Chances are if you’ve looked into video marketing strategies, you’ve heard the advice to keep videos short and sweet as to hold the attention of viewers. While there is much to be said about our short attention spans as consumers, as with everything in life, moderation is key. To help explain why long-form video marketing is arguably making a comeback, we’ll look at some of the benefits and how the big players (YouTube and IGTV) are changing the video marketing game by offering a platform to share company stories and experiences.

First, let’s uncover a few reasons why video marketing (and now specifically longer videos), are so important to incorporate into your marketing strategy.

Streaming is Mainstream

There’s WiFi just about everywhere we go these days, and when there’s not, there’s likely an unlimited data plan connected to our cell phones. This means that streaming videos, TV shows, and movies on mobile devices, has become a very natural part of our life in this digital age and it’s something marketers can and should take advantage of. With no caps on how long we can stream media, this opens the door to educate customers, share company stories and offer a glimpse inside of your company through video.

Authentic Connections are Made

While there’s still a time and place for video sets and scripts, a lot of big brands are also taking advantage of using more candid videos to connect with their audiences. Either way, videos help form those crucial connections with customers and potential customers. And when it comes to longer videos, it provides an excellent opportunity for customers to get an in-depth look into the company, beyond just advertisements and photos.

A Great SEO Opportunity

When your company publishes a long-form video, it’s a great opportunity to include the most relevant keywords into the video’s metadata. This will help boost your rankings with search engines. Over time, you will build a robust library of content, thus making your company’s profile more visible to your audience and potential customers.

Higher Quality Leads

If you think about the person who is investing more than a few seconds into watching a video, it’s very likely that they are further along in the marketing funnel, being close or ready to buy. Viewing a shorter, less in-depth video can be part of a mindless scroll on social media, whereas viewing a long-form video means that the viewer is actually engaged and interested in learning more or making a purchase.

Now, what about these big brands dominating the long-form video marketing scene? How can we take advantage of these platforms to reap the benefits above?

Let’s start with the very popular platform, YouTube. As many millennials entered college, YouTube skyrocketed in popularity as a way to connect consumers to corporations. It created a space where brands could share experiences and stories in a more authentic way than previous forms of content creation. Today, people all over the world are watching a collective one billion hours of content each day.

Next, with the launch of IGTV, Instagram’s newest platform just for long-form video, it’s clear that there’s a rapidly growing market for video content. Currently, IGTV videos can be up to one hour long, and the platform allows users to surf around finding videos that most interest them, very similar to YouTube. It’s important to know that IGTV is not the same as Instagram stories, and it actually uses a different app to stream video content.

If your business is ready to incorporate long-form video into your marketing strategy, there are a few guidelines to contemplate as you develop your new marketing plan:

  1. Develop a strategy for the type of content that you’ll share. We recommend mapping out different video topics in batches so that your company is always ahead in knowing what to produce.
  2. Set a publishing frequency that fits your company. Consistency is key with any content marketing strategy, and there are no exceptions when it comes to video marketing. Rather than trying to force a specific frequency, consider what would work best for your company, with your schedule and workload.
  3. Vary the length of videos to see how your audience engages. Depending on your industry and customers, you’ll want to test out different video lengths and see which ones perform best.
  4. Add video metadata every time. As we mentioned before, including relevant keywords in the video metadata is crucial for your search engine rankings and the visibility of your videos.
  5. Finally, be sure you are tracking analytics to see how many people are viewing and completing the videos you produce. This will help you understand which video lengths and topics perform best, thus offering a forecast for future video production.

If your company is ready to introduce long-form video into your marketing strategy, make sure to follow the tips above and as always, make it your own. For more digital marketing strategy tips, be sure to continue checking our blog for the latest posts and feel free to reach out to us directly.

Now, that’s a wrap!