Last year, we reviewed and reported on the state of inbound marketing. This year, is it still the...
With 54% of consumers wanting to see branded video content from businesses, 55% of people consuming video content thoroughly rather than skimming and a predicted 82% of all IP traffic being represented by video content by 2021, as a marketer, is video really something you can afford to ignore?
For growing businesses, video marketing is a beneficial means of interacting with your target market and growing your brand. Here are more benefits of video marketing and the reasons why you should use it now.
- More customers are watching video
- Video complements marketing strategies
- Optimised videos are easily found by Google
- Video aids with branding and consumer trust
- Using video shows you keep with the times
- Using video, consumers are more likely to buy
- Live video is increasingly popular
- Capitalise on video to gain further advantages in your industry
- Video marketing is constantly evolving
1. More customers are watching video
Video content is fast-growing, relevant and enjoyable. At the time of writing, the second biggest search engine globally is YouTube, right after Google. There are approximately 1.9 billion monthly users on YouTube - an insanely large number. That’s almost one-third of all internet users and represents over a billion hours of video watched daily.
What I’m trying to convey is the size of the market we’re talking about. You have the opportunity to tap into a huge pool of potential customers by adopting video marketing into your strategy.
I’m not saying you’re going to get over a billion hours of watched content every day, but you’re going to see a lot more interaction if you capitalise on the video trend. For example, it’s been shown that adding videos to your product pages can increase purchases by 144%.
So who is your target market? 18 to 34 year old’s watch more video content than anyone else, but that’s not to say if your audience is older video shouldn’t still be a key part of your strategy.
2. Video complements marketing strategies
What's great about video marketing is it can perfectly complement your current marketing strategy.
If you're currently doing weekly blogs, you can convert those blogs into a video format or even add further content in the form of video.
Helpful how-to blogs can be made into how-to videos. This offers your audience another way of engaging with you and it translates your content into another popular format.
3. Optimised videos are easily found by Google
If you take the time to create and optimise your videos for search engines, you can bring organic traffic to them. This means choosing the right video platform, creating an engaging thumbnail, making sure the page it’s on is relevant and SEO optimised, writing eye-catching titles and descriptions… There’s a lot to cover, but it’s worth the effort.
If you’re uploading content to YouTube, you can include links in your videos and video description. This is just another example of how video can help bring people to your website.
Links can come at a price. Don't put too many links or ads into your videos. If the viewer feels like they're being hassled with ads they’ll become more resistant to your marketing attempts and even see you as a nuisance. That's not the inbound way.
Furthermore, with AI able to transcribe video audio, search engines can use these transcriptions to easily discover relevant videos based on a search.
4. Video aids with branding and consumer trust
Video can provide a personal, holistic and engaging connection quicker than with copy. But, these two mediums should be used in tandem to present your organisation as helpful, knowledgeable and human. Video helps a lot with those last two.
If you provide extra content, given by yourself, your colleagues or employees in a genuine and down-to-earth manner, you’re more likely to create trust. That’s what inbound marketing is all about - building on consumer trust and using it to create relationships. At the end of the day, we’re not here to sell, we’re here to educate.
Employee interviews and behind-the-scenes footage are fantastic ways of showing the human side of your business. These videos can build engagement and a relationship between your business and potential customers.
For example, we love providing extra inbound tips and tricks for anyone willing to learn. We do a lot of it in the form of video, why not explore some today?
5. Using video shows you keep with the times
Inbound video marketing is a modern means of promoting your business. Customers appreciate businesses who are up-to-date because it means they're still relevant. They’re still keeping their fingers on the pulse of modern culture.
Plus, video doesn’t even have to be conventional these days. With new technologies such as live video, the ‘stories’ feature on Facebook and Instagram, video filters and more, you’re no longer expected to just create simple narratives. You can even explore virtual reality as an immersive video experience, with 64% of marketers saying it’s been a successful strategy for them.
6. Using video, consumers are more likely to buy
More and more people are going to YouTube to be entertained and to learn. Some people go to YouTube before making a buying decision. Video product reviews are popular because they give an insight into the product and are usually honest, compared to an advert.
This also works for product videos embedded into the actual product pages on your site. Almost 50% of internet users look for product-related videos before purchasing and four out of five consumers say product demos were helpful.
Videos of your products and services are beneficial. There’s also the possibility of vloggers, influencers and micro-influencers reviewing your products on their specific social media accounts.
With influencer marketing being the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition channel, it makes sense to try and get your products reviewed by industry-relevant personas. They’ll help to increase your audience and develop a particularly impressive ROI for your efforts.
7. Live video is increasingly popular
Live streaming via Facebook and Instagram Live has been used by businesses and celebrities alike. It’s exactly as what says on the tin: videos that are filmed live. If you can do live filming well, there are heaps of rewards.
One of the major benefits of live video marketing is it encourages people to engage and post comments. This engagement gets people involved. On Facebook Live, the person(s) being recorded can see the comments and respond.
Similarly, Instagram launched IGTV, where one hour long videos can be uploaded, rather than using Stories which have a time restriction. With more and more people consuming video content on the go, watching their phone in the ‘vertical’ position, IGTV is a great way to gain from this ever-growing trend.
8. Capitalise on video to gain further advantages in your industry
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of video marketing at the moment is that not many businesses are actually using it.
The latest State of Inbound Report revealed creating how-to and product videos were only a top priority for 26% of marketers. That being said, the trends for using video is on the rise with 45% of marketers saying they plan on developing content for YouTube within the next 12 months.
Because of its current rarity in marketing circles and the upward trends concerning its usage, it makes sense to get in on the trend early and carve out a niche. This is your opportunity to get ahead and use video now - before your competitors do.
9. Video marketing is constantly evolving
Because of new technology, video marketing is easily enhanced, taking your average video and making it truly engaging. So what upcoming trends are there to benefit from?
1:1 video
With anyone being able to record video at any time, short, targeted videos are easier than ever. This more personal style of videoing is a great way to supplement your targeted emails. Personalised videos can be recorded and sent to various demographics at separate stages of their buyer’s journey.
Targeted video is valuable to lead nurturing and developing a great open communication channel between you and your customers.
360 video
Alongside VR, video is getting a 360 degree revamp. Including a 360 degree element to your video re-enacts that VR atmosphere without the need for any headgear or other tech. It allows for an easy immersive and interactive experience.
So where can you begin when implementing video content to your inbound marketing campaigns? Where can you find the best information and research to use as a guide? Look no further.
Explore the benefits of video today and get started
We’ve created a FREE video fundamentals to get you started with creating an impact with video.
You'll discover all the tips and tricks, best video creation tools to use and how we learnt from our own mistakes plus loads of handy resources and templates to set you on your way to video success.
Click the link below to enroll in the video fundamentals course.
This blog was originally posted in 2016 by Stephanie Barnes. It was updated ready for 2020 by Jack Cribb.