With online videos quickly becoming a key means for people to satisfy their information and entertainment needs, small businesses that fail to include it in their internet marketing strategies will do so at their detriment.
Most internet users really don’t have the luxury of time to read through all you have written, so if you can make it simple and fun, trust me, your message will sink deep into their minds.
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For example, the first time I heard the Indomie “mama too good” advertisement, the song stuck in my head. It was like I had it on replay mood inside me and that’s the first thing that crosses my mind when I think about Indomie noodles.
That’s the same with your product, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an advert with children jumping around but it could be a simple video where you share tips on how to use your product or the benefit in engaging your services.
For small scale businesses, videos will work so well as part of your marketing strategy because, most people are yet to engage with your product or service online so creating fun videos that entertain, educate and inform your ideal audience will help spur your ideal customers to engage with you to experience the benefits.
Various studies show more than half of companies are already making use of the medium – a figure that’s predicted to rise as more and more realize the possibilities. Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future.
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According to Cisco, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic in 2017. I won’t be wrong to say video is the future of content marketing.
When it comes to potential reach, video is peerless. YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors every month – that’s more than any other channel, apart from Facebook. You can also share videos on Facebook as well.
A recent campaign from Volkswagen, for example, saw a trio of its videos viewed a combined 155 million times. If such numbers seem out of reach for companies without 12-figure revenue streams, they at least demonstrate video’s inherent shareability.
Engage viewers and they will share the video with others. They will spend longer on your website and more time interacting with your brand. For any social media campaign, any SEO exercise, video is without doubt one of the best tools in the kit.
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It is naturally engaging and, in an age of information overload, it’s vital for small businesses to offer content that is easy to digest; if not, consumers will simply move on.
Video does this very well. If a picture paints 1,000 words then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million, according to Forrester’s researchers.
Let’s see reasons why you should include video to your marketing strategy.
Video boosts conversions and sales for small businesses
Videos can make you some serious money. Adding a product video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80%.
And Treepodia team has made it sure that video works well regardless of the category in which it is deployed.
Video can also lead directly to sales. Studies show that 74% of users who watched an explainer video about a product subsequently bought it. So better start crafting your exciting product videos now!
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If you think about it, the effectiveness of video is not even that surprising. After all, vision is our most dominant sense.
Most information transmitted to our brain is visual. So if already pictures can boost engagement massively, imagine what moving pictures can do to your business.
Video shows great ROI
To get you even more excited, 76% of businesses say that video provides good return on investment. Even though video production is not yet the easiest nor cheapest task, it pays off big time.
Besides, online video editing tools are constantly improving and becoming more affordable. And even your smartphone can make pretty decent videos already.
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Another good news is that your videos don’t have to be perfect. It’s the content that matters! Latest research shows that users are mostly put off by videos that don’t explain the product or service clearly enough.
Low quality and poor design didn’t matter nearly as much. So it’s fair to say that video is like pizza – when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good!
Video builds trust
Trust is the foundation of conversions and sales. But building trust should be a goal on its own. The whole concept of content marketing is based on trust and creating long-term relationships.
Stop selling and let the people come to you by providing them interesting and useful information.
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Video does it all. Video content is likely to engage us and ignite emotions. And when we talk about elite people in the audience, YouTubers has become the most powerful social media figure to promote your brand. So, if you are serious about content marketing, you must be serious about video, too.
Promotional videos can foster trust as well. Some consumers are still skeptical about buying products and services on the internet because they of the fear of being cheated. But effective marketing videos present your products in a conversational form.
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That creates a sense of individual approach which is why 57% of consumers say that videos gave them more confidence to purchase online.
Google loves videos
Videos allow you to increase the time spent by visitors on your site. Thus, longer exposure builds trust and signals search engines that your site has good content.
Moovly gives us whopping statistics: You’re 53 times more likely show up first on Google if you have a video embedded on your website. Since Google now owns YouTube, there has been a significant increase on how much videos affect your search engine rank.
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Make sure to optimize your videos on YouTube for SEO. Write interesting titles and descriptions. Add a link back to your website, products and services.
Give potential customers the way to take the next step. And explore the world of interactive videos, to encourage actions even more.
Video appeals to mobile users
Video and mobile go hand in hand. From 2012 to 2014, mobile video views have increased by 400 percent. YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100% every year.
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Since people like to watch videos on the go, and the amount of smartphone users is growing, your video audience keeps getting bigger and bigger.
In addition, Google tells us that smartphone users are twice as likely than TV viewers and 1.4 times more likely as desktop viewers to feel a sense of personal connection to brands that show video content or ads on their devices.
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That being said, brands need to be sensitive to the personal experience people have on their smartphones. For example, give them a better choice in the video content they consume.
Video can explain everything especially for small businesses
Launching a new product or a service? Create a video to show how it works. 98% of users say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
That is why 45% of businesses who use video marketing said that they have an explainer video on their home page. Of those businesses, 83% said that their home page explainer video was effective.
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Trying to explain a difficult concept? Create animated videos. Animation can bring concepts to life that no text or live video can.
Besides, boring talking heads are not enough anymore to break through the clutter. Animated videos are a perfect combination of entertainment, nostalgia and simplicity. And they work.
Video encourages social shares
In the 8th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report Michael Stelzner stated that 60% of the social marketers used video content in 2015 and 73% of the total respondents planned to use it in 2016. And they sure did.
Social networks also encourage video content with their new features.
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Facebook has launched 360 Video, Live Video, and Lifestage (A Video-Centric App for Teenagers). Instagram put in place 60-Second Videos & Instagram Stories, Twitter has Periscope. And YouTube is the second most popular social network in the world.
However, in social media context video marketers must remember that people share emotions, not facts. 76% of users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining.
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So create fun entertaining videos to encourage social shares. Emotions are not exactly ROI but social shares can increase traffic to your site, and you can take it from there.
Boosts brand awareness
Consistency is a key ingredient to a successful content marketing strategy. This means publishing fresh content at a regular frequency, creating many opportunities for a target market to see the company’s name.
Your brand becomes familiar to them, and you’ll be top-of-mind the next time they need your services.
Builds an identity as a trusted expert
If there are 10 plumbers in a town but only one provides helpful information that educates the community about plumbing maintenance, problems, options and innovations, that brand will stand out as the expert.
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By doing this, a brand is demonstrating its expertise, so prospective customers need not question or research its know-how.
Since this small business is helping consumers without getting paid for this advice, it will also earn a reputation of being trustworthy.
Encourages your customer to take action
When consumers need to spend money or make time for a service, it’s natural to procrastinate.
However, once a consumer gets clear answers to his or her questions, or hears a story that he or she can relate to, that person could finally be motivated to make a purchase or schedule an appointment.
Producing content that guides a consumer through the buyer’s journey (awareness, evaluation and purchase) results in more sales.
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Creating a steady stream of fresh information on a variety of topics opens several avenues to drive traffic to a website – through search, social media, traditional media and more – which ultimately results in phone calls, orders or foot traffic.
Marketing tactics that are already in place, such as pay-per-click advertising, digital banner ads, public relations efforts, social media accounts and search engine optimization don’t work as well without content to promote.
These vehicles need something to talk about and link to. Publishing new, relevant content gives people a reason to click.
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Covering unique, timely and seasonal topics will interest a broader audience and encourage repeat visitors. It also boosts ranking in search results, making it more likely that potential customers will find your small business before one of your competitors.
Keeps your website fresh
Most consumers today rely on the web to find information they need to make decisions. So, a website often will be a consumer’s first impression of that business.
A stagnant, stale website is less interesting and less professional than one with updated content that changes regularly.
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Undecided consumers who are researching their options might check out a website and social media presence more than once.
When they come back, seeing something new and relevant makes their visit a better experience — and shows that the brand is a professional organization.
Conclusion
But is video really possible for small businesses?
Absolutely. Production costs have fallen significantly in recent years and you no longer need to be a technical whiz to work out how to use it.
Apps such as Twitter’s Vine, with its six-second maximum clip length, have dramatically increased the opportunity for businesses on a limited budget to get stuck in.
Nevertheless, if you’re to realize a decent return on your investment, you will need to bear the following in mind.
Video advertising is becoming more and more affordable and widespread. Partly because advanced technologies but also because it’s easy to spread across the globe.
Making marketing videos for your business requires creativity and knowledge of human psychology. The cocktail of these components makes it possible to create real miracles of advertising at minimal cost.
Emotionally charged, creative video advertising can be spread on the Internet in a matter of days, getting millions of views. And this is the whole point of video marketing: the only creative survive!
Always consider the audience you are trying to reach and ensure the video is relevant to them. If it’s not the most appropriate means of getting your message across, you are probably wasting your time.
Do not neglect social media and be sure to promote across multiple channels. If you want to fully realise video’s potential, you must make it easy for users to find and share it. Don’t neglect mobile either.
A tenth of all video plays happen on mobiles and tablets, and it’s an increasingly important segment, with mobile phones holding 41% more share of video consumption at the end of June 2013 than at the start of that year.
Finally, be creative, not only with the videos themselves but in the campaign strategy you build around them. As my head of marketing likes to say, creativity wins over the cost of production every time.
Get that bit right and video won’t just be the future of content marketing, it’ll be the future of content marketing for you.
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