Video continues to remain as the king of digital marketing as its impact is almost instant and it is one of the most powerful and efficient ways to reach people through social media.

However, it is very easy to get video marketing wrong, especially when it is your first time using it.

Here are five most common mistakes marketers make and how to avoid them.

Not Fitting Your Content to Your Audience

A lot of marketers make the mistake of casting a wide net with their videos instead of narrowing down on a specific niche or audience. For example, would you write one single blog and expect it to get you results? If you’re going to create a video for social media, for instance, your primary goal should be for it to be entertaining. Why? Because most people on social media are looking to be entertained, not being sold on some product or service.

In a recent survey, 79% of consumers said that they would be willing to share a company’s video as long as it was entertaining. This is why videos that are destined for social media should focus less on selling and more on helping or entertaining.

However, if your video is destined for your homepage, then an explainer video would be a better choice. An explainer video is a great way to introduce your clients to your products and/or service. By coming to your site, clients have already vested interest in you, and the first thing they want to know is what you do exactly. This is the time to sell yourself. Utilize the video by treating it as a tool to meet your end goal.

Making the Message Too Complicated

One of the many mistakes people make when creating videos is making them too complicated. The problem is that many marketers are simply too involved with their products to summarize them and boil down their concept to a wide audience.

The best way to turn off your audience is to fill your videos with industry buzzwords, conflicting messages and features. The goal with videos should be to be as simple as possible without diluting your message.

In another survey, 77% of people said that they were swayed into buying a product because of a video. In order for your video to be effective, you have to speak in a voice and language that resonates with your audience and that is easy to understand. This Groupon video is a perfect example. The video wraps up and explains exactly the message without being too complicated. At the end, you understand exactly what the product is about and there is absolutely no confusion.

Making Low Quality Videos

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they first start using video is cutting corners and going for a cheap option. The result is a poorly made video that may put off your audience and make a horrible first impression.

This could cause irreparable damage to your brand. The few dollars saved on a sub par video just aren’t worth it. It would be better to shell out a few extra dollars to work with a reputable video production company than get one from one of those cheap explainer video services you can find on Fiverr. Your brand is everything, so make sure that your videos represent it well.

Making Videos That Are Too Long

For many of us who have been in content marketing for a while, the impression always was that longer was better. That usually comes from the idea that long form content is viewed more favorably by search engines. But video marketing is very different.

According to Wistia, 30 second videos had a 80%+ view rate while the view rate dropped to 45% with videos that were 5 minutes or more. That is a drop of nearly 50%.

This ties in with what we said earlier about keeping your content concise. Most of the time, your click through ad will be placed at the end of your video, so your main goal should be to make sure that your clients see your whole video. This is why it is important to keep your video short and sweet.

There is one exception to this rule, though, and this is when it comes to knowledge videos. If your video is mainly academic, then you want to delve more into detail about the subject. Also, people have already vested interest in watching the full video. Webinar videos can also be longer, for the same reason.

Lack of Promotion

Creating a video is one thing, but promotion is still essential for your videos to get the effect desired. Too many marketers have a “build it and they’ll come” mentality when it comes to videos, but if a video is posted and nobody sees it, does it really exist?

The issue is that many marketers simply don’t know how to promote videos. One of the best things you can do to increase the visibility of your video is optimize it. One of the ways you can do this is to optimize the page where the video will be posted with related keywords. Also, make sure that the video description is optimized as well without overdoing it.

Make sure social sharing buttons are displayed clearly and that you post your videos on as many social channels as possible. And don’t be afraid to pay for promotion as well.

Conclusion

Video has proven itself as the digital marketing king and has a lot more to offer when done right. Keep your message short when possible but if your goal is to educate, don’t be afraid to delve deeper into the subject. Keep it efficient. Make every second count.

Also, make sure that your video is tailored to your audience and purpose. But more importantly, don’t skimp on budget and release poor videos that might eventually end up hurting your brand and don’t be afraid to step out of the box when it comes to promotion.

If you manage to follow these tips, you should be able to get the most out of your video marketing efforts.