Every successful business knows that content marketing is a major part of improving conversions and attracting new customers today. However, too many businesses rely solely on writing and stagnant imaging and ignore one of consumers’ favorite types of content marketing: video.
In today’s fast paced world, many consumers prefer a short video rather than a long article to describe a product, service, or concept. Most people learn better when they can both hear and see the information, so videos often translate better to the customer’s way of thinking.
In fact, according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words to a consumer when it comes to swaying an audience. If you were to write 1.8 million words on a blog post, it would take approximately 3600 pages. A simple video does the work in a fraction of the time.
Furthermore, a study by comScore, a website that measures online engagement, shows that 100 million people watch a video on the internet each day. Many of them only watch the most viral productions, but excluding that, the average person spends nearly 17 minutes watching online video ads and product descriptions every month.
When you take into account the fact that most videos are no longer than two minutes, this averages out to about two videos per person per week.
These statistics and more speak to the overwhelming power a video has when enticing customer engagement. ComScore also showed that 90 percent of shoppers find videos extremely helpful when making a purchasing decision, and that 64 percent of customers are likely to purchase a product or service after watching a video.
If you’re interested in making a powerful statement in very few words, consider these four ways that you can use video marketing to improve your company’s marketing strategy.
1. Engage Blog Followers
A blog doesn’t only accept blog posts and other written content. In fact, the most successful blogs go beyond the written word and use video to engage their followers. Oftentimes, a video blog, or vlog as it’s popularly called, is a great way to break up the monotony often found on single-media blogs.
As you create your video, keep in mind a few important things. For starters, you have an average of ten seconds per video to attract a viewer’s attention. After 10 seconds has passed, the viewer will usually click away from the video, and never get to your call to action.
Furthermore, it’s extremely important to optimize your video content for mobile use. On average, the desktop viewer has an attention span of two minutes or less, but the mobile user has an attention span of between two and a half to five minutes. Keeping these steps in mind will promote success with your vlog posts.
2. Describe Your Brand
When people visit your website, often one of the first things they wonder is exactly who you are and what your mission is. You could write a lengthy “about” page, but it’s tricky to say just the right thing without getting long, wordy or confusing. You’re also limited in the amount of images you can use to describe your concept.
Render Forest, a video production company, puts the effectiveness of video best:
“Let’s face it. In nowadays’ fast-paced world, users prefer a short fun video to a textual content (even if it’s a quality one) if given a choice. So, promoting your website through an explainer or company introduction video can be considered [an] effective strategy.”
To see this concept in action, watch a sample video on their site. The one-minute video shows the company mission in an extremely visually appealing way without taking up much time at all. The proof is there; a single, comprehensive video describing your brand could be the key to drawing in more conversions, building loyal customers, and enticing customer referrals.
3. Enhance Landing Pages
Most of your outside content generally ends with a call to action that has one goal in mind: get people to your website. A call to action is an extremely effective way to do that, but it doesn’t end there. You need an effective landing page so that when customers visit your website, they want to stick around.
A video is one of the best ways to keep them engaged from the beginning. “Video should be used on your landing pages whenever possible,” according to Unbounce.com. “It provides a passive engagement medium where visitors can experience your message with very little effort.”
Attract their attention immediately by programming the video to play as soon as the webpage opens. You’re almost guaranteed at least 10 seconds of viewer attention, which is often all it takes to land a customer.
4. Garner Social Shares
The key to getting your brand out there and attracting the attention of a wide audience is getting social shares. Because of the gripping nature of the screen, videos are much more likely to gain attention than blog posts. This is particularly true since videos take less time than blog posts.
The best way to get social shares is to create a video that people want to watch. Offer a video that’s mutually beneficial to both parties. Instead of creating a video entirely for the purpose of driving conversions, create a video that will also educate the viewer or provide some value for them.
For example, though not the only one worth using, humor is a universal emotion that provides value for viewers. If you can create a commercial that makes a reader laugh, and then tie it into a call to action that directs them to your website, you’ll have created a video that brings value to all parties. Consumers think the video is worth sharing with others, and you get more brand attention and conversions.
In short, if you want to make a powerful impact on your consumers without taking up too much time, video marketing can be a very effective part of your marketing strategy.