What is one of the best marketing tools at any advertiser’s disposal? If you said videos then you’re on the right track. It’s not enough to just throw any ol’ video up and hope it works however. If you know how to make your video go viral and you are using content that can incite interest, you can target demographic and that’s the subject of today’s helpful read. Before we get started I just want to give a quick word of caution about this article…
“This is the content marketing silver bullet & now it’s yours… use it responsibly.”
Attention Span of the Viewer
Thanks to the invention of “user generated content” such as the videos posted on places like YouTube, Facebook and the like people have developed a taste for “snackable content” which just means short, to the point clips which satisfy a sudden desire. Maybe they want something funny, sentimental or just down right crazy… it’s all at the touch of a smartphone screen and readily available. This means you have to capture interest within the first few seconds or you risk being skipped over without a second thought.
If you’re video is meant to inspire then it must hit the viewer hard with something powerfully inspirational at the very start. Be it a song that really tugs on those emotions or a strong quote that is easily identifiable with your target audience, it has to hit them hard and it has to hit them within the first few minutes of watching or they’re going to skip over you.
If your video is meant to create a desire to check out an offer then you have to speak to the reason they should consider watching the rest of your video. You can do this with humor or by creating a sense of “missing out” if they skip over your video. Throw an undeniable teaser at them followed up with a quick explanation of what they’ll expect to gain or learn by continuing to watch. Think of it as using a cliffhanger at the start of a video instead of the end, you want to hook them in so they need to keep watching instead of leaving them feeling like they could take it or leave it.
Spark Admiration in Their Eyes
You need to find a common ground with your audience, they must feel like they can relate to you or something in the video right from the first few minutes of watching. There are a lot of ways to do this and it would be a great idea to check out videos related to your niche on YouTube which have a high level of comments. If a video can inspire a ton of people to comment and engage with each other and the video creator then that video has done it’s part to spark admiration in the eyes of the viewer. So, do your research and learn how to go viral on YouTube.
It’s a lot easier to keep the retention of those who already subscribe to your ideas, so you only need to keep on the same track and your tribe will keep following you until they either outgrow you or otherwise no longer need you. It’s reaching out to a new audience that is tricky and needs a bit more attention. You have to know what you’re talking about, do your research before making videos on any subject, especially if the goal is to garner sales by the end of it.
People can sniff out a fake within moments and often times will not be shy about sharing negative feelings if the option is available… don’t give them that chance, be authentic and your audience will admire you for it. If you have no clue about what you’re attempting to create a viral video on then visit forums, watch other videos on the topic, check out blogs and websites all relating to your subject and compile a ton of talking-points then just start writing up a simple script and rehearse it over and over until it flows naturally out of you.
Create A Fear of Missing Out
I hate to admit this but the general population is full of those who follow the leader, so be the leader. If you can manage to create a sense of urgency in your viewers then you’ll catch them off guard and manifest the need for more. They’ll look to you to feed them what they feel they need and this can be anything from more free information which ultimately leads up to a sales pitch or simply inspiration to keep them feeling good which will in turn associate those good feelings with you that’ll then keep them coming back to watch more of your content should you produce anymore in the future.
You don’t have to be the only solution but you do need to be a convincing solution to their problem. Have you ever gone hunting for information online only to find that you are drawn to a few specific individuals? Sure, there is great content outside of these particular content creators, and who knows… those outside sources might even offer better solutions for you in particular cases but for whatever reason you are just drawn to the people you click with. This is what you need to manifest with your own viewers and this will in turn make them feel like if they don’t get their info from you then they are simply missing out by resorting to others for it.
Tug on Their Emotional Strings
Want a simple formula to follow that will let you appeal to the emotions of your viewers? Here it goes:
- Identify a problem they need solved
- Make them relive the problem by telling a compelling story about that problem
- Put a quick bit of humor into the story for “comic relief” at the end of the story if the problem isn’t something very serious like health related issues. If it is, then skip the humor as it is not appropriate
- Tell them about the solution and do it in the form of a conclusion to the original story, something like “I used to hate inviting guests over because my rug always smelled like dog urine but now I don’t worry about it since I had help training my happy pup with the help of this easy doggy training manual. Now I invite my friends over every weekend for fun conversation and great food and my loyal pet enjoys all the attention he gets from my wonderful friends!”
- Show them where they can get the solution… this is usually where you point them to a sales page
The steps pointed out above are very general but they are the main points to tugging on those emotional strings in order to manifest a sense of need within your prospects and viewers. A great way to learn more about this is to hunt down podcasts and interviews on YouTube featuring marketers who specialize in email marketing and creating sales letters & ad-copy. They often times spill tons of secrets in those videos and it’s worth watching as many of them as you can find!
Ban Together For a Common Cause (or against a common enemy)
The “us vs. them” tactic is something used in every market across every spot on the planet because it works. People need to feel like they belong to something, a common cause and this is an inevitable result of our need to be social with other people. When it comes to using this powerful tool to your advantage it’s important to not overdo it or risk becoming the villain yourself.
When you can make your audience feel connected with you in some way it becomes easier to boost your own offers as superior to the competition, you may even find that taking indirect and playful jabs at the competition can work in your favor provided you do it in a light-hearted way. It’s usually not a good idea to “talk trash” too hard because you risk making yourself look like a down right jerk and nobody wants to buy anything from someone they don’t like.
When banding together for a common cause it’s important to work toward creating a sense of community amongst your viewership. The people whom you are trying to speak to need to look to you as the superior source of content or information. This will help with things like sharing your video around among friends and the like which will increase the chances of a video going viral.
Educate Them in a Fun & Exciting Way
People don’t like to feel as if what they’re doing is a chore. If you keep your content boring then expect a large chunk of your viewers to fall off and not return again. You don’t have to be the class clown of the scene but you do at least have to present your stuff in such a way that it’ll cause your viewers to stay at attention. This can be more easily done with shorter videos, so keep that in mind.
Be very clear when pointing out what you can offer to them, what your offer can do for them and make sure that anyone watching your videos will easily understand what they stand to gain by sticking around until the end. You could use flashy video editing or “cool music” and up-beat speech but in the end your video has to still get it’s message across in a clear way.
Things like visual aids, simple to understand step by step explanations and a bit of “hand holding” in some cases can all help lead your prospect down the right path to a sale. You have to just be sure not to bore them to tears before you reach the end and you’ll do just fine in many cases.
Conclude with a POWERFUL Call To Action
Now is the time to call your viewer to action. They’ve just spent time watching what you’ve created, listened to what you’ve had to say and are still here… but how do you do it?
You will have to deploy YouTube marketing testing as there is no definitive answer for this one, but what you’ll quickly discover is that capturing a signup to an email list is often times the way to go. Not only do you get to keep them for a while so you can push a few offers over time, but you don’t have to deal with the quick rejection off the bat in the case they’re simply “not ready” to commit to your offer just yet.
In the case you are not able to (or just don’t want to) build an email list then you can take this opportunity to present your sales pitch and create an appealing call to action. Toss a bunch of reminders at them about what you’ve already covered, compel them to remember that you have what they need and the solution is now staring them right in the face… they just have to take action and get it for themselves.
The call to action is important and without it all you’ve done is create compelling content, which is fine but it’s not going to earn you any money down the line.
Marketing and advertising is what we specialize in at Powerhouse and if you’ve tried but have yet to succeed then give us a try, you can sign up for free right now and go through our unique training to finally put those missing puzzle pieces together and actually obtain success.
Now is your opportunity… take it.
