Photo Credit: Pexels.com – CC0 License – Donald Tong
Since we all know video is amazing, and it just keeps getting better, there’s probably no reason for me to write an eloquent intro talking about it. But, I will say since I’ve started my career in broadcast TV, video has been part of my professional upbringing since day-1. It was important then, and it’s only escalated in importance for brands big and small. Today, if video is not part of your marketing strategy, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Here are 6 reasons I feel video is one of the most powerful marketing channels to-date. And number 4 just may shock you.
Video is Great for Storytelling
Since the beginning of time, telling stories has been a way to communicate and inform. Today, every company has a story to tell, and customers to tell those stories to. Video takes the viewer (or customer) and puts them into the scene of the story. Whether you are educating, informing, motivating or selling, video is a standalone tool or can be used within other digital channels a swell. Additionally, blog posts that include video attract substantially more inbound links than blogs without video. Research says as much as 3x more. Need I say more?
Video Taps Into our Emotions
Every person has emotions and when we are in the researching and buying process, our emotions take the lead and send signals to our brain on what steps to take to make a purchase. These signals are directional indicators that provide information and fulfill our desires. Yes, even in the corporate world of B2B, emotions are important. People buy products and services, not buildings and companies. Video can appeal to our senses and emotions through sight and sound, words and songs, color and animation.
Videos Viewed on Mobile is Off-The-Charts
I think we will all agree that we’ve all watched a video on our smartphone. We may even agree that we do it more often than we admit. Have you ever been in the product or service research phase and ended up clicking on a Google or YouTube search result that played a video? Research says that 90% of consumers watch videos on their mobile device – wow! If your company isn’t producing video, you’re missing out on something special.
Videos and Google Get Along Really Well
Let’s start with YouTube. It’s the second largest search engine in the world and Google owns it. That should tell you why it’s critically important to get videos produced and upload them to YouTube. The other is that video has been known to drive as much as 157% increase in organic traffic from Google’s search engine results pages. Do a simple Google search and see what videos show up on page one. Then you’ll see why video is so important.
Video has been seen to boost traffic from organic listings by as much as 157%.
– b2w.tv
Internet video traffic is expected to grow four times and constitute 81% of ALL consumer traffic by 2021.
– Cisco
Currently, 33-percent of time spent online is accounted for by watching video, and it is predicted that 80-percent of all Internet traffic will come from video in 2019.
– DigitalInformationWorld
Videos and Social Share The Love
When videos are watched, they get shared a high percentage of the time. What a great way to promote your business. In fact, when a video is entertaining, 76% of users say that they would share that same video, and 92% of people on their mobile device share videos with others.
Take a look for yourself on your favorite social media channel for videos that are being shared. You will see that the social share is probably the most important part of social media because your video goes far beyond your initial reach and also has the potential to bring the viewer(s) back to your website just like a boomerang comes back to you after you toss it –Amazing.
Video in Email Campaigns Help Your Company Stand-Out
Okay, so we know that video can do a lot of things, and we also know that email is still a strong performing channel in marketing. When you combine them both, emails with videos receive an increase click-through rate by 96%? Clearly, these two provide a great one-two punch for promoting your business and standing out amongst the crowd. Today’s consumer is also reading less and watching more video.
I do not have research facts, but I can say from 30 years of professional experience using video in business and marketing, it does build consumer trust. Ask yourself that question the next time you’re searching online and find yourself watching a video. Now you know why video should be a key part of your marketing plan.
More FACTS about why video continues to rock the world of marketing
Scott MacFarland is a lifelong marketer with a passion for content, marketing, digital, social, web, video, analytics, and all things that lead to successful conversions. Scott is currently the Marketing Director for HMY Yachts in Jupiter, Florida.
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Photo Credit: Pexels.com – CC0 License – Donald Tong
https://www.pexels.com/photo/camera-event-live-settings-66134/
Sources:
- https://moz.com/
- https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics-2016.html
- https://www.virtuets.com/45-video-marketing-statistics/
- http://www.insivia.com/50-must-know-stats-about-video-marketing-2016/
- https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html#_Toc484813989
- https://b2w.tv/blog/strategies-video-marketing-success-2018/
- https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2018/03/the-state-of-video-marketing-in-2018.html