Long-form video content
Does your current business culture include a vlogging campaign? If not, you’ll want to get on board with this camera-friendly trend. According to a study courtesy of our friends at Global Web Index, 44 percent of internet users have watched at least one vlog in the last month.
What the heck is a vlog?
The vlog—an amalgam of “video” and “blog”—comprises a particularly interesting medium of advertisement because, in an age of soundbites, Vine videos, and 3-second GIFs, vlogs embrace an organic, freeform, comparatively lengthy presentation style. Vlogs are inherently intimate; their ability to make audiences feel understood by and connected to a brand’s “family” should not be discounted.
By virtue of the fact that they offer a raw, “unedited” look into the lives of their creators, vlogs are a relatively low-cost, low-effort way of engaging your audience and making them feel personally included in your campaign.
Traditionally-speaking, a vlog is made up of several short video segments detailing the events of a day, with little to no staging; other than that, the criteria for a vlog are fairly loose.
Vlogging 101
For example, you could have each member of your team record a 20-second video of their workplace activities or shenanigans on a smartphone, then compile these clips into a montage of various perspectives that show a healthy, happy, productive workplace. Similarly, you could create a 20-minute mini-documentary showing the highlights of your day or an employee’s; the room for customization is huge, and as long as the end product shows a glimpse of your brand’s purpose, people will respond favorably.
Simply put: if you aren’t vlogging and you have an extra 20 minutes at the end of your week to edit and upload a quick video, you should absolutely start now. The risks are minimal, and the payoff for your brand could easily be substantial.
Mind your demographics
Your brand’s intended audience will play into whether or not you decide to vlog, of course: the aforementioned study notes that the 16 to 24 range had the highest percentage of monthly views—up to 53 percent, to be exact—though the next couple of age groups (25 to 34 and 35 to 44) seem to have held their own. Bottom line? You can probably expect anyone under 45 or so to be receptive to this kind of marketing, but the millennial crowd will likely yield the best results.
