Online marketing is evolving rapidly, and one of the fastest-growing segments of the field is video marketing. Why? Because video marketing offers a way to grab search market share for keywords that are difficult to attain via normal, text-based search. Since videos are harder to create than text-based content, the barrier to entry is higher. Additionally, videos on YouTube generally rank very well in Google search results, strongly reinforce company branding, and have a higher potential to go viral than other types of media.
Barrier to Entry is Shrinking
But the barrier to entry for video creation and editing is slowly decreasing as new apps for video editing become available, along with the pervasiveness of mobile devices that can record HD-video (such as smartphones and tablets). I recently tested a new video editing app for iOS called Givit, which left me impressed; it gives small businesses without professional studios the ability to create professional-looking videos.
The simplicity of the app makes it accessible for the layman -- offering the ability to edit videos on a mobile device, while integrating with Twitter and cloud hard drives. Givit offers allows the ability to select the portions of clips that you'd like to edit, add effects to that clip, and then add music to that edited video.
Here's an example of one I created in just a few minutes:
This example shows how I was able to add an opening title screen, fade-in, fading transitions, slow-mo, and fade-out.
Video Marketing Best Practices
When it comes to video marketing, avoid limitations -- the more views a video receives, the better the chance of it resulting in improved traffic, virality, and ROI. Don't limit your videos to YouTube -- instead, post on YouTube and then share it on as many of the social media sites as you feel are appropriate.
Ideally, these videos should be part of a marketing campaign that revolves around the product, special deals, and company information -- instead of making a sales pitch, use the videos to provide more information about your product or company to draw in new clients.
Asking viewers to act after watching a video (ie, a "call to action") is also necessary, in order to track results and increase your conversion rate. For this reason, it's essential to provide a URL or an HTML link that allows the viewer to easily access your website.
Other Video Editing Options
A number of other video editing software apps exist for the iPhone and other mobile devices, such as Cute Cut and Andromedia. Cute Cut is a video editing app that has a number of notable features -- it offers an incredible range of cuts and edits, allowing the user to craft a beautiful final video with relative ease. It has a user-friendly interface that attracts professional editors, and incorporates a number of features that are not featured on iMovie. However, in trying to beat iMovie in terms of editing options, it loses sight of the features in iMovie that are essential, and draw in editors from all backgrounds and skill levels.
Andromedia is a similar product to Givit, but for Android. Andromedia has some interesting features, including five different transition options to meld video clips together more gracefully, and the ability to include voice recordings in the final film. With similar features to Givit, including the addition of music and the simplicity of splicing video to create a more concrete final product, Andromedia is Givit's strongest competition.
Conclusion
In terms of creating videos for use in online marketing campaigns, Givit is the best app I've found for IOS users; it offers professional features, is easy to use, and simple to learn. For Android users, Andromedia is the app that will create the most polished-looking video, which can then be uploaded immediately to social networks or posted on YouTube.