- Feb 12, 2021
Updated: Nov 1, 2021
The pressure is on for brands to provide effective online shopping solutions. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok have harnessed tech to incorporate shoppable video to allow brands to interact with their customers.
Social, shoppable solutions
70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery. Through a ‘see tap shop’ philosophy, the platform provides a straightforward online shopping experience. By clicking shoppable video, photos and stories, consumers can learn more details about products tagged. They can either buy the product or bookmark for later using the save feature. Soon, customers will be able to complete in app purchases. Using Instagram Story Ads, brands can connect with 500 million accounts daily using photos or videos of up to 120 seconds long.
Through livestream shopping, check-out enabled businesses can form richer connections with customers in real time. Viewers will be able to buy or save products added to the shopping video. Prior to streaming, you can add up to 30 products to a collection and pin one item at a time while Live to feature that product. Products shown must be approved before they can be added to live videos. An influencer looking to explore the shop live feature must have featured products approved before they can be tagged.
For Facebook Pages, there are three ways to feature your products:
If you have a Commerce account with Commerce Manager, a linked Facebook Page and a product set in your Facebook catalogue, you can tag and feature product sets from your shop and add links.
If you have a Facebook Page but no commerce account, you can manually add the products and links that you want to feature just before going live.
You can also just start a live shopping video without the setup and talk about your products as you go.
Since Facebook owns Instagram, businesses can replicate and unify their shops across the two platforms. Businesses and brands can compose collections to show in their ads once they are clicked on. Live stream shopping has been proven to be extremely effective, the app NTWRK saw their sales surge 400% after using the tech to sell limited edition fashion pieces.
TikTok has partnered with Shopify to launch shoppable video ads. Sponsored businesses on Shopify will be able to advertise using TikTok for business ad manager dashboard to run their ads. This will include a “1-click” pixel conversion tracking, target audience tracking, creative tools and $300 credit for eligible merchants. Even small businesses will be able to create shoppable video, so long as they are partnered with Shopify. Through a “shop now” call to action, viewers can purchase the products that they see on screen. In 2019, TikTok trialled shoppable video links with influencers but it is not yet clear whether this feature will roll out to TikTokkers. For now, the feature lies in the hands of pre-approved businesses.
Google’s Shoploop provides a video shopping platform for discovering, assessing and purchasing products. Here, users can view videos from real, relatable people using products available for purchase. The aim is to create an online shopping experience that feels like real life. Customers can select products of interest to save for later or be directed to the brands website to complete the purchase. Shoploop’s current focus is centred towards content creators, publishers and online store owners in the beauty industry.
In June 2020, YouTube introduced the “shop now” call to action on video ads shown. The feature was introduced to drive more traffic from the product listing to the brands website. With this, YouTube seeks to improve the way in which ad effectiveness can be measured.
Each platform offers an online shopping solution. However, as standalone apps, it can be difficult to manage multiple ad formats and directly measure and compare ad effectiveness from platform to platform. As a result, things could get unnecessarily complicated.
Cross platform solution
Smartzer offers a cross platform solution to these complications. The quick, easy and customisable interactive livestream and interactive video formats allow users to upload content and create immersive, shoppable video ads. These videos can be replicated across any social media platform, e-commerce site and even email newsletters. This removes issues associated with site specific advertising methods. You can efficiently measure the performance of your interactive videos by using the Smartzer analytics dashboard. Here, brands can see data for key video KPI’s like views and clicks as well as behavioural data across distribution platforms, devices and markets. By using Smartzer’s interactive video software brands observed a 50% increase in engagement rate as well as a 15% increase in click through rate four times more likely to lead to a conversion than regular video.
Smartzer encourages interactivity through mobile optimisation. For example, TikTokkers can experience highly engaging ads without glitches by clicking the call to action URL featured on brand campaigns. Through Smartzer’s MINI shop, TikTok ads can be connected directly to the product feed. By clicking the ad, users can see all the shoppable products and a link to the brand’s e-commerce, leading to increased conversion rates and stronger ROI.
To minimise issues, brands should consider moving towards quick and easy, shoppable and social solutions.
- Feb 12, 2021
2020 was the year for cancelled plans. The Summer Olympics was cancelled for the first time since World War II, Glastonbury 20/21 was cancelled, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, The Rolling Stones and The Weeknd were all forced to reschedule their highly anticipated tours and ITV’s Love Island was unable to take place. The list goes on.
With the word of the year being “unprecedented”, the only thing we could be 100% sure of was that the events industry needed to adapt to accommodate for restrictions.
While some brands have refunded and rescheduled events, some have made the virtual transition to livestream. In fact, the occurrence of virtual events went up 1000% since the start of COVID-19 with 52,000 on just one platform, 6Connex.
Brands driving virtual events in 2021
Livestream Music
Online livestream venue StageIt has been helping to connect fans with lesser known artists for years. Here, acts stream live from the comfort of their homes via laptop cameras. Through an interactive chat room feature, fans can communicate with artists by asking questions and requesting songs. With venues closed, StageIt enables fans to financially support artists through a monetized system and acts can show their appreciation for viewers via a virtual tip jar. Through interactive video streams, fans can win prizes such as band merch or one-on-one Zoom sessions.
Bigger artists such as The Weeknd have held live, interactive virtual concerts. In August 2020 he took to TikTok drawing over 2 million total viewers and raising over $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative. Adam Lambert will host a series of live streams this February 2021 discussing Stonewall day and up and coming LGBTQ artists. Eddie Vedder, Phoebe Bridgers and more are set to perform virtually for the 34th annual Tibet House US Benefit concert with tickets starting at $25.
Livestream Fashion
Harnessing the magic of the internet, Dior streamed their Autumn 2021 Men's show live online as a part of Paris Men’s Fashion Week on 22 January 2021. The innovative, vibrant collection inspired by surrealism and science fiction reflected the limitless possibilities of combining technology with fashion. Featuring art from Kenny Scharf the show was streamed live using Amazon owned platform Twitch. The technology has also been used by Burberry in their Spring/Summer 2021 show. By contrast to Snapchat, Facebook Live, or Instagram, Twitch’s streaming service is more public, bringing the front row seat at fashion week to your device screen. The interactive video experience gave viewers the opportunity to connect with each other in live chat rooms. As a result, live streaming could bring the fashion community together during a socially distanced period.
Live Shopping
With store doors closed, interactive video is opening up new opportunities for ecommerce. Department store Brown Thomas partnered with Smartzer to create interactive and shoppable video events featuring brands like Laura Mercier and Bare Minerals. Customers could book onto breakthrough beauty masterclasses and tutorials to learn about makeup products and application techniques. They could shop the content shown in the stream via a product carousel and add items to their basket without leaving the stream. Through these exclusive events, customers were provided with a bespoke, live shopping experience that generated a community feel for like minded makeup enthusiasts.
By using Smartzer’s player that was fully integrated into the Demandware API, up-to-date product information could be instantly pulled into the Smartzer editor and player to be showcased to viewers. The private videos are now available on Brown Thomas’s ecommerce site for anyone to view. By using these videos for video content marketing, brands can engage and inform standard web visitors and turn general traffic into qualified traffic. Tests have revealed that a consumer who watched a video demonstrating a product was 144% more likely to add that product to their shopping cart. Through interactive, demonstrative video content brands can increase online engagement and build trust with their audiences to increase conversion rates.
In 1984 only 8% of US households had access to the internet. Now, 2.65 billion people in the world use social media. Undoubtedly, this is set to increase as 90% of the entire world’s data was created in the last two years. These astonishing facts confirm that the only way is up for the future of video content marketing technology.
Introducing interactive video
These are videos that promote interactivity. The videos include “hotspots” that perform an action when they are clicked on. The video may then display information about the product you have clicked on or direct you to a window where you can purchase the item. This video interactivity drives engagement and entices the customer increasing the chances of completing the sale.
The first examples of interactive video
Depending on the type of video, the first instances of interactivity vary. From film to music video to advert each type has a different date. All the way back in 1961, the first example of interactive film was exhibited by William Castle in his film ‘Mr. Sardonicus’. Here, the audience voted in a poll prior to the film to dictate the characters fate. Perhaps a less technological method but interactive nevertheless.
Technologically speaking, one of the first examples of interactive video commerce can be witnessed by Canadian fashion retailer SSENSE.com. By partnering with Diplo, Iggy Azalea and FKi they created the first ever shoppable music video for their song “I Think She Ready” in 2012. The interactive video utilised ‘hotspot’ technology, so if you really wanted to buy Iggy Azalea’s unmissable, neon pink blazer you could click the item in the video and be directed to the product page. The video featured pieces from designers Givenchy, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Rick Owens and Preen making the video a prime example of pioneering video content marketing.
The evolution of video content marketing
Since SSENSE and Azalea’s venture into video interactivity, even more brands are harnessing the technology provided by companies like Smartzer in ecommerce sites and advertising. Rapid tech advancements mean that everyone, regardless of skill, can create immersive, interactive video experiences to attract customers to their brand. Here are some of the ways brands have employed video content marketing and interactive video:
Volkswagen interactive video campaign with Smartzer (2019)
Volkswagen used Smartzer’s platform to create an interactive video to advertise the new Golf R. Their customers could easily explore the car’s features to find out more and book test drives without being redirected. The interactive video was linked to Instagram Stories and In-Feed Ads.
SPP “Earth 2045” with M&C Saatchi Stockholm (2015)
Here M&C Saatchi partnered with Swedish pension company SPP to deliver a thought provoking advertising campaign depicting the need for sustainable investment. By dragging left and right the customisable ad shows two versions of the future, either an ecologically advanced utopia or a derelict dystopia overwhelmed by human activity. The video campaign suggests that while the viewer can change the outcome of the ad, they can make changes within their lives to help build a sustainable future.
“Focus on the con” for the film “Focus” by Warner Bros (2015)
Warner Bros used interactive video technology to promote the film, “Focus”. The mobile friendly ad takes the consumer through a series of interactive scenarios to see if they have what it takes to be a con artist.
“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” Netflix (2018)
The interactive, “decide your destiny” film successfully incorporated video interactivity to deliver five main endings for the viewer. Although, even writer, Charlie Brooker could not agree on how many variants of these endings there actually were. The viewer clicks on the options shown on screen using their mobile device or smart TV, ultimately deciding whether the protagonist succeeds or fails, lives or dies.
The benefits of video content marketing
According to Optinmonster, video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year (2019). They also concluded that video marketers achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness. Additionally, 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media. This is largely due to the following reasons:
Single click product discovery and shopping. Consumers are able to shop and to discover more information about items featured in brand videos by simply clicking on them. This is particularly beneficial for the increased mobile users where easy and seamless navigation is essential.
Gamification of the online shopping experience driving engagement. Shoppable and interactive videos provide a new fun way to experience their content, brands see higher engagement and a new revenue channel across their digital platforms.
Convert a video into a revenue channel. By adding the interactive layer to their content, brands are able to convert a video that has traditionally been a top of the funnel asset to create awareness, into a format that allows for consumers to enter the purchase funnel.
Valuable performance and creative insights. Brands have access to detailed interaction data, building a better understanding of how their customers engage with their content across different online channels.
By observing the undeniable benefits of interactive video, it is understandable that video marketing is here to stay.