Brands are constantly identifying and assessing which marketing channels reach their target demographics best, especially as competition for consumers’ attention heats up in response to increasing media fragmentation. In this changing environment, online video has become an increasingly popular advertising channel, with many marketers shifting budgets from TV to fund those efforts.
One of the main reasons for these changes is the explosion in devices that allow audiences to interact with the online world. Formerly only the preserve of PCs, the internet now connects people across a range of devices including TVs, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles. According to IAB.net, nearly half of the U.S. population has a mobile phone with internet access, and one in five page views on the web now happen on a mobile device
All this has made the internet far more interactive than it was before. And this change has had an effect on audiences. Consumers - particularly the younger generations – now have an entirely new set of expectations regarding online material, especially regarding engagement. They also have far shorter attention spans. It is therefore no longer sufficient for brands to continue to create single pieces of content or slightly different versions which they broadcast to audiences based on broad generalisations. Today’s online users expect and demand content catered to their own particular tastes and personalities. They need relevant, engaging elements that will hold their attention longer. They want nonlinear stories that succeed in standing out in a cluttered marketplace and that evolve and grow with their needs and preferences.
In this new world, it is no longer enough for brands to create content they hope will be shared or encourage interactivity through comments, likes and links – these activities are not an actual narrative experience. Residing outside of the viewing experience, they often fail to truly capture the viewer's attention and don’t travel with the video when it’s shared. Successful marketers need to fully leverage the interactivity inherent in digital devices to engage with these new savvier individuals and keep them interested. Visual content provides businesses with new opportunities to educate prospects with custom media and the evolution of video means value can be driven with the addition of interactive elements that activate, engage and convert the audience. Technology has evolved from delivering content to consumers as passive observer to offering opportunities to control what is seen, when it’s seen and how it is experienced.
A successful online video campaign recognises that online user actions are the currency of the web today – and will be driven by activating the largest audience, engaging them for the longest period of time and converting them at the highest efficiency. The aim is creating a unified and distinct environment that stands out from busy webpages by reaching consumers with truly engaging experiences, and easing the path to action or reaction on the consumer’s part by placing calls to action directly at the point of passion: within the video content itself. From social rewards to real-time commerce, inline gamification, timed surveys, embedded contact forms or local store finders, interactive layers encourage and facilitate the next step in brand engagement.
Interactive online video can also deliver true economies of scale by unifying media buying and content publishing to any channel, network or partner with automatic cross screen compatibility. Media owners, advertisers and publishers can scale and optimise both workflows and assets to drive business growth whilst reusing creative work across paid, owned and earned media. Not only this, but by collecting engagement information about viewers along the way, brands can programmatically target, personalise and optimise content to meet media performance goals, serving the right content to the right user at the right time for real time marketing optimisation.
In this brave new world, videos tell creative stories that deliver awareness. The interactive functionality within them puts money into shopping carts and big data provides real time optimisation and personalisation. The result is a 360 degree relationship that provides fully rounded web experiences that can be used to achieve unparalleled levels of audience engagement for businesses and a better brand experience for customers.
By Pieter Mees, CEO and co-Founder of Zentrick.
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