Has animated video become part of your digital marketing strategy yet?

If not, you may want to reconsider that.

85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and 99% of people who use video for marketing say they’ll continue using video in 2020.

Most consumers prefer watching a video than reading. This doesn’t come as a surprise given that visual information is processed faster than text.

With an animated video your message is concise and captures the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds.

Animated videos give you an opportunity to stand out and stay ahead of your competitors.

They help your new and existing customers understand your products, services, and unique selling points.

Animated videos can answer your customer’s queries and address customer concerns.

Plus, animated videos are only limited by your imagination as they enable you to bring any ideas or concepts to life. They help simplify the most complex of topics.

Cost is also one of the reasons why businesses opt for animated videos. Unlike video production, animation is an affordable solution that delivers effective results.

Here are 10 benefits of animated videos:

1. Stand out from the competition
2. Tell the story of your brand
3. Explain your products and services
4. Explain your concept or idea
5. Increase reach
6. Animated videos can be made to have long-lasting relevance
7. Potentially viral
8. Mobile-friendly
9. Lower production costs, saving you time and money
10. Fun and engaging

Platforms to Share Animated Videos

A tweet with a video is more likely to get a click. A Facebook post with an animated video is more likely to get viewed and shared. Adding a video to your email marketing can improve your brand image.

Animated videos on your website can increase traffic and encourage social media shares and comments. They will also help to increase the average time people spend on your website.

As a business owner, you will do everything you can to stay on one of Google for the keywords relevant to your business.

Animated videos can help with that. They can boost your SEO efforts and improve your website’s ranking by increasing click-through rates and lowering bounce rates.

It is clear by now that animated videos are a powerful addition to a brand’s promotional toolbox.

Be strategic and selective when distributing your animated videos. Adapt animations to specific channels and platforms such as websites, social media channels, email newsletters; events or shows and blogs posts.

Animation fits for just about anything – product explainer videos, infographics or even a logo.

Incorporate “How-to” videos or “Behind the scenes” animated videos as part of your digital marketing strategy.

Slideshows, case studies, tips and guides are also a good idea for animated videos.

Cut through the noise of traditional video production with animated videos that will help you further conversations with new and existing customers.

With online video consumption continuing to rise, many businesses have adopted animation as part of their digital marketing strategy.

If you want to grow online and get the best possible return on investment, perhaps it’s the time to give animated videos a chance.

The post How Animated Video Can Help your Marketing Strategy appeared first on Ocean Media.

Fortunately for many businesses that invest in online advertising, Facebook advertising is one of the least expensive platforms to advertise on.

Facebook advertising should be included in every businesses’ digital marketing strategy for following reasons:

• Reach new customers
• Target a specific audience
• Advertise to people by location, age, interests, and behaviour
• Ads tailored to your specific goals
• Various ad placements
• Multiple ad creatives to choose from

How Facebook ads work

You need to know what you want your Facebook ads to accomplish. This is done by identifying campaign objectives.

Would you like to drive more visitors from social media to your website? Or do you want to maximise the number of people who see your ad? Maybe you just want more likes on the page.

Once you’ve identified your campaign objective(s), it’s time to create or select your audience and choose the demographics and behaviours that represent your audience.

Facebook also allows you to create refined audiences called Custom and Lookalike audiences.

The next step is to decide where you want to run your ad – either on Facebook, Instagram, or the apps…

Set your budget, pick a format, and voila – you are ready to start running ads to meet your business goals.

Common Mistakes When Running Facebook Advertising Campaigns

On the surface, Facebook advertising looks straightforward: You simply create and publish the ads. The truth is that Facebook advertising still requires a level of expertise and strategizing.

Here are five common mistakes when running Facebook advertising campaigns:

1. Not having clear Facebook marketing goals and objectives

Having defined Facebook goals matters. Only by setting clear goals can you justify the actions you’re taking to meet the needs of your business. Social media objectives are contingent on KPI’s and metrics. You need to have goals and measure outcomes to know what’s working and what needs to be improved.

Your social media strategy needs to be thoughtful and on-point. You will need to do some research and adjust your tactics based on performance over time.

Top goals for social media advertising campaigns:

• Increase brand awareness
• Lead generation
• Increase engagement
• Increase web traffic
• Facebook page like

2. You don’t know who your audience is

Your current and potential customers are probably among the more than 2 billion people on Facebook.

How do you reach the segment of this audience that is relevant to your business?

Target by interest is one approach. Facebook analyses behaviours on the platform and categorises its users according to indicated interests. You can then use these broad interest categories to focus in on your audience.

For example, if you’re in the business of selling car tyres, you can target customers in the sub-category Off-Road Tyres. You can narrow that even further by targeting specific tyre manufacturers.

Facebook recommends narrowing your audience and searching for clear niches.

Facebook ads will be of little value unless you know who you are reaching out to.

Creating a buyer persona for your business will help you define your target market.

Create a profile of your ideal customer as if he or she were a real person.

Give your personas names. That will remind you that you’re speaking to an actual person!

3. Using the wrong Ad Format

There are different Facebook ad formats for different goals.

You can choose from Photo, Video, Stories, Messenger, Carousel, Slideshow, Collection, and Instant Experiences.

Choose the ad format you think will best suit your audience and goals.

Extra tip: test different ad formats!

4. Running too many ads at the same time

Running too many ads at the same time can be a costly mistake. This leads to confusion, a lack of efficiency, and, in the end, poor results.

If you have a very complex ad account, how can you even keep track of everything that’s going on?

Facebook needs at least 50–100 conversions per ad set per week to fully leverage the algorithm, so your ad sets need a reasonable budget if you want the Facebook delivery system to power your ads.

5. Not using the Facebook Pixel

The power of a single piece of code can be tremendous, especially when it’s a piece of code provided by Facebook.

The Facebook pixel allows you to track your website visitors or create retargeting audiences, track custom conversions, and optimize ads.

The time to install and utilise Facebook pixel is now.

Not only will you create better ads, but you will have the opportunity to target your audiences more accurately.

Install the pixel on your website and start collecting data so you can be ready to use it when launching your Facebook campaigns.

Facebook advertising can take some time to get the hang of, but by keeping these common mistakes in mind, Facebook ads will bring in amazing results and can even lead to faster growth of your business.

The post 5 Mistakes When Running Facebook Ad Campaigns appeared first on Ocean Media.