If you think the rapid growth of video isn’t relevant in the financial and corporate world – think again. The fact is, from the C-Suite to person on the street, people would rather watch a short snappy video about a certain issue or product than read it in text format. If a picture paints 1000 words then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million says Forrester’s researchers.
According to Cisco, by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic. Video-on-demand traffic alone will have almost trebled. YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors every month watching more than 4 billion videos. Earlier this month, Facebook cemented the trend with the introduction of video profile pictures – a further sign of where things are headed online.
Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future and it’s not hard to see why. According to Invodo, video in email can boost open rates by 20% and increase click-through rates by 65%. Stats from CodeFuel show the average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video than without.
So what’s the best way to tap into what is arguably one of the best tools in the kit for any social media campaign or SEO exercise?
I’d recommend applying some of the basic rules of communication:
• What is the purpose of the content – what gap does it fill?
• Consider the audience you are trying to reach – is the video is relevant to them? If not it will be a wasted effort
• Be creative – not only in the videos themselves but also in the campaign strategy you build around them
• Have a clear distribution strategy – to realise the full potential you need to make it easy for users to find and share it. Promote the video across your social channels – if you don’t have any then we can help here too
• Be prepared to make an investment – while plenty of platforms such as animoto.com and Periscope are free to use, not everything will go viral. You will need to build paid media spend into a campaign. These costs need to be planned out in your marketing and communication strategy
In an age of information overload it’s vital to offer content that is easy to digest, if not your customers will simply move on. Engage viewers and they will share the video with others. They will spend more time on your website and more time interacting with your brand.