The Visual Shift: The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing for Associations

Video content has been growing in popularity. According to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2023, in 2016 only 61% of businesses used video in their marketing strategy. That number has now jumped to 91%. Video is everywhere and there’s a good reason why. Proportional to their use of video marketing, in 2016 only 76% of businesses saw good ROI on their video investment. Noq, 92% have seen an impactful return on their investment, which is an all-time high.

Video marketing for associations is more important than ever, impacting your association’s rankability and having a direct impact on member recruitment, member engagement, lead generation, revenue, and more. This presents a crucial opportunity for your organization.

We’ll cover the best video marketing strategy for associations and how you can take advantage of video in social media marketing to drive the results and widen your impact.

Why is Video Marketing So Effective for Associations?

When it comes to your association, video marketing is a strategic way to communicate your association’s value and mission. It grabs member attention, boosts member engagement, and improves membership recruitment because it communicates the emotional elements of your organization and spotlights what draws people to your association as a member, donor, sponsor, and supporter.

Why is Video Marketing Important for Associations?

The demand for video content is growing. In fact, 91% of consumers want to see video from brands and organizations (Wyzowl, 2023). Here’s why your association should be taking advantage of video:

The SEO Power of Video Marketing for Associations

The largest and most significant impact your association will see in your video marketing investment is an improvement in your association website’s searchability and visibility. Since 2014, Google has been including video in search engine result pages. Currently, 137.4K of US search engine result pages on Google feature videos, and 94% of these featured videos are from Youtube. This means that by using video marketing and maximizing Youtube and other social media video platforms, you’re giving your association the biggest leg up in accomplishing your goals, including reaching your ideal member profile, broadening your audience, and increasing membership.

Video improves your association’s SEO by:

Increasing time on page. According to Forbes, users spend 88% more time on a page that has video. Dwell time translates to value in the eyes of Google, which boosts your ranking.
Improving general user experience. Video helps explain more complicated concepts, engages users, increases conversion rates and makes navigation more intuitive.
Boosting shareability of your content. Google takes into account how widely shared your content is to determine its ranking.
Elevates the value of your page. Google favors video as valuable content, so by using it, your organization will rank higher.

How Video Marketing Drives Better Results for Your Association

1. Better promotion and brand awareness.

According to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2023, 98% of marketers who use video marketing saw an increased user understanding of their products and services. Plus, 95% saw an increase in their brand awareness. Video communicates your association’s value to existing and potential members, which impacts member renewals and increases support from donors, sponsors, and more.

2. Generating more leads for member recruitment

90% of marketers who used video marketing in 2023 saw a positive impact in lead generation (Wyzowl, 2023). Video marketing engages meaningfully with your association’s existing leads and nurtures them, while creating new attention and interest in your association, which boosts your member recruitment efforts and grows your member base.

3. Increasing revenue

Marketers who leveraged video marketing saw an 87% boost in sales (Wyzowl, 2023). This tactic drives more revenue (and non-dues revenue) for your association by promoting your value, your services and offerings, events, sponsorship opportunities and more. With these profits, your association can increase its investment in furthering your mission.

4. Widens your audience

Video is the most shareable type of online content, with 51% of people more likely to share it with their friends than any other type. Social posts are the second most shareable at 26%, which means tied together, your association is creating the most effective content that drives results.

How to Create Your Video: 11 Tips for Leveraging Video Marketing for Associations

Ready to take advantage of video marketing? Here are our top tips for creating video content for your association.

1. Align video with your marketing strategy

Your organization most likely has an association marketing strategy that will dictate what content is a top priority for your association. Start incorporating video that speaks to those topics and pair them with your existing campaigns to further your marketing objectives and goals.

2. Create videos that are short and impactful

The rise of video content also means that the average attention span for video has decreased by 30% in the last 15 years; it now sits at 8.25 seconds. This means impactful video content has to be short, high quality, and provide value that speaks to your audience and ideal member profile.

3. Put a powerful hook in the first few seconds of your video

The best way to grab the attention of your audience is to give your viewer some gratification within the first few seconds. This can be as simple as providing compelling information such as a fact or statistic that speak to one of their primary pain points or interests.

4. Includes a beginning, middle, and end

This simple structure adds cohesion and familiarity to your video that helps your audience stay engaged while adding value by making it more memorable.

5. Add your personality and a human touch

Identify what resonates with your members and existing audience and cater your content around what they care about. Your video content should appeal to their emotions and values while being linked to your distinct mission. Finally, don’t focus too much on perfection. Where it makes sense, humor and fun can add a human element that will connect more with your audience.

6. Make sure your video creation is scalable

Focus on quality over quantity. Make use of content repurposing and atomization so you’re getting the most out of what you’re creating. For example, if you already have video content to supplement your learning modules, repurpose them into shorter snippets and post them on your socials to promote your association, your learning systems and/or to engage or recruit new members. You can even combine shorter videos to create longer feature videos.

7. Create videos that boost member engagement and recruitment

Use videos to enhance your conferences and events such as:

To promote speaker sessions or notable thought leaders
To supplement breakout sessions and keynotes
For event video testimonials

Videos are also a great tool for crafting member stories. Use them to:

Introduce or welcome new members
Enhance member spotlights
Celebrate member milestones, awards, and accomplishments

8. Post on a consistent basis

This is a crucial tip for growing and establishing your audience. By posting and creating content on a regular basis, you’re meeting interest and demand in what you have to offer. Where possible, find opportunities for series based on what content your audience engages with the most.

9. Use video transcripts and subtitles

Subtitles not only improve accessibility for audiences with varying levels of hearing and for those who may not be able to access audio, it also boosts SEO.

10. Improve and iterate on a regular basis

Avoid creating your content in a vacuum. Pay attention to comments and engagement with your videos, and take what you see into consideration when making your next video. You may also want to get feedback from your members on video content through anonymous polls or email surveys.

11. Optimize for mobile

90% of consumers use their mobile devices to watch video. Not only that, but the majority of social media platforms are built for mobile use. It’s crucial that you make sure your video content is compatible with mobile devices.

How to film quality video content

As mentioned, the quality of your video plays a role in viewer engagement. Here are some tips for filming video:

Don’t wear busy or highly-patterned clothing.
Make sure your background isn’t too distracting or cluttered.
Use good lighting. Make use of tools like a ring light or natural light.
Record in quiet spaces with good acoustics.
Use a stable surface for recording such as a tripod, stand, or box.
Clean your lens (even if it’s just your phone) before shooting.
Keep your video in the right length, according to Hootsuite:
- Best Instagram Video: 1 minute
- Best Instagram Stories: 15 seconds
- Best Instagram Reels: 15-60 seconds
- Best TikTok video length: 7 – 15 seconds
- Best Twitter video length: 44 seconds
- Best YouTube video length: 2 minutes
- Best LinkedIn video length: max 30 seconds
- Best Snapchat video length: 7 seconds
- Best Pinterest video length: 6 – 15 seconds
Edit your videos to optimize them for length and engagement.
Use the right equipment. Here are some essentials:
- The best overall ring light according to Creative Bloq:
  - JOBY Beamo Ring Light 12″
- The best budget tripod according to ZDNet:
  - Manfrotto PIXI Smart Mini Tripod
- The best free editing app according to Buffer:
  - Headliner

Best Practices for Top-Ranked Video Marketing Channels: Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin

Understanding the nuances of each social platform can amplify your video marketing strategy for associations. Here are the key tactics you need to know for each:

YouTube

Experiment with your content
Try out Youtube Shorts and repurpose that short-form content for other social channels like Instagram.
Optimize elements for SEO such as:

Title and description. Include your primary keyword in your title. Make sure your primary keyword also appears in the first 70 characters of your description.
Thumbnails. Use relevant imagery, clear text and an engaging design. Be sure to include your title.
Tags – Include your primary keyword as your first tag, and then place the others in order according to relevance.
File name. Make sure your video file name includes your primary keyword.

3. Optimize elements for SEO such as:

It’s important you reply to comments from your audience. Not only does it make viewers feel valued, it also appeals to the Youtube algorithm, which boosts your reach and viewership. Where it feels natural, ask questions for your audience in your video.

Publish on a regular basis
Keeping a regular schedule not only grows your audience, it drives the Youtube algorithm to share your content and increases your searchability. It also allows you to monetize your content.

Run Youtube ads

Youtube ads are a great way to drive traffic to your video from your targeted audience. Take advantage of:

Bumper ads – Short video ads that can’t be skipped.
In-stream ads – Can be either skippable or not and run during the video.
Overlay ads – Ads that appear as banners or text on the video.

Facebook

Prioritize native video content
Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes native content, so make sure you’re uploading video directly to Facebook, rather than sharing via other platforms. This immediately improves your video content’s visibility.
Make sure video has a clear call-to-action (CTA)

A clearly defined CTA helps with engagement and also promotes your association’s services and products.

Try Facebook Live

According to a recent study, live videos have higher retention on Facebook than pre-recorded ones. Use Facebook Live for expert panels or virtual conferences, Q&As, and more.

Invest in Facebook Ads

Incorporate a sponsored video campaign into your video marketing. It helps the algorithm prioritize your association’s content so you reach your targeted audience.

Frontload important information

Put important information within the first few seconds of your video, such as a brief overview of what will be covered. Be sure to also include vital information in your title, headlines, and captions.

Instagram

Make use of different types of video content
Here are the types of Instagram videos your association should be prioritizing in its video marketing:

Instagram reels

Reels are typically 15-30 second long clips and are currently the type of Instagram video with the most engagement, so they’re worth prioritizing. When creating Instagram reels, make sure they are engaging. Take advantage of features like:

AR filters
Green screen mode
Timers
GIFs
Audio library

Instagram stories

With Instagram stories, it’s important to be consistent and use storytelling tactics to engage your audience. You may also want to take advantage of fun features like stickers.

Instagram video

These typically appear in-feed for audiences. Make sure they are concise (the optimal length under 30 seconds), interactive, and address content your audience cares about.

Instagram live

With this type of video content, you can livestream from your account and engage with your target audiences through comments that appear during the stream. A recording appears on your page after 24 hours.

Create branded videos

Branded videos should not be confused with promotional ones. They are typically focused on engaging with your target audience’s emotions and communicating your values. These videos should be short and engaging.

Create educational videos

Bring value to your viewers with educational videos that can either be linked to modules in your learning management system or be repurposed from existing video content you have in your courses.

Integrate user-generated content from your audience

Meaningful engagement with your audience also includes elevating the communities and voices that matter to your association. Post videos created by your members or people with like-minded values.

Add interactive content to your profile
Use video to supplement your association’s Linkedin profile summary. It’s an effective way to communicate your values and mission in a succinct and engaging way.
Make use of the 3 types of Linkedin Video

Native. These are videos that are uploaded directly onto Linkedin and are housed on the platform.
Embedded. These are videos posted from other platforms, such as Youtube, onto your Linkedin.
Linkedin Ads. This is paid advertising where videos can only be 30 minutes max.

Keep videos under 30 seconds for maximum engagement.

A Linkedin study shows that videos under 30 seconds impacted completion rate, increasing it by 200%.

Optimize for mobile

57% of Linkedin video content is watched on mobile devices (Wyzowl, 2023). Optimizing your video for mobile means you can also repurpose it into new content that can be shared on other social platforms.

Video Marketing for Associations: Now and in the Future

It’s clear that video marketing is a trend that isn’t going away and is worth investing in. In 2023 alone, 96% of marketers expressed that they planned to either maintain or increase their investment in video marketing in the future. Plus, Hubspot identifies video as being both important and popular for marketers in its ability to engage as well as accomplish organizational goals.

Video marketing for associations meets audience expectations and delivers content that resonates with your existing members while attracting new ones. It also plays a vital role in delivering the results your association wants. That includes accomplishing your revenue goals, marketing goals, and furthering your mission.

Looking to the future, it’s likely that associations will see a rise of AI-created video content that helps automate tasks, save time and resources, and maximizes video quality by leveraging data to improve content. 96% of marketers are already seeing a positive ROI on AI-driven video.

Looking for more information about getting started in creating videos for your association? This blog covers the essential information about creating basic videos for your association.

Learn more about end-to-end membership management software that supports your video marketing needs and more. Click here.