3 Ways Social Video Marketing Can Propel Your Brand This recent trend harnesses the power of emotions to deliver a subtle message to viewers.
By Adam Toren
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Social video marketing plays on the most important aspects of basic human nature: the art of storytelling. Where viral videos are all about numbers, social videos are all about connections and conversations.
Related: Effective Marketing Appeals to Emotions Instead of Reason
Here are three ways social video marketing can be good for your business.
1. Emotional connections drive brand loyalty.
It has been scientifically proven that emotional connections build loyalty and influence purchasing decisions. Psychology Today reported that functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, neuro-imagery showed areas of the brain light up in scans as people tapped into their emotions when making purchasing decisions. The article explains that research showed a three-to-one bias to purchase a product based on an emotional response to an ad vs. those which viewers felt no emotional tie.
By creating videos that truly harness the power of emotional responses, you're much more likely to drive brand loyalty and purchases over other brands.
Some good examples include the Liberty Mutual "pay it forward" ad series or the "Seeds" Google Glass ad. Both these ads are subtly branded, yet play more like a heartfelt short story than a traditional ad. There are no rates or prices or sales advertised, just the thread of heartfelt stories that draw the audience in.
2. Emotional connections create trust.
Just like emotional connections drive brand loyalty, it also helps to establish trust. Part of that trust, like in the earlier examples, is not to push your brand but to share the emotional context of your message.
As an article in the Harvard Business Review points out, you want to illicit the maximum emotional response and keep branding to a minimum. Heavy use of branding can cause many viewers to disregard the content as spam.
Related: To Stand Out From the Competition, You Need to Offer Distinct Emotional Benefits
A great example of a minimally branded series is Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" videos, which unites women under a common cause of seeing their unique beauty. Women often struggle with poor self-image and one particularly compelling video series "beauty sketches" asks women to describe themselves to a sketch artist, before revealing to the camera and the artist what they actually look like.
The stark contrast helps bring to light the epidemic of low self-esteem and unites women in a powerful, emotional message of loving their unique beauty. This is a great way to connect a powerful company message with a social cause and in doing so Dove is creating brand loyalty and trust.
3. Emotional connections propel conversation.
Conversations are the main goal of social video. Another way you can establish a strong emotional connection with your audience and spark conversations is to tie your business to messages related to public good or social issues.
Take, for example, the somewhat shocking and intense social video series put out by AT&T to highlight the terrible consequences of texting and driving. As part of its "It Can Wait" campaign, AT&T hired acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog to create an emotionally impactful social video about the deadly nature of texting while driving.
With more than 3 million views and more than 3,000 comments, AT&T has certainly started conversations with this powerful social video.
You don't have to have a major brand to benefit from the power of social video. Take the time to research how you can authentically tie your brand into a powerful story and develop a series of videos that can help propel your business.
Related: How to Use Content Marketing to Build a Brand with Purpose
