Online video is a key part of the content marketer’s playbook. With today’s technology, video content is less costly, easier to create, and more effective than ever—and most companies have taken notice. There is a lot of compelling evidence suggesting that video marketing should be a major focus of your digital advertising campaign.
According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video holds more value than 1.8 million words. That’s the equivalent of 3,600 typical web pages, which means if you were to write an average of one web page each hour, it would take you 150 days of writing to achieve the impact of one minute of video. Taking those numbers into account proves that online video marketing is the single most practical use for your marketing time and energy.
Each day, over 100 million Internet users watch online videos, and while it’s true that many of those people are watching the latest viral video featuring a cute kitten or a silly child, an increasing majority of them are looking for advice on how to do something or how to make something work better. This number has increased by 43% since 2010, and studies show that a large amount of viewers are looking to buy a service or product.
A recent study conducted by Forbes magazine shows that 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, and a majority of them visit the marketer’s website after viewing a video. So why should your company care?
With video marketing in your arsenal, your advertising campaign can reach a wider audience− more than 167 million people consistently watched online videos last year and that number is increasing exponentially. Over 50 million people view videos from their mobile devices, and mobile users seem to have a longer attention span. While desktop viewers stick with a video for 2 minutes or less, iPhone users commit for almost 3, and Android users surpass 3 minutes of engagement. Tablet users have the longest attention spans of all, and remain glued to the screen for an average of five minutes.
Video by Steven Martin | Creatine Marketing
Video also creates an opportunity for your company to increase the impact a message has on your targeted audience. Viewers tend to retain information they see in a video at much higher rates than if that same information was read or heard. In addition, 46% of people say that seeing a product or service mentioned in an online video would encourage them to seek out more information.
Use video to sell: promote products, features, services or brands, to educate: share tips, ideas, and commentary, and to entertain: deliver content that’s light, humorous, and fun. Remember to find a balance between industry related information, promotional information, and content that is just upbeat and easy to share. YouTube videos are easy to embed into any webpage of blog; you can share them in Pinterest, Facebook, Vine, and Twitter.
Today, video marketing is slowly rising to the top of the content marketing food chain, and is the 6th most popular method of digital marketing. It is a simple and creative way to increase sales and leads. Businesses that incorporate video marketing into their overall strategy see higher engagement rates, higher click-through rates, and higher conversion rates. Video marketing is a great way to escalate your sales pitch out into the universe and let it drive customers to your site, and ultimately to your product.
A vast percentage of those who spend time online would rather watch a video than read text, and while that may be frustrating, it’s business− and the first rule of marketing is that you need to be where your customers are. If you are sending out newsletters, you will have a lower unsubscribe rate if you include an instructional or humorous video. Let’s say a service or product you offer is a bit complicated, rather than explaining it all in a lengthy essay, you can create a video that highlights main points and explains your merchandise in an organic way.
Finally, it’s important to remember that you only have 10 seconds to grab a viewer’s attention. Effective video marketing has to be engaging right from the start. Pay attention to the analytics of your video; find out who is watching, how long they’re engaged before hitting pause or leaving the page, and at exactly which second they decided the video was no longer worth watching. Once you have that information you can sharpen your message and mold it to better suit your audience.
These statistics speak volumes about the positive effect that video marketing will have on your advertising campaign. To further drive my point about the visual preference that is such an integral part of human nature, I have included this inforgraphic I created reiterating some of the points made in this article. The statistics in this blog are available on comscore.com.
By | Sasha Novikov
An infographic I created to accompany this article.
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