It’s well known that content marketing is an effective way to build your brand and reach your target audience.
One form of content marketing that is growing in significance is video marketing. In fact, according to a report by Demand Metric, 83 percent of marketers say that video is more important than ever.
This is reflected by WYZOwl statistics which show that 87 percent of businesses use video as a marketing tool. In this article, we’ll take a look at what video content marketing is, as well as give you some great video content marketing ideas.
What is Video Content Marketing?
Video content marketing is when brands produce video content to raise their profile online. Video is usually published on either YouTube or a social network, although it can also come in the form of webinars, courses, live videos, or self-hosted videos.
When done well, video can be a powerful way for a brand to spread its message in a way that is easily accessible to a large audience. It works with both B2C and B2B content strategies.
The great thing about video content marketing is that it is becoming easier and easier to do effectively. The number of options marketers have means there really is something for every business, even those without traditional video recording or editing skills.
Here are five reasons why video content marketing is more important than ever.
Videos are a Great Way to Explain Your Product
Video is a useful tool when it comes to helping potential buyers learn about a product. In fact, according to WYZOwl, 94 percent of marketers say using video has helped increase user understanding of a product or service.
Customers will only buy your product when they understand what it does and how it will help them. It is unsurprising that video is such a good tool for this as the visual element helps businesses clearly explain how things work.
Check out this video by Dropbox which is a great example of how a video can be used to effectively explain what a product is all about.
Videos Have a Good Return on Investment
The return on investment you get from your video will depend on several things including how well you have organized your content strategy and the quality of your videos. Nonetheless, 83 percent of WYZOwl survey respondents say video gives them a good return on investment.
You may think of video as being expensive and time-consuming to produce. But there is plenty of technology out there that makes it possible to create good video fast and without a large budget.
Not only do most of us have high-quality video recorders in our pockets in the form of smartphones, but software solutions like VideoScribe and Doodly make it easy to create engaging explainer videos at a low cost. Spending less when you produce your videos means it’s easier to get a positive ROI.
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You Can Use Video in a Variety of Ways
Marketers have plenty of options when it comes to how they use video. This means it’s easy to find a method that fits in with your company’s marketing goals. While YouTube is the obvious place to start when creating videos, here are some of the other options you could use:
- Most social media platforms including Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube allow you to post stories that disappear after a certain amount of time. These are great because they can be super quick and cheap to create and they speak directly to your audience. For stories to be effective, you’ll need to have—or be building—an audience on social media.
- Live video has grown in recent years with industry giants like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch all offering ways for businesses to stream live content. Live video can be effective. Facebook said that live streams get six times as many interactions as regular videos.
- Webinars are a great way to use video to interact directly with your potential customers. They can be used to answer specific questions customers may have about your product, or to teach the audience something about your industry, thereby establishing yourself as an authority. Software like GoToWebinar or Livestorm makes it easy for businesses to put on (or even automatize) webinars. Check out one of the webinars we have created at Act! on how to create landing pages to generate more leads from your website.
- Another innovative way of using video is on a one-to-one level. Marketers can record and send quick messages to follow up on purchases or inquiries. This can improve the customer experience.
People Love Video
Just like technology has made it easy for businesses to record video, it has also made it incredibly convenient for people to watch video. There are a ton of stats that illustrate this point. Here are some of the most compelling:
- The official YouTube blog said people watch over a billion hours of YouTube content every single day.
- Earlier this year, Twitter revealed there are 2 billion video views on its platform every day. Additionally, tweets with video get 10 times more engagement than those without.
- Digiday says Facebook has over 8 billion video views a day. Interestingly, 85 percent of these are viewed without sound.
If you aren’t creating video, you risk missing out on one of the most popular ways that people consume content.
Videos are Great for SEO
Uploading videos to YouTube that target common search terms can be a good way to get your business on the first page of Google. That’s because Google includes YouTube videos at the top of the page for many search terms.
Here is an example of this in action. When you search for the terms “How to edit videos on iPhone,” Google shows three videos below the featured snippet and the “People also ask” section, but above the regular search results.
In this instance, of the three results, one is for the video editing app Filmora. Anyone who clicks on this link will find out how to edit videos on their iPhone using the Filmora app.
In addition to potential exposure on Google, videos will also appear when people search for things on YouTube. This is significant as Moz and Jumpshot found YouTube had the third-highest share of the U.S. search market, after only Google.com and Google Images.
Wrapping Up
Video is a great way for marketers to reach people. It is easier than ever before for businesses to create and share high-quality video content. If you don’t already have video as part of your content strategy, then perhaps you should think about experimenting with a couple of projects.
