While the medium is not new, video content exploded in 2020. Fueled by the challenges from COVID-19 and multiple lockdowns, video has become a lifeline to the outside world. Influencers’ status as a trusted guide has continued to grow at an accelerated rate.
Research found that online video is a 600% more effective marketing tool than print and direct mail combined. On average, viewers are now spending 6 hours forty-eight minutes per week watching videos. Video is and continues to be one of the most effective elements in a marketing strategy. Not only is video attractive, convenient, and engaging for consumers, but it also represents a versatile, direct, and engaging medium for brands to reach their audience.
How influencers are optimising video content
Video has long been a format for influencers to present themselves as a friendly guide or expert to their audience. Videos are inherently high-value content and create dimension within the platform that makes it easier for consumers to get inspired, learn, and purchase with confidence.
With thousands of videos uploaded daily, this is how influencers and their followers want to connect. By tying the trend of mobile consumption with shoppers who are on a mission, the most successful influencers are making the customer journey convenient for their audience. Direct links or ‘swipe up’ links allow customers to make instant purchases.
Whether it’s educational how-tos — applying false lashes or styling a tabletop — the increasingly discerning consumer has come to expect tailored bite-sized content packaged up in an engaging and personal way, while having the opportunity to buy into that lifestyle at the click of a button directly from the video.
The launch of LIKEtoKNOW.it shopping videos
In summer 2020, rewardStyle launched LIKEtoKNOW.it Shopping Videos, allowing for purpose-driven content, created specifically for a customer who is in the process of shopping on their phone. Content and commerce come together seamlessly, on the same screen, so products and content are viewed simultaneously.
Video content can provide a range of storytelling options from helpful advice on products, brands, or outfits as well as tips about fit, quality, or styling direction. Content can also expand all the way through to micro tours of home renovations or wardrobe reorganisations. Shopping videos give creators a better opportunity to demonstrate the value of the product and provide an emotional appeal – something they can only do by placing their followers directly in the context of their life.
For brands, shopping influencer videos brings confidence to the consumer, increasing conversion rates, and average order values simultaneously.
LIKEtoKNOW.it Shopping Video vs TikTok / YouTube
LIKEtoKNOW.it Shopping Videos are not a competitor or replacement for TikTok, Reels, or any other social platform, its videos are not intended for trending entertainment content.
While snapping through multiple looks to catchy music is rewarded on social platforms right now, it is less compelling on a shopping platform because it is difficult to examine the product or understand it when it flashes across the page. All the shopping videos on the platform are organic – not conspicuously branded, all in the context of real life, and of value to someone who wants to know what to buy.
This year, rewardStyle turns 10, and today we turn to the next chapter of innovation in influencer monetisation, creativity and revolutionising brand sales.
Credit to Dave Murray, Managing Director, Europe at rewardStyle.
