7 Impossible-To-Ignore Reasons to Start Video Marketing in 2017

Growing up Dad used to lug around this bulky old handheld camera to capture birthdays, family holidays, and far too many backyard dance concerts. The footage was nearly always blurry and the sound barely audible, but Dad took a lot of pride in building our family movie collection. And when everything moved to digital, he spent days trying to convert the precious memories to DVDs.

Now day’s I’m capturing, receiving and consuming homemade video content every single day without so much as a second thought – whether that’s in the form of a funny snap of my friends cat, a quick cooking demo video on Facebook, or checking out a live stream of the event I couldn’t make it to.

The bulky handhelds have been replaced by super slick smart phones complete with clever little video apps to make things as easy as possible. And the time spent cataloguing, converting and storing homemade video recordings has become practically non-existent as our videos are instantly saved to the cloud or preserved through our social media uploads.

Thanks to the widespread adoption of video recording and distribution through smart phones, video has become more and more ingrained in our everyday lives – with social channels such as Snapchat, Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook (which announced last year that videoship had doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion in just a matter of months) fuelling the rapid rise of video consumption online.

Popularity and consumption of online video shows no sign of slowing either, with Syndacast estimating that a whopping 74% of all internet traffic in 2017 will be video. This is something that businesses are starting to catch on to. And as more brands dedicate resources to creating and distributing quality video content, more funding and investment is poured into technology that favours the video-marketer.

We now stand at the brink of an online content revolution where video will be the crowning jewel in the online marketer’s crown. The arguments in support of video marketing are starting to stack up and soon businesses who fail to get on board will be left behind by their faster moving counterparts.

Still not convinced?

#1 People connect better with video

In today’s noisy digital world we’re all suffering from information overload. Videos are a refreshing escape that helps cut through the chatter.

People find it easier to comprehend and recall information and are more likely to experience positive emotion through video – with tone of voice, facial expressions, and music all playing its part in building such strong connections.

Don’t believe us? Check out these facts.

• The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text so it’s much easier for people to process video content.
• Tests show that video-based multimedia material delivers greater learning performance and more positive emotion—even in text-centric learners.
• 4 times as many consumers would prefer to watch a video about a product than to read about it. (Animoto.com)
• 71% of consumers say that videos lead to a positive impression of a company.

#2 Videos build trust

Trust is the foundation of customer loyalty. With video, you can quickly attach a face, personality, and tone to your brand that allows you to make more meaningful connections and build long-term trust.

Video also helps make intangible online interactions more personable and provides greater transparency – all adding to the trust factor.

Consider these figures:

• 96% of consumers find videos helpful when they are making purchase decisions online.
• 57% of consumers have said that watching videos gave them more confidence to purchase online.
• 58% of them consider companies that produce videos to be more trustworthy.

#3 Videos generate more engagement

Considering people connect better with video and are more likely to trust brands that use video, it’s no surprise that video content gets higher engagement (views, likes, shares, embeds, clicks etc.) on social media. When it comes to video and engagement, the data is pretty hard to ignore…

• Audiences are 10 times more likely to engage with video content more than text-only blogs or related social posts. (convinceandconvert.com)
• 76% of users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. (Dreamgrow.com)
• Organic Facebook engagement is highest on posts with videos (13.9%) (locowise.com)

#4 Google loves video (so it’s great for SEO)

Rich media, such as video, is proven to improve search performance. In fact, by adding video to your website you can increase the chance of a front-page Google result by up to 53 times!

Why does Google love video so much? Well besides the fact they now own Youtube, it really boils down to how people interact with video. Videos keep people on your site much longer and increase average session duration time substantially, which is just one of the trust signals Google looks at when determining where to rank sites.

#5 Videos are serious fuel for the conversion fire

Considering all the good things we’ve learnt about video, it should come as no surprise that video significantly boosts your conversion rates. According to EyeWideDigital, having a video on your landing page can increase your conversion rate by 80%.

There’s plenty of other case studies and data to support this.

• Zappos has been using videos for years, using real people (their employees) to showcase their products. The videos have improved their sales by between 6 and 30%.
• Having an explainer video to show visitors the value that you offer can boost conversions by as much as 20% according to data published on Unbounce.
• 71% of marketers say that video conversion rates consistently outperform other marketing content. (Convinceandconvert.com)
• Video in an email leads to 200-300% increase in click-through rate.
• A study of online fashion retailers showed that those using video on product pages saw a 134% boost in conversions while an A/B test of a fitness product sales page saw a 46% uplift in clickthroughs to the purchase page when the sales page included a video.

#6 Everyone is moving to video

In the fast-paced ever-changing world of online marketing, it’s pretty easy to fall behind. Well, we’re here to let you know that if you don’t start thinking about video this year, it’s likely you’ll be one step behind your competitors.

Wouldn’t you prefer to be one of the early movers, rather than the one lagging behind?

• 76% of marketers plan to use video to boost their brand awareness campaigns over the next year.
• 96% of B2B companies are planning to use video in their content marketing over the next year.
• Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future

#7 Accessible video-favoured tech is on the rise

As more businesses flock to video production, we’re seeing a rise in affordable video technology and greater innovation in video marketing capabilities through social media – making it more accessible than ever to start getting real results with video marketing.

• Facebook launched 360 video and live streaming and is making big steps towards being completely “video-first“. They’re also boasting some sweet advertising options for video content.
• Instagram put in place 60-Second Videos & Instagram Stories.
• Twitter has Periscope (another live streaming platform).
• Snapchat has quickly become one of the fastest growing social start-ups, thanks to its video-sharing focus.
• And YouTube is the second most popular social network and second most popular search engine.

Convinced yet? Let us know how you plan to use video in 2017!