As the social marketplace becomes more crowded with other brands trying to reach the same people that you are, it’s more important than ever to invest in engaging content.

Video content allows brands to tell a larger story while visually engaging their audience. Social media platforms favor video as well. Zuckerburg has made it clear that “Over the next three years, the biggest trend in our products will be the growth of video.” Cisco predicts that by 2019, video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. So, if you aren’t sure about investing in video content yet, the evidence is clear. And there are many creative ways to execute that will boost your marketing efforts.

Take a look at how we’ve worked with home décor client, Kirkland’s to incorporate video and gain a larger market share in the home décor space.

 

WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE?

When we started working with Kirkland’s, the first thing we noticed was the lack of video content on their channels. This was something we saw as a huge opportunity for the brand- especially since one-third of online activity is spent watching video, according to Forbes. We also saw the need to develop a social voice and persona that would humanize the brand and tap into the lifestyle of our primary audience.

 

WHAT WAS THE DIRECTION?

We needed to make the branded content more relatable to consumers. Keeping in mind that not all videos should directly promote the brand, we created content that focuses on the lifestyle of our audience rather than flooding our feed with product information and sales messaging. In our research, we found that a top interest of Kirkland’s consumers is cooking and recipes. We also know that DIY and How-to videos are some of the most shared videos on social media. With this in mind, we implemented a strategy for developing recipe videos, DIY’s and How-to videos that give consumers a reason to come to our page.

 

HOW DID YOU CREATE / EXECUTE?

We began video production with Kirkland’s, holding a video shoot every two to three weeks. This involves staging an entire house with Kirkland’s home décor to create an authentic environment that was more relatable. We started sharing videos with topics such as transitioning your everyday décor into fall, steps for creating the perfect mantel, DIY ideas for pumpkins and yummy fall recipes.

 

 

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? ANY OBSTACLES?

One obstacle is navigating the different video formats for each channel. A recipe video is not going to perform as well on Instagram as it may on Facebook. We had to think through ways to optimize our content for each channel. For example, we used the recipe videos on Facebook and YouTube, but we also shot still images of each step in the recipe so that we could format those photos as a step-by-step for Instagram Stories. In addition, the sizes that perform best may not be what we’re used to. Square video has grown in popularity, as it takes up 78% more space in the Facebook newsfeed on mobile and drives more engagement than horizontal videos.

 

WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?

The video content on Kirkland’s channels generates 116% more engagement than a post with an image. Our first video posted announcing the Harvest collection was Kirkland’s top performing Facebook post of all time, generating an engagement rate of 6%. Overall, we’ve seen a 56% increase in organic reach due to the share-ability of the new content strategy.