Short video’s used for branding and promotion are becoming an increasingly popular and important aspect of content marketing. According to Cisco, video will account for 69% of all consumer traffic by 2017, while the latest figures tell us that every 5 tweets on Twitter contain a Vine link, Instagram videos enjoy twice the engagement of Instagram photos and 40% of the 1000 most shared Instagram videos have come from brands!
These figures point to a trend in which the exponential growth in short video marketing that we have witnessed in the last year or so, has been fuelled by the short attention span and limited available free time of the modern consumer, as well as the explosion in the smartphone and tablet market.
Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones to watch video content, especially as a result of the 
decrease in bandwidth costs, improved coverage and the availability of Wi-Fi hotspots around the country.
Mobile phones have become the first screen, or primary screen for most consumers. People are spending more time on their smartphones than they are on TV and even while watching TV, they are reported to remain tethered to their smartphone devices.
So the opportunity to capitalise on the fact that a larger, more captive audience is ready to consume short video content (apart from other forms of mobile marketing) is clearly evident. In this article however, we’re going look at how the advanced mobile phone technologies that many of us have access to today, offer the small business owner much more potential to market to the modern consumer.
Many South African small business owners who have encountered the concept of short video marketing, still mistakenly believe that only professionally shot and edited videos will make the cut. This is not the case.
While it is important to ensure that the short video content you offer your audience is engaging, this does not mean that you need to spend thousands of Rands for professionally created videos. Professionally created videos have their place in longer length corporate videos and adverts, but in creating short video content, it is not always necessary to go the professional route.
Advanced, modern mobile technologies now place a diversity of excellent video editing applications in the hands of ordinary consumers. This means that the ability to create customised, original video content is in the reach of virtually everyone. It is not necessary to be a technological whizz to use the available video editing applications either as there are a variety of great options which make it easy to shoot, edit, upload and share short video content.
Big brands are increasingly using short video clips to create simple, yet memorable messages for their audiences and they often use good quality mobile devices and applications such as Instagram, to capture and share these.
By way of example, take a look at what a simple, yet active Instagram page looks like, such as the one maintained by Woolworths SA.
Amid a variety of natural, engaging images, Woolworths shares spontaneous short video content such as this one which features their RE Denim girls having some fun.
How to create good mobile video content
Blatant self-promotion is simply not an option in content marketing which is why to be successful at it, organisations must have the ability to share information that enriches the customer’s experience. Your benchmark question should therefore be ‘How does this video / video concept enrich the customer’s life’.
1. Stand out from your competitors – take a look at what your competitors are doing (if anything) and aim to create short video content that is different and meaningful. Take a look at this example of a simple short video by Hewlett Packard on Vine.
2. Be natural – some of the most popular videos that have gone viral are those that come across as being entirely natural or spontaneous. Brands are being forced to form a closer, more real relationship with their customers’ and this is evident in which short videos are the most popular online. Here is a popular example from the popular coffeehouse, Starbucks.
3. Be creative – think outside of the box and focus on one key message per video. This ‘How To’ video from Lowes is a great example of taking a simple idea, making it interesting and enriching the customer’s experience at the same time.
4. Choose your mobile video tools – You can just go ahead and use a popular app such as Instagram, or you can look at choosing more advanced mobile video editing tools, by considering one of the other great video editing apps available. Here are some free options and some professional options for you to ponder.
How to distribute your short mobile video content
Consider creating an account on a platform such as Instagram to enable a central repository for your photos and videos. Your short mobile video content can also be uploaded to your YouTube account.
Your short video content should be made available to customers via social media, 
your website and your blog and you can also add your clips to email newsletters.
Think about adding customised short video content to your online articles. An explanatory video which helps to give life and meaning to a concept you are trying to convey is a great way to aide clarity while breaking up long reams of text.
To make your events that much more fun and interactive, you can share your video content directly from your mobile phone to social media and bolster your engagement with your customers even further, by inviting them to upload mobile video content of their own as part of a dedicated campaign.
Don’t forget to be regular if you do decide to engage in short video content marketing. Aim to create and distribute at least one video per month, or even every two months to keep your content fresh and diverse.
The options and opportunities to use short mobile video as part of your successful content marketing strategy are virtually endless. If you are looking for assistance to develop your content marketing strategy, mobile marketing strategy or your digital marketing strategy overall – let our creative, experienced team at The Formula assist you.
Give Garth Dahl or Shiraz Khatib a call on 021 556 5661 or email us: info@theformula.co.za – our consultations are free and we look forward to helping your business grow!
