It’s no secret that video is great for marketing your business. In fact, it’s fast becoming the go-to form of content for marketers across the globe. Loom Account Manager Thom Popejoy explores what makes video content so valuable to businesses and advertisers in 2018 and beyond.
In a world where people are constantly bombarded with sales messages, the competition for a viewer’s attention is at an all-time high. Ads have made their way into peoples’ pockets, with more internet users browsing the web on their mobiles than their desktops. This competition for attention presents a challenge for anyone who wants to market their business online.
So, if you’re asking yourself: How do I present my message in a compelling way? How can I get it seen & heard? Look no further than video, the most popular online media form today.
Why use video to market your business?
Marketing videos have become ever-more commonplace on the web. According to Wordstream, 72 Hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds – that works out as nearly 104K hours of video going onto YouTube every day!
Thankfully, the demand is there for this content. The high consumption of online video represents a key opportunity for businesses. For those who want to increase brand awareness, website traffic and conversions, videos should be treated as a top marketing priority.
Key Facts about Video Marketing
Not convinced? Let’s have a look at some key facts that explain why videos are such a valuable tool when it comes to engaging today’s audiences online.
- We’re all watching video content. Internet users are spending more and more time online watching video, especially on their smart devices.
- In fact, mobile video usage has increased by nearly 10 million daily viewing minutes in the last two years, according to Kleiner Perkins.
- According to Wyzowl, in 2018 85%of businesses regard video as an important part of their marketing strategy, a figure that’s up from 82% in 2017.
Videos drive awareness and website traffic
It’s clear that video can be a valuable tool for online marketing. However, a common misconception among businesses is that it’s best used as a branding tool rather than a website traffic generator.
But the truth is video can be used successfully for both branding and traffic acquisition, making it an extremely diverse and rich marketing tool for businesses.
For example, videos can be used:
- At the top of the sales funnel. They will frame your proposition, introduce your identity as a brand, identify pain points for the user, and present your main USPs.
- At the point in the funnel after the consideration phase (decision time) where businesses hope to convert the user. These videos tend to build on what has already been seen in the brand awareness stage. They will include more in-depth information about the brand and emphasise USPs and points of difference to competitors.
To generate traffic, the trick is to use video strategically within the consideration phase of a user’s buying journey. Social media is one area where this can be effective. Successful videos at this stage of the funnel will send high quality, engaged traffic to your site that is more likely to convert.
Videos help you convert
Aside from traffic and awareness, video has also proven to be highly effective at pulling people from the consideration stage into the conversion phase on the sales funnel.
In fact, in Hubspot’s Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2018, they state that using videos on landing pages will increase conversions by 86%. A further stat from Buffer shows that companies using videos in their marketing have 34% higher conversion rates than those that don’t. Furthermore, according to Animoto, 96% of viewers find video helpful when making purchase decisions online.
While it’s clear there’s a correlation between video content and conversion, simply placing a video on your website isn’t enough to guarantee better results. You need to ensure your video content speaks to your audience in a compelling way that results in a conversion.
So, when making your videos, you need to consider if your video:
- Is compelling and useful
- Addresses the concerns or questions your audience might have
- Is memorable and on-brand
- Is the right length
Once you have the perfect video crafted and have considered the pain points of your audiences, you should be in a good place to reap the benefits.
Videos can be found on Google
In addition to using videos on social media and landing pages to drive awareness, traffic and conversions, they can also be searched for on Google. This presents another potential source of engaged viewers who can discover your video.
So, if you want users to find your video organically, upload it to YouTube. Why?
- YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world, processing 3 billion searches every month.
- The global video-sharing network is also the 2nd largest social network with 1 billion users, second only to Facebook!
- YouTube is owned by the largest search engine (Google). Because of that, YouTube videos get extra exposure in Google’s search engine rankings.
General keyword research can be used when you upload your video content to YouTube. By applying some of this basic SEO optimisation to your video’s description, title and meta data, your video content is far more likely to reach audiences who are searching online – creating a whole new audience for your video.
In addition, videos with a high CTR (click through rate) on YouTube will send a positive signal to Google around their popularity and usefulness. This means that if your video has a high CTR Google is more likely to reward it in the SERPs, helping your video to rank organically and gain extra visibility.
Top Tip: Create and upload a transcript for your video using your priority keywords. Google’s crawler bots will read the transcript, titles and metadata to understand that video content. If you can optimise supplementary text using effective keyword research, Google will favour your video in the SERPS.
The Power of Video: In Summary
Put simply, video content can do three things very well: deliver brand awareness, drive traffic, and help to assist conversions.
If you are a business struggling to get engagement on your content, using video will help you in these ways:
- Reach new audiences
- Improve awareness of your brand
- Increase traffic to where your most valuable and helpful content is
- Help to convert potential customers who are between the consideration and final decision phase
- Keep your brand looking fresh and relevant.
Let Loom help you market your online video
Our team of digital marketing experts can help you make your video work harder online. Get in touch with our team at [email protected] or give us a call on 0117 923 2021.
