Last week, we discussed the benefits of video marketing for your jewelry brand. Now that you understand why you must invest time, effort, and money into video marketing, you may be wondering how to create content that’s in line with current YouTube and other video trends. In this blog post, we’ll explain how your target customers are using video to discover new brands and shop, so you can reach them effectively.

Some of the top trends we’re seeing in video today include consumers using YouTube for brand and product discovery, the rise of live streaming video, brands focusing on quality video content over quantity, and brands penetrating global audiences for the first time. Keep reading to learn more about each one of these trends.

Brand and Product Discovery

Did you know that 90% of people say they discover new products or brands on YouTube? (Source: Think With Google) At the same time, they’re very smart about how they go about discovering those products and brands. Today’s consumers are very savvy, and they avoid clicking on videos that appear to be “clickbaity” or that include a hard sell. Instead, they come to YouTube and other video platforms to feel entertained and distracted, and they’re willing to scratch that itch even by watching branded content, as long as that content is unique, interesting, compelling, and/or inspiring.

Think you couldn’t possibly create an entertaining or even comedic video for your brand? Some of the most unlikely brands are doing it creatively and well. For example, Liquid-Plumr, the company that makes drain cleaner, collaborated with popular YouTube channel Vat19 to make a silly video about clogging drains with items like gummy bears and then unclogging those drains with Liquid-Plumr. The videos “helped the brand increase awareness and favorability by 38% and 40%, respectively.” (Source: Think With Google) If you can make your consumers smile and feel engaged, then you’ll likely win them over.

Live Streaming Video

Shopping live streams has been popular for years in mobile-first cultures like Asia, and the retail sector has adopted it naturally. American brands have been slower to embrace live streaming, but some major brands are starting to do interesting things with it. For example, during New York Fashion Week in 2015, Kohl’s live streamed a fashion show for its in-house brand LC Lauren Conrad, and consumers could purchase the items they saw on the models. (Source: Multichannel Merchant)

It’s safe to say that live video is more popular than ever before. Now that nearly every social social and video platform provides live streaming capabilities, most brands are taking advantage of the medium. According to Social Media Today, “Live videos are watched, on average, three times longer than pre-recorded videos,” and Forrester actually says the number is 10-20 times longer. In fact, Facebook believes so highly in the power and relevance of live videos, that they give news feed priority to them.

Given that live video has the potential to inspire your target customers to watch your videos even longer, why wouldn’t you want to try taking advantage of it? You’re already investing the time and effort into creating the video, so make something that gets the customer to stay a while.

Some ideas for live-streaming content include a live Q&A session to answer questions about your brand and jewelry products, a live styling demonstration, sharing your expertise about jewelry, doing a behind-the-scenes in your studio or manufacturing space, live interviews with business partners like gem cutters, interviews with celebs or other influencers who love your jewelry, a live-stream of an event or trunk show, a live contest. The possibilities are endless!

Quality Over Quantity

Do you often feel like you’re scrambling to produce more and more content for Instagram and Facebook? Posting once per day was already a lot of work, but now brands are posting multiple times per day to keep up with algorithms. In addition, they must also create other types of content, like blog posts, Stories, tweets, etc. on a regular basis. If you’re doing content the right way, then you need to hire an entire team just to keep your brand relevant and in your customers’ news feeds!

The good news about video is that top brands are focused on emphasizing quality over quantity, so they’re not producing as much video content, but they’re producing evergreen content that makes a lasting impression. One of the best things about YouTube is that it’s more of a content archive than Facebook and Instagram, which showcase the latest and greatest. While YouTube is more “How have you been?”, Facebook and Instagram are more, “What’s up?”

According to one article from Social Media Examiner, “YouTube isn’t about quick tweets and quick Instagram captions. If you put out something more substantial and higher quality, it then has the opportunity to rank in search and be viewed for weeks, months, and years to come.” When you’re creating video content for your jewelry brand, then you have more time to make something that’s in line with your brand strategy, decide exactly what story you want to tell, and then product it in a high-quality way.

Reach Global Audiences

Are you an American jewelry brand that mostly caters to consumers in the United States? If so, you may not have ever invested time and effort into reaching global audiences. Or maybe you do already target global audiences, but you create region-specific marketing just for them.

When you make videos, especially when you’re live streaming, you’re almost guaranteed to reach a global audience. According to data gathered by Google, “60% of the content produced by U.S. YouTube creators is watched by users in other countries.” Video can transcend cultural and language barriers. In addition, as we mentioned earlier in this blog post, video “shopping” is even more normalized in Asian countries than it is in the United States. According to one fascinating article from Tech in Asia, “social media in China is as much about shopping as sharing.” With video, you may soon realize there are customers in other countries who can’t wait to get their hands on your jewelry.

In digital marketing today, video is a hot medium, but the best practices for producing effective and engaging videos are always changing, based on the trends. We love that video allows jewelry brands to be more creative and thoughtful than ever before about how they communicate their brand stories, and we’re excited about how video can potentially open up new market opportunities. Do you have any new ideas for how you’d like to use video for your jewelry brand?