Using video content has so many benefits for businesses because it opens up the opportunity to share information in a visual way. According to HubSpot, video is projected to claim more than 80% of all traffic by 2019. This is very significant, and its impacts are already very noticeable with how videos are increasingly showing on search engine results and social media. But in what ways can video help your business grow? Well, it gives you a place to build a story, establish trust, boost conversions & sales, and improve rankings with SEO. Keep on reading to fill your headspace with content marketing knowledge.
Take Hold of User Attention With Video Content
Build your story. One of the greatest things about video is that you can share a story related to what your company values, products you have, or services you provide. Something to keep in mind is to tell a real story to your audience. No one likes to be deceived. This means capturing reality, being convincing, not having a strict script, and sometimes subtracting narration completely. A key example of someone who does this well is Apple. Most of the commercials for their new products only have 2 things- visuals and audio- and it can be very moving to the audience.
Establish Trust. When you create a video campaign one thing you always want to keep in mind is, “How does this build trust between my company and customers?” One of the ways to plant the seed of trust is to not list out facts or details of what you are trying to sell. That is not what your customers want. Why? Because they have buyer power and are constantly comparing and researching your products and your competitor’s. So, tell them something they have not heard- a narrative, loyal customer testimonials, and your industry knowledge. These are all important potential videos to make to build trust with your customers because it introduces your brand, shows how others value your company, and proves to them you are an expert in your industry.
Boost Conversions & sales. Videos can boost conversions and sales because they are able to cover all types of ground for customer engagement. Here are the ways in which video does just that:
- Increased Visitor Attention: The viewers’ attention is instantly captured by the movement of peoples’ faces or other moving objects. Product videos are one example of this. This would entail showing you customer how they could use it in their everyday life. Your goal is to constantly prove your product or service has one thing- value.
- Social Sharing: Videos can become viral or at least shared amongst a large amount of people. People love to share videos of things that they find interesting, heartfelt, inspirational, or informative with their followers on social media. And when followers see that others take a lot of interest in that one video about a product or service, they are more likely to try it for themselves. This can, in turn, lead to more conversions, sales, and a larger customer base.
- Generate Leads: Do not leave your call-to-action (CTA) for the end of your videos. Sometimes people drop-off at different times especially if you are running over the max time a viewer wants to commit to it. When you add a CTA midway, while you still have their attention, it allows for you to nurture a potential lead by making them aware of their next steps. Another thing that you can use is a lead generation form. This would get your engaged viewer to watch a couple of minutes of your video, but in order for them to keep watching they have to complete a form (you still need to provide them with a skip option).
- User-Generated Content. This is content that your users make organically or that you motivate them to create. For example, one of your customers may create a YouTube video about how much they love your product or what features they wish it had. This would in turn lead to people viewing your product, feedback from a customer, and overall exposure from a video that you did not have to pay for. Customers love authenticity and that video-recorded review in someone’s living room can have more of an impact than your current TV commercial. User-generated content is also cost-effective, easily trackable (links), and can benefit your brand as a whole.
SEO. With a solid video SEO strategy, you can increase conversions, gain rich snippets, create brand awareness, get links and social shares. You can do this by creating a video sitemap that includes the title, description, running time, and the intended audience for each video contained on the site. These elements help Google know about the videos on your pages, which can improve the listing of your website in search results. It is also important to pay attention to your video titles and descriptions. Include 1-2 keywords while making sure it is engaging to the audience. Another element that will help ranking is the thumbnail of your video. The more relevant the thumbnail, the more people will click, and in turn this will help you with ranking in search engines. And finally, make sure your video does well in search engines by adding it to a well optimized page that is related to what your video is about.
There are so many benefits to using video content as a part of your marketing strategy. Make sure to draw out a story for your business and establish trust in order for conversions and links to come naturally. Draw out conversions and sales by embracing the benefits of video such as it being attention-grabbing, easily shareable on social media, a lead generator, and user-generated content. And make sure to improve performance with search engine optimization (SEO) to make sure you are visible to search engines like Google and Bing.
