Increase Engagement on Your Content With Video

You have probably noticed by now that video is becoming the medium of choice for both content consumers and marketers alike. People can now transmit information at a very high bandwidth through video on social media by using the simultaneous combination of images, text, and audio. The viewer’s ability to receive and react to this information faster is what increases engagement and improves results of your campaigns.

Costs and Shelf-life of Video Content

One of the biggest barriers to entry into video marketing is the perception that it is expensive to produce. While this statement is true in comparison to text or image based content, technology is making it cheaper as the market adapts to the demand. If you are paying an agency hundreds or thousands of dollars for one 60 second piece of video content, then you should rethink your strategy.

Video content does tend to have a longer shelf-life than other mediums, but all mediums are declining as more content floods the web. Amortizing the cost over a longer period of time will give you an idea of how it stacks up financially against your other content costs.

Inexpensive Video Marketing Ideas for IT Providers

The most important thing to point out is that your video does not have to be perfect. The more time you spend editing, the higher your labor costs for the project, and the more expensive it is to produce. Don’t overthink it. Just get it “in the can.”

We compiled some inexpensive-to-produce video marketing ideas so you can start increasing your content’s engagement immediately.

Whiteboard Animations to Explain “How Things Work”

One thing that I have learned is that Business Owners have a general lack of understanding on networking engineering and why they need the equipment/hardware that we so badly want them to have. MSPs are not always great at explaining this, which causes Business Owners to get confused and put up a defensive mechanism (i.e. Budget Restrictions). If they understood the cost saving element to preventing issues before they happen, or removing issues that are present, they would likely feel different.

Using whiteboard animations is a great way to translate this information to Small Business Owners in a controlled way. There are a lot of SaaS Whiteboard Animation Studios (Animaker, VideoScribe, Doodly) that are competing against each other on price and driving the price of these tools down significantly. For a few dollars a month you can create several whiteboard animated videos that look like you spent hundreds to produce.

Screen Recording Tutorials to Resolve Common Level 1 Issues

Wouldn’t it be great if your endpoint users could troubleshoot their own Level 1 issues before they submit them to the Help Desk? This dream may be in reach. All you have to do is take the most commonly submitted issues to your help desk and record tutorials on how to self-diagnose and resolve them. If these are highly searched issues, they can also lead to a steady stream of new traffic to your YouTube page and website.

For live screen recording software we recommend Camtasia. It is a one-time license fee to purchase and is the most comprehensive solution available considering the cost. You can do a lot post-production editing right in the software to add effects, text, and audio which makes producing these style videos a breeze.

Time Lapse Videos of Your Onsite IT Projects (i.e. Network Installation)

The ability to show an entire network being set up and deployed in a 60 second video is a very powerful sales tool. Your technicians work hard engineering these projects and translating this is difficult. Decision Makers see a labor quantity on a proposal and don’t always understand what that number consist of.

Creating a time lapse video of your onsite IT projects is simple using just a Go-Pro camera or cell phone and a tripod. If you are using a Go-Pro you can install their free studio software to convert your time lapse images to a video. For effects or editing, you can use open source video editors such as OpenShot, or any app based editing software.

Video Introductions of Remote Help Desk Team Members

If you are a small Managed Service Provider, than your team on the front-line is likely the “face” of your entire operation. They have the most direct contact with the customers on a day to day basis and form the brand perception that these customer have. But how can you be the face of the company if you communicate behind a ticketing system?

Creating short introduction videos of your remote team members is a great way to control this perception and help them put a face to the name. Including these in your technicians email signature will help your customers access these video. You can even post them on Social Media to publicly recognize employees and boost morale. These intro videos can be produced very inexpensively by using a cell phone and can be uploaded right to YouTube.

Self-Recorded Live Updates on Threats, Outages, or Company News

Security threats and major outages happen all the time. There is a benefit to being the first person to deliver this information and controlling the narrative as it related to your customers. Sometimes you have to get these messages out fast and in the moment. Recording a “selfie-style” video and posting it to Social Media is likely the best medium to execute this.

In order to produce this type of content, make sure your phone camera lens is clean and that you have a pair of headphones (with a microphone) on hand. Recording this without a microphone will lead to very low quality audio and will be difficult to understand. If you need to do editing, search your phone’s app store for a free or cheap video editing application.

Video Marketing is well within reach for Managed Service Providers of all sizes. With a little creativity, you can drive a ton of new engagement to your channel and leave a trail of new opportunities for growth. If you have executed a similar strategy and would like to share your ideas, or if you have questions about how to do so, feel free to chime in on the comments below.