call to action or an in-medium response
  • ‘Colabs’ are all the rage – collaborate with like-minded (non-competitive) partners
  • Think about Google Search when drafting your title (match keywords to landing pages) descriptions and social media text
  • Encourage viewers to take action follow, share, register for email, plus subscribe, get notifications, and comment on YouTube.
  • Edit and reuse content in your website home page, landing pages, and across social media.
  • Make sure to promptly and frequently respond to comments where appropriate (ignore the ones that are controversial or better still, ask us for our Community Management Guidelines document
  • Where appropriate, pass on selected and non-branded video and photography content onto local promotional groups, council marketing organisations and specialist media, but ask for attribution/credit/links.
 
Technical Stuff for Social Platforms
  • YouTube content frames should be designed at a minimum size of 1280 x 720 pixels (16:9) horizontal format and a maximum of 3840 by 2160 pixels. We design our frames and shoot at 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is the standard widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio that, by default, most smartphones, DSLRs, and modern camcorders record video at.
  • Facebook has a minimum width requirement of 120 pixels for their regular feed videos. They recommend that you upload the highest resolution video possible that fits their file size and ratio limits, use H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan, and stereo AAC audio compression at 128kbps+
  • Using a square (1:1) format is great if you’re producing content solely for Instagram (works  for Facebook too), but they also accept 16:9 (horizontal format). Instagram’s minimum width is 500 pixels. 
  • Producing video ads for Instagram Stories is great – make sure to set up for 500 by 889 pixels, keep them under 120 seconds and maximum file size of 30mb.
  • Consider producing for Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Snapchat if you know your audiences are heavy users, otherwise stick to the main platforms of Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and up the frequency of video drops and focus on building a loyal following and strong engagement with your core online audience.

You can source aggregated lists of all video specs for YouTube and social media platforms from various sites but make sure to check with the platform to confirm these details are accurate and up to date. Here’s a useful guide for Facebook.

 

YOUTUBE

Build a channel to share your own video, or run YouTube Video Ads on other channels.

  • Set up and brand your channel
  • Develop a channel content plan
  • Develop a promotional plan to support your initial uploads
  • Reuse content for YouTube Ads
  • Prepare quality keywords for titles and descriptions including links to your website landing pages
  • It’s about conversations so make sure to reply to comments!

FACEBOOK

Produce organic content to enhance your posts and reuse for Facebook Video Ads for Marketplace, Stories, in-stream, or Messenger. 

  • Use 16:9 ratio content for your Facebook page feed, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Stories, in-stream, and Messenger
  • Use 1:1 ratio content for Facebook Search
  • Serve video ads within Facebook – educate and inspire
  • Live-stream events and product releases
  • Review & test products
  • Edit and reuse website and YouTube content

INSTAGRAM

Video content can be used in posts, for sponsored video ads, and as embedded IG content into your Shopify store.

  • Use your Facebook 16:9 content for Instagram Articles & Stories
  • Use 1.91:1 for Instagram Explore and regular feed (16:9 also works for Instagram feed)
  • Instant Articles can be up to 240 minutes long
  • Everything else is 120 seconds max
  • Build your brand story using video in carousel
  • Use ‘sponsored’ Video to build your audience
  • Effective engagement tool
  • Embed Instagram content within your Shopify store

 

Patchwork partners with local directors for video content.

We understand our clients are likely to have direct relationships with local videographers, photographers and content creators. We welcome a collective approach to conversations about content creation, deployment and reuse of existing content in our clients’ campaigns.

And if you are sourcing a supplier for video production or still images, we are happy to put some local names forward. Let’s keep it in the top of the South where possible.

Planning for reuse is a particularly important part of strategic marketing as it builds exposure and customer preference via deployment across multiple channels.

The Patchwork team has produced video content for decades, crafted and produced many television commercials and video content marketing for major national advertisers such as Suzuki, Tonys Tyre Service, Unisys, Caltex, Lion Breweries, and a myriad of other brands.

 

Call for Local Photographers, Videographers, Drone Operators

If you’re a locally-based video director, camera operator, drone operator or professional-level photographer, please get in touch so we can check out your work, add you to our stable of local suppliers, and hopefully channel some video production work through to you.