While we’re all aware that search engine giant Google is the largest search engine on the planet, not as many people realize that the world’s second-biggest search engine is actually video platform YouTube. Google owns YouTube and the two platforms tend to integrate when it comes to Google search queries.
With video as a part of your marketing mix, not only can you rank your videos high when someone searches a particular topic on YouTube, but you can also get those same videos ranking high in a Google search as well.
In this post, we’ll be looking at some key reasons why businesses and brands really need to get serious about video marketing and to make it a regular component of content generation.
#1 – Videos Are More Personal
This is especially the case when there is an actual person presenting the video. It allows the audience, and potential customers, to see a real face behind the brand, product or service. Text-based content is fine, but it’s somewhat aloof. Video has become so popular because people connect better with visuals and it’s far more engaging.
Not all videos have to show someone’s face, but even a human voice over goes a long way towards making that vital connection.
#2 – More People Are Preferring To Watch Than Read
Written content will always have its place, but one of the key reasons why video has literally exploded is more and more people are getting too lazy to read the text and would much rather watch a video to discover information.
Do people enjoy watching TV, but how many people like reading subtitles?
With video, you can fully engage your audience with visuals and sound without them feeling like they have to sift through mountains of text to find what they’re looking for.
It’s simply an easier and far more relaxing way to consume content.
#3 – Enjoy More Conversions and Sales With Video
A popular video can bring in decent income just through monetization with ads alone, let alone the sales and conversions your business can achieve through incorporating video into your content marketing mix.
It’s been said that even the act of adding a video to your landing page itself can increase conversions by up to 80%.
Explainer videos that demonstrate a product, like a visual product review, will generally lead to far more sales than a page of text that describes the same product.
The best method is to have a landing page that talks about the product, have a video on YouTube that demonstrates the product, and also embed that video into the product’s landing page.
#4 – Video Helps Build That All Important Trust Factor
The art of getting people to buy products and services is to build trust. Anyone who is successful with email marketing will always make this claim, and it works the same with video.
When people only ever see the text on a page, they really have no idea who they are dealing with, but video changes all that. If they can see your face and/or hear your voice, suddenly their trust levels are raised exponentially.
Video engages peoples’ emotions too, which is another key way to get people to trust you and buy from you.
If you’re selling products and services entirely online, many people are still reluctant to hand over their money for fear of being scammed in some way. The video goes a long way towards alleviating their fears and enticing them to take action.
#5 – Want More Visitors From Mobile? Make More Videos
Video is the most popular type of content mobile users consume when they spend countless hours looking at their phone screens. From YouTube to TikTok and everything in between, video is a massive market for mobile internet surfers.
It’s been reported that some 90% of mobile users watch videos on their phones. That’s a huge market that you don’t want to miss out on.
Even YouTube has said that video consumption on their platform increases by a minimum of 100% each year.
#6 – Videos and Social Sharing Go Hand In Hand
You’ve just got to scroll through your Facebook feed to realize how often people share videos. They are everywhere on social media, from professionally made corporate videos, music videos, right down to someone filming the latest news in their neighborhood on their smartphone.
The more entertaining, informative and engaging your video is, the better chance there is that it’ll be shared, and shared multiple times. It’s in this way that certain videos end up going viral, and that’s
exactly what you want to happen to one or more of your videos. Just one viral video could generate leads and income for many months to come and in big numbers.
#7 – Advertise On Other Videos
Another way to capitalize on the burgeoning video market is to simply create an ad and run it on other people’s videos. Naturally, this isn’t a free method and will require an advertising budget, but it’s a quick and easy way to take advantage of the immense popularity of video.
All those monetized videos we watch every day on YouTube have ads playing at the start of the video, and even sometimes during the video. This is a key area where businesses can really cash in with their advertising.
#8 – Use Video In Your Email Campaigns
The video could be embedded within the email itself, or users could be directed to a landing page that hosts the video, or the YouTube platform itself.
If you have a solid email list of loyal subscribers, many of them will be more than happy to watch a video you’ve prepared if the content is engaging and relevant enough.
It’s really the same principle as we talked about before, where people are getting lazy to read and would prefer to watch a video to glean information. People are also getting lazy when it comes to reading long emails, so a short email that directs the reader to a video is proving to be a far more effective approach.
#9 – It’s Easier To Explain Things In a Video
It’s far easier to explain something in a video than it is to describe it in text format. You also have the advantage of visuals to demonstrate exactly what you are talking about.
Animated videos are a fantastic example of how video can be used to explain complex subjects so everyone can readily understand them.
#10 – Embedded Videos Increase Dwell Time
What’s dwell time?
It’s the amount of time a visitor spends on your website, and the longer the better. Google loves this, as it says to the search engine that your site must contain valuable information and it will help your site rank higher.
You don’t even have to have your own videos on your site. You can simply embed relevant videos
from YouTube and this will increase dwell time on any page that contains a video.
The Takeaway
Vision is our most dominant sense, so it’s little surprise that video marketing can be so effective. Get serious about video and include it in your content marketing mix now.