The benefits of effective video marketing for your business or organization is not to be underestimated. The verdict is in and video marketing is a must-have in order to reach your business objectives. How effective is video marketing? In a report by Demand Metric, 83% of marketers claim that use of video is more important than it’s ever been. Another statistic from WYZOwl shows that 87% of businesses use video marketing as a trusted tool. Video marketing can help expand your audience and customer base. It can also help build your brand in numerous ways. Let’s take a look at why video marketing is so effective.
People Love Videos
Consider how often people watch video content today. And it’s not just young people. Videos are viewed on almost every social media platform by users of all ages and demographics. Video is a convenient, quick, and often fun way to consume content. YouTube has stated that more than a billion hours of video content are viewed on their platform every day. Other platforms have shared similar data that shows the popularity of video. One of the primary reasons video is effective for marketing is its shareability on social media sites; you may just post a video once, but it could be shared hundreds or thousands of times and seen by millions. To not utilize video for marketing purposes is simply silly.
Videos Help Display and Explain Products
Another reason effective video marketing works is that it helps display and explain products or services. Sure, you could write about a product’s effectiveness, but wouldn’t you rather see it in action? Videos are instrumental in helping users understand a product because the medium can create an immersive experience, capture dynamic angles, and use other techniques like sound, music, and editing to really capture the item in an engaging way. In addition to displaying a product in all its glory, you can also make an explainer video, tutorial, or include testimonials. Each of these types of videos can demonstrate how a product works and how it’s been helpful to users.
Videos Get a Solid Return on Investment
Some folks bristle at the cost of video production, but it should always be seen as an investment that is much more than one video. One video shoot could produce numerous videos, snippets, or clips that your company can use in multiple ways on multiple platforms to get new customers, advertise your product or service, and build your brand.
Depending on the type of video you want to make, you may also not need a very high budget. If you’re posting short clips to social media, this could be done on an i-Phone. Some quality might be sacrificed for frequency, which has its own benefits. (read more here). Return on investment (ROI) should be viewed with a certain perspective. Those only concerned with immediately making their money back should be mindful of other types of “returns” a video can provide, such as more website visits, an expanded email list, increased exposure from social media shares, referrals, etc. Each of these positive outcomes will ultimately affect your bottom line.
Videos Have Multiple Uses
Depending on your marketing goals, there are numerous ways to utilize video for your marketing campaign. As I stated earlier, there are many platforms to choose from, each with their own formats and sensibilities. Find the right platform for your content and proceed. YouTube is the king of video content, but many social media platforms allow for video today, like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or Tik Tok. You can have effective video marketing on each of these sites.
Short content like Instagram Stories have grown in popularity over the past few years. These can be cost effective alternatives to larger-scale video productions.
Live video has also become more popular. Going live allows you to engage with an audience in real time. This can be helpful for answering questions, explaining a product, or just building a community around your brand.
Webinars are another option for video marketing content. They are also used to answer questions, but can also be used to educate consumers about your company.
Of course, there are many more. Whatever you decide to create, find the right platform, produce it right the first time, and post away. For some ideas on what to post on Instagram, check out my previous blog post.
SEO
Another key benefit to video marketing is that it allows you to coordinate and track your search engine optimization (SEO). Analyzing SEO helps ensure that your videos get viewed by the right audience and it can inform what is working and what’s not so you can make adjustments for future posts along the way. These modifications help you tap into what’s working with the audience and avoid any pitfalls.
The primary way to capitalize on SEO is to use the right keywords or tags. Keywords are common search terms that users use when searching for content. By attaching certain keywords to your videos, it will help Google find your video and put it at the top of the list, thereby increasing the likelihood of your video being clicked on and viewed. “How to…” is a common keyword phrase. Make sure that the keywords actually align with your video. For more on video engagement metrics and SEO, check out this previous blog.
Google Loves Videos
Now that Google owns YouTube, videos have a greater impact on your search ranking. If visitors are watching a video on your site, Google will see this and determine that your website must be popular or trustworthy. As a result, Google will be more likely to bump you to the head of the line. As I stated earlier, optimizing your videos for Google ranking will help get you exposure. Add keywords to the file name, the video title, and the video description. Use a strong thumbnail image and consider adding timestamps as well. Each of these considerations will help your video be seen, which is the ultimate goal. Read more about optimizing your video for top Google ranking here.
KPIs
KPIs are specific metrics that allow you to track the performance of your video. This is obviously important for noting what’s working and what’s not. You want to continue doing what’s working well and stop doing what’s been ineffective. KPIs also allow you to measure the overall strength of your video. You should have clear objectives for each video and these numbers will help determine whether or not they were achieved. Here are a few types of KPIs to keep track of:
Completion Rate
The completion rate notes how many viewers actually watched your entire video. This is important to know because if viewers are stopping the video part way through, you’ll want to know why. If the audience is consistently stopping after 30 seconds, this may explain why they didn’t follow through on the call-to-action at the end of the video. They may also be responding to an aversive part of the video that you’ll want to avoid next time. This information can be used in multiple ways to make future adjustments.
Peak Concurrent Viewers
This KPI is helpful for live video posts because it tells you what the highest number of viewers was at any point in your live video feed. Again, this is notable because it can tell you when viewers were most engaged and for how long. Replicating what’s working is the key function of analyzing these KPIs.
(Wyzowl video marketing statistics report)
Videos Watched by Followers
TikTok tracks this KPI very well. It allows you to note which videos your followers have previously watched. Just click on the “Followers” tab and the information is already there. This saves you time not having to investigate manually. It even allows you to see what audio sounds they’re listening to. You can then try to make similar videos to keep your followers happy.
Traffic Source Types
This KPI gives you a more general overview of your audience and their sensibilities by noting where they have previously visited and what content they have viewed. The “For You” category on YouTube is where most viral videos are posted, so if you’re getting views from this section, then your videos are performing very well.
Playlists Overview
Another KPI to watch on YouTube is the playlists overview. It gives you a picture of how well your playlists are performing by providing you with various video metrics, including video save and views. The higher the engagement rate, the getter. If your playlists are not performing well, you can add a link to your playlist in a video description or refer to it early on in the video itself.
Conclusion
People love videos. The popularity of viewing content is only expanding and not going away any time soon. The video medium provides a multitude of opportunities for content across many online platforms. Depending on your goals, effective video marketing can be used in a variety of ways. Videos can help explain a product and engage with customers. Be sure to use various SEO techniques like keywords in order to boost your Google ranking. Google is using videos a lot more now, so take advantage of it. Finally, make sure you track key KPIs that allow you to see what’s working and what’s not. You may just be one small adjustment away from making a viral video.
