Why Video Marketing is So Effective [2019 and Beyond]

Vision is the most dominant of our five senses and our brains process visual information more than any other form of information. Given that pictures already boost engagement more than text content, moving pictures with sound definitely  have the potential to boost your business massively.

According to Wyzowl, 87% of marketers use video as part of their marketing strategy. Not only that, more than 80% rely on video more than any other messaging format, and credit video with increasing organic traffic to their websites. 

Videos are easier on the eye than text. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are giving video content more prominence in a bid to satisfy audiences. Even LinkedIn has joined the bandwagon.

 

If you create unique video content and promote it, you are likely to find that there is an audience for it. Because video content is so popular, it works beautifully at the widest part of the sales funnel as well as further down. This works for B2B and B2C as well.

 

Videos Grab Attention

Our attention spans are incredibly short. And they are only getting shorter. You need something more stimulating than just text to hold people’s attention (especially the younger generation), and video content does the trick.

Our eyes are naturally drawn to visuals. Marketers include it to draw attention to their brand. Add sound and motion and you have all the attention you need!

People everywhere are watching videos. At least 75 million Americans consume video content daily. Half of the time, they are watching from their phones or other mobile devices.

 

 

The fact that YouTube is the most popular website in many countries is proof of just how dominant video is to marketing.

Diode Digital predicted in 2017 that by 2019, 80% of internet traffic would be focused on video. According to Cisqo, that prediction has been met and exceeded, as 82% of consumer internet traffic is now focused on video. 

Now there are more than a billion videos on YouTube, and even on the short message platform Twitter which is best known for witty language, 82% of visitors watch videos.

To optimize videos for a mobile audience, always add captions to everything. This is because a lot of videos are watched with low sound quality or on silent.

This is particularly true for Facebook Watch, where 85% of the time video runs without sound. Adding captions increases the visual impact of the video.

Shorter videos, running for 2-5 minutes, are more likely to get the highest levels of engagement. Borrow a leaf from vintage Hollywood and end each video with a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger is a teaser designed to arouse the curiosity of the audience to watch the next video. This will entice people to watch the next one.

 

Video is Easier to Recall

Video content doesn’t just grab people’s attention; it is also easier to remember. People are much more likely to remember a message that they received while watching a video than one they read or heard.

Hubspot reports that more than 80% of customers can easily recall watching a video within the last one month. Because of its visual and auditory stimulation, it is easier to remember and more impactful.

People who remember your content also recall your brand and they become your leads and eventually your customers. People who find your videos pleasurable to watch will share them with their networks, adding more social capital to your brand.

While it is important to exercise creativity in making videos, always maintain uniformity in brand colors, logos, fonts, and voice. Create a signature style that viewers will always recognize as representative of your brand.

That uniformity will enhance brand recognition.

 

Video Increases Engagement

If you are looking for engagement on social media and elsewhere, an interesting video should do the trick. Video is proven to get tremendously more likes, shares, and comments than regular posts.

Video is estimated to generate as much as 1200 times more shares on Social media.

Even on Facebook where many Page Admins complain that organic reach is ‘dead,’ video gets 33% more engagement. Posting more quality videos can increase the engagement on your Fan Page.

Even with email marketing, video still increases engagement, with email recipients likely to open an email that references a video in its subject line.

Mobile video, in particular, is growing in leaps and bounds with 50% of video consumption now being via mobile. YouTube sees a 100% growth in mobile consumption of videos each year.

A lot of marketers are complaining that Facebook ads are too expensive and that platforms like Facebook and Instagram are too saturated. Leveraging video in social media campaigns increases shares more than image and text-based content.

When people react to your videos or share them, Facebook shows the post to even more people. This means that it is more important than ever to create (good) video content. The kind that elicits an emotional response. The kind that gets shared.

Be sure to make people react by smiling, laughing, feeling amused, curious, surprised, or even shocked. Every share gets your content in front of more eyeballs and gets you more social proof.

For platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook Watch, it is always advisable to upload the video directly instead of posting a YouTube Link. This is because they reward native content with more exposure.

Right now LinkedIn yields the most watch time of all, which means value for money. Facebook Watch receives 75 million visits per day, giving it an immense influence on the marketing industry. No wonder more than 85% of marketers use it for video and see results.

Not using video marketing on Facebook is leaving money on the table. 

 

Video Generates More Revenue

The Rule of Seven suggests that video is an ideal tool to complement other types of content to boost revenue, brand awareness, and business growth. You can re-purpose your articles into videos. And instead of making long videos, break your video clip into little 2-5 minute bits, so that you can give some new information every time while still repeating your call to action. 

That way followers get to interact with your brand at least seven times which will stimulate them to take action.

One idea can be explored thoroughly so that multiple videos come out of it.

Even Twitter which is popular with people who love to play with words makes half its revenue from video advertisements. 

To boost sales, create explainer videos that show how your product can be used. A lot of people would buy your product if they had access to better information.

An explainer video on your homepage and YouTube channel is a necessity. Not only is video better for explaining complicated concepts, but it is also easier to remember. By presenting ideas visually, you make it easier for your audience to understand.

Besides, people are more likely to respond positively to a practical demonstration than a verbal explanation. Good videos don’t have to be expensive. Animated videos are a cheaper way to provide video content.

 

Video is Taking Over Mobile

Looking to reach a predominantly mobile audience? Video is the way to do it. Not only do 90% of consumers view videos on mobile devices, but mobile videos are now getting 133% more views from 2013.

 

YouTube sees 100% growth in viewership from mobile devices each year. Mobile video is more convenient because people can watch it as they go. Of course, the fact that more and more people are using smartphones makes it even better.

To fully take advantage of this opportunity, create videos with smaller screens in mind. Think of the experience that mobile users will have, add captions all through, and focus on better quality of content.

Not surprisingly, responsive web design is one of the drivers of video content. Because video can be consumed on all devices from phones to personal computers, the content is more attractive to customers.

 

Video Increases Conversion

Because videos allow marketers to create a more personal connection with their prospects, they increase conversion on a landing page by as much as 80%.

One simple way of incorporating video is to replace pictures with short videos. A Call to Action sounds a lot more convincing when there is an actual human behind it so that people are more likely to buy.

With more than 1.6 billion websites competing for eyeballs (and new ones coming up every day), it takes more engaging content to get people to find your blog and stay there.

More than 2 million blog posts are published every single day. 

Audiovisual content will get you noticed, for many reasons. For one, Search Engines reward websites that have multimedia content with more exposure.

 

Embedding videos on your website will increase the number of visitors by 2-3 times. 

 

But this preference for video content goes beyond Google and Bing. Even social media networks like LinkedIn reward video content with greater exposure. They do this because they know that audiences are more likely to engage with videos than text or photo content. For these reasons, video is an indispensable part of any company’s digital marketing strategy.

To increase conversion and sales, you need to build trust. Content marketing helps to build trust with audiences. Giving people quality content in terms of videos does the best job of building trust. It makes customers come to you instead of you chasing them.

According to Mark Schaefer, content, trust, and social proof from people who share your content are the key to successful marketing in the future.

YouTube influencers have more clout than ever before. Because a lot of marketing videos are designed to communicate in a more informal, conversational manner, audiences often respond by gaining confidence to buy the product.

To make videos more interactive, include Calls to Action in each video and use YouTube live to interact with audience members.

 

Video is Great for SEO

Looking to appear first on Google search results? You might want to know that embedding a video on your website increases the chances of that happening by a massive 53%.

 

Because Search Engines reward video content with more exposure, websites with videos will drive organic traffic.

Chances of this happening are even higher now that YouTube has been part of Google for a few years. Embed your video on YouTube and link back to your site for best results. 

Your video titles and descriptions on YouTube need to be carefully thought out and designed to attract the right people to your website.

With blogs, video content can bring organic traffic up by a whopping 157%. Websites that make the front page of google are more likely to have video. Video thumbnails on search results have a positive impact on search traffic.

To be clear, Google doesn’t favor multimedia content for its own sake. While 80% of people will watch a video on a web page, a measly 20% will read the text. So Google is just helping people to see what they want to see.

The downside of using videos is that if they cause your website to load too slowly, your SEO gains will be lost. This is because people have little patience for slow loading web pages, and Google knows that, so your organic reach will go down.

To keep video content from slowing down your website, embed videos on YouTube and make them for mobile. 

 

Video Doesn’t Require a Big Budget

Back in the days of analogue television, video marketing was ridiculously expensive. Luckily we live in the Digital Age when producing and promoting quality video content is cheaper than it has ever been.

The tools and equipment do not cost thousands of dollars, and even the skills required to create video are a lot easier to acquire.

The existence of popular and accessible platforms like Facebook Watch, Instagram, Vimeo, and YouTube make it easier than ever to promote video content after creating it.

Most businesses (83%), consider video a good investment.

Because although it costs more to create, the payoff is more than worth it with the ROI. The kind of video editing tools that are available online keeps improving by the day and are becoming cheaper. Some marketers even rely mainly on their smartphones.

The best news is that your viewers online don’t expect HD, Hollywood quality from you. They are happy to settle for an average quality video that is informative and not boring.

Picture quality is not as important as the information and entertainment value they are getting.

This should be music to the ears of any marketer who is shying away from video because they don’t feel they have the skills to pull it off properly.

So go ahead and invest in video. Be courageous enough to come up with a unique idea, and present it in a way that is uniquely you. Present it in a way that represents what your brand stands for and in a way that your customers (or audience) can relate to.

 

↓↓ Expert digital marketing that gets you more clients and more revenue ↓↓

Get My Free Proposal