Video is the darling of social media now. Facebook announced earlier this month (in Nov 2015), that it has more than 8 billion (!) video views every day.
A few days later, Snapchat announced that it has 6 billion video views every day.
Obviously, there is a clear marketing trend evolving for 2016 and ‘video’ seems to be the most favourite media format for online marketers. Apart from recorded and edited video content, there are new Live streaming platforms like Periscope, Blab and Meerkat, creating more live videos than ever before. Driven by mobile consumers, social media users and global connectivity, video is here to stay for the long-term and it will only gain strength as time goes by.
If you aren’t convinced already that video is where you need to focus your attention, here is a list of Top 5 reasons with recent statistics that will push you over the edge and help you realize that video will be one of the key factors for online marketing success in 2016.
5 Good Reason To Focus on Video Marketing in 2016
1. Video converts better than any other medium:
“70% of marketing professionals claim that video converts better than any other medium” (source)
For a marketer, the mother of all metrics is ‘conversion’. Any activity that helps you convert deserves your time, attention and resources. And it is now a proven fact that video converts.
Actually this is not news. For decades, videos have been conveying messages more effectively to people than written content or images, in the form of TV Commercials. That is why advertisers still choose TV Commercials as their No.1 Choice for promotions. To give you an idea of how big video commercials are – in 2015, Super Bowl had 114.4 million viewers in the US and the average cost of a 30-second commercial on that day was $4.5 million! And obviously videos convert so much that companies were ready to spend $4.5 million for just 30 seconds.
But what is news is the fact that this powerful medium has now become affordable and available for small businesses, startups and nonprofits with smaller marketing budgets, thanks to the Internet. Digital marketing has democratised video marketing. You can now create an awesome, creative and value-adding commercial for your audience using your iPhone, and it might go viral with millions of views on Youtube. Now you have millions of viewers for your commercial without having to spend $4.5 million for a 30 secs slot!
I must also mention that what makes video so special as a medium of communication, is its unique ability to convey a message with a touch of emotion. You are not only telling the customer about the product benefit or features, but you are able to add an emotional element to it by way of music, visuals and special effects.
2. Video makes people stay longer on websites:
“Sites which include videos have on an average, extra 2 minute dwell time compared to sites which do not” (source)
We all hate high ‘bounce rates’ and low ‘average duration’ of visitors in our webpages. We want people to spend more time in our websites, mobile apps and social media channels. Video is your best bet to make that happen.
Videos can be so engaging that your prospects will want to stick to your website longer than usual. The longer they stay, the better are the chances of them taking actions like clicking a button, downloading eBooks or buying a product. Humans are visual beings. If you are able to engage them visually, you have their attention for a longer duration. This is a great opportunity for marketers.
3. Video is preferred over Text:
“59% of senior executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, on the same page, they prefer to watch the video” (source)
“6 in 10 millennials prefer to watch a company’s video over reading a company’s newsletter” (source)
When Skype was bought by Microsoft for a mind-boggling $8.5 billion in 2011, it was proof that visual communication was the future. As humans, we prefer pictures while communicating and when it is ‘motion’ pictures, it make it even better. The second statistics about millennials (above) also clearly indicates the emergence of video as the preferred medium by the upcoming generation, who will be your future customers. So future-proof your marketing by starting video marketing now.
4. Video communicates more Information in Less Time:
“A 1 minute video is worth 1.8 million words, according to Forrester Research’s Dr. James McQuivey” (source)
Attention spans of consumers are going down. Recently Telegraph reported that human span of attention has gone down from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 seconds in 2015. That is lower than the attention span of a goldfish, which is 9 secs!
With such less margin to work with, as a business you need an engaging medium like video to convey a message. As a digital marketing consultant, whenever I work with a B2B client or a client with a disruptive technology or an innovative product, I strongly recommend they use videos as the main communication medium. Simply because videos convey more information to their audience in less amount of time. There is so much information and communication overload out there, in order to stand out and get people’s attention, you need a way of conveying more information in less time. Videos can help you do that.
5. Video is the Future:
By 2019, in just 3 years from now, 80% of all consumer internet traffic will be video traffic, according to a study by Cisco (source)
Millennials will spend $200 billion annually online starting 2017, and nearly 1/3rd of millennials find it helpful to watch videos before making a purchase decision (source)
These statistics clearly indicate that video is the future. And no marketer or business can afford to ignore video marketing. Get started now!
