The Importance of Video Marketing
by Natalia Lopez
Video marketing is when brands use video content to promote their products and services. Posting on social media platforms that support video content, like YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, allows brands to reach unparalleled audience numbers.
Done right, a video marketing strategy is a powerful way for brands to grow their audience, spread awareness of their products and engage with existing and potential customers.
Best of all, video marketing is more accessible than ever before and increasingly simple to onboard. Brands can easily incorporate video into their marketing strategies even without recording or editing skills. Marketing with video is more affordable than ever, and a well-done video marketing campaign offers an excellent ROI.
If your company is still on the fence about the importance of video marketing and the benefits it could bring them, read on as we take a closer look at these benefits and how to use video marketing effectively.
Video marketing benefits
Wyzowl are one of the world's market-leading animated video production companies. Every year they release a report on emerging video marketing trends. This year’s report revealed a whopping 91% of businesses surveyed were using video marketing. This figure had increased yearly since the first report came out in 2016 when it was only 61%.
So, what are the main benefits of video marketing that are responsible for this huge increase in numbers?
We summarise a few of them briefly below.
Videos are a great way of quickly communicating information: Some research suggests audiences can recall up to 95% of the information in a video compared to just 10% in text. Video can also capture people's attention in ways other forms of communication don't have. A good video will hold your audience's focus longer than other social media posts consisting of static images or text. This explains why video is the most popular form of web content and is the most likely type of content to be shared.
Videos are versatile: FMCG brands use video to make explainer videos and product demos that teach customers how to make the most out of a product and inspire them with new ideas. Social media videos are the new era of advertising and allow brands to experiment with creative ways to deliver sales-driving content in bite-sized form. Companies are also leveraging the power of testimonial and endorsement videos to build trust with their audience and communicate their powerful mission and vision statements.
Audiences everywhere love video: Video is the internet's most consumed type of content. As a result, more and more people are watching videos daily and doing so for longer. People spend more time watching videos than any other type of online content, with the average person reportedly watching 100 minutes daily.
Demand for video content is growing steadily yearly with no signs of slowing. Food, drink and travel-related content are all in the top ten content categories that generate the most engagement globally. This makes video an essential and future-proof marketing strategy.
Videos have an impressive ROI: According to Hubspot’s 2022 marketing statistics, almost 93% of brands reported gaining new customers thanks to videos posted on their social media.
Other estimates suggest video marketing can help grow a business’ revenue 49% faster than competitors that don’t use it as part of their strategy.
The ROI of video marketing is so impressive that most marketers continue to use it as part of their future strategies. Even better, consumer demand for video production has also led to technological advancements that make video production more affordable and accessible to all.
How to use video marketing
To help you understand how to use video marketing as part of your content marketing strategy, here are three main reasons why most marketers surveyed by Wyzowl agree that video is part of their long-term marketing strategy.
Raise brand awareness and generate sales: A leading explainer video company recently surveyed their audience and found 88% admitted to buying a product or service after watching a brand’s video. There’s little doubt that video can drive consumer purchase decisions and increase sales and brand value. Powerhouse food and drinks brands like Starbucks, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are leveraging its potential by dominating social media views with their slick, fun and easily digestible content.
Build audience trust: The ability of videos to allow brands to communicate with audiences in real-time means authenticity and relatability are more important than ever. Live streams, interviews and testimonials are just some of the clever techniques used by many of the most successful brands in the business. Videos also represent the most shareable type of online content. This is because people are drawn to emotional content and share things they resonate with on their networks. Over the years, other social media platforms have added video features to their toolbox, proving that the power of video content is simply too big to ignore.
Inspire brand loyalty: Posting behind the scene footage of your production process, sharing recipes and featuring an origin story are all increasingly ingenious methods brands use to capture viewers' attention, increase brand awareness and demonstrate credibility, quality and authenticity. More than ever, customers are practising conscious consumption and are interested in the ingredients, techniques and people behind what they buy. Harnessing the power of video is the best way to condense years of experiences into seconds of captivating and highly converting content that inspires trust and builds a loyal following.
Where to post your videos
All the social media giants, including YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, make it easier than ever to share and promote video content online. This means your investment in one bit of content can be distributed across numerous platforms and reach huge numbers of potential customers
However, it’s important to understand the demographic of each social media platform so your content marketing can be as successful as possible. Knowing which channels your target audience uses also increases your ability to reach them.
Wrapping Up
Video content marketing is the single most valuable and important type of content marketing that exists on the planet. Fact.
Most brands globally recognise this and are leveraging the power of video to boost their brand awareness, generate leads, inspire customer loyalty, drive engagement and more.
Even better, audiences everywhere are hungry for more food and drink related content. This means they actually expect the brands they follow to deliver video content.
In a fiercely competitive industry, any business that doesn’t is likely to be left behind.
