The Women’s Business Center at JEDI (serving women and men throughout Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity and Humboldt counties) seeks to offer the latest trends and success strategies to small business people looking to grow and thrive.

The Women’s Business Center at JEDI (serving women and men throughout Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity and Humboldt counties) seeks to offer the latest trends and success strategies to small business people looking to grow and thrive. The two upcoming workshops provide insight and hands-on training in two areas of great importance these days: A webinar reviewing the use of social media to raise badly needed start up or growth capital-crowdfunding; and two in-person workshops on video marketing to gain more customers.

The WBC at JEDI is offering this free webinar to bring exciting new trend information to a large audience of people. “Crowdfunding: How to Turn Your Network into Funding” will be held on Wednesday Aug. 9, from noon–1 p.m.

According to iFundwomen.com, crowdfunding is a fast way to get one’s startup, small business or side hustle off the ground. Crowdfunding means raising money, usually in small increments from lots of people, on the internet. Most of the funding will come from one’s network of people: Friends, family, industry folk and social networks, who want to support your idea. You owe your funders nothing in return except succeeding, stated a JEDI press release.

After analysis of nearly a half million crowdfunding campaigns, PwC in collaboration with The Crowdfunding Center has found that women are an average 32 percent more successful at reaching their funding targets than men across sectors and in every geography where campaigns are launched. The report entitled “Women Unbound: Unleashing Female Entrepreneurial Potential” released today also found that in the U.S. and the UK, campaigns run by women also command higher pledge amounts – on average $10 more than campaigns run by men.

According to the webinar presenter Kathleen Minogue of Crowdfund Better, “More funds will be raised via crowdfunding than venture capital in 2017, but only 2 percent of [men and women owning small businesses] are using crowdfunding to fund their business. The main reason: They don’t know about it!”

The August webinar will cover: What crowdfunding is and how it is different from traditional loans and private investment, the four types of crowdfunding and credible platforms, basic elements of a seed crowdfunding campaign (and how to avoid the big potholes) and the crowdfunding secret to success. To register for the Aug. 9 Crowdfunding Webinar, from noon–1 p.m., contact info@e-jedi.org or call (530) 926-6670, ext. 10.

The second trend to be presented is Video Marketing. The workshop, “Is Video Marketing Right for Your Business?” will be offered at the WBC at the JEDI office on two consecutive Tuesdays, Aug. 8 and 15 from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at 205 Chestnut Street in Mount Shasta.

Did you know that 85 percent of American internet users view online video? Think of what that could mean when you are trying to gain the attention for your product or service. It has become standard branding in marketing and it’s easy for you to learn, stated the press release. Creating a short business video to post on your website, social media platform or email campaign is a trusted way of increasing SEO rankings and engaging viewers. Instructor Robin Fator, a website designer, business coach and entrepreneur, will teach the basics of making a simple, effective video that promotes your business, products and targets customers – and the best tools for creating it.

“Using video to promote your business, make sales, and communicate with your target customer is the future of marketing,” said Fator. “Whether you are a startup, own a small business, or are buying air time for the Super Bowl, your video advertising speaks volumes about your brand, products and values. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth 1,000 pictures.”

According to a Hubspot study four times as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. (Animoto, 2015) Source: www.hubspot.com/marketingstatistics?_ga=2.6447163.866349424 .1500589119-746446864.1500589119). And almost 50 percent of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. (Google, 2016) Source: www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics?_ga=2.6447163.866349424.1500589119-746446864.1500589119). Video marketing is more than a trend and it applies for small businesses as well as large. Video marketing allows potential customers to have an experience before choosing to purchase.

Following the workshop, participants may schedule a free consultation with Fator. She can assist with making a video and/or uploading it to a website, social media platform or email campaign.

Fator will also create a Facebook group where workshop participants can ask questions and share videos with other business owners.

The workshop cost is $20 for JEDI members. Women and men are welcome and encouraged to take advantage of this specialized workshop. To register, contact JEDI at (530) 926-6670, ext. 10; or email jpayton@e-jedi.org. Purchasing an annual membership for $25 helps support the WBC at JEDI and provides member discounts for classes and workshops.

Removing and automating the “drudgery” of marketing operations frees up one of a marketer’s most valuable resources, their time, according to Jon Williams, senior vice president international, Aprimo.

Williams talked with Which-50 about the benefits that good marketing operations can bring to an organisation. Chief among them is the ability to minimise the more mundane process tasks of marketers, freeing up time for more value add activities, he said.

“When you go and talk to marketers and spend time with them, a lot of their day to day is actually doing process,” he said.

Process tasks are necessary, everyday requirements for modern marketers and include things like project management, email and dealing with suppliers, Williams said. They need to be done but often take up too much of a marketer’s time, which would otherwise be spent on more valuable, creative tasks.

“Good marketing operations is actually about taking away a lot of that kind of drudgery they don’t want to get involved with and giving them time back to get into the more creative, the more value add pieces of their world,” Williams said.

It’s an attractive prospect and Williams said the value-add activities are what marketers are really passionate about.

But what marketers really want to get after is, “How can I add value to the creative world of delivering really strong marketing to the brand that they’re working for?”

So how much time can good marketing operations free up? According to Williams, it’s possible to reduce and automate process tasks by 30 to 40 per cent.

“People get very little value from following things up in Microsoft Project, trying to see where things are and driving those things. So how do we give them real value?”

“And that’s what marketing operations delivers.”

About the author

Sean Campbell is a solutions consultant for Aprimo. He has worked with leading brands in the US, Europe, and APAC, helping them to transform their marketing operations. Andrew Birmingham is the director of the Which-50 Digital Intelligence Unit, of which Aprimo is a Corporate Member. Our members provide their insights and expertise for the benefit of the Which-50 community. Membership fees apply.

You’ve heard the term « farm-to-table, » but how about farm-to-table in 48 hours? It’s the ultimate greenhouse, and we had a chance to take our 360-degree camera inside.

When you think of life on a farm, 125 acres of tomatoes under glass probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. 

David Bell, chief marketing officer at Houweling’s Group, said, “It’s amazingly cool. What does 22 acres of greenhouse look like? You can see it’s literally open space with glass above. Growing in the greenhouse environment, we’re trying to recreate the ultimate climate. On this site we have six phases totaling over 125 acres where they are growing all sorts of greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers.”

« Our use of water is much less compared to field. We use about one sixth the water. There’s a lot of crop work that goes into keeping these plants in balance and producing quality tomatoes consistently. « 

“We do a lot of grading within the greenhouse environment. We will harvest that ripe truss off the vine. We will put it in a box on a cart. It will than come from our greenhouse and automatically go on carts to our packing house.”  

“We can harvest this morning, we can ship this evening, and within 48 hours it can be on the grocery shelf.  Sustainability in agriculture is important, regardless of the technologies you are using. As the population of the world continues to grow, we’re trying to find ways to feed all those hungry mouths. This is an example that can really work.”

Removing and automating the “drudgery” of marketing operations frees up one of a marketer’s most valuable resources, their time, according to Jon Williams, senior vice president international, Aprimo.

Williams talked with Which-50 about the benefits that good marketing operations can bring to an organisation. Chief among them is the ability to minimise the more mundane process tasks of marketers, freeing up time for more value add activities, he said.

“When you go and talk to marketers and spend time with them, a lot of their day to day is actually doing process,” he said.

Process tasks are necessary, everyday requirements for modern marketers and include things like project management, email and dealing with suppliers, Williams said. They need to be done but often take up too much of a marketer’s time, which would otherwise be spent on more valuable, creative tasks.

“Good marketing operations is actually about taking away a lot of that kind of drudgery they don’t want to get involved with and giving them time back to get into the more creative, the more value add pieces of their world,” Williams said.

It’s an attractive prospect and Williams said the value-add activities are what marketers are really passionate about.

But what marketers really want to get after is, “How can I add value to the creative world of delivering really strong marketing to the brand that they’re working for?”

So how much time can good marketing operations free up? According to Williams, it’s possible to reduce and automate process tasks by 30 to 40 per cent.

“People get very little value from following things up in Microsoft Project, trying to see where things are and driving those things. So how do we give them real value?”

“And that’s what marketing operations delivers.”

About the author

Sean Campbell is a solutions consultant for Aprimo. He has worked with leading brands in the US, Europe, and APAC, helping them to transform their marketing operations. Andrew Birmingham is the director of the Which-50 Digital Intelligence Unit, of which Aprimo is a Corporate Member. Our members provide their insights and expertise for the benefit of the Which-50 community. Membership fees apply.

Find the perfect video influencer while on-the-go. That’s the promise of Whosay Match, an iOS and Android app released today from the influencer marketing specialists at Whosay.

The Whosay Match app interface

With the Whosay Match app, marketers can search through thousands of possible video influencers at every level, such as Icons (tier one celebs), Trailblazers (close to household recognition), Influencers (those with big social platform buzz), and Micro-Influencers (big fish in smaller ponds). It sounds like there’s a talent pool for every size budget or any campaign objective.

To get started, marketers need to download the app and then visit the Match Report page on Whosay.com to request access. Like the company’s Whosay Talent app, this isn’t open to everyone.

Once logged in, use the app to create a custom list of brand-friendly influencers, then create a custom social feed showing their social network posts from multiple platforms. This custom feed includes the level of fan engagement.

To give marketers a helping hand, the Whosay team creates hand-selected lists of niche influencers, such a “Health-Conscious Celebrity Moms” and “Teen Beauty Influencers.” The app also provides a direct messaging option so marketers can hit the Whosay team with a question at any time.

“We’re constantly checking affinity for brands and often surprised by the results,” says Harvey Schwartz, founding partner and executive vice president of influence marketing at Whosay. “Like Miley Cyrus showing up for a mayonnaise brand, feels random but our affinity cross-check brings us new ideas all the time.”

While the app is new for general use, Whosay has been testing it internally for two years already. It’s been used to grab talent for over 100 brands and over 300 campaigns. These video campaigns for Buick and Xfinity were created with the help of the Match algorithm, the same technology that powers the app.

A Whosay Match report

The worst of all sins in marketing, in my book at least, is the use of that hoary old quote often incorrectly attributed to either John Wanamaker or Lord Leverhulme. You know the one with the apocryphal line that “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half”. If it crops up in a presentation, marketing article or debate – with the exception of this masterpiece you’re reading at the moment – it signals an almost inevitable journey to cliché and obviousness in equal measure.

But there is another problem with that quote these days: it’s not just a cliché, it’s also wholly inconsistent with the current way in which we discuss anything in marketing. Gone is the uncertainty and open, plaintive thinking of an earlier age in marketing when we queried with honest introspection what does and does not seem to be working. That’s been replaced by a form of tribal combat in which different sides hammer each other with exactly the opposite point of view constructed from equal parts of wobbly data and fake news.

READ MORE: Marketing must be better defined to be taken seriously

Rather than Lord Leverhulme bemoaning his uncertain advertising spend, today’s equivalent axiom would have him boasting “I’m spending all my money on digital and it’s working 180%”, followed by his arch nemesis Lord Beaverbrook retorting “shut your face Leverhulme, your money is being wasted because you don’t understand content marketing like what I do”.

Everywhere you look in marketing there isn’t just debate about what is and isn’t the right approach, there is vehement and unyielding certainty that my way is correct and yours is total balls.

Polarisation complicates marketing

Take the debate about brand safety for example. Depending on who you listen to it is either a massive threat to brand equity that has infected a significant proportion of global advertising, or it’s a tiny issue that was drummed up by the traditional media to inflict maximum damage on Google and other digital platforms and has been largely forgotten. Clearly it can’t be both, so which Is it?

If we ran a poll here on Marketing Week’s home page and asked readers to rate the degree to which brand safety is a serious threat to your brand on a scale of 1 (no threat) to 10 (huge threat) I am betting that we’d derive an average of around 5 but that the answers would be polarised at either end of the spectrum.

And it’s that polarisaiton that afflicts and affects seemingly every dimension of marketing. It makes for fabulous arguments on social media, juicy debates at conferences and several emotional comments at the foot of Marketing Week columns. But it also complicates the act of doing marketing tremendously.

Marketing debate is tribal combat in which different sides hammer each other with views constructed from equal parts of wobbly data and fake news.

It has never been a more exhilarating or exhausting time to work in this discipline. Never before has so much happened in marketing with so little consensus around what is and isn’t working. We do our business on what appears to be a continually moving and undulating platform of knowledge that constantly contradicts and reverses itself as we cling on for grim life.

Look at the act of targeting. I can spend a morning with a client that is convinced of the merits of micro-targeting using digitally enabled options such as lookalike modelling and A/B testing, and then the afternoon with a second company that follows the sophisticated mass-marketing approach and now believes (incorrectly) that it can go after everyone with a pulse. Depending on how you look at it you either target no one and let the computer do it for you, or everyone.

Take the optimum length of digital video advertising on Facebook. I can cite extremely persuasive men and women who tell me not to worry about sub-two-second exposures because that is more than sufficient to influence consumer decision making, and who then remind me that digital video is more complex than simply putting overly long TV ads online. Just as I am nodding and starting to get my head around two-second exposure models someone else pops up and says: “Bollocks! We are getting incredible results from three minute films.”

READ MORE: Mark Ritson – Why can’t marketers see that digital metrics are bullshit?

Or how about viewability? It seems logical to assume that 100% viewability is the gold standard for digital media. If consumers can’t see the bloody ad then clearly it’s not going to be impactful. So surely 100% viewability is the way forward?

Well not necessarily. It turns out that chasing 100% viewability often leads to much more expensive programmatic prices, opens you up to far greater risk of ad fraud (you always get 100% viewability from a bot) and generally ensures that the overall impact of advertising is lessened. Depending on who you ask, 100% viewability is either the only acceptable way to ensure effectiveness or a guaranteed way to reduce it.

You see what I mean? As soon as we develop even the semblance of marketing best practice, someone turns up, turns it upside down and claims the opposite. You need marketing training; you don’t need marketing training. Artificial Intelligence is dangerous; artificial intelligence is essential. Marketing needs to get back to basics; marketing is changing dramatically. Content marketing is a crucial new development in marketing; content marketing is just a bunch of fancy names for stuff that has existed for 50 years.

I could go on – trust me – and on.

Loss of nuanced debate

Surely you have seen it yourself. You read an article on a marketing concept and then, in the comments section, another marketer not only disagrees, they go out of their way to completely refute the whole nature of the original argument and supplant it with the exact opposite perspective.

My favourite current example is programmatic. There are only two clear and overriding observations we can make about programmatic in mid-2017. First, it’s growing like the clappers. Second, it’s unavoidable given the plethora of new channels that now exist and exceed human capabilities. More contentious is the current state of programmatic and whether the murky media supply chain and the multiple commissions it takes renders it inefficient.

I certainly think that’s the case and have been very – ahem – vocal on the subject. That has resulted in an entirely typical marketing response.

Two very senior, very smart media professionals have responded to my wailings in the same Australian marketing site independent of each other. One of them agrees wholeheartedly with me. The other disagrees completely and, very politely, suggests my argument is nonsensical.

I read both articles, and was persuaded mightily by both articles, even though they perfectly contradict each other. My point is not to dwell on the respective arguments of my two commentators but to suggest that this is the nature of marketing these days. Everything is up, unless you think it’s down.

Maybe the answer to all the quandaries is: it depends. That was usually the right answer in marketing in the olden days. We would look at the brand, the target segment and the objectives, and these factors would direct us to the make the right choice from the potential options in front of us.

But that’s not how contemporary marketing works. There is no room for ‘it depends’ anymore. It’s either totally wrong if you belong to tribe A or, if you belong to tribe B, entirely and completely correct.

We seem to have lost nuance, relativity and context. In our search for definitive answers to marketing’s big questions we’ve created chaos. It’s an exciting, fast-moving and emotional chaos. But it’s chaos nonetheless. And I wonder if things will ever calm down again.

But why bother asking you? Given you are also a marketer operating in 2017 I already know what your response will be. This column is nonsense and my point of view ridiculous. There is no issue with polarisation within marketing; we are all completely and utterly aligned.

Unless, that is, you disagree.

As brands become more aware of the need for video content, social media sites and content creators are proving their worth through livestreaming, tailoring video options to screen size and launching several variations of short, disappearing ‘live’ videos.

The way content is created, branded and shared is constantly evolving. Here Marketing Week explores some of the newest options in video.

The rise of live video

Livestreaming is currently being tried, tested and launched via various platforms. Twitter announced its plans for a 24/7 live video stream in April, Facebook and YouTube continue to try and grow their live offering and other players in the market are proving their worth.

Brands can advertise against live video streams to reach a desired audience but increasingly it’s a way for brands to create their own live content.

Aside from creating this content with Google, Facebook and Twitter, other platforms are emerging that offer the tools to take control and brand a video experience rather than having to use the existing platforms and all that comes with them.

READ MORE: Amazon’s Twitch on why brands should see it as the ‘Gogglebox of live streaming’

One example is Telefónica’s livestreaming tool Xtreamr, which is designed to help brands, content producers and TV broadcasters create interactive live experiences for audiences via a web tool and mobile app.

Ahead of launching the service Ana Cattell, head of commercial innovation at Telefónica, and her team did some research into livestreaming to assess the current landscape.

They discovered brands felt they were being “sent to third-party sites or ecosystems where they would have to fit in with the norms that were being dictated,” she claims. “They didn’t have the ability to fully brand the experience and they were rescinding ownership of the video created.”

The Xtreamr app is designed to alleviate some of the barriers to content creation, equipping brands with the tools and allowing them to fully own and brand the experience themselves without third parties.

Despite the excitement around live video, Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson believes “livestreaming is just the latest in a line of nausea-inducing trends that have no impact or reach but are still lapped up by credulous marketers”.

READ MORE: Live streaming has no impact or reach, but marketers will do it anyway

Making video fit for purpose

It’s no longer a viable option for brands to simply repurpose TV ads for use on other channels, instead content should be created especially for each screen.

“Tailoring video marketing to the environment has never been more important. A 30-second spot which works well as a pre-roll may not work as well in an autoplay format in a news or social feed,” says Nigel Clarkson, managing director of Yahoo UK.

Clarkson says understanding users’ context is also key. He adds: “Matching context is one of the key benefits of native video, as the format is designed to seamlessly blend into the stream of content that the user is viewing at the time, without disrupting their experience.”

Context also means thinking about how that video is being viewed, this is often without sound, “which on face value presents a challenge for marketers” according to Clarkson, but he believes “it also presents a chance to work with content designed to be viewed muted”.

He says: “Marketers are adapting to this and creating their videos for autoplay, keeping in mind viewers without audio who might be sitting in the doctor’s office or on the train by using captions and on-screen graphics to deliver their stories.”

Tailoring video marketing to the environment has never been more important.

Nigel Clarkson, Yahoo UK

Justin Taylor, UK managing director at native video company Teads, sees a shift towards content created for screen size to be more relevant to the device, particularly mobile.

Teads’ research, conducted with Ipsos, shows that mobile-optimised square video formats drive 66% more completed views than horizontal creative when viewed on mobile devices.

It also shows that outstream vertical and square formats are the least intrusive of all mobile ads, driving a 39% enhancement in user experience. Vertical formats achieve 83% higher ad recall than the horizontal format, with square ads achieving 60% better ad recall.

But Taylor says there is still “catch-up” needed by creative agencies and investment in making video fit for various screens. He says: “There’s still a traditional approach to AV production but these types of stats will shift the change.”

Innovation in video creation will also aid this move. Taylor says clients and creative agencies are going to need to have “systems that add and build efficiency” to get the reach and frequency via video.

To bring content to life brands are also adding haptic technology to mobile video, which causes it to vibrate in time with the visual and audio experience. Ahead of the release of the Jason Bourne movie, for example, Teads and developer Immersion, created a trailer for the mobile that vibrated when explosions were seen on screen.

Creating these videos can require a lot of investment from brands, not just budget but time and effort. Tech startup Vidsy – one of Marketing Week’s 100 Disruptive Brands 2017 – creates mobile video ads for brands through a collaborative video production model, where multiple ‘creators’ simultaneously produce videos around a brand brief through a tech platform.

This enables a marketer to produce 30-50 original videos, ready-made for platforms like Facebook and Snapchat.

“There are a lot of brands struggling with the traditional way of producing video because the infrastructure used was designed for TV and it’s slow, complex and often too expensive for mobile and social,” says Pedro Carvalho, head of marketing at Vidsy.

Building brand stories

Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook all offer a ‘stories’ function on their sites. Stories originated with Snapchat in 2013 and allows users of the social media platform to play a series of ‘snaps’ or videos in one sequence to share with friends and followers that disappears after a certain amount of time.

Instagram and Facebook followed suit in 2016 and 2017 with their own not dissimilar versions of the feature. And Facebook this week made its ‘Stories’ feature public, allowing influencers and celebrities to share their photos and videos beyond their immediate network of friends to extend reach.

A report in TechCrunch found that view counts on Snapchat Stories dropped by 15-40% after the launch of Instagram Stories, and posting volume declined as well so there is much competition in this area.

READ MORE: Snapchat must prove to marketers it has mass appeal

These functions are now open to brands to create their own stories and Instagram seems to be stealing a lot of the limelight.

Airbnb has used Instagram Stories to build awareness of Airbnb Experiences, a product which launched in December 2016 where local experts give travellers their curated recommendation of a town or excursion.

Fashion retailer Asos has also trialled ads on Instagram Stories to raise brand awareness among teens and millennial customers in the US and in the UK. The campaign targeted men and women aged over 18, with the aim of diving into certain fashion and pop culture interests through targeting.

READ MORE: Instagram introduces ads and live videos to its ‘Stories’ feature

Instagram says 200 million people are using Instagram Stories every day with 70% of stories watched with the sound on. Brands’ stories have proved popular with a third of the most viewed stories coming from businesses.

Delivering personalised video at scale

National Lottery owner Camelot set up a personalised video campaign during the Rio Olympics to show the support funding provides Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

The Games provided an opportunity to thank National Lottery players for the difference they make, says Camelot campaign manager Priya Patel. Working with Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes, and using EchoMany technology across Twitter, Camelot was able to deliver a personalised campaign at scale.

“​As a business we’re focused on driving more engaging and personalised relationships with our players,” says Patel. “When a [lottery] player tweeted #IAmTeamGB or #IAmParalympicsGB they instantly received a personalised video response from one of over 70 athletes saying thank you.”

The campaign led to engagement on Camelot’s Twitter account increasing by 460%, as well as 51% of the personalised replies being retweeted, which contributed to the National Lottery being one of the most talked about brands on Twitter during Rio 2016.

Following the success of the campaign, Camelot continues to use video personalisation. The most recent campaign is #ThanksToYou, focusing on players’ contributions to The National Trust, The Royal British Legion, The Natural History Museum and British Film Institute.

127 things you probably didn’t know about video marketing [infographic]

Anyone working in our industry knows the power of video marketing for getting your brand message out to the masses but we stumbled across an interesting infographic put together by websitebuilder.org.uk that uncovers some fascinating insights about video that you might not already know. 

Check it out below for 127 facts about video marketing that might just give you a couple of nuggets of information that you need before planning your next online video campaign. 

A series of three-minute videos will feature Scottish brands like The Craft Beer Clan of Scotland and also  illustrate how store deliveries are made

Glasgow-based wholesaler JW Filshill is embarking on a year-long video marketing campaign called ‘Leading The Way’, which shines a light on the inner workings of the business.

A series of three-minute videos illustrate how store deliveries are made, what goes into deciding on orders, and provides an insight into staff training and community involvement.

“The project is all about us showing our customers and suppliers that we are transparent about all aspects of our business, that we understand the complexities and vagaries of running a family business,” explained JW Filshill MD Simon Hannah.

The videos, each showcasing a different side to the company, will be released once a week from the start of August, available on JW Fishill’s website, social media and YouTube channel.

Hannah added: “It’s an ambitious project for us but we are determined to get the message across that we are a growing independent company operating in an exciting sector that offers significant opportunities for growth. We want to encourage people to engage with us – staff, customers and suppliers.

“We also hope our video stories will encourage people to pursue a career in wholesale – as our videos will show over the coming months, there are roles in sales, buying, marketing, finance, warehousing, distribution, retail and business support, administration and logistics among others. It’s a dynamic industry that never stays still for long – that is what we want to demonstrate.”

The clips feature The Craft Beer Clan of Scotland, clan brewing company arm Flavourly.com, and Brewgooder, the world’s first craft beer that donates all its profits to clean water projects. JW Filshill’s ‘We’ll support you forever more’ community marketing campaign, in-store merchandising and local sourcing are also highlighted.

Alan Cunningham of Glasgow-based food and drink marketer Totalize Media produced the videos.

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Businesses and brands are ratcheting up their use of video in social media marketing, according to a new study from Wochit.

The company, which provides a video creation platform, revealed in its “Social Performance Index Report” that the average publisher of social videos increased their video production output 65% during the second quarter of 2017 compared to the first quarter.

Furthermore, the data demonstrated that increasing video production to grow overall Facebook engagement is an effective strategy. “Our analysis revealed a strong correlation between the number of videos posted on a Facebook page and the total number of views received,” Wochit wrote in a report on its findings. “According to our data, the ratio (r) between them is 0.56 (r2 = 0.32), meaning 32% of the total views of a Facebook page can be explained just by the number of videos posted to the page.”

In another finding of interest to marketers, the study showed viewers prefer square aspect-ratio videos to vertical and horizontal. Square videos generated significantly more views, shares, comments and likes. Wochit said that square’s advantage is likely down, in large part, to mobile viewing; square video takes up 78% more screen space in the mobile social feed.

Marketers often struggle with how long they should make their videos. Wochit offers a bit of insight, saying the vast majority (77.8%) of videos remain between 30 and 90 seconds long. However, probably because of Facebook mid-roll video ads, there was a 38% increase in the number of videos exceeding 90 seconds in Q2 over Q1. Engagement with longer videos also increased. “While 90+ second videos are now just 15.47% of the total, we expect to see this shift continue,” Wochit said in its report. “Longer videos open monetization opportunity through Facebook’s mid-roll ads.”

While most marketers hope to create a viral video, the likelihood of that happening remains remote. Wochit found only 1.1% of videos go viral, which is defined as receiving more than one million views.

For the Social Performance Index Report, Wochit analyzed more than 5,000 videos from more than 100 publishers that were shared to over 300 Facebook pages in Q2 (between March and May of 2017).