Video appeals to multiple senses of an individual and is one of the most preferred forms of content. Although the history of video can be traced back to the early 1990s, it is in recent years that it has grown in popularity. The digital boom coupled with easy internet access has paved the way for the video revolution.
The growth of video is accompanied by its expansion to the world of marketing. A look at video marketing statistics shows that in 2017, only 63% of brands invested in video marketing. Today more than 87% of businesses have video as a part of their digital initiatives. The high ROI associated with video marketing has prompted brands to adopt video.
These days, the scope of video marketing is immense, and brands are experimenting with different types of content. Startups are creating awareness-raising videos to expand their reach and attract newer audiences. Established brands create engagement-keeping videos to maintain brand loyalty and establish a digital presence. All types of businesses are creating educational content including product reviews, tutorials, and case study videos to establish themselves as industry experts.
While you have creative freedom in your video marketing approach, you need to understand that this is the best possible time to jump into the video revolution. If you are still unsure here are ten reasons that will illustrate the importance of video marketing.
The Rising Popularity of YouTube
In the past, the major challenge in video viewing was the difficulty in finding content. Back then, it was all about renting DVDs at local Blockbuster. With the advent of YouTube in 2005, the video became more accessible to the average viewer.
Today, more than 2 billion people use YouTube, making it the second-largest website in the world. This presents an excellent opportunity for brands to reach their target audience. The constantly growing user database of YouTube has given a significant boost to video marketing.
Video is More Enjoyable
Studies show that people 68% of people enjoy video content over any other conventional form of media. When compared to web posts, eBooks, sales calls, or infographics, videos give a holistic picture of a product. Traditionally, TV commercials were played between engaging video programs.
With digital media, businesses can introduce product placements in engaging content. When the content becomes interesting, the viewer gets interested in it and this leads to better reception. Studies show that the human mind retains 65% of visual content. For textual matter, the retention is a mere 10%.
Video Encourages Engagement
When a brand invests in any digital marketing initiative, they expect the audience to engage with the content. The video encourages user engagement and having a video on any social media posts results in a 48% increase in views. Such posts get 1200% higher views than image and text posts combined. If you are looking to build a social media presence, video is the only way forward.
Video Allows Better Explanation
With video, brands can explain the product more efficiently. For example, if you are selling an innovative product, your audience may not feel the need for the same. With video, you can illustrate the pain points better.
Providing your product as a solution to an existing problem helps push viewers along the sales funnel. For products with a lot of market competition, video allows detailed showcasing of the different features. Such proactive measures help win the trust of your target audience.
When done well, explainer videos can be an extremely effective way to communicate your message and connect with your audience. For instance, using engaging visuals and clear voiceovers can help simplify and make the complex features of your product easier to understand. Most brands prefer to hire experienced freelancers or specialists and work with an explainer video production company in order to have quality videos for their products and services.
In recent years, more and more brands have also worked with vloggers and influencers to showcase their products or services more effectively. They do it through product review videos, video demonstrations, and unboxing videos, among others. The last of the three has especially become more popular with the influx of e-commerce businesses. Your brand can also join the hype, but the prerequisite is having a custom product packaging that is worth shooting an unboxing video for. In essence, brands should develop a content-worthy product, starting from the packaging down to the item’s quality.
Video is Smartphone Friendly
Easy internet access has facilitated the popularity of smartphones. If you want to appeal to your target audience, you need to optimize your content for smartphone users. Video-sharing platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo, and others have simplified video viewing on mobile devices.
These days, 75% of video content is viewed on smartphones. Moreover, when viewing on handheld devices, people are likely to be more active. Studies show that 92% of mobile viewers are likely to share a video that they enjoy with their peers. Thus, by communicating to the audience in their preferred medium, you increase the video viewership.
Video Boosts SEO
The internet is a highly crowded space, and content is being created at an unimaginable pace. Articles are the easiest forms of content creation and millions of marketers are publishing new blogs and articles to the internet. Considering that people prefer video viewing, most top search engines favor video over other forms of content.
Post Google’s acquisition of YouTube, it gives webpages with videos a better SEPR. This gives better visibility to brands which is a major boost to brands in a competitive environment. To boost the search engine ranking of your brand, you can create a video sitemap and link your videos to the webpage. You can also create transcripts of your videos to improve their searchability. Using software to convert video to text is a much easier and faster option for this process.
Video Attracts Traffic
The average internet user is lazy, and 90% of people do not go beyond the first page while doing a web search. This makes it important for brands to get themselves on the first page of search results. Utilizing video marketing improves the rankings and gets more people to click on your content. With higher organic traffic, you can expect a boost in your conversions.
Video Retains Viewers
When a webpage has video content, people enjoy watching the content and spend a long time on the website. This decreases the bounce rate. The search engine takes the higher viewer retention time as an indication that the content was relevant to the viewer.
That way, they show the content to more users and improves the page’s search results. When a person spends a long time at your webpage, they are likely to be attracted by the available products and make a purchase.
Enhances Email Outreach Campaign
Videos can turn around the low reply rate that is typical of cold email outreach campaigns. Having the word video in an email subject increases the chances of reading by 19%. That is because people find a video a less time-consuming way of communication. For example, 50% of email recipients are likely to read newsletters that have video links.
Video Boosts Sales
Any marketing campaign aims to boost sales and improve the company’s revenue. When you place a video on any landing page, you increase the chance of conversion by 80%. 85% of potential customers are likely to buy a product after watching a video explaining the item. Marketers who implement video grow their revenue at a 49% higher pace as compared to others.
In a nutshell, we can establish that video helps marketers in all spheres of their job. From getting potential customers to notice their product to spending a long time and engaging with the content, the potential of video remains unparallel. As you look upon video to steer your business success, here’s wishing you a fun journey ahead.
