As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, there has been a visible shift towards video content. Video content or video assets, as we should call them, are arguably the most popular content-type consumed globally, both online and offline. From television to social media and from billboards to online advertisements, videos are constantly in our face. And it’s perfectly rationable – stakeholders have understood that if a picture is worth a thousand words, videos (which are essentially moving pictures or multiple frames of pictures) are literally worth millions. As a matter of fact, a simple one-minute video is said to be worth around 1.8 million words.
So now you can understand why the story feature on social media, which mostly features videos, is so popular. Not to mention “moving picture formats” like Boomerangs on Instagram and GIFs on all our messaging platforms. Or even why it’s possible to upload a video as your profile picture on Facebook these days. The video takeover is fully upon us, with video currently accounting for half of all mobile traffic.
As far as marketing is concerned, more companies are launching video marketing campaigns and the smallest to the biggest of companies are achieving success because of it.
“All this sounds great, but what are the particular benefits that choosing videos over images or text will bring to my online campaign?” Well, we’re glad you asked. Let’s start with the most glaring:
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Videos grab attention and boost conversion
The human eye is naturally attracted to movement, so it’s no surprise that the movement in videos grabs our attention quickest when scrolling through websites or on our timelines. Marketers know that merely choosing the video format for your ad already gives you an advantage as a large part of the battle of running ads is simply to get people to look at them. What’s more, consumers are over 27 times more likely to click on an online video than a standard banner ad. And once the attention is gained, authentic and relatable content in your video allows for effective conversion. Research has shown that simply including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. A call-to-action with a video has been found to produce 380% more clicks than a regular sidebar call-to-action. The reason for this is quite simple – humans act on what they see, and videos incite action. Needless to say, your CTA is a lot stronger with a video.
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Videos communicate quicker and deeper
The format of visuals combined with sound have the power of communicating a lot quicker and more effectively than just images or text. There is an overbearing amount of textual content online as is, and it’s no news that reading takes a lot longer to do than watching. In the same vein, simply hearing or listening to information is just not as digestible. Videos, therefore, represent a versatile and engaging content format, that can comprise of all other mediums (imagery, text and audio) and is capable of communicating several times as fast. In addition to this, videos are a better medium to communicate the personality and character of a brand, thereby forming a deeper connection with the viewer. The combination of body language and verbal tone of the characters in your brand’s video play a huge role in communicating your brand’s voice and personifying your brand to the viewer, connecting the viewer’s emotions to your product or service. A positive experience of a consumer with a video is reported to increase purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%.
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SEO loves video
If the fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine, after Google, doesn’t motivate you enough to step up your online video presence, then we don’t know what will. Putting a video up on your website as well as on YouTube greatly increases your visibility and the probability of you showing up when keywords linked to your video are searched. Videos in general, when titled and tagged right, have a much better chance of reaching audience who search keywords linked to them, simply because there are less videos online than text. To be exact, videos are 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google than text results. They face less competition, because their landscape is denser. Videos also drive organic traffic up by 157%, and with search engines constantly looking for content that engages viewers, they take videos into very high account. Companies that use videos on their websites have 41% more web traffic from searches than those that don’t use video at all. This can be explained by the fact that a viewer sharing your video creates an inbound link to your page, and the more inbound links you have the more authoritative your site looks to search engines. Which leads us to our final point:
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Videos are very shareworthy
In the age of TikTok, Twitter and video virality, the ‘shareworthiness’ of your content isn’t something to sleep on at all. The world is one big melting pot, and there’s no telling how far your content will go, and how far it will take you with it. Your life can literally change thanks to viral content…eventuary. Social videos are reported to generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined, and 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others. These stats just go to say that, all other formats are cool, but if you really want your content shared, put it in a video and ensure that it’s entertaining. A meaningful video that communicates your brand’s message but is also entertaining and allows your brand’s personality to shine through is the best way to present yourself to new audiences in 2019 because your audience, their timeline and the share button will do all the work for you!
The benefits we’ve just stated, which honestly just about scratch the surface of the true power of video assets online, all account for why it has become increasingly easier to create video content. Various platforms have ensured that video production is more accessible now than ever before, simply because a large chunk of the online community is consuming video as main content now than ever before. Be it via brand ads, product/service demo videos, event videos, live videos, testimonials or tutorial/how-to videos, individuals and brands looking for exposure are bound to have success with unique, refreshing and engaging video content because the market size is at its widest and odds are simply in your favour!
Kenneth is a self-described subtle genius, creator and plug. Lock him up in a room with nothing but good music and something to create with and he’ll be perfectly fine. With extensive backgrounds in both engineering and art, Kenneth loves to combine both to create compelling content and forms of expression.