Why Video ? – Independent Check

Unless you live under a rock or don’t have access to the internet you’ll know that video is everywhere right now. Search for anything on Google and you’ll get at least one video result. Scroll your social media feed and you’ll see video content of all kinds.

Right now, video is the king of content.

You might be wondering whether you should use video too, especially as the market seems to be saturated with video content. The answer is a resounding yes! Let’s look at why you should harness video marketing and why video is so important, whatever your industry.

Why is video content so important?

Let’s start by looking at a few more numbers.

YouTube estimates people watch over a billion hours of video content each day.
Twitter says tweets with video receive 10 x more engagement.
Facebook sees upwards of 8 billion video views per day.

What does that mean for your business? It means video is clearly preferred by the majority of consumers. That’s why you need to lean into video marketing for your business – to give your customers what they’re looking for.

But the benefits aren’t just for your customers. From a content marketing perspective, video delivers the following benefits to businesses too:

Education: video can share vital information with viewers in a very short space of time and increase the chance of conversion. In one study, 74% of users who watched an explainer video about a product or service went on to make a purchase.
Entertainment: people are more likely to share content if it’s entertaining, increasing your potential reach. For instance, 76% of consumers say they would share a branded video with friends on social media if it was entertaining.
SEO: embedding an engaging video on your website increases time spent on your site for visitors and sends positive signals to search engines. In fact, sites with video are 50 x more likely to appear first in search results (more on SEO later).

It’s no secret that video is the go-to tool for most advertising campaigns. 83% of marketers say video is more important than ever while 81% of businesses are now using video for marketing, including advertising. There are a few reasons why so many marketers and businesses are turning to video for advertising.

Conversions: video boosts conversions and sales by creating an emotional connection. Video helps speed up sales cycles as prospects think less and act sooner, with conversions increasing by 80% when a product video is added to a landing page.
Return on Investment (ROI): video is seen as a great investment. Whether you spend thousands on a slick production or create a video with your smartphone, 83% of businesses believe video advertising and marketing delivers good ROI.
Awareness: visual content like video is a great way to boost brand and product awareness. Facebook found 74% of total ad recall can be achieved within the first 10 seconds of a video advertisement, making video a powerful awareness tool.
CTR: video attracts interest and engages consumers, so it should be no surprise that video is a highly effective advertising medium. In fact, video advertising boasts the highest click-through-rate of all digital ad formats at 1.84%.

The importance of video on social media

You only need to take a glance at your own social media feed to see how important video has become as a social media tool. Chances are, a quick scroll will reveal multiple social media video ads, whether you’re on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. The truth is, the power of video on social media is immense, whatever your chosen platform.

Video is popular on social media for a number of reasons. As we’ve already seen, videos are highly engaging and can be consumed on the go. They are easy to share, fun to watch and provide information without the need to read a wall of text.

Most importantly, when it comes to social media, video content can quickly spread your message to a larger audience. Through shares, likes, comments and tags, highly engaging videos are an efficient and effective way to share your knowledge far and wide.

Google loves video - Improved SEO

Another benefit of video is its ability to boost search engine optimisation (SEO). So, how can video improve SEO? There are a few key ways optimized video content can help you rise the ranks in search results.

Embedding an engaging video on your website increases time spent on your site for visitors and sends positive signals to search engines. That’s why sites with video are 50 x more likely to appear first in search results.
Videos feature in more parts of the SERP (search engine results page) and even have their own results tab. Google (who owns YouTube) lists videos at the top of the page for many search terms, giving video content a significant SEO boost.
Adding keywords to titles, video descriptions, captions and other video metadata can also help your chances of ranking for relevant keywords. Ensure you include a strong call to action and links back to your site to further boost SEO.
YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. The more video content you produce, the more likely your chances of ranking well for relevant keywords and search terms (and remember Google owns YouTube so you boost your visibility there as well).

While not having video content on your site won’t damage your SEO, video content will give your site a boost. It can help your business be discovered by more people, grow your ranking, ensure your business ranks for more keywords and gives you more chances to get on the first page of results for your chosen search terms.

How video can help your business

I think you’ve got a good grasp by now on how video content can help your business, but here’s a quick summary of the benefits video can deliver to your business and businesses of all sizes.

Video content and video advertising helps:

grow reach
improve SEO
build trust
increase ROI
boost sales and conversions
promote engagement
develop brand awareness
educate consumers
create relationships
open conversations
reach new consumers.

If you’re not already looking at video for your marketing and content strategy, it’s time to take action. Video is king and will be for a long time yet. To get the most from your marketing investment, it’s time to embrace video. Whether you’re a small business or a larger organisation, video will help your business thrive and grow into the future.

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