October 17, 2019 By SmartBiz Team

The role of video in content marketing is a significant one. There’s no denying its growing popularity, which is why people are jumping on the bandwagon by using moving images in their content marketing strategies.

What makes videos so popular? Other than its ability to engage viewers, research states that over 80% of those who have implemented videos in their marketing strategy had a significant return.

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Why Video?

Here are a few reasons why content marketers are turning to videos to gain traffic:

Easily Digestible

Videos are easy to digest. The truth is, we’re visual learners and if we have to choose between a long block of text and a short movie, there’s a high probability we’d choose the latter. Images are much easier on the eyes and easier to process compared to text alone.

Ever heard of how a picture can mean a thousand words? Now imagine what a video could do. A video has the ability to keep viewers engaged. This means the message meant to be delivered will be conveyed much more effectively and the information will be retained much longer. This means a lower bounce rate for your site.

A Bigger Audience

Since it’s easily digestible, a lot more people prefer watching videos. Due to this, there’s a bigger audience for videos compared to other types of content.

Other than that, social media platforms are embracing video content. Youtube was one of the biggest sites with videos. But today, Instagram, Facebook, and even Twitter are abundant with video content.

For example, Instagram released an extension of their photo-sharing app called IGTV which is basically a vertical version of Youtube. This shows that social media platforms are aware of the potential of videos and are incorporating it into their interface.

SEO Loves Videos

Videos are an SEO gold mine. Did you know that sites with videos embedded in their pages are more likely to appear in Google’s top search results?

When you use search terms such as “how-to” or DIY projects, you would expect to see at least one video in the search results. This is because Google loves videos and ever since they acquired Youtube, videos have been receiving favor from the search engine giant.

Using Videos For Your Business

How can you implement the use of videos into your content marketing strategy? There are lots of ways to use videos to showcase your business, connect, and educate customers. Here are a few to get you started:

Create product videos

According to a report by Wyzowl, 97% of businesses who use explainer videos says it helps viewers understand their business better and 73% of people who watched a video ended up buying the product in that video.

If you’re confused about where to start, give product videos a try. Or, if you offer services, you can use videos to outline your services too. Provide viewers with information on how to use your product or service and its benefits and features.

Get Candid

People who buy your product or service want to get to know you and trust you. So, it’s important to build that trust with your viewers by being transparent.

Show your viewers what it’s like at your company by giving them a behind the scenes look at how you run your business.

Answer Questions

Sometimes your customers have questions but sometimes you might not be aware. So, where can you find those questions?

You can go to public forums or check out tools such as Answer the Public to find out what people are searching for. Videos that answer questions provide value for the viewer and give you the chance to share more about your business.

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Where To Start

Whether you’re a video marketing expert or maybe you’re just starting out, there’s nothing wrong with getting a little help from some video marketing tools.

Creating videos isn’t something easy and it doesn’t hurt to get some help. We all know that creating a great video requires skill, time, and equipment which can break the bank.

What happens if you’re exactly experienced in the video editing department with a tight budget on hand? Well, we have good news. The Internet is filled with many resources and tools. The best part are the tools you can get for a reasonable price (or for free!).

Here are some free tools just to show you that you don’t have to spend a lot of cash to create a great video:

Dvolver

Dvolver is a web-based movie maker tool that uses good ol’ Adobe flash player to operate. It’s no cost to the user and over 8 million clips have been made there. Aside from being completely free to use, you can also request the team to customize a movie maker for your specific needs.

DailyMotion

DailyMotion is another video management platform with many features resembling YouTube. Users get 96 uploads per day, and it allows drag-and-drop to make video organization easier for users. The premium plan grants users access to customizable widgets and personalized branding tools as well as various analytics features.

Microsoft Hyperlapse

Hyperlapse is a timelapse video editing tool developed by Microsoft. It produces smooth and stabilized timelapse both on desktop or mobile. However, it has a downside, which is the end credit applied to every timelapse you make. It can be easily cut out though.

Openshot

OpenShot is free and is an open-source software to trim and animate your video objects on Linux, Mac and Windows. It’s maintained by a community of programmers who keep it up to date. It also has an add-on for Firefox for web-based editing. If you use the free tool, you’ll find that some features do not work as well as they do in the paid version.

Vizia

Vizia helps you to add simple interactive elements in your videos like quizzes and surveys. It can help with lead generation and customer engagement by figuring out what they want to do based on the responses they get.

 

About the Author

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).

Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: andre@breadnbeyond.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreoentoro/

 
 
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