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The prevalence of social media in all aspects of today’s daily life is easy to dismiss as a cultural error. Terms such as doomscrolling, comparison culture, and fear of missing out (FOMO) have made their way into our daily lexicon and are far from associated with positive personal or social habits. However, the real problem isn’t the apps or their use, but instead, the lack of curation of content within one’s own social media feed. The algorithms of today’s glowing icons on our mobile phones will feed us what we intrinsically want to see, and that’s why video blogging (vlogging) should be your next marketing move for your business.
Target The Right People, Not Just More People
More than 94% of online adults watch digital video content on some form of social media site every month. YouTube alone reaches more than 2.7 billion people worldwide each month, with its Shorts feature averaging over 70 billion daily views. All of this should make it clear that many people watch online videos, and that a constant stream of new videos is being made to keep their attention. With all that competition, deciding to start a vlog about your business or community outreach can be hard, and you may be tempted to see it as a waste of time and resources. However, vlogging should not be used to try to get billions of eyes on your business or product. The real purpose of vlogging is to build connections with real fans. The real fans will use your services and buy your products, then share their pleasure with their connections, building organic growth that is lasting and expansive, as long as you deliver on what your reputation was built on.
Building Trust and Credibility
Attracting real fans will be the first step toward success through vlogging. The next benefit will be the building of trust and credibility with people you haven’t even met in person. Video content often uses cognitive psychology to bypass traditional advertising resistance by tricking viewers into feeling immediately more connected to someone seen talking on a screen. The eye contact made, audio cues heard, and body language interpreted all lead to a familiarity with the person on screen. That sense of comfort can make the viewer more receptive to your messaging, which is great, but most importantly, it gets them to tune in and listen instead of just scrolling past another ad.
Tell A Good Story
Once you have made real fans and gotten casual viewers to stop and pay attention, you can deliver on the true promise of vlogging, which is the art of telling a good story. More importantly, this is your opportunity to tell your story. People want stories of success. They want to hear about what makes your business more worthy of their attention or dollars. They want to know how they could be successful too. As a vlogger, you can craft your story to highlight what is most important to you and give your ideal audience something they can relate to and rally behind. If you bootstrapped your business from the beginning, sharing that success, even on the back of failures, can be the hook that turns your business into an institution in the industry.
Be What Stands Out
Today, video clips are what get people’s attention the most. Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos get the most views, all relying on catchy, short video content to engage viewers and elicit a reaction. So, producing high-quality video content is key to getting attention with shorts and then delivering the message through long-form video. Video content allows for the portrayal of expertise and provides clarity of messaging through the narrator’s voice. They help portray an earnestness to the viewer that can engage potential customers in ways other forms of marketing cannot. Video blogging gets your message out and helps separate your business from the constant noise of competition.
Marketing in today’s business world relies on spreading its message across all types of media, each serving its purpose to command the attention of the target audience for that medium. Video is the fastest-growing of those media, however, and should not be dismissed as a fad or something for young people to do. Video is the language through which business speaks to new consumers, and it should be used as such to grow a business’s reach and standing.
Telling your story effectively positions your business for growth and potential sale. If you need help with the latter, give us a call.