I don’t know about you but I hate seeing and hearing myself on camera, but using video to promote you and your brand is here to stay with a whopping 80% of all web traffic predicted to be video by 2019. Yikes.

With the mobile world taking over the sat-at-a-desk world, the demand for quick, engaging and memorable content is bigger than ever and with the success of Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Twitter Video, alongside dedicated video marketing platforms such as Wistia and Brightcove, the opportunity for brands to engage is wider than ever.

Even though for a lot of us video can be a daunting challenge, what has to be realised is what a great opportunity it is to speak to your audience in a highly visual and personal way – and all for free. What’s great is that nobody is expecting highly slick, polished videos; in fact, some of the most successful are the rawest and honest. This is because people want, and demand, to see the person or people behind the brand and enjoy that sense of affinity, humanity and personal insight.

It’s also worth remembering that video really does work. There’s a lot of evidence that introducing video to your marketing mix can not only increase your brand memorability but helps with SEO, your brand content and sharability.

So it’s looking like a win/win. But how can you make your video content engaging and stand out from the crowd?

Tell stories

We’ve all been captivated by a three minute story on our phones that you have to watch to the end – GoPro’s Frozen Kittens anyone?  Why they work is that they take the viewer on a journey and tell a story that can evoke emotion and most importantly, brand engagement.

Use your customers

There’s nothing more credible than your genuine brand customers talking about your product or service. Get a bank of ambassadors on board and film them waxing lyrical about your amazing brand.

Create a tribe

What’s so great about video and especially live streaming is that you can reach a huge audience – gone are the days of a limited number in a workshop room. Engage your audience with regular, scheduled videos from you that includes and celebrates them, your audience. This can be used as so many things: organic growth, brand engagement, information sharing and camaraderie within your tribe.

Exclusive content

Everyone loves a behind-the-scenes don’t they and often these sort of posts get a lot more engagement than the finished article. Don’t forget people are very interested in how a product, service, event etc happens and what goes into it. Plus, it adds that all important human element. Check out the fab one by Charlotte Tilbury when making her film debuting her Scent of a Dream perfume with Kate Moss.

Don’t put pressure on yourself

Only do what you can do and if that’s once and week / month then so be it but make it valuable and enjoyable. There’s nothing worse than people that post every day but have nothing really to say (we all know them!). Be authentic to yourself and take the necessary steps to introduce video when it’s right for you. Also be honest with your audience – say you’re nervous, say thank you to them and ask them to grow with you.