The Importance of Video in Digital Marketing

Marketing trends come and go but using videos in digital marketing is here to stay. According to Cisco, by 2022, 82% of all consumer internet traffic will come from videos. This estimate is 15 times higher than that in 2017. Video marketing is rapidly growing and does not show signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Why Use Videos in Digital Marketing

SEO

Google prefers videos and makes this pretty clear with their algorithm – the presence of videos on your website makes it 53 times more likely for it to rank on the first page of a search. Additionally, these aren’t random meme videos – they’re informational videos. According to Wordtracker, these make up 80% of video content served up in SERPs.

In addition to making informational content, videos should be transcribed. Not only does this allow more people to access the video (UX design), but also allows Google to look through the transcription for relevant content. Marketers should also pay attention to titles, meta descriptions, and keywords since these will improve ranking. Additionally, since videos result in consumers spending more time on your website, it increases page authority, and thus, search engine ranking.

Videos Are Shareable

Videos are clearly shareable, as everyone knows from personal experience, but if you’re looking for proof, the numbers back up this finding as well. On Facebook alone, videos are shared 12 times more than both, links and text posts combined. This holds true across different platforms – Twitter has said that tweets with videos are 6 times more likely to be retweeted than those with an image.

Videos Work Across All Devices

According to eMarketer, 75% of all views come from mobile devices. As more and more people increase the time spent on smartphones and consumers watch videos on the go, it is no surprise that people are 1.5 times as likely to view videos on their phones. Because videos work across all devices, they’re excellent for SEO purposes too.

Videos are more sharable than other types of content, but what’s fascinating is that 92% of people viewing videos on their phones will share the video with friends or family. Clearly, mobile users are a large part of your video audience, which is why videos need to be optimized for different devices.

One way to do this by making the videos square-shaped so that users do not have to flip their phones. Square-shaped videos have been known to get 275% more views, 523% more comments, and 482% more shares!

Establishes Trust

In order for conversions to take place, consumers have to trust the brand enough to give it their business. One of the ways to establish trust is by producing high-quality videos. If your video is in 360p, people aren’t really going to take you seriously. Additionally, you won’t be able to showcase your product or service properly, which will automatically result in low conversions.

When thinking about advertisements, most people don’t think about trust – consumers assume advertising is meant to “trick” them into making a purchase. Influencer marketing on YouTube has changed this for the better – with consumers’ favorites showcasing your items in their videos, the audience is made aware of the brand, and the halo effect causes them to convert. Trust in the influencer is automatically transferred to trust in the brand. 40% of millennials trust YouTube content, and 60% go as far as to say that some videos have changed their worldview.

Behind-the-scenes videos are also known for building trust since the brand is being transparent. Other trust-building videos include testimonials and tutorials. Tutorials are especially important, with those watching demos being 1.81 times more likely to buy the product or service than those who don’t.

Knowledge

Videos provide knowledge to consumers in a format that is more digestible than text. In fact, 90% of customers say that watching videos helps them make purchasing decisions, and 64% say that they purchase products after watching videos of them.

97% of marketers agree that watching videos allows consumers to better understand their products and services. This is applicable to both, before and after purchases, since many people seek out videos for explanation post-purchase. In this way, videos are the new user manuals – why would you go through a boring manual when you can watch a video that teaches you the exact same thing?

Videos Engage Audiences

Over 1 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every day, with it being the second most popular website (after Google) on the Internet. These numbers may seem astonishing but understanding why videos engage users the way they do may help you comprehend them.

One of the reasons videos are so engaging is because human beings are visual creatures. 90% of the information processed by our brains is visual, and videos are much more memorable than either audio or text. In fact, when visiting a webpage, 80% of people watch videos compared to only 20% reading text. Because they watch videos, people also tend to stay on a webpage for a longer period of time, with 2.6 times more time spent on pages with videos as compared to those without.

Increased Sales & ROI

Adding a video to your landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%. This staggering number is why video marketing is flourishing, with more and more businesses investing in it. In fact, 85% of businesses use video marketing, and 95% say that they’ll continue to do so. Having a video on the landing page also results in a 41% higher click-through rate than a page with just text.

As previously mentioned, videos engage audiences, are shared more and increase trust. All are factors that lead to conversions, and thus, increase revenue.

Use Videos in Digital Marketing

As you’ve gathered by now, videos are an essential part of digital marketing and should be used to make the most of any campaign or content. However, video marketing can involve a lot of nuance, which is why a lot of firms outsource it to digital marketing experts.

If you’re interested in discussing this more or any other topics on digital marketing, feel free to contact me to keep the conversation going!