You company website is no doubt packed full of really useful content that helps your potential customers to understand what you do, what you offer, how you can help solve their problems and what they should do next. You have also probably been told that video content is the next big thing and if you want to compete online, your website should have videos on it. Professional video content isn’t quick or cheap, so why do we place so much importance on it?
Here are the top 10 reasons why video content is important.
1. Get found by Google
Google is the number one search engine in the UK and has achieved that status because it offers users relevant content options in response to their search criteria. Because of this Google wants to crawl and rank high quality, rich content in their results – which includes video. Google also owns YouTube, so if it can cross fertilise its results to send people to another of the sites it owns, there is a greater opportunity for advertising revenues. The most incredible stat that we’ve found is-
If you have a video on your website landing page, the rate of conversion can increase by 80% (source: Visually) which is just astonishing. Equally astonishing is that video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines (source: Brightcove)
2. Get your point across quickly
Given the opportunity, you would rather ‘pitch’ your product or service to a potential customer than give them a pamphlet and ask them to figure it out themselves, right? This is no different to your website. With video content you can ‘pitch’ what you do with all the excitement, confidence and enthusiasm that you have for your business. This resonates with customers, stirring up emotion rather than boring them by making them read a heap of text.
3. Let your products do the talking
If you are selling a physical product, video should be your best friend from now on. Adobe report that 40% of people are more likely to buy a product on their mobile device after viewing a video. The very fact that you are showing off your product live, doing what it is designed to do enables a consumer to develop a greater connection with it. And don’t forget with some more advanced post production techniques, such as on screen text and graphics, camera tracking and rotoscoping, you can really inform, engage and excite your customers. Four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product rather than reading about it (source: eMarketer). Check out a previous blog on product videos here.
Ayres&Co Pitch Video from Square Daisy on Vimeo.
4. Show your personality
One area where video content can be very helpful is with talent acquisition and recruitment. Companies spend a fortune trying to get the right staff in place, who fit with the culture and have the right attitude, but does that all come across on your current careers page on the website? Invest in an employee facing video where individuals from the whole organisation – top to bottom – explain what you need to succeed there, the opportunities and benefits and you’ll see more of the people you do want to hire and less of the ones you don’t! This can be a real differentiator in the war for talent.
We Are Portaltech Reply from Square Daisy on Vimeo.
5. Get more reach socially
Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and imagery combined (source: Brightcove). Is there any need for more explanation? If you see something interesting or useful, it’s way easier to hit share and spread amongst your network than it is to embed a link and explain the bit you think people will be interested in. Social media is an incredible tool – use it by creating content that is ripe for it.
6. Use Youtube as a search engine
The second largest search engine in the world is YouTube so create video content that has an educational value, add in relevant and detailed descriptions, tags and titles and generate organic search traffic using YouTube instead of Google. Some of this content should be professionally made and some of it can be ‘homemade’, for instance Vlogs. By creating a large quantity of this content you will generate a powerful YouTube channel that starts ranking in its own right. Linking this to your main website will improve your rankings further.
7. Animated video simplifies the complex
There are often elements of your business that are quite hard to explain by just ‘speaking’ about it. Sometimes you need to draw a diagram, flowchart or other visuals to allow viewers to understand the benefits. You may have a proposition that involves explaining lots of statistics or data, which the human brain just can’t process when delivered audibly. Using animated explainer videos, whether they incorporate flowcharts, characters, infographics or some other graphics, can be incredibly useful in explaining a complicated or detailed proposition, quickly and with clarity.
Headless E-Commerce – Portaltech Reply from Square Daisy on Vimeo.
8. Stand out
Just by having a high quality, professional video content on your website you will stand out from competitors. Customers appreciate you thinking about their time and making it easy for them to find what they want. If the production values of the video are really high quality then you leave them with a sense that they are buying quality from you. Think about when you’ve been to a site and seen a great video, you instantly have a better impression of the brand and more confidence in buying from them.
Jamie Calder SJPP – Overview from Square Daisy on Vimeo.
9. Better CTR
A great way of marketing to existing and potential customers is through direct mail and newsletters. Wistia conducted an experiment that showed almost 41% more people engaged with a video thumbnail on an e-mail as opposed to just an image. There are lots of different statistics on this, but they all have one thing in common – adding a video increases click through rate (CTR) significantly.
10. Educate potential customers
If you’ve ever done DIY, you know the days of the manual are over. Welcome YouTube “how do I replace my toilet flush” videos! “How to” searches are up 70% year on year (source: Google) so why not create some simple videos that explain how to do something complimentary to what you do. You’re not giving the crown jewels away, you’re demonstrating that you are a capable, credible and trusted source of information. These will put you in the driving seat next time a customer needs whatever it is that you’re selling.
Think of video as more than just video
When we work with clients we don’t just sell videos, we sell something else – whether that is leads, downloads, filled in forms, more followers, shares, etc – video is just the vehicle we use to achieve these goals. Video is just a tool to deliver the outcomes you want.
Consider what it is that you want out of a project, and then plan a strategy around it. What kind of video should it be, product video, explainer video, corporate video? Should it be filmed or animated? Where will you use it? Who do you want to watch it, and what would you like them to do after they have viewed it? How does the video fit in with other campaigns? Or if this is the centrepiece of a campaign, how can you create more content to support it? These are just a few things that need to be considered before a project can get going ensure you receive the outcomes you want.
To discuss why video content is important for the growth of your business, contact us today.
