Author: Adrien PERNET
Date of publication: 06/04/2022
Some 8 billion videos were viewed every day on Facebook in 2020. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to go a day without watching a single video. Videos are undoubtedly part of our daily lives, and they can appear everywhere when we surf the Internet. Whether you are on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, your Twitter thread or even for professional purposes on LinkedIn, you can never escape videos.
That shows the importance of posting video content on the Internet: videos are everywhere! It is precisely because of the omnipresence of videos in our society that it becomes unthinkable to ignore them, especially in digital marketing.
Even if you've always been reluctant to produce and publish this kind of content, for whatever reason, it's definitely worth taking the plunge. So, finding your interest in publishing new video content is the main role of this article. As there are a lot of benefits with marketing video production, I will explain why every business should spend a lot of time on it throughout this article.
Why haven't some businesses used video marketing yet?
Why haven’t some businesses used video content yet? It’s definitely the first thing to do in order to figure out why some marketers still haven't made video content creation part
of their marketing action plan. This question must be asked in order to understand the real reasons why some companies are still not visible on YouTube, for example. It's not specifically because they don’t like videos.
On the contrary, many reasons mainly highlight an incapacity and a lack of means, more than a perplexity about the effectiveness of this type of content. For example, it is interesting to note that according to a study proposed by the website Wizowl, almost a quarter of marketers (23%) don’t use the creation and publication of videos simply because they lack time. Another interesting fact: 16% of marketers don't know how to do it and where to start. In the end, these people or companies may have the will to use video marketing, but they have difficulties to start using it.
It is essential for these businesses not to consider videos as a secondary activity, a kind of "extra". On the contrary, it is necessary to give oneself as soon as possible the means to make and publish videos, and especially to define a real digital marketing strategy.
Nevertheless, according to the same study, 13% of marketers still think that they would not need to use video marketing. Although everyone is in some way affected by this article, I would like to highlight to unconvinced people the added value that video marketing can bring to their business.
Capture viewers' attention
This is maybe the most important benefit of a video. Why a benefit? Because it offers countless possibilities, especially since this attention is focused on a number of elements. For instance, such elements could be the brand itself, the logo, the content, the product presented, the seriousness displayed, the notoriety (e.g., via the number of subscribers, views or comments) and many others!
But there is a question that some of you might legitimately ask: why waste time and money creating videos when unique visuals such as photos are in principle easier to create? To be honest, opinions can easily differ on this subject. One could say that it depends on the platform, the target group and the product itself.
It’s still possible that sometimes "fixed" content is more appropriate. However, many indicators seem to show that video would be a major asset for a business: according to Facebook, our attention would be 5 times more important for a video than for static content.
Of course, it is important to qualify this statement: it is obvious that the length of the video is crucial in this process of capturing attention. Producing video content is a good thing,
as long as it is effective and relevant.
We know from Facebook that on average, users from this social network tend to look at each post for 1.3 seconds. In other words, the room for maneuver is extremely limited and this shows the importance of working on the first few seconds of your video (which could be the subject of another article). If you don’t succeed to capture the attention of your viewers during the very first seconds, they will simply scroll away.
Create an easily assimilated message
What does “an easily assimilated message” mean? This simply means that the user will find it much easier to relate to the message that is highlighted. Ask yourself this question: do you think you would retain more information from text or video? Yes, in addition to the attention process that I just tried to valorize, video has a real power when it comes to our memory and the different elements that we will be led to retain, unconsciously or not.
It is mainly the "versatility" of this format that allows this. Indeed, the video makes it possible to include visual elements. However, that is done in a much more dynamic way, with sounds and animations which will generally allow better memorization. In any case, the statistics are clear: video is clearly the best thing in order to retain a message and information. This statistic is pretty interesting in our case: viewers keep in mind around 95% of a video message, versus only 10% of a basic text message with similar content.
The difference is impressive and clearly shows the need to insist on this format. For example, posters certainly have a greater impact than simple text, but probably to a much lesser extent than videos. You will see for yourself that you will be able to share more information than a simple static visual. This seems to be confirmed in the results, with 84% of people having been convinced to buy a product thanks to the brand's video (Optinmonster).
Whether a static visual can convince the viewer or not, what is left afterwards? Nothing. The user will simply scroll down his page. In the case of a video, if the attention stage has been successfully passed, the main part of your message will be delivered anyway after a few seconds watching the video. That’s the reason why you need to spend enough time at the beginning of the video. In this way you are more likely to be rewarded for the time you spent creating this kind of content.
Increase your visibility and your brand awareness
Yes, videos are one of the best ways to increase your visibility and expand the potential of the market targeted. This is the case for a number of reasons. First of all, you will be able to attract new potential customers, especially among young people, who are very fond of this kind of content. I could even say that if you want to attract a rather young audience, you should not waste a single minute to develop your marketing strategy for the videos you are going to post on the different networks. Especially since young people are obviously the most connected, videos have the ability to attract everyone, as long as they have at least one account on a social network.
On the other hand, it is obviously necessary that you diversify your content. If you always propose written posts or simple visuals, you will have less chances to interest people, especially since videos have a much less repetitive and dynamic character that really appeals. It’s as simple as that: the more relevant videos you offer, the more people you'll be able to attract. That is how you will increase your brand awareness.
It is more than a message that you will deliver, it is also a whole brand image, made up of many elements to take into account:
The logo of your brand (via the homepage or the famous watermarks that we often see on YouTube)
The identity of your brand
The seriousness displayed (if the content seems reliable and consistent)
Your popularity (yes, it has a large impact on people’s mind, who need to be “reassured” by your credibility
And many more information about your brand
That's why you should never neglect SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This is because it is an efficient way to optimize the display and referencing of your videos, especially via Google, which requires a set of specific rules to know well. A better referencing for a better visibility and thus an increased popularity. It sounds simple enough, but it can be if you take it seriously. This is fundamental when you know that video traffic allows much more interaction with users, and therefore much more visibility: 2 times more shares than a simple photo!
What you should retain from this article
The main thing to remember from this article is that you can't and won't ever do without Video Marketing on social networks. The evolution of users' expectations makes videos more and more indispensable. You will be able to increase your presence on social networks (yes, all social networks) and to transmit a clear message to viewers more easily. In addition to these elements, you will create what we could call a "climate of trust".
The few businesses that still don't use video content almost put themselves aside and this quickly shows up in the number of views, shares and interactions in general. Mind you, I'm not telling you to only focus on video marketing. Of course, you should continue to create and publish a maximum of varied contents, but you should take into account the real opportunity that video marketing represents. I hope that this is what you will remember from this article.
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