On YouTube alone, people spend 1 billion hours watching videos every day. Consumers not only love watching videos online, but they’re also willing to shell out cold hard cash if they like what they see. Marketers often think they need fancy equipment and decked-out studios to make videos for their marketing campaigns. But that’s not always true!

High production quality is often associated with higher trust, but it doesn’t mean much if the content isn’t engaging. As long as your video is engaging, then you will still see results from your video marketing (even if you have a tight budget). 

But what is it about video marketing that makes it so effective? Let’s dive into how video can help promote your business.

What Is Video Marketing? 

Video marketing essentially just means videos that are made to support a marketing campaign! 

There are multiple ways that you can use video to capture your audience’s attention. You can host Facebook live streams and demo your product, or you can create tutorial videos to explain how product features work. 

You can even slip an educational video into your email marketing campaign for a potential 300% increase in click-through rates.

 

The 5 Benefits Of Video Marketing 

1. Higher Conversion Rates

The end goal of any marketing campaign is to make a conversion. Video marketing can help cinch the deal. 

Video can convey emotions in a way that text can’t. A great example of this would be testimonial videos - watching a customer explain how a product helped them, builds trust with the viewer. Video marketing can leave a lasting impression on viewers and turn them from casual browsers to loyal customers or returning visitors.


2. Builds Trust

84% of consumers say that they engaged with a brand after watching a brand’s video.

Video can help build trust in a few ways:

  • Show off your brand’s personality
  • Emotionally connect with the viewer
  • Educate and inform your audience

All of these qualities help build trust, which is why marketers should invest in video marketing!


3. Shows Up On Google 

youtube video

Did you know that videos can help your SEO efforts? Try typing in “How to tie your shoes,” and you’ll see a video that will show up as the first result.

Yup, before any articles, the first result is a video. It’s a massive opportunity for businesses to use video to show up on search engines like Google. 

In addition to the first-result SEO potential, videos keep people on your page longer, and remember, search engines will consider your content to be more trustworthy if people spend more time on your website. This could mean a massive bump in your rankings.


4. Engages Your Viewers

Video can engage even the most casual Internet scroller. It takes little-to-no effort to consume video content compared to reading longer articles.

66% of people would prefer to watch a video to learn more about a product or service. Considering that only 18% of people prefer reading text-based articles, it’s clear that video easily is the best format for creating engaging content. 

Pro Tip: For ultimate engagement, add subtitles to your videos. Many people watch videos with no sound because they are already listening to music or are watching at work. Subtitles will help increase the chances of your videos being watched instead of skipped. Some resources to add subtitles to your videos include Wondershare uniConverter or Subtitle Edit.


5. Encourages Social Shares

Social media video marketing is one of the most effective ways of getting noticed online. A recent study shows that people are twice as likely to share video content with their friends compared to other content types.

Instagram has many options to share videos like IGTV and Instagram Stories. Putting video content on this platform is a great way to build your audience as there are multiple ways users can share your videos. 

Some people think organic Facebook reach is dead. But even Facebook admits that their algorithms tend to favor videos, especially live streams, due to their high engagement from users.

If you want to increase your chances of going viral, you’ll want to consider social media video marketing. 

 

How To Get Started With Video Marketing 

Now that you know what video marketing is and why it’s so effective, let’s talk about how you get started. The first step is to create a strategy, and you can start by answering these three questions:

1. Who Is Your Target Audience?

If you’re an established business, then you’ve probably already created a reader persona that describes your ideal reader or visitor. Now you need to create videos that answer their questions, identify their pain points, and describe how your content, product, or service can help. Here are just a few examples that you can use:


2. How Often Will You Create Video Content?

You need to consider how frequently you’ll want new video content. Do you need an updated educational video to explain new software features? Or maybe you host weekly live BTS videos to connect with your audience and show them what you’re working on or your creative process! 

Once you establish how often you will create videos, then you can create a process to produce and publish them.

3. What Are Your Goals And KPIs?

KPIs (or key performance indicators) are essential in determining if videos are successful. 

Depending on your goals, the metrics you should look at include:

  • Play rate (People who began watching the video)
  • Social shares (People who shared your video)
  • Conversion rate (People who became leads or subscribers)
  • Number of views (How many people watched the video)
  • Engagement (How much of the video was watched)
  • Click-through rate (People who clicked the CTA or onto your website)
  • Engagement (People who comment or react to your video)

Pro Tip: The following are some goals to consider for your video marketing strategy:

  • Increase awareness KPIs include play rate, social shares, and number of views
  • Increase engagement KPIs include engagement, feedback, and social shares
  • Increase conversion rates KPIs include conversion rate and click-through rate

So, have you been using video marketing in your business? What results have you seen?