The Martin Hyu Experience

With the internet becoming increasingly noisy, how do you create great content that stands out and grabs people’s attention? When it comes to communication, it’s not only about the content that you share, but also the medium that you’re using to convey your message. While written words and pictures are great ways to communicate, some things are often left out due to the limitation of the medium.

According to Cisco Forecast, video will represent 80% of all consumer-based Internet traffic by 2019.

If you’ve been paying attention to social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn, you’ve probably noticed how they’ve invested heavily in their video capabilities in the last few years. Facebook recently rolled out it’s “Watch” feature which is essentially focused on episodic type of content. LinkedIn is pushing native video uploads on their platform by giving them more organic reach. And YouTube, which is a search engine in its own respect, has over 300 hours of video uploaded to it’s platform every minute.


The rise of video consumption is clear, but does this mean that you should add this medium to your marketing strategy? Is it worth the investment?

Here are 3 reasons why you should invest in video.

1. Video can deliver information in a concise and entertaining way.

The world is moving faster and faster. Time has now become our number one asset. 

The fact that people can watch a video of you explaining what your product is about instead of reading about it is ROI positive for them. Obviously some complex product will require more written specifications than other but as a general guideline, videos help convey what is often left out with simple pictures or words. 


Instead of cluttering your landing page with extensive writing or adding a long description with a picture, sometimes using video format makes the whole process much more enjoyable for the consumer. 

People generally prefer watching over reading. Watching something requires less effort on the consumer’s side of things. According to a research complied by 3M, close to 90 percent of the information our brains pick up is visual, and we process visuals 60,000 times faster than we can process text. You’re much more likely to watch a 30 second video than read a 2,000 words description about a product.


2. Video allows you to reach a wider audience

Here are some interesting statistics to keep in mind:


• YouTube racks up a billion hours of watch time per day 


• Over 500 million (that’s half a BILLION) people are watching video on Facebook every day.


• The number of hours people spend watching videos (aka watch time) on YouTube is up 60% year-over-year, the fastest growth we’ve seen in 2 years. 


With these staggering stats, you can see why it’s a good idea to take advantage of this traffic. Video content opens up all kinds of possibilities to reach a wider audience. In fact, social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn prioritize video format by giving it more organic reach. 


Another factor to account for is the higher engagement and sharability of video. It's estimated that 92% of people who consume mobile videos share them with other people. This is a massive portion and is higher than the share rate of many other types of content out there. 


3. Videos help with conversion 


Let’s keep it simple. For conversion to actually happen, you have to get the consumer’s attention first. It doesn’t matter how good your product or cause is if no one knows about it.

The core reason why video is better for conversion is because you can grab a person's attention fast. As mentioned in the first point, we process visuals a lot faster than we process text. And in a world where information is coming from all angles, it’s a good thing to be able to get someone’s attention as fast as possible.

Video marketing taps into more senses: visual and auditory, which means it’s easier to remember than text-based content only. Studies have shown that adding video can improve one’s ability to remember concepts and details — with effects that even increase over time. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text.

Using this medium to deliver a message will make it easier for customers to remember your content. This will help strengthen your brand, which will translates into more sales and leads for you. 

Because of the pairing of continuous imagery and sound, video also allows you to tap into more emotions. Just think about vocal tonality, facial expressions and sound effects. They help you give a holistic experience. Imagine how impossible it would be to convey that through words? Well, we could always use CAPS, smiley faces :D and exclamation marks!!! Pretty awkward and unprofessional if you ask me ;) 


Another important point to consider with conversion is rapport. We’ve evolved for thousands of years communicating face-to-face. That’s always been our primary way of determining if someone is genuine. Using video, you can essentially replicate this at scale. As the popular saying goes, we’re more likely to buy from people we trust. The increase in click-through rate with video is as high as 96% and 64% of customers are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it.


After reading all of this, you're probably thinking to yourself: “wait, does this mean that all of the other mediums are obsolete?”


Far from it. They all have their place and time. 

It’s not so much about which way is right or wrong. It’s about attention. Where is the consumer spending most of their time and what actually gets their attention? Whether you're trying to sell something, build awareness, get someone to take action, or teach something, video could potentially be the vehicle for you to drive your message. 


But remember, the medium is still just the vehicle. Don’t let it steer you away from the thing that matters most: the message.

With everything moving so fast, it seems that something working today could be obsolete tomorrow. That being said, there are some general guidelines in terms of Do's and Don'ts on social media. Here is a list of common mistakes that people and businesses make on social media.

#1. Relying on automation

Let’s get one thing straight, automation is ROI negative for your social accounts. This strategy used to work 2 or 3 years ago, but using it now will only damage your account’s ranking in the algorithm. Instagram and Facebook’s systems have enough data and are smart enough to detect human vs. automated behaviour. The whole purpose of automation was to grow your account using tactics that worked manually. We used to follow/unfollow, like and comment on every post because it brought exposure and helped us grow. This is not the case anymore. As of right now, it’s not about the quantity of interactions that you have, it’s about the quality. The days of growing your account by leaving 20 comments in an hour, liking 200 posts as well as following/unfollowing the maximum amount of people are long gone. 

#2. Not being social

This ties back to number 1. Understand that social platforms reward social behaviour. Making sure to spend that extra 30 minutes a day to comment meaningful things on people’s post and being a part of the community is the best way to build your brand online. Going that extra mile is often what distinguishes you from all the other accounts as it builds credibility and trust.

#3. Abusing hashtags

Hashtags are pretty much useless for growth. Yup, I said it. With the social platforms crowded with automated accounts, using hashtags will only attract automated likes and bot followers who will unfollow you 2 to 3 days later. Instead of using hashtags, try to find engagement groups that are specific to your niche. Having them engage with your content and you engaging on theirs will help the algorithm categorize you in that particular niche. You’ll be much more likely to hit the Explore feed and gain exposure. Another alternative to growing your page is using Instagram’s paid ads or buying shoutouts from bigger pages. When buying shouts, make sure that the seller’s audience is compatible with yours and check the quality of their engagement.

#4. Forgetting to look at the data

In order to grow your audience and bring value to them, you need to open your eyes and adapt to the feedback that is given by raw data. I see too many people stuck at the same spot for months on end because they keep doing the same thing over and over again. Look at what the best pages in your niche are doing and get inspired from them. Analyse the style of their pictures or videos, look at how they edit their videos and how they format their captions. See which posts perform best and go in that direction. Little by little, you’ll get a better sense of what the market truly wants and you’ll develop a communication style that is unique to you.

#5. Focusing on the wrong metrics

Social media is a means to something bigger. It’s a tool. Whether you’re a business or a personal brand, your KPI (Key performance indicator) should be clear and precise. I’m fairly confident to say that the ultimate goal of any business is to sell. That being said, let’s look at what’s better: having 1,000 followers and having 50 of them buy your product or having 10,000 followers and only having 30 of them buy? The fact that people are stuck on follower count is unfortunate. The truth is, your quantity of followers don’t matter as much as the quality of those followers. The audience that you’re collecting should be an audience that is readily open to the content that you’re pushing. You build this kind of following by actually engaging with them and providing them with value. Don’t lose sight of what’s actually important here.

#6. Taking your audience for granted

This ties back to number 5. No matter the size of your audience, you should be grateful for the people that follow you. Make sure you engage with them and bring them value on a continual basis. The best way to lose followers is to take them for granted. You want to build a relationship of trust and loyalty and that has to go both ways. They have to see the disproportionate value that your are bringing them as a brand and they need to feel a part of your tribe. A good book on this is “Tribes” by Seth Godin.

#7. Getting stuck in the right hook business

As Gary Vaynerchuk talked about in his book “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook”, you need to be aware of how much you’re giving vs. how much you’re asking for in return. In a social media context, a jab is simply a post that gives value to your audience. On the flip side, a right hook is a “straight ask”. So many businesses are not getting the ROI that they want from social media because they treat it as a one way communication channel where they’re constantly going for the sell. Make sure you balance it out by actually providing value. Making it all about you will only drive your followers (i.e. potential customers) away. Bring your audience as value as much as possible and from time to time sprinkle in that right hook. They’ll be much more receptive to this approach and your conversion rates will be much higher. The balance of giving value vs asking for something is key in order to maintain healthy, trusting relationships with your audience.

We hope you enjoyed this post! Let us know your comments and feel free to share this with friends and family!

Quantity vs quality - which one is more important in a social media posting context? I know that a lot of people are wondering: should I post as much as I can on social media or should I worry about the quality, but not post as much.

My number one priority is always to have the quality dialed in before scaling and worrying about flooding people’s news feed with more content. You have to remember, exposure can be good, but it can equally be detrimental. If you share valuable content, the exposure that you get will fuel the growth of your page and you’ll build positive brand awareness. On the flip side, if bring attention to bland, uninteresting content, it will have the opposite effect. People won’t be incentivized to follow or if they are already following, they will eventually unfollow/unsubscribe because your content doesn’t bring the quality/value needed. 

So number one is to worry about quality. Now, you might be wondering how many times should I post a week? The answer is: there is no clear answer. The posting frequency needed depends on the social platform and the context of your brand. At our agency, we work with local businesses such as restaurants. We’ve found that posting from 4-6 times a week is the optimal range for this type of business. For dental offices that we work with, we’ve found that posting 2-4 times a week is optimal for page growth. That said, our personal page on Instagram, which is a quote page, posts as much as 5 times a day. Your posting frequency should be relative to the value that you’re providing to your audience. If you can balance out straight asks/salesly posts with entertaining/educating/motivational, you’ll be in a better place to increase your frequency of posting. What you don’t want to do is: increase the frequency while only asking for more. If you can give more, you can post more. 

So my advice would be to start small for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Snapchat. Do 2-4 posts a week (right hooks vs jabs) and see how your audience responds. For YouTube, start posting once every week or two. Once you start optimizing your workflow, you can post more content. If you see that you can bring more value, do it. Post more. That will only give you more leverage and will help you grow your audience. And it’ll set you up for the ask later on. The mistake that most people and businesses do is they treat every post as an ask. Doing that will only alienate your audience and drive them away. So go with as much jabs as you can. That will give you the permission to post much more and grow your audience at a faster rate.

Quick recap: focus on quality first and foremost. Keep a healthy ratio of jabs and right hooks. The more jabs you do, the more likely your audience will be receptive to a higher posting frequency and the faster you will grow. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, start at a smaller posting frequency (2-4 times a week),  for YouTube, start posting once every week or two and scale up from there.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Whether you agree or disagree, we'd love to hear your take on this topic.

I talk about the misconceptions that business owners often have about social media. I'll discuss the differences between marketing on social media vs. the early 2000's approach to SEM. I give my thoughts on how marketing is a combination of branding and selling.