If you have been following the content marketing trends in 2018 you know that your campaigns will hardly have any success if you don't utilise video content. In fact, video has been reigning the digital world for at least 2 years now and its influence is getting stronger and stronger. There are, of course, very logical reasons behind this trend. And since we are dedicating February to building lasting relationships with clients and increasing consumer engagement, let's see why video content marketing is so important in 2018.
#1. Powerful Attention Catcher
Motion pictures capture the attention of the user much quicker. Whether it is animated video with bright colours, or a recorded scene, it is at least 10 times more likely to make a person stop and spend some time watching the content. In the case of live videos, quite often you get notifications when your friends on Facebook start one, or if you have the Periscope app and have subscribed to a person's/brand's channel. What is more, with video content, you don't only catch the attention but get to keep it. Get this, 65% of users have watched at least 75% of a video's length in 2017.
#2. Simple to Digest
Our lifestyles tend to be much busier than they were a decade ago. And although, I don't believe avid readers will ever disappear from Earth, I do acknowledge the fact that they have significantly reduced in numbers. This is the reason why vlogging is becoming more popular than blogging. When you present educational or entertaining content in a video, it is usually much more concise, systemised and summarised than it would be in a blog post. This is so you try to fit a lot of information in just a couple of minutes as video production is quite expensive. From a consumer's point of view watching a video saves time! It also makes you feel like you are conversing with a real person. When you do live videos, you should always try to initiate a conversation with the people watching. Ask them if they have questions and reply real-time.
#3. Easy to Measure Success
The success rate of your video marketing campaigns is much easier to measure in detail than that of blogs, for example. Yes, data for written content is also available, but it will take you more time to analyse it in depth. For instance, when it comes to video you can easily find out how many people watched it and for how long; which parts got the most engagement; how many times it was shared and where; what were the reactions (extremely positive, positive, negative, extremely negative). It's all in one place and you don't need professional training in data analysis to understand whether you are in the right direction or not. Oh, and guess what? 71% of marketers report that video content brings more conversions than any other type of content they use in their marketing campaigns.
#4. A Good Boost to Your Email Campaigns
Do you feel like you've hit a dead end with your email marketing? Everyone is saying how important it is, but when you send your newsletters and special offers emails out, only a handful of people open them, even fewer take a step further and engage or convert. What if you tried including videos in your email marketing? Video content has the power to play on people's emotions, it makes them want to know more and that's how you get higher click-through rates. If you are promoting a new product or service, include video testimonials in your email campaigns.
#5. Great for SEO
In 2018 regular blogging will not be enough for a strong SEO. You must start producing videos with engaging titles, write meta descriptions for them and use the relevant tags and keywords, just like you do with your blogs. Also you need a YouTube channel. YouTube is now the second largest search engine after Google. An interesting fact that many don't know is that if you embed a video on your website, it is 53 times more likely to jump to the first page of Google.
Your video content must be interesting to watch. You will be able to complete this task when you find out what your ideal client finds interesting. Ask them what they want and then bring it to them. Don't make your videos too long. 80 to 90 seconds is the perfect video length for most platforms. If you are using mainly Instagram, stick to under 60 seconds or make your videos in two parts if they require to be longer.
Do you have any questions about video content marketing? Ask me! Also don't miss my live video sessions on Facebook every Wednesday, where I talk about content marketing and give tips on various business aspects.
Do you need to produce videos for your marketing campaigns? MBC started offering this service at the beginning of this year. We'd be happy to help with your video content marketing in 2018.
