It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words, and have you ever wondered how many words a video says? Forrester claims that 1 minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. Therefore, video content is 1200x more effective and generates more likes and shares than textual and image content combined. Regardless of your niche, video content can be valuable to your marketing strategy. Let us introduce you to video content marketing, its benefits, and its challenges.
Why is video important?
Let’s see some statistics.
According to Hubspot, 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. 96% of consumers watch a video to learn more about a product or service, and 88% say video influences their purchase decision. Video is increasingly dominant content, and Cisco in Forecast Highlights predicts that more than 82% of traffic will contain video by 2023.
If you’re still wondering if your marketing campaigns need video, keep in mind – 90% of the information the human brain receives is visual and processed 60.000 times faster than textual. That’s why video dominates social networks; Google search adores it and registers it as high-quality content.
Video content marketing should definitely be part of your digital marketing strategy.
What is video content marketing?
Video marketing is the process of planning, creating, editing, publishing, and promoting video content to promote a brand, company, or product.
If you are thinking about starting a video content marketing campaign, you first need to define the video’s goal. You will further define the type of video you will make, how to promote your video material, where you will publish it, who your video is for, and what metrics you will track after the video campaign launch.
How to create a video marketing strategy?
Video marketing has taken over the Internet and social networks. Formats, functionalities, and advertising platforms are adjusted, and you can use them for your strategy. YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the most frequently used video channel. The TikTok platform also has great potential, especially if your target audience is young.
Video is currently the most prevalent content used in advertising, and video tools have never been more accessible. To create a video marketing strategy, follow these steps:
- Set a clear video marketing strategy.
- Define your video marketing goals.
- Devote time to the preparation phase, and develop the script and storyboard.
- Keep your videos short. The engagement rate significantly drops after 2 minutes.
- Making videos interactive will boost engagement
- Insert a call to action in all your videos.
- Create video material adapted for both mobile and PC users.
- Promote the video on YouTube (Google holds it and, therefore, is excellent for SEO) and all available social media.
- Track and measure the success of your video marketing campaign.
If you plan to place the video on your website, focus on key messages and your USP (unique selling proposition) – points that make you stand out from the competition.
If you plan to use video for your campaign on social networks, consider that they are full of content, and try to make your video content stand out from the rest. When preparing a video for social media, follow the rule that the shorter, the better – if you can say everything in 30 seconds, do so. People often watch videos without sound, so make the video understandable even without the tone – add subtitles.
YouTube is an excellent channel for all things video, considering it’s the most significant video search engine. Keep optimization in mind because youtube can do wonders for your SEO – include keywords and phrases, and enter tags in the description and title of the video.
Even after a campaign, quality videos generate great results and views.
Benefits of video content marketing
Here are some of the most prominent benefits of video marketing:
Video marketing builds a relationship of trust with customers.
Trust is one of the elements influencing the purchase decision, and video, the most intimate type of content, encourages trust in the brand. Video allows you to connect with customers in a meaningful way. They’ll get a chance to know your brand and its mission.
Video improves information retention.
Viewers retain 95% of the information after three days when watching a video compared to a modest 10% when reading text.
Video increases the time users keep on your page.
Customer retention is essential since it’s easier (and cheaper) to retain existing ones than to attract new customers. 88% of users spend more time on pages with video content.
People love video content.
69% of people prefer video over text when learning about a brand and its products or services. They say it’s easier to watch a video than to read a block of text, and you should give them what they want.
Videos boost conversions.
Video on a landing page can increase conversion by up to 80% cause it gives customers a better idea of a product or a service they are about to purchase.
Video is excellent for SEO.
Don’t forget to upload a video to YouTube. As mentioned, YouTube is powered by Google, and video results often beat textual in SERPs. Optimize videos and enter all necessary tags. If you make a viral video, you’ll get a ton of backlinks which are the basics of off-SEO strategy.
Videos boost email marketing campaigns.
Here are some interesting statistics – 81% of marketers use videos in email campaigns since it increases the return of investment (ROI) and click-through rate (CTR). Using the word “video” in the email subject increases open rates by 19% and CTR by 65%.
Challenges of video content marketing
We can divide the challenges of video content marketing into two categories. The first relates to the costs of purchasing equipment and software for video editing. Equipment is more affordable than it used to be, but it can still be a significant expense for start-up businesses.
The second category is more worrisome because success depends on it – it is the creation of a video marketing strategy and content that will cause engagement and interest of users. The video should be likable enough to make users want to share it.
Finally, marketers should study video metrics to understand how much ROI video brings. This way, they can make necessary improvements and make them as effective as possible.