THE IMPORTANCE OF VIDEO MARKETING

It’s the peak of the digital age and businesses are hitting the ground running, scrambling, trying to figure out how to improve and solidify their online presence. The aim for any brand in any field is figuring out a way to be thought leaders that are ahead of the pack in all avenues. With that said and as we move further into this content marketing driven era, there are major trends to look out for that will ensure successful strategy plans and the most effective one will most likely be video marketing.

Studies show that it is 50 times easier to land a spot on Google’s first page when your content includes a video. This presents a high probability to turn prospects into leads; which is key for ROI. According to a report by Cisco, by 2019:

That alone is a concrete indication that tells which medium to invest in during the coming years when aiming to make a success out of your brand.

Now, let’s take a look at the types of videos that are being utilized across the different types of social media platforms.

1.  Live Video

Videos are more memorable than words and make an immediate impression on the audience. Companies are able to convey emotion and authenticity; aspects that consumers appreciate. This also gives them an opportunity to take their customers behind the scenes and involve them in the process that takes place when creating products or conducting services. For an example, as a band, your audience can be involved in what goes on before your major show. With live streaming of warm-up sessions, sound check and all that happens backstage, you are able to build up excitement and suspense before your performance.  As a chef, you can host live streaming of your cooking sessions where the audience will have a live experience and be able to interact and ask questions concerning what’s happening in your kitchen and theirs. World renowned chef, Martha Stewart, does this very well. Live videos provide an intimate setting and feeling between a brand and an audience. An added plus is also the instant and real feedback during the engagement. Such is always rewarded with endless loyalty and builds a solid relationship.

The phenomenon of livestreaming was tapped into by social media personalities and celebrities who were able to launch and make a success of their careers purely by capitalizing on this form of marketing. Businesses recently caught a whiff of this and used livestreaming to introduce their new products to their audience; get immediate feedback on current products; showcase their events; and connect with their audience on social & political issues. An example of this was when Starbucks hosted their first live event back in September 2016 at Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, NY for National Voter Registration Day. This highlighted the American coffee powerhouse’s involvement in the community and allowed users who couldn’t make the event an opportunity to still be informed on the importance of voting. It brought in a couple of representatives, rapper & actor, Common, and Starbucks chairman & former CEO, Howard Schultz; who all encouraged participating in the political exercise.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are social media platforms that can be utilized for live video broadcasting. Each of these are making strides towards ensuring that they provide best video features because that’s what’s predicted will be a major medium used in the coming years. They are also making sure that improvements implemented fully accommodate mobiles – another factor companies can use to their advantage.

Two incredible platforms currently using live streaming properly are Instagram and Facebook. Instagram first made its live video feature available to over 70 million U.S. users. It allows you to broadcast a video in real-time on Instagram Stories. Celebrities have run fully with this feature and now use it to interact with their fans, hosting exclusive interviews and Q&A sessions. It is now available globally and is currently one of the biggest live video features after Facebook Live.

Facebook Live of course, is still the leader of the pack. The number of video posts per person on Facebook has increased by 75 percent globally and it has put in a lot of work to ensure that Facebook Live is user friendly.

2. Branded content on YouTube

YouTube has seen an increase in the number of brands working hand in hand with creators on branded content opportunities such as sponsorship, promotions and product placement. Google has even taken this as an opportunity to acquire Famebit, a technology platform company that helps creators and brand find work with each other. In 2016 alone, the top 100 advertisers increased their spend on YouTube video ads by 50 percent. These are advertisers who know and understand the power of video marketing on YouTube. Did you know that YouTube has over a billion users, making up one-third of all people on the internet? And that every day these people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube, generating billions of views? With such statistics, it is without a doubt the platform you want to expose and market your brand on.

3. 360 video

As videos evolved, brands started experimenting with new technology such as 360 video. With Facebook 360 for example, companies can showcase their most interesting stories in an innovative and immersive way. To create 360 videos, all 360 degrees of a scene are simultaneously captured by a special set of cameras. That means during livestreaming, Facebook viewers can choose what angle they want to see a scene from. On mobile devices, this is done by dragging with your finger or turning the device. On the web, viewers can use their cursor to drag the video around. Businesses can take this on and enable their viewers to be able to be part of live video fully from all angles. It provides unlimited possibility and encourages engagement. It has been said that 360 videos have over 3 times the conversion rate of traditional video content and a 30% higher repeated view rate. This proves that your audience is likely to respond and engage if they have immersive, 360 video content to interact with. 70% of marketers who have used 360 videos say it has increased engagement for them, which every brand ought to seek after. The more people engage with your video, the more data you can collect. That will be the type of information to tell about their preferences, which part of the content they were most interested in and all other useful information you can use to develop and refine your marketing strategy.

Businesses should create video strategies and think how these can be tied into their existing marketing effort. What events, products or services do you have within your business that could be translated into video content?

WHY VIDEO MARKETING IS VITAL FOR ANY BRAND SUCCESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Take a look at an interesting infographic Here. https://www.16best.net/blog/brands-using-video-marketing/

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