How 6 B2B Brands Employ Video to Foster Digital Engagement

Video is a critical element of your digital marketing strategy. In fact, 54% of consumers want to see videos from brands or businesses they support, according to research by HubSpot — and the same report indicates that many people go to social media to find such video content.

“54% of consumers want to see videos from brands or businesses they support.”

For social media videos to land with your intended audience, the key is to create posts that are both relevant to your audience and tailored to the platform where you’re posting.

Not sure where to start? Here are some examples of particularly effective B2B brands that are leveraging video to drive engagement, grow brand awareness, and create deeper connections with their audiences.

1. Unity Technologies adapts its videos to the platform

Video software development company Unity tailors videos to their respective platforms while always keeping the audience — video game developers — firmly top of mind.

On both Instagram and YouTube, Unity’s content is aimed at the same people — but they maximize digital engagement by thinking about what video game developers want on each platform. People use YouTube to learn skills or better understand a feature; on Instagram, they usually just want to look at something pretty.

That’s why on Instagram, where they have 187k followers, Unity collects posts that use the hashtag #madewithunity. Game creators add this tag to show that a game was made with Unity’s software, and then Unity shares those videos on their own profile. As a result, the company profile is filled with beautiful examples of video games that are fun to watch and do a great job of showcasing what Unity can do.

Thanks to the hashtag, Unity doesn’t even need to create content themselves — they can simply share what others have made with their product (as long as they credit the artist in the caption, of course).

Unity has a much larger following on YouTube, with around 1 million subscribers and nearly 140 million views total. Here, the company uses a completely different strategy: They focus on tutorials, share information about new releases, and release a series of videos that show how their software can be used in different industries. They do have one playlist composed of games made with their software, but it’s only a tiny fraction of the thousands of videos they’ve shared on the platform since 2009.

Delivering what their audience wants on the correct platform helps Unity keep their video content relevant to what viewers are after, which makes people more likely to watch and engage with what’s posted — and come back for more content in the future.

2. Hootsuite posts a variety of videos

Posting a variety of video types is a great way to entertain your audience. Social media management platform Hootsuite has several different ongoing video series on their Instagram (139k followers), with a mix of tutorials, funny videos, soft selling, tips, and contests. Offering variety on a single platform — especially when it’s ongoing video content — is a great way to keep content fresh, prevent your audience from getting bored, and boost your engagement.

Another thing that Hootsuite does well is building ongoing content. For example, their Fridge-Worthy series on IGTV focuses on a different brand’s social media post every week. They “put the post up on their fridge” by explaining how each post is interesting and why it works for that particular brand.

Having themes and creating ongoing video series like these makes it easier for content creators to come up with new ideas. Instead of starting from scratch each time, you are building on an existing theme.

3. Oracle uses brand partnerships to build positive associations

Computer software company Oracle’s social media video content — especially on Instagram (232k followers), and to a lesser extent, Facebook (nearly 3 million likes) — includes a lot of feel-good, high production-value videos that show how Oracle is engaged with brands and causes that their audience has existing positive associations with.

Research shows that videos that elicit a strong, positive emotional response are 30% more likely to be shared than videos that cause a negative emotional response. By strategically building and showcasing these positive partnerships, Oracle is increasing the likelihood that viewers will feel those strong emotional responses and interact with the video.

For example, recent videos (at the time of writing) promote the fact that Oracle is the cloud provider for the Premier League, as well as their partnership with @SavingGorillas, aka the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. They also highlight the different volunteer efforts their team participates in, as well as their environmental efforts.

Centering these partnerships is a great way to create positive brand awareness: by seeing both companies juxtaposed like this, viewers unconsciously associate the positive feelings they have about soccer (or saving gorillas) with Oracle as a brand.

4. HubSpot takes advantage of each platform’s unique features

Making use of each platform’s video tools and tailoring accordingly helps deliver content that fits your audience’s expectations and keeps them coming back for more.

On Instagram, inbound marketing platform HubSpot (394k followers) does a great job of both of these things. Their Reels, for example, are a masterclass in creating tailored, light-hearted content that fits both their brand and the kind of content their audience of young marketing professionals is likely to engage with and share.

With videos that humorously share the perils of being a marketing manager or an introvert stuck in a meeting or the struggles of trying to write an email to your team, HubSpot creates content that’s deeply relatable and easy to engage with. For example, a recent video about what people think marketers do versus what they actually do (a variation on a meme that’s been around since 2012) has nearly 160k views and over 230 comments.

5. Adobe partners with influencers

B2C brands aren’t the only ones who can partner with influencers; B2B brands are increasingly relying on influencer marketing to promote their brand and sell products, too.

Working with influencers has many advantages for B2B brands. You can collaborate with talented creatives to create beautiful content for your pages, benefit from the reach their large platforms have, and grow your brand’s audience. Of course, the key is to choose influencers who are relevant to your product and then come together to create content that fits.

One well-executed example of this is Adobe’s #WomenCreateWednesday campaign, which features different women artists, creators, and entrepreneurs. The series is promoted across Adobe’s platforms, including their website, Facebook — where their most recent Women Create Wednesday video has over 25k views — and, of course, on their Instagram.

The campaign includes still images as well as videos, but it’s the videos that truly allow the campaign to shine. With everything from in-depth interviews to TikTok dances, the videos demonstrate the breadth and depth of the talented women that Adobe partners with.

6. GE gives the world a sneak peek

Original content that feels gated or exclusive somehow definitely excites people — but in the case of multinational conglomerate GE, it also humanizes the brand and shows us the people working behind the machines.

GE created a successful video series on Instagram that shows the company’s inner workings from the point of view (POV) of its employees. Each video is made from a different employee’s POV, who “takes the world to work” and shows off what they do at different branches of the giant company, including GE Aviation, GE Healthcare, and GE Research.

A big part of what makes the videos so engaging is the types of products that GE manufactures. For example, the videos from GE Aviation show the audience how airplane testing works — which isn’t something most of us ever get to see. Several of the videos in the aviation series, in particular, have over 20k views, proving people love a peek behind the scenes!

You don’t need highly polished productions to drive engagement

Many of the examples listed above are short, easy to produce, and affordable videos that make viewers smile — and those are often the ones that get the most engagement online. If you’re working with a limited budget or time constraints, making these sorts of videos is a great, low-lift way to drive online engagement.