VIDEO IS A FANTASTIC & POWERFUL WAY TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS.
The average person watches more than an hour and a half of online video content per day (in other words – people love watching and engaging with online video). Video is shifting away from a complimentary, nice-to-have visual tool to becoming the main piece of content. Why? People don’t want to read as much and images aren’t nearly as dynamic as video. And the best news is that it is easier than ever before to create videos for your business – in fact, as long as you have a newer mobile phone you can create valuable video content for free!
And your video doesn’t have to be perfect. The content matters most.
Here’s a great example – this video by one of my clients has over 4,000 views on YouTube and it’s blurry (I don’t recommend replicating this but you can see that the content matters more than it being visually perfect). This is to showcase that it is better to have imperfect video than no video at all.
9 Reasons Why Every Business Needs to Create Video Content
1. INCREASES EXPOSURE.
It’s no surprise that YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine when one-third of online activity is spent watching video and 55% of people watch online videos every day. Through video marketing your business can garner exposure to a wider audience. In fact, 52% of marketers believe video promotes brand awareness making it a strategic move in reaching potential consumers who may not be exposed to your brand yet.
Plus, businesses using video receive 41% more website traffic than non-users. One reason – video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from the search engine result pages and having a video on your landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the search engine results. And the more creative you get with your video content, the more likely it is that your videos will be shared by users of different demographics.
2. BOOSTS CONVERSIONS & SALES.
Video is a highly compelling format medium for your customers. Companies who use videos in their marketing grow revenue 49% faster year over year than those who don’t use video. And 83% of businesses who use video say video provides a good return on investment. Did you know that including a video on your landing page can increase conversion rates by 80% and embedding video in an email leads to 200-300% increase in click through rates?
Furthermore, 90% of consumers claim a video helps them make a purchasing decision. If images boost engagement massively, imagine what video will do for your business. Video is the ideal way to demonstrate a product or showcase a service in-depth because instead of simply telling consumers who amazing your product or service is you can show them. According to a recent study by KissMetrics, leads are 64% more likely to purchase from your business after seeing a video.
3. BUILDS TRUST & GIVES YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY.
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Videos allow consumers to gain trust and connect emotionally with your brand. Plus, they increase brand awareness by 52%. If you show your face to your audience, they become accustomed to it. Scientifically, that builds trust with your audience. And when you get your customers to trust you, it’s much easier to sell them on your products and services. if you want to connect with your customers than video is the way to do it.
Additionally, consumers naturally build trust with other consumers which is why review sites and word-of-mouth is so effective. Use customer testimonial videos to build trust faster and more effectively than written testimonials.
4. EASY TO REPURPOSE ON MULTIPLE PLATFORMS.
Most content you create can only be leveraged across 1-2 channels. Being able to repurpose across multiple platforms and channels is one of the greatest benefits of video content. Video content excels on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. But you can also embed video content on your website. Educational videos can be turned into blog posts for your website. Google now allows video to be uploaded directly onto your Google Business listing. Spread video across multiple distribution channels simultaneously to reach your target market more effectively and contribute to revenue growth.
5. GOOGLE LOVES VIDEO.
One of Google’s recent algorithm changes transformed the search landscape thereby now prioritizing rich, blended search results which includes video content. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and it’s owned by the largest search engine in the world. Given that Google owns YouTube, you’re 53 times more likely to show up on page 1 of Google if you have video embedded on your website. About 25% of Google search results now contain at least one video so you can now you can rank not just your website in the search engine results but also your video content. Your videos can help your website get ranked for keywords that you’d never be able achieve through traditional SEO. It’s also an avenue that most businesses arent’ exploring.
Video can drive a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engine result pages. To get the most visibility on search engine results with video based on the types Google frequently shows – create the following types of video:
- Review / testimonial videos
- How-to videos
- Tutorial videos
- Sports or fitness videos
- Funny videos
6. INCREASES CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT.
People are ten times more likely to engage, share and comment on video content compared to blogs or related social posts. In fact, videos on Facebook Business pages increase end user engagement by 33% Videos are shared 1,200% more times than links and text combined. Twitter posts with video are six times more likely to be retweeted than posts with pictures.
When it comes to your website, video attracts three times more organic inbound links, drives 200-300% more unique monthly visits and increases click-through rates from search by 41%. Not to mention that all of this engagement also leads to higher conversion rates which means more new customers and increased revenue.
7. ENHANCES EDUCATION OF PRODUCT/SERVICES.
Tutorial videos and demonstration videos are 2 out of the 3 most effective types of videos and it’s no wonder why when the human brain prefers visuals – in fact, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and the brain absorbs 50% more information through video. 44% of consumers prefer learning about a product by watching a video and 65% of the population are visual learners which makes it a no brainer to combine video content with text content when describing or showcasing your products and services. 98% of consumers say they’ve watched a video to learn more about a product or service.
Consumers learn better with video, prefer video and video enables you to become well-known in your industry by simply educating your audience about your products and services. Not to mention consumers will retain knowledge about your products/services and business better than they would with images and text.
8. ENHANCES WEBSITE PERFORMANCE.
There are multiple ways that video content improves your website. Website “stickiness”, aka time spent on a page, is considered a valuable factor for Google’s ranking. According to Wistia, people spent an average of 2.6 times more time on pages with video than without. And the average user spends 88% more time in total on a website that includes video versus websites without video.
Plus, adding a video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80%. Product or service demonstrations and customer testimonials are preferred videos for pages that highlight your products and services. According to Animoto, a product video is four times more likely to be watched than read about in text. Adding video to your site gets people to stay longer and convert at a higher percentage.
9. VIDEO IMPROVES SEO.
One foundational aspect of SEO that has never really changed over the years, aside from shifting to focus more on quality than quantity, is backlinks to your website. According to WordStream, blog posts incorporating video attract three times as many inbound links as blog posts without video. Taking a unique approach to your video content can yield even better results such as the viral video from DollarShaveClub.com.
Prior to this video, most people had not heard of Dollar Shave Club but this single video went viral and acquired a massive amount of backlinks for the company. Leading news websites like Mashable, The Next Web, Techcrunch, Forbes and BusinessWeek all did articles about the video as did hundreds of other sites – all of which incorporated backlinks to the tune of approximately 18,000 backlinks.
Videos can create a surge of social media shares and engagement which also filter into Google’s ranking algorithm. As do time on site and bounce rate – which are both impacted positively by video. Additionally, Google’s Hummingbird update gives preference to websites with video content which enables you to rank higher in the search engine results. It also enables you to show in the organic search results more often and in multiple formats such as showing in the Google Maps section, organic links section and now video results. The more you show in the organic results, the more likely you are to get the click.
FINAL THOUGHTS.
If you haven’t notice, the importance of video is only growing. U.S. Internet users spend an average of 15 hours each week watching digital video and Cisco predicted that video will make up 82% of all internet traffic in 2021. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are investing more in video capabilities and content for a reason. And as a business you should too.
While many national and global businesses invest in video content, most local businesses have yet to adopt this strategy. If you want to get ahead of the competition, increase brand awareness and increase conversions, then it’s time to invest in video content.
Already doing video – share some of your success stories and best practices in the comments section.