Video increasingly is becoming the content of choice for marketers. With easy creation tools, the need to stand out on social media timelines, lowered standards on production values and consumption habits that match the medium, video is having its moment (when wasn’t it popular, though?).
While consumer have come to expect DIY video and quick posts that are little more than pointing a smartphone at talent, that doesn’t mean the technology side of video marketing is gone. Quick productions are in, but keeping up with video technology still gives marketers an edge. Video tech has moved from quality and editing to tools that make creation even less painful and more interactive.
With that in mind, here are five hot video marketing tools that have just arrived or will be coming your way soon.
1. Automated Video Creation Tools
Artificial intelligence-based video creation tools have been around for several years now, tools such as Lumen5Opens a new window . But these tools are becoming more refined and more valuable for marketers today.
That’s needed, because the time it takes to format videos still is a limiting factor for the medium, and creating personalized video messaging is a future that can’t come fast enough.
Video marketing automation promises to format and even re-cut videos for specific demographics. In the slightly more distant future, deep-fake technology also should allow marketers to customize videos for specific segments or even individual prospects, much as they do today with text.
“There are a lot of exciting advancements happening here,†says David Kashak, CEO and co-founder of video platform, ConnatixOpens a new window . “It’s not far-fetched to imagine a future where ads will be automatically adjusted in real-time to mirror the content within a video and create a more cohesive consumer experience.â€
2. Plugins that Unify Video Reporting
A second burden with video marketing is stats collection. There’s a wealth of viewer data that can be gleaned from video, but pulling it all together is a hassle and takes time since marketers typically use more than one video tool.
This is a common pain point, however, so unified video reporting tools are emerging that help make data collection easier.
“Marketers have so many tools that perform a variety of functions, but that results in the need to sign into multiple platforms to build reports or update campaigns,†notes Lauren McHugh, senior product manager at video platform, BrightcoveOpens a new window . “Chrome extensions are now allowing marketers to gather their video analytics on the page the video lives on, removing the need to sign into another platform.â€
3. Interactive Video Tools
We saw an early version of video interactivity with YouTube cards and annotations. Services such as Vimeo also have been integration CTA links at the end of videos for awhile. But that’s just the beginning.
Editors such as WireWaxOpens a new window enable dynamic text, interactive elements and shoppable elements in videos, turning the standard video into a multimedia package instead of just moving pictures. Marketers already know the value of interactivity and timely calls to action, so interactive video tools promise to further boost video marketing as the medium of choice.
“Marketers have seen a lot of success with interactive engagement tools on social media over the past few years: emojis, polls, etc.,†notes Kashak. “This year, I anticipate similar features will be available for marketers beyond the walled gardens, which will enable them to engage in brand new ways.â€
4. Artificial Intelligence for Video Selection
Making multiple videos for each campaign is now standard practice for marketers. This will get even more expansive as reliance on video increases, with videos cut for specific target demographics.
But there’s still the issue of knowing which video to show, and when to change it up to avoid message fatigue. Artificial intelligence built into social platforms promises to be a potent tool for managing this issue, however.
Facebook already is moving in that direction.
“I’m excited for Facebook’s artificial intelligence,†says Travis Chambers, founder and chief media hacker for video marketing firm, Chambers MediaOpens a new window . “Facebook has the richest data of all time, and there’s something they’ve rolled out called CBO—campaign budget optimizationOpens a new window . This means that robots are basically going to be taking everyone’s jobs in the ad-buying sector.â€
He sees this as a tool for video marketers, with brands queuing up many segment-specific videos and letting AI do the rest.
5. Video Benchmarking Tools
Understanding which videos are rocking it and which have fallen flat has been a job for spreadsheets until recently. Marketers could compare their video efforts against historical data and best guess on how it was performing relative to the topic and format. But that was it.
With the rise of video as an important medium for marketers, however, video benchmarking tools such as TabularOpens a new window have started to emerge.
“Up until recently, marketers had to evaluate how their videos were doing against their own historical data,†notes McHugh. “Now there is the ability to compare the performance of your video with videos in the same category, giving marketers a video benchmark score.â€
Online video is a dynamic space, and marketers are getting new tools to take advantage of it.