Video marketing is a video that is published online through video hosting services, video sharing sites, social media, or your own website and is used to drive traffic and awareness for your brand.
The video can be about your business, product, service, or client testimonial. Video marketing is not only about the video itself but the entire process of video creation and most importantly the promotion of the video. Think of it as visual storytelling with an added component of marketing.
The rise of mobile phones and smartphones has made video accessible at all times and on all devices. With those technologies available almost anywhere now, this makes it even easier for people to view videos on a daily basis.
Video is very powerful because it can create an emotional connection to the brand, product, or service even more so than an image. The video production process makes people emotionally engaged and invested in watching a video rather than skimming past an image.
The last thing you would want for your potential customer is to see your advertisement image and leave right away without knowing what you are selling which is why video marketing strategy has become crucial for businesses online.
What are some benefits of video marketing?
Video engages users on an emotional level that photos cannot do alone. Videos give viewers the opportunity to communicate with you. They will feel more responsible for what they are looking at because it’s a video, not just an image.
Video marketing is scalable and easy to share through social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. This makes your audience reach even bigger by their friends or family seeing your video content. The more people on your video, the better it is for you.
Think of it as free advertising because people are talking about or tagging their friends in a video that gets new people to come across your product or service while it’s being shared through social media sites.
Videos give viewers some kind of emotional reaction whether they are sad, happy, or shocked. People can’t help but share what they’re feeling with their friends and family on social media sites.
This reaction has tremendous value for your business because people will talk about your video on social media more often than not which leads to new viewers on the original video.
Video makes it easier to rank on search engines than written content alone. The search engine algorithm prefers video content over anything else. This means you are more likely to show up on the first page of Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc for your targeted keywords if you have a video to go along with it.
Videos are great for SEO ranking because they’re extremely engaging and this engagement signals search engines that users are interested in what you’re selling.
People who watch videos are more likely to retain information presented in the video vs. reading text online because your video will be the first thing to search for results viewers see on a search engine up.
Video marketing is the future of web content.
Marketing agencies have begun to include video in their digital marketing campaigns. Video marketing helps businesses connect with the audience through creating a human connection more so than any other marketing method allowing customers to be visually entertained while also learning about your brand/company/product.
Video marketing can be used as an expensive option for moving pictures product demonstrations that are more helpful than using images only on social media sites.
Businesses are always looking for new ways to grab attention on social media feeds especially when competing against countless brands and companies all fighting for the same real estate which is why video has become essential in social media strategy planning.
With Facebook’s new algorithm, you can soon give up posting photos altogether if you haven’t been utilizing video already.
A successful video marketing campaign requires a combination of film editing and storytelling skills that require advanced knowledge in digital media. Simply filming with your smartphone and publishing directly to YouTube will not ensure you’ll get views, likes, and comments.
The key is effective branding and knowing your audience putting in the effort before, during, and after publishing your finished product.
Branding ensures that when people see the video they know it is from your company or website even if it’s someone else’s video because you’ve built an emotional connection over time through repeated branding materials such as logo design, color schemes, etc.
Knowing your audience means knowing what they like and don’t like as well as what type of content interests them so you can create a video that is right for their personal preferences.
In order to have a successful video marketing campaign, you need to have engaging content, social media promotion, email distribution lists, and an advertising budget from day one.
Without a budget for marketing, it’s unlikely that anyone will see your video online which defeats the purpose of creating it in the first place unless you’re doing it purely for fun with no intentions of going increasing brand awareness or driving leads.
If your goal is increased revenue then video needs to be part of your digital marketing strategy from day one. Once videos are created it is important not to neglect them by leaving them unmonitored and unattended.
Always monitor your videos after uploading to social media channels to see what people are saying about you especially if there’s a negative comment or something that catches your attention.
