Leverage data to deliver targeted, segment-relevant content

Imagine a customer searching for an e-bike to buy. After looking at different brands online, they start scrolling through content on Instagram by searching for the term “e-bike”. The algorithm remembers their behavior and marks them as “e-bike enthusiasts”.  If your brand was targeting consumers interested in biking and e-bikes in the brand awareness stage, this user will likely have come across your video content, and will have watched several videos about the e-bike model that interests them, placing them firmly in that targeting segment.

Serve detailed product videos tailored to the formats that data shows drove the most engagement, or educate and engage through a dedicated live stream for biking fans on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Make it feel like you understand any objections they may have, answer those objections with relevant content, and pull them in to further increase their confidence and build credibility.  Creativity will drive the best results. So test several headlines, choose eye-catching thumbnails, and curate a story that evokes emotions.

Shift consumers from passive to active viewing with interactive elements

Put customers in charge of their viewing experience so they can “create their own adventure”. Creating opportunities to influence the storyline of a video through chaptering (dividing content with straightforward navigation) or branching (where consumers can choose how the storyline will develop) is a great way to encourage them to seek out content that interests them, to skip through what doesn’t, and get them to a place where they are ready to convert faster.

For example, a user considering buying a certain type of camera may skip through an hour-long video to only watch the chapters that answer his remaining questions about the camera's specifications.

Interactive elements in your videos, like polls, quizzes, thumbs up and down buttons or various personalized CTAs, empower your viewers to interact with your brand, reveal more about themselves and move down the funnel, heading to conversion.

For example, at the end of a product video, you can use a poll to ask customers if they found that video useful, or offer them a personalized CTA to explore the product line on the website.

Adding interactive elements to your videos will also help boost performance. Interactive content is 81% more effective at grabbing people’s attention and can boost viewing time by up to 47%.

Make videos easily shareable

To maximize impact, ensure your brand can also share video content easily on social media through your video platform of choice, making it easier to be where your customers are.

Make it easy for potential customers, too. Ensure they can easily share your video content with their networks. Incorporate social sharing buttons or add CTAs inviting customers to spread the word.

Having your video content shared on social media comes with two positive byproducts on top of boosting engagement: it increases your reach (and is a form of supporting brand awareness). It may also attract new viewers who will become your customers later on.

Deliver relevant dynamic content

Imagine a customer coming to your website and seeing the latest promotional video for the most recent phone or TV they have been considering buying. Once you’ve got their attention in this way, pull them deeper using conversion-focused overlays that prompt action, guiding them through the purchase process with dynamic content.

When putting dynamic content in front of your audience, it's important to A/B test your CTAs for the best results. Do customers click on “learn more”, or a more binding “buy now”? Split testing call-to-action messages can raise conversion rates by 161%. Testing your CTAs in depth will help you move audiences through the funnel more effectively.

Build trust and credibility

Aside from product demos and video series that answer customers' questions, customer testimonials and case studies are the video formats you should consider at this stage. They help build credibility, boosting customer engagement. Having peer reviews and third-party success builds consumer confidence that you can deliver on their needs. You can weave these assets into your strategy as you would other video content: making them part of your social media ads, including them in your newsletters, etc.

Unboxing videos are another worthwhile content type to show customers the value of your product in a transparent way. In this brand engagement stage, you can use video content like this to guide potential customers through product features in detail.

Monitor analytics

In the brand engagement stage, your primary indicator of success is the click-through rate (CTR). Growing CTR indicates that your video content is successfully catching viewers' attention and drives visitors to your website, where they keep learning more about your product and move down the funnel, closer to conversion.

Beyond this, look at the completion rate of your videos (the percentage of the video watched by a user). This metric tells you a lot about content quality. Monitoring Attention Index metrics can also help shape your content strategy, so you can produce more effective video content in the future.