In part one of The Ultimate Video Industry Overview, we looked at the history of video, it’s impact on society and the rise of social media
Here in part two, we turn our attention to the following:
- The impact of video marketing
- Types of video for business
- The current direction of the video industry
Finally, in part three, we will discuss VR and the (potential) future of the video industry.
The impact of video marketing
Even more so since the start of 2020, we live our lives online. This has become a global phenomenon – global changes to all our circumstances have encouraged – and enabled – the world as we know it to be altered permanently.
People who were only occasional web users have become adept ‘googlers’ and ‘zoomers’, as well as online shoppers.
And as internet usage grows, so does the demand for video content. Consumers want communication, they want information, they want to purchase, but most of all they want to be entertained while they do all these things.
There is no getting away from it – the consumer demand for video content is huge and it is not going away. It is growing exponentially.
Why? It’s not just because video makes information easier and quicker to digest, although it does. It’s because it engages as well – which is what we mean by entertains. For some, it is a useful distraction.
Either way, video is more digestible and engaging than other forms of communication. Around 90% of people say that video makes it easier to get a point across.
This is partly because it involves human contact – which also explains the sudden increase in the popularity of Skype, Zoom, Google Meets and Facebook Rooms in the past year. 89% of people think that video helps them feel more connected than email, chat or even voice calls.
The resultant impact on business has been a rise in the use of video for marketing, as a response to this.
A consumer who views a product video is up to 144% more likely to add that product to their shopping cart than a consumer who watches no video.
Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster year-on-year than their competitors who don’t.
The reason for this is quite a simple one – on average, 70% of a buying decision is already made before a customer has direct contact with the company.
In other words, they have done research (usually online), watched explainer videos, seen reviews, and are almost at the point of buying before you are even aware that they, as a customer, exists.
This is why your marketing strategies must cover all potential touchpoints, through your websites, social media and any others that are relevant to your business.
And as consumers want video, video is what you must give them.
For more of these stats, take a look at our report ‘Will video marketing help my business’.
The latest research now shows us that 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers.
In fact, by 2019, video had become the number one form of media used in marketing content strategy – even more than blogs and infographics.
It’s not enough to produce video content
Many companies are starting to utilise video as a part of their marketing strategies, yet only 35% of businesses are using analytics to measure their video performance.
It’s not enough to produce video content – you need to know how well it is performing for you.
When we were discussing social media, we mentioned that over half of all videos published in the last year are less than two minutes long.
This is not by accident – it is because consumers have become very adept at deciding within seconds whether the video content is of interest to them.
There is now so much content available online that there is information overload! The internet, which once promised limitless access to limitless information has delivered on that promise and the human race is now so awash with data that there are not enough lifetimes on the planet to view it all.
In the midst of all this, you need to be seen, heard and engage.
Once you have a viewer’s attention (the first challenge), you have to keep it (the second one).
Around 20% of people who start your video will leave after the first 10 seconds, so as someone once said – create a damn good intro.
Types of video for business
Product review
- The most popular type of video on YouTube, a product review can be customer-created or brand created. Honest customer review videos are great. Brand created ones will work best if you already have a level of communication with your customers.
Tutorial
- Tutorials can be about how to use your product, other uses for your product or even something unrelated. The secret is that they must be real and offer useful advice – not just a product promotion. They are ‘how-to’ instruction videos that happen to use your product, rather than promote it directly.
Testimonial
- Real customers with real experience talking honestly about your product. If done right, customer testimonials are some of the most powerful videos you can create. People trust people like themselves. A great way to create testimonial videos is to interview customers and ask a few questions, such as the benefits of using your product, favourite feature, etc. Testimonials videos are social proof – and 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
User-generated content
- More social proof, but of a different kind. Any other kind of user-generated content can work for you. Customers using your product, unboxing it, their kids doing funny things with it…the potential is almost endless. These can be useful or just for fun – run a contest with your customers for the ‘funniest 30-second video with our product’ and you will generate a wealth of marketing material.
Brand video
- A brand video is an introduction to your company and brand – your values, what you stand for, your company mission. They are a great way to show the history of the brand, how your company started. Brand videos allow consumers to get to know you.
This is us
- Where a brand video introduces your company, a ‘this is us’ is an introduction to your staff, key workers and faces behind the business. You can show the everyday life of one person or follow a process and meet the people who are involved in each step.
Event
- If you have an event, have a video made of it. Whether it is a live event or an online one, have a post-produced video covering the event, plus a 2-minute highlight edit. These are great for social media promotions.
Live streaming
- Live streaming is rapidly becoming the most popular video form on Facebook; if you are hosting an event, live stream it for anyone who cannot attend. Apart from events, live streaming can be anything you want – an interview, a presentation, breaking news or anything else you want it to be. Live streaming will be a $70 billion industry by 2021, which is why every major social media platform now supports it.
Q&A
- Interviews make great marketing videos – either a one-on-one with an interviewer or a session answering questions from customers.
Vlog
- The video version of a blog. Often just the presenter talking to the camera but increasingly integrating graphics, video footage and other professional presenting techniques as they have become available to all.
For even more ideas, check out 33 business video ideas you can actually use.
Where is the video industry heading?
The only way, as they say, is up.
As we have seen, video has become the dominant form of marketing for business in 2020 and this will only grow in time.
Right back at the start of the year, we said that content experience and consumer-led marketing would be two of the hallmarks of 2020 – we didn’t know then quite how correct this prediction would be.
And growing out of these is the next trend for the video industry – at least as far as marketing goes:
Personalisation
What is personalisation in video?
Consumers want personalised, immersive experiences. A majority of consumers, especially Generation Z, wants live streaming, interactivity and control of all their video media.
Whether it’s voting on winners on a TV talent show or deciding on the ending of a movie, consumers want to be able to define their experience the way they want it.
The 2017 film ‘Justice League’ is a great example. It held much promise of being the ultimate blockbuster movie of the year for its fans – yet when it was released many of them didn’t like it. For several reasons, it failed to live up to the hype.
Roll on to 2020 and the film is now being re-cut and will essentially be reformed into a completely new story and visual experience. The fans will, it seems, will get what they wanted after all.
The point is that this re-cut film has come about entirely from consumer-led demand.
This is the world in which we now live; the consumer is king and in control.
360° video is another example of this. 360° video or VR video gives viewing control to the consumer. In the video below, you can use your computer mouse to move the camera around – left, right, up, down – you choose.
Go ahead and give it a try:
This is an immersive experience. Now imagine watching the same film but with a VR headset, so instead of a using a computer mouse, you just turn your head.
Personalisation is partly about creating video content that the consumer wants, but it is also about creating video that is relevant and that they can control.
VR is about controlling the view of content, but what about control of the content itself?
In this recent survey, 48% of consumers say that they want videos to reflect the products and services they’re interested in when it comes to informing their decision making.
A further 43% said they want videos to be interactive in order to allow them to decide what information they want to view and when.
When you consider that 90% of consumers are more likely to shop brands who they recognize and who provide relevant offers and recommendations, then you can start to see where video is heading next.
The future of the video industry, from cinema film to marketing and everything in between, lies in controllable content.
Personalisation is what the consumer wants. And controllable content is the next step in the journey.
As in the past, where video content developed as rapidly as the technology did, so it will be in the future.
The difference is that technology develops much faster these days.
VR and immersive technology is already here and is already shaping the video content that is now being produced.
VR is the focus of our final part of this article.
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