Video Marketing: Why Your Brand Needs It
If you run a small business or are in charge of running the social media accounts for a brand, you’ll understand how important it is to consistently post engaging content as part of your marketing strategy. But while long-form content featuring over 1,000 words consistently receives more shares and likes than shorter form content, you’ll need to do more than write informative blog posts to capture the attention of your target audience.
Visual content has become immensely important in recent years, particularly due to the rising popularity of social media. Although visual ads have always played an integral role iin brand marketing, simple graphics and obvious promotions aren’t always enough to get followers to like or leave a comment. Stagnant photos have now given way to an even more compelling medium: video. But how does video factor into a marketing campaign? And is it even worth trying? We’re answering those questions in today’s post.
What is Video Marketing?
First, let’s talk about what video marketing actually encompasses. The name itself really is what it sounds like; video marketing refers to the practice of using videos for the sake of product or brand promotion. By using a new medium, you can achieve many of your established goals — like educating or entertaining your customers, increasing engagement on social media or other platforms, and boosting your brand visibility.
Just like there are many different types of blog posts and other kinds of written content, there are many different examples of video marketing, as well. For example, there are brand videos, which could highlight a specific product or service, your company’s mission, or your overall vision. There are also demonstration videos, which can show off the features of a given product or provide viewers with a tour of your services. Event videos typically refer to behind-the-scenes footage or highlights from conferences, round-table discussions, charity events, or other occasions that are important to your company. There are also instructional videos, interview videos, explainer videos, testimonial videos, case study videos, live videos, and animated videos. If someone on your team is familiar with the 12 basic principles of animation (of which staging is one), you might be able to create incredible content that illustrates hard-to-understand concepts in an easily shareable fashion. Really, the sky’s the limit when it comes to video marketing.
How Can Video Marketing Boost Your Brand?
There’s no denying that creating videos for marketing purposes will require more effort and skill than other kinds of content. But the investment is typically well worth it. Users prefer visual content, which explains why online content video views top 50 million every month. According to a HubSpot report, 54% of consumers want to see videos from brands — which is a higher percentage than any other kind of content. Video is incredibly effective on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, with 45% of consumers watching more than an hour of video content on YouTube or Facebook every week. But it isn’t just for social media. When videos are used on landing pages, you could increase your conversion rates by more than 80%; if you mention the word “video” in the subject line of your email blast, you could increase your open rates by 19%. What’s more, 90% of customers say videos help them make buying decisions. And interestingly enough, most customers aren’t put off by low-quality videos. Although they might not love a marketing video that fails to explain something clearly (thusly failing to provide enough value), consumers don’t actually mind it if you don’t have a studio-level production team. In fact, many marketers are purposefully opting for the low-budget look because these videos read less like traditional ads and more like content consumers might consume on their own.
Video has become even more important during the pandemic. Already, it was estimated that 82% of all created content would be video by 2022. But COVID-19 has brought an 80% increase in content consumption, with video watchtimes quickly approaching 100 minutes per day on average. Video marketing can be an amazing way to bridge the gap, so to speak, when business isn’t still quite back to normal. It can allow you to communicate with your customers — and keep them around — during uncertain times.
Venturing into a brand new medium is no easy feat. But if you want to compete in the digital era, you’ll need to meet customers where they already are. At present, that means you’ll need to focus more on video content as part of your marketing strategy. With so many apps and built-in features available to you, you may not need to go out and buy any fancy equipment. But by giving consumers a captivating peek into your world and letting them get to know you through this medium, you may see an impressive return on investment before too long.
