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How 5 brands achieved incredible results and ROI with viral videos
You won’t believe the return on investment from these incredible viral video campaigns! Guest blog by jrc.agency video associate, Adam Chandler.
Great content is at the heart of all successful digital marketing campaigns. But great content doesn’t just mean keyword-rich text or emotive images. The use of video content is becoming much more commonplace – and not just for big budget brands, but for small businesses, charities and even schools too.
Video content achieves impressive results in increasing traffic and engagement on social media. Unfortunately many people still mistakenly think the upfront cost for video filming and production will be too high. However, with an innovative idea, the right technical knowledge and a well-planned video marketing strategy to ensure your video is shared and seen widely, video content production and viral video campaigns can be within anyone’s reach.
Below are five brands that I’ve worked with to create video content in an innovative and cost effective way in order to achieve some great results. From a range of different sectors, these case studies show the breadth of tangible business results that viral video campaigns can achieve.
(1) 50% increase in revenue (LUXAIR: video marketing for ecommerce)
LUXAIR supplies state of the art extractor hoods. LUXAIR found that photos couldn’t showcase its luxurious and stylish extractor hoods to their full potential, so I worked with them to create over a 100 product videos.
The videos were extremely successful in showcasing the LUXAIR products. With a 50% rise in sales and a resulting revenue boost of £250,000 in 2015, it’s no surprise that LUXAIR was extremely happy with its investment in video content!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqq9m5fPC0s
(2) 8000% increase in social shares (Butterfly Twists: video marketing for retail)
London based Butterfly Twists debuted their collection of comfortable yet glamorous shoes in 2009. The shoes are designed to save women from the pain of heels on a night out, and consist of a range of stylish flats, meaning you can still look great whilst being comfortable. Retail and Ecommerce campaigns allow you to be really creative, which is why video content is perfect! We created Butterfly Twists a video with a twist; using shots taken of their popular shoes they created a stop-motion, flipbook style video to really grab their audience’s attention.
When Butterfly Twists released the video on Facebook the brand saw a 2400% increase on likes and a 1000% increase on comments. Shares shot up by 8400% compared to their average engagement on normal posts. You cannot argue with figures like that!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDolByry8jo
(3) 400% increase in website traffic (Harrogate High School: video marketing for education)
Using video content to promote a school might not seem like the most obvious match. However that is exactly why it’s a fantastic way to give your school the edge. Reel Film were commissioned to create a range of videos for Harrogate High School including corporate videos about the school and an innovative video prospectus to really bring Harrogate High School to life!
There have been many positives since the video content was added to the website, most notably a 400% growth in website traffic, including an increase in enquiries and applications as a result.
Finance Manger Sally Cocker said “These videos have allowed our students to engage in different ways, significantly improved our website (and its viewing figures), increased our social media presence and helped define our school’s public image.”
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tl3lmTsgs
(4) Rehoming “long stay” rescue pets (RSPCA: video marketing for charity)
The RSPCA York branch was struggling to rehome some of its “long-stay” dogs, many of which had wonderful friendly personalities that just weren’t coming across to potential new families. We created a video showing the RSPCA team playing with the gorgeous animals, really letting their personalities shine through. The videos were 
tailored to suit the ethos of the RSPCA and what they represent and this was reflected in the results since posting the videos.
As you can imagine, once uploaded to the RSPCA website, the videos were shared far and wide.
RSPCA Branch Manager Angela Hunter reported increased awareness in the branch since the video was made. And – I’m delighted to report – many of the “long stay” dogs that featured in the video have now been rehomed – a wonderful result and a really heart-warming project to be involved in!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhitN8rim3E
(5) Raising £5000 for charity (Gluten Free Baking & Living: video marketing for charity)
I worked with Gluten Free Baking & Living to produce some short videos to be used as part of a crowdfunding campaign. The campaign was to raise money to start production of a new blend of gluten free flour to bring to the market.
The campaign managed to raise a fantastic £5000 and it was calculated that video advertising had managed to raise 74% of that. These impressive figures reflect just how effective video content truly is at not only drawing engagement but also creating revenue.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEaZYeCHE3c
How does video work for you?
There are many creative ways you can utilise video content to not only create memorable and engaging content, but also to increase your website traffic and rankings, and gain traction on social media. As you can see from these five case studies there are also tangible rewards from video content in the form of revenue.
I hope these examples show how viral videos can be relatable and achievable for your business.
I also hope that might have inspired your next piece of video content!
Have you run a successful viral video campaign? What tactics did you use and what results did you see?
Guest blog post by jrc.agency video associate Adam Chandler. Adam also runs an independent Yorkshire-based video filming and production company, Reel Film (which these case studies are taken from).
