Videos can take many forms, whether this be actual video footage, animated GIFS or effects to static images pulled together in a tasteful way. Nowadays video is one of the go-to methods of doing virtually anything, with YouTube (the largest video sharing website in the world) populated by tutorial videos for just about every task conceivable.
Videos are naturally engaging and offer the opportunity to deliver content that is easier to digest than a piece of text. In my personal opinion given the choice of making my way through lengthy pages of instructions or a 2 minute long video tutorial I find it much more helpful to opt for the video tutorial. It is easy to understand why, with scientific studies showing that the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text.
No matter how hard you try, it's hard to go a day without coming across some sort of video content - in terms of potential reach, video is unrivalled. YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors each month - and may I repeat �that's just EACH month! For a prime example of just how far videos reach you need only take Adele's music video for the track 'Hello'� this has had over 1 billion views since its release on the 23rd October 2015, with the single selling over 1 million copies worldwide in its first week. It is stats like this that truly illustrate the power of video, if done right the potential return on investment is huge! By integrating good quality video content into your marketing this encourages engagement from your viewers who in turn share this with others, spend longer on your website and promotes interaction with your brand.
Due to the rapid advancements in mobile technology in the last few years this means that videos are no longer cumbersome to deliver on this platform - with issues such as eternal buffering and poor performance being addressed. The emergence of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have all contributed to this. These platforms have been streamlined into mobile applications, with a key focus being on delivering video content. Using video content as a marketing tool has gone from being optional to essential. Things like pay-per-click marketing and sponsored ads are being used to deliver high quality video content from companies and organisations around the world and have now become an everyday part of the social media experience.
Video content allows you to set the scene and tell your consumer a compelling story. As customers, we respond to emotion - something which you can convey in your video, if you can build an emotional connection through your video content this is very advantageous. Building this connection with your customers is invaluable. With this comes greater trust�greater trust leads to increased dealings or transactions and can also lead to repeat business. They also allow you to raise your awareness and make your business stand out from the rest, with companies using a variety of different methods to deliver this content such as Social Media, applications like Snapchat and Periscope - a live streaming service, something that is also coming to the fore and many more!
Some of you may be thinking well� yes that is all well and good but what about the cost? The increased use of this type of content has ensured that the cost to produce videos has fallen significantly in recent years and are much easier to produce. Alternatively this also means that you no longer need to have expert technical know-how or expensive software to be able to create these, so why not do these yourself instead of outsourcing them? If you don't know how to use the software available why not look a tutorial up on YouTube?
When offering video content always consider your audience and ensure the content is relevant and interesting, if you don't do this you might as well not do it at all. It is vital that you make it easily accessible and easily shareable, short, interesting, informative and be sure to create a good campaign strategy around it. Get this right and you are bound to see good return on investment.