What is a micro-moment?
The reflexive moment where a person reaches into their pocket for their devices to help solve a problem or answer a question is known as a “micro-moment.” Micro-moments are the perfect opportunity for marketers to show consumers the value of their product or service.
However, marketers need to change their perspective in order to use these micro-moments to effect. To capitalize, you need to focus on consumer needs rather than who the consumer is. Unless you want to be thrown aside and have the consumer move on to the next post, your brand must offer a relevant, concise and compelling message that captures the consumer’s attention and intention right away.
Using Video For I-Want-To-Learn Micro-Moments
Because consumers are making real time decisions in these micro-moments, it is paramount for your brand to become a resource to consumers. Think about this: 70% of all millennials say they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn. So, when a millennial asks the question “How do I do this?” they’re visiting YouTube first. That means a strong video marketing strategy is a key tool to grip these consumers in these “I want to learn” micro-moments. However, 58% of consumers watch videos that are less than five minutes, while just 66% of consumers are fully focused on the content they are watching. These statistics really highlight the necessity of producing concise and valuable content for your audience if you want to leave an impact.
Sephora
A perfect example of a brand taking advantage of these “I want to learn” moments is Sephora. A huge driving factor into the rise of Sephora as a giant in the beauty industry and a multi-billion dollar company is the way they’ve shifted their video marketing tactics. In the last few years, beauty tutorials on YouTube grew exponentially and brands like Sephora took notice. Now Sephora has an extremely successful YouTube channel with over 1.2 million subscribers that has helped turn them into the $37.2 billion giant they are today. They also recently finished a campaign to find new brand ambassadors that saw over 15,000 applications from influencers from which they chose only 24 people to further their reach on social media platforms.
Lowe’s
“How-to” videos are a simple way to show consumers how they can be successful in an unfamiliar situation. Questions about home improvement are prime for a visual learning experience, and Lowe’s is taking advantage of that fact. Lowe’s has created a library on their YouTube channel that has just shy of 800,000 subscribers where they’ve uploaded step-by-step videos with hundreds of tips and tricks for home improvement. Creating successful “how-to” videos comes down to making sure you’ve done enough research to give the consumer a valuable lesson to help further their knowledge, which Lowe’s does well by using professional contractors or other experts to host the videos.
SyFy Channel
Other brands have created specialized content calendars to be able to hit specific needs for consumers around popular times of year. One example of this is the SyFy Channel’s 31 Days of Halloween. SyFy created a video series in the month of October leading up to Halloween where the channel tackles several different topics for horror fans. Some of these videos are tutorials where they bring in makeup artists to teach the viewer how to make themselves look like a monster or zombie, while others are tips about how to have great decorations to turn their home into a haunted house. Although it’s a very specialized campaign, it’s there for people in their time of need for quick fixes around the holiday and has helped SyFy connect with their over 300,000 YouTube subscribers.
Videos are the perfect way for consumers to visualize the answers to their questions and brands have found a perfect way to reach them in reflexive moments of need. As marketing towards these moments continue to grow, it’s important to get out in front — because if your brand isn’t there for the consumer, your competitor will be.
Updated on February 12, 2020.