4 reasons why you should develop a video marketing strategy What video marketing is and how your digital marketing campaign can benefit from it.

You've got a killer product, and thousands of users are actively looking for something you offer. Instead of opting for traditional approaches to advertise your company or service to the world, why not create videos? Gaining trust and credibility, creating brand awareness, nurturing leads into customers, driving traffic, and increasing sales — all of these goals require a strong video strategy. Businesses of all sizes, industries, and budgets can now benefit from reaching their audience in a more intuitive and engaging way by using various video types throughout the funnel. Video production works well because people remember something better by seeing it than by only hearing it. Besides, it's more important than ever before to serve customers with more content so they can become as informed as possible before making a purchase. But these are just a few of the most significant reasons for a video marketing plan. Let’s go over the rest in more detail. Why is a video marketing strategy important? 1. Videos’ impact on SEO and SERP ranking positions We can all agree that video has a huge impact on user experience. If a website has an appealing video on the home page, it’s more pleasant to stay and watch it than to go to another website without any visual stimulation. Although this type of visual doesn't directly boost search rankings, it can increase the time visitors spend on the website, which can positively affect your website ranking. Videos also ensure that there are no misunderstandings about the site’s services or products, which can lead to a lower bounce rate. But if you are going to add a video to your website, make sure that it doesn't negatively affect the speed at which your site loads. It’s also worth mentioning some video production tips: Convey your message in the beginning. The average human attention span is getting shorter. This means that if you have an important message to deliver, you need to cover the main points immediately while users remain attentive. It must be engaging right off the bat or else viewers won't continue watching. There needs to be a hook at the start of the video, whether it's an intriguing question or a captivating statistic. Transcribe your video. You can include a transcript of what's being said in your video using captions or subtitles. The Google bot will then no longer depend on sound and can process the text more accurately. This allows your page to appear more frequently on SERPs regarding the search terms prevalent throughout your video. Video optimisation. From optimising your title to adding meta tags and descriptions, these basic strategies will help your video appear in as many searches as possible. Furthermore, it is not superfluous for you to occasionally track keyword rank on the pages where your videos are embedded using tools like SE Ranking. Monitoring your keyword ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs) and checking the results your optimisation brings can help determine if your SEO efforts have been successful. You can also set up a YouTube project if you tend to rank your videos via the YouTube platform. 2. Video content boosts engagement on social media platforms Video content on social media has consistently boosted viewer engagement and created a stronger emotional connection to the brand. It works well for several reasons — it's easy to digest, easily consumable on various devices, and you can share it across multiple platforms. According to Wyzowl research, over 80% of video marketers state that such social media content is a brilliant way to generate leads. But to make the best use of this power, it’s worth investing time in creating a high-quality video that is highly shareable to achieve wide distribution across your audience. Most millennials spend their free time on social media, so brands must take advantage of this medium to succeed. More than half of those that use video social media platforms do so on their smartphones throughout the day. Understanding how people interact with content on their smartphones can help you generate more leads, sales, or website visits by posting engaging and entertaining videos via your social media channels. So, increase your online presence by creating a good strategy for social media management that would help you know what and when to share your content since this leads to higher customer retention. But how to make them viral? Create an excellent first impression. The first impression always matters. So do not ignore the introduction in a video when you upload it on popular social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Viewers only spend a short period deciding whether or not they want to watch the whole video. Know your target audience. Viral video production doesn't mean just making an entertaining video — it means creating material that resonates with your audience and encourages them to take action, telling their friends and family to check it out. For this reason, relevance is the main factor here that plays a considerable role. Tell a unique brief story. The rule of thumb is to make your video at most two minutes and 30 seconds long. But another significant factor is telling a unique story and making your video memorable by utilising a universal context that everyone (or at least most people) can relate to. 3. Video marketing drives more product conversions and sales The game has changed. The days of basic banner advertisements and pay-per-click advertising are quickly becoming replaced by "video marketing." Social media video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have seen huge increases in traffic, as publishers and individuals start using video to reach their consumers. Video is an extremely powerful medium – a tool that can be used to communicate your story in a more straightforward way, show your case study and build trust with potential customers. As everybody knows, when your customers trust you, they're more likely to convert. This means that you have the opportunity to increase conversion rates by providing a more detailed description of your product or service in a visually dynamic way. As you create a library of videos, your customers will become increasingly familiar with your brand and its value proposition, increasing purchases and conversion rates. So, let’s look at some tips on setting up your videos for more conversions: Get to the point in under 10 seconds. With people's attention spans getting shorter these days (the average attention span for people has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds), it's vital to get to the point in under 10 seconds. People don't want to wait around. Whether posting a video on your website or sharing it on social media, you have a very short amount of time to grab the viewer's attention. Call-to-Action button. A CTA can be anything from a special deal to signing up for a service or uploading contact information. You will already know about the importance of a call to action. You probably also know that when a video is finished, you have just a small window to grab your viewer's attention before they escape out of your content. But what if there was a better way? What if you could push your viewer toward your CTA when they had both the time and encouragement to complete the conversion? It’s always up to you where to put your CTA, but it’s essential not to neglect it! Keep your story captivating. You don’t want to simply tell your customer what to do. Instead, you want to use language that keeps them engaged. For example, if you’re telling them how much value your product will give them, do it in a way that doesn’t feel sterile or boring. Use language that makes it seem like you’re having a one-on-one conversation with each person who watches your ad. Keep your story creative and relatable, and discuss how your product can help them. 4. Video marketing is great for brand awareness and building trust Video marketing is an excellent way to show your customers how to use your product and how it can help them reach their goals. In addition, videos can bring practical value by providing tips, tricks, and hacks and make your brand credible in a particular niche or industry. And this credibility helps you turn potential buyers into happy customers who are excited about buying your product. Video marketing can also bring people closer by giving them an authentic look into your brand and service. People want to know what you do and see how you do it. Video helps educate and inform the customer, which builds trust. If visitors are more informed about your product or service, they are more likely to become customers. Let’s delve into tips on how to gain customers’ trust with the help of video: Tell your brand story. One of the best ways to promote any business is to tell your brand’s history. This helps customers build trust in your brand and connect with your business, which goes beyond just the quality of your products. Customer testimonials. Once customers know about your business, they want to know more about what others think about your business. Creating more trust and credibility for your brand with testimonials is one of the best ways. A testimonial is an authentic review from a customer that describes their experience with your company. It shows what they liked, what they didn't like, and how they feel about your brand in general. Be genuine. Authenticity is becoming a rare commodity in the marketing world, but sales and marketing leaders who can prove their authenticity will find it pays off with consumer trust and positive brand equity. Conclusion Nowadays, companies can reach their target consumer base through many different avenues. Instead of buying a billboard or paying to run an ad on television, businesses can create videos and place them on their website to be found by anyone in the world. We live in a world where attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. For this reason, if you want your message to be received...

Alina Tytarenko