1. Audience

When creating your video, keep in mind what your target audience is after. Most reports regarding beauty brand consumers have shown that consumers are seeking information as to what the brand's product will look like, how to wear the product, and who is wearing the product.

 With this in mind, beauty brands must get to know their audience even further in order to create content that is relevant to their audience and to engage in the conversation surrounding their brand or product. Beauty brands can begin to analyse their audience through exploring the trending topics consumers are sharing and interacting with on social media. Successful brands have also begun to mimic their audience with certain trends, hashtags, and attitudes in an attempt to remain relevant to their consumers.

Educating, Entertaining, and Engaging are all great methods when it comes to developing a conversation with your audience and optimizing the number of shares on your video. Determining which route to shoot for in regards to the "three E's," pay close attention to what your audience's needs are in relation to the video. If you are looking to spread awareness for a certain product, entertainment can be used as a fun way of drawing attention to the benefits of your product. An example of a positive and light-hearted entertainment piece would be Dolce & Gabanna's new nail lacquer feature, "Let Your Fingertips Do The Talking." Engaging with consumers on a personal level that reflects who your brand is, as well as how it relates to the consumers without taking away from the overall message, can be another affective way to relate to your audience. An excellent example of this would be L`Oreal Paris' #PerfectAge , featuring an interview with Helen Mirren. In this video, Mirren discusses what makes her feel "worth it" and challenges other women of all ages to feel empowered by their worth.

To avoid overwhelming your audience, and therefore losing viewers, keep the information based on a central idea and easy to digest. Unlike print, video is a different form of storytelling, in which 1 minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words. It is also important to understand the psychology of the target or niche audience and to determine what sort of emotion your brand wants to portray in its video. Positive emotions such as happiness, inspiration, and curiosity have cultivated the largest amount of social shares.  Unruly ShareRank published a study in which they observed the behaviour of custom and target audiences and found that videos geared toward custom audiences, which were approximately 15% more likely to finish watching a video than the brand's general target audience.

 2. Timing

In today's fast-paced and always on-the-go mentality, attention spans are shorter than ever before. If people are unwilling to wait a couple of seconds longer in line for coffee, then why would they stay tuned-in to a video that has lost their interest after 30 seconds? With Vine's 6 second videos, and Instagram's 15, the climate for videos is beginning to shift towards shorter pieces that capture the storyline of your brand or product. An excellent example of a successful 6 second Vine video is @CTilburyMakeup's Vine, which shows how to apply the ideal wing-tip eyeliner.

In a study performed by Video Brewery, it was proven that 30 seconds tends to be the most frequent time mark that viewers begin to lose interest in videos. For the study, Video Brewery created a 30 second and a 90 second video that had the same exact content; however, viewers only completed the 30 second video and stopped watching the 90 second video around the same mark. If your video is two minutes or shorter, it may be better to try to shorten it as close to the 30 second mark as possible, so as to insure that your brand's entire message is received by the consumers before their attention is lost. Although, the study went on to prove that after the two minute mark, viewers had the same dropout rate as a 10 minute video and therefore,  if you are trying to conduct a more in-depth how-to or interview video, do not stress about your length as much.

In order to check your video's likelihood of being shared, pay close attention to how much time the video has accumulated, the total amount and average time that viewers are staying tuned in, and how many visits your brand's website is gaining. It is also important to understand that today's consumers have significantly higher expectations for the quality of videos and that your content can not speak on its own-your visuals have to have just as high of quality or else viewers will lose trust in your message and lose interest overall.

3. Content

Whether your video is based on telling a story, explaining a how-to look, giving a behind the scenes sneak peek, or filming onsite locations and events-make sure that the video is a reflection of your brand. Onsite videos are perfect for events and are powerful because they allow for customers to feel the brand is more trustworthy since it is not a scripted video. It also allows for customers to be able to see a certain level of depth to the company, as well as the products and the culture of the brand. Letting the imagery do the speaking versus a more scripted video can often lead to a larger overall message. 

Interview videos, such as the one by L'Oreal Paris interview with Helen Mirren that was mentioned in the first of the 5 key factors, provides a different look at the production and people that are involved with creating the consumers' favourite products. It can also be used as a visual "What We Do" or "What We're About" for your company, which would give consumers a more intimate look into your brand than through text and hence  increase growth in brand loyalty.

Viewers are most drawn to anything that is genuine, spontaneous, and believable. Taking risks and creating a more human element to your videos will make your brand and your products more memorable. Once you have gained a steady following and sharing rate on your videos, you can start to publish slightly longer videos in addition to the shorter videos in order to keep your potential and existing consumers on your website or social media page.  

 

4. Shareablitiy

Shareability is the likelihood and the potential that your video will be shared by consumers on several different media sites, and is arguably the most significant aspect of promoting your video. It is imperative that your brand share its videos across several different social media platforms, in order to garner a more favourable shareability outcome. According to Marketing Magazine, the first 72 hours of a video's lifecycle is the determinate as to how successfully it will be received. Marketing Magazine also claims that the time span between Wednesday and Friday are the most favourable times to accumulate the largest number of shares amongst your existing and potential customers.

One of the keys to creating a successful release for your brand's video is the amount of buzz and conversation surrounding your video pre-release. Promoting your video on all platforms and through different influencers such as celebrities, bloggers, brand partners, and loyal customers who are sharing their excitement by way of mouth-is absolutely crucial to the triumph of your video and your message. Creating a presence across several platforms will infinitely help your message in the long run.

In a study conducted by UnRuly, Pwryes found that "If you can make sure you're getting the video seen by a wide audience and shared by that audience really quickly upfront that will affect the entire short-term and long-term success of the campaign because we're dealing with percentages here."

 

5. Engagement

Even if your video has the most amazing content and quality, it will not be enough to win over your consumers alone. Your brand's video needs to spark engagement amongst its target audience by creating a dialogue. One of the best ways to create dialogue with your consumers is to create content that will inspire them to share, comment, and like your video. In terms of engagement, Facebook is one of the powerhouses in providing a prime hotspot for consumers to talk amongst themselves, their friends and family, and with your brand's Facebook page. 

Dove's #ChooseBeautiful campaign is a stand-out in regards to sparking engagement and interaction from its viewers. The video featured women all across the world being presented with two doors: "Beautiful" and "Average." The women had chose whether or not they felt like they were average or beautiful and were then interviewed afterwards as to why or why not they felt that they were beautiful. The video spoke volumes about the unrealistic standards women felt they had to hold themselves to in order to be considered beautiful in today's society and it struck a chord with viewers all across the world.

With Dove being one of the most shared videos across the world, beauty brands can see the significant affects that engagement has towards the longevity of the message from your video. Therefore, having a high view count is arbitrary in comparison to having a high engagement and shareability rate.