Marketers who create viral video content can greatly expand their brands’ reach and increase engagement. Unruly recently reported that internet users are consuming more streaming digital media than ever before, and they aren’t keeping their favorite clips to themselves – viewers share 500,000 branded videos every day. However, marketers must experiment to find the right formula that triggers audiences’ impulses to post, Tweet and spread streaming media online.
Comedic video content has better viral potential
It would seem that eliciting strong emotions is a surefire way to earn shares, but Unruly reports brands can hit the wrong nerve with shocking or sad video content. Rather than playing on consumers’ negative emotions, marketers should bring some lighthearted touches to their visual content. Online videos are shared 30 percent more often when they’re considered exhilarating or hilarious.
Of course, brands must know their audiences – if including a humorous tone in a specific video might turn prospects away, opt for on-brand material over media with higher potential for virality.
Brafton recently covered a Nielsen report, which revealed neuroscientists are turning marketing virality into more of a science than an art. Neuroscience monitoring can determine the exact moment when videos strike viewers’ emotions and lose their attention.
Marketers can use this information to edit and compress video so their content has the maximum effect in a shorter time span, ultimately saving spend on ad space. The report asserts that many videos can be trimmed back from 30 seconds to 15 or even 10 seconds, while enhancing the impact of branded messages and potentially saving millions of dollars.
Audiences embrace branded content
Unruly’s latest data also proves marketers shouldn’t worry that consumers aren’t receptive to branded content in the online video landscape. Four percent of the Top 100 Most Shared Vines and 1 percent of the Top 100 Most Shared Videos are part of brands’ video marketing campaigns. Perhaps even more importantly, overt branding does not impact target audiences’ willingness to share video.
Video content is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to reach customers with engaging messages that push them through the sales funnel. Through social monitoring and content analytics, marketers can listen to the conversations surrounding their online videos to determine which strategies have viral sharing potential.
