Avoid These Video Marketing Mistakes!

Creating video content can be a powerful marketing tool for your library to engage with followers on social media. However, marketing with intention and really understanding what makes videos successful should always be taken into consideration. Luckily, we’ve gathered some common mistakes that are made in video marketing so that your team can avoid them and continue to connect with your patrons through thoughtful content.

Ignoring Trends

On video-first platforms like TikTok and Instagram, participating in viral challenges or trending sounds and topics can magnify content to an even broader audience. Using social listening and being engaged with these types of trends can make a difference in your marketing approach. Not every viral moment will apply to your message, but something as simple as choosing a popular song as the background music for your video could make a huge difference in the reach of your content. Don’t ignore these trends because your content could become stale without changing things up. By embracing trends that align with your library’s values, your videos will stay fresh and show that you’re connected to what’s happening on social media.

Not Understanding Audience

At this point you must know the importance of your audience, as we emphasize it in each one of our marketing tips blogs! It can sometimes be easy to get caught up in brainstorms and curating the content that you want to put out there without stopping to think who you’re making it for. Libraries are so connected with their communities and their patrons, so it should come naturally to picture who you’re talking to with your marketing efforts. Always keep that in mind and try to understand the interests, preferences, and frustrations of your audience when creating. And as always, be aware that each platform caters to different demographics. Make sure you’re using the right ones to reach your target audience!

Dismissing Analytics

Want to know if something you’ve posted is successful? Check out the analytics! Posting without reflecting on reach, likes, comments, and shares is a good way to guarantee you won’t learn anything about your marketing efforts. Finding out if something did well or fell flat will help you realize what your audience wants. By dismissing these metrics, you’ll end up wasting precious time and resources on content that is missing the mark, and you will lose opportunities to improve and retain engagement. By regularly monitoring analytics and adjusting your approach to video marketing, you’ll see a return on the investment of your efforts.

Not Telling a Story

Avoid falling into the trap of flashy videos and graphics, and remember the purest form of connection is storytelling. Stories are a key component of communication and are most likely to leave followers with a feeling of connection and a lasting impact. Even though videos should be kept short, it can form a compelling narrative in a way that still photos or graphics cannot. Try to dig deeper when forming an idea for a video and find ways to include storytelling and relatability that will resonate with your patrons.

Incorrect Video Format

The general population is consuming everything they need or want to know through a smartphone these days. Having a video that is incorrectly formatted for mobile viewing can have a negative impact on your views. Very few people have the patience or attention span for slow-loading videos or cluttered screens due to bad formatting. If you’re taking the time to create a video, always make sure it’s in the right format for whichever platform you’ll be posting to and that it’s optimized for mobile viewing. Create attention-grabbing thumbnails to get people to press play, and include captions for those on the go who want to watch without sound. Keep this guide to social media video specs handy to refer back to before posting a video and it should be smooth sailing to avoid the pitfalls of posting incorrect formats!