It’s becoming increasingly difficult to draw the line between cyborgs and humanity (according to Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk). He made the point to emphasise the fact that wherever we go, we are tethered to a mobile device. We check the weather. We check our email. We are always contactable and, in return, we can always contact whomever we wish. It’s a new type of humanity, unbeknownst to the world in the centuries leading up to the advent of modern Homo Techians (that’s not actually what we’re called, but it’s got a certain ring to it, don’t you think?)
With 24/7 interactivity comes great responsibility. You can’t just Tweet out any old garbage any more. Your Insta posts need more thought behind them than an unedited phone library shot without the faintest whisper of a filter. The competition for elbow room at the global marketing table is tense. But there is one way to get ahead. Video software.
Control the aesthetic
Images and memes are great. They do a job. Quick, simple, in and out of our brains, wham bam thank you ma’am, and onto the next. Not great if you want your message to stick, though. For that, your fresh muffin delivery company needs a greater level of engagement than an image of two muffins in an oven, with one saying, “Boy, sure is hot in here!”, and the other one saying, “Ahh! A talking muffin!”. As hilarious as your jokes might be, people will keep scrolling. You need video.
Video keeps eyes on screens. When you have eyes on screens, you can control the aesthetic. In full. Do you want music to go with your campaign? How about the way in which any actors you may use deliver their lines? Slowly? Quickly? What does it all say about your brand? People don’t buy products, they buy a state of mind. That sounds very wishy-washy, but it’s true. Give your audience a video that controls how they should feel about your brand, and that connection can help you to gain leads and boost sales.
It’s the 21st century (it’s so easy these days)
People who are yet to leverage video in their marketing efforts (be it for their own social media page, their own brand, or for a wider company), may have hang-ups about the technology. Or more specifically, how to use the technology.
First things first. It’s the 21st century. You can’t hide from progress forever. Video is king and without it, you can’t compete. So take a second to absorb that fact. Secondly, it’s so easy to produce and edit videos that even our parents who are totally stuck-in-their-ways could quite easily produce something of such quality that, the only way you’d know it was theirs in the first place, is you can hear them in the background saying, “Oh, d’you know, I think I left the stove on”.
It’s modern. It’s the most popular type of media. And it’s easy. So, get directing!