Video and Content Marketing, Part 1. Using Videos in Communications and Marketing

The human attention span has finally reached the level of a gold fish – and gone below it*. Marketing and communications professionals have suspected this for a long time: text is skimmed, decisions to share images are made in a nanosecond, attention is even harder to grasp.

We are still able to concentrate on videos, though. We gathered 10 statistical and practical reasons to start taking advantage of videos, and a bunch of tips to get you started.

10 statistical reasons to start producing video content:

1. *When in 2000 our concentration used to be 12 seconds, it is now only 8,25 seconds. The average attention span of a gold fish is 9 seconds. (Statisticbrain.)
2. However, 70 % of people in the UAE and 60 % in Hong Kong state to be very concentrated when watching video content, according to Google Consumer.
3. According to the same source, 35 % of people in the UAE watch videos with their mobile phones every day, 40 % every week. In Hong Kong, 33 % of people watch videos with their mobile phones every day, 27 % every week.
4. YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world, right after Google.
5. Most of web traffic is already video format, and its proportion is growing continuously (Cisco Visual Networking Index).
6. 59 % of senior level executives rather watch a video than read a corresponding article (Forbes Insight).
7. Video on a page can raise the conversion by as much as 80 % (Eyeviewdigital).
8. 73 % of consumers are more likely to buy a product aftes seeing a video about it (ReelSEO).
9. When a video was clearly mentioned in a newsletter, opening percentage was 58% higher than before (Vinyard).
10. Most of your audience is probably visual learners, and the rest is likely to remember the content better with visuals (e.g. 3M Group).

10 practical reasons to introduce videos as part of content marketing:

1. Your competitors aren't doing videos yet, so stand out by doing them.
2. Even though a perfectly polished brand video has its time and place, you can get started in video marketing with relatively small investments.
3. The human mind is built to follow and remember stories – video format is excellent for telling them.
4. People are interested in people, not companies – it's easy to put the spotlight on people with videos.
5. Videos are a good way to help building a brand online.
6. Especially directions and instructions work well as videos because they are often searched online.
7. Videos enhance your search engine visibility.
8. Advertising in videos, for example on YouTube is very inexpensive – and effective.
9. Videos are shared more likely than articles.
10. Videos are more personal than any other media.

To get you started:

• Forget the thought that you should be a trained performer or a studio pro. It is enough that you are an expert in your field and in front of the camera – just sitting at your own desk, for instance.
• It is not always necessary to make big investments in video and audio equipment. Most video cameras and even smartphones produce professional material and editing software is either free or cheap and easy to use.
• Improvisation is not recommended. Use time and skilled writers to produce a script.
• Create a series that's easy to repeat. For example, film short video greetings from your employees, or publish tip of the week every Monday. Upload longer versions to YouTube and share the short clips on Instagram.
• Offer to speak at events or be an expert at panel discussions. Film the presentation, or ask for the filmed material. Share, share, share.
• Encourage your employees to film their everyday lives with their mobiles and publish the best on Instagram or Facebook. Reward.
• Film user guides for your products by recording what happens on your screen with one of many Screen Recorder programs or simply presenting the product in front of the camera.
• Take a camera with you to a trade fair and document the highlights.
• Think about what you do best and make an educational video.
• Recall what are your customers' frequently asked questions. Then ask a colleague to interview you, edit the answers as a separate video, upload them to video services and share.
• Share your video with a wide scope in different media, and make sure it's named appropriately with both the audience and search engines in mind.
• Make sure that all your videos always have as much additional info as possible: link to your website, a call to action or newsletter subscription possibility.
• Try to get your customers in front of the camera.

Are you already using videos in your email marketing? 

• In a study of 800,000 emails, those containing video received 96.38% higher CTRs than non-video emails (GetResponse). According to David Daniels, former principal analyst at Forrester Research, video in email can increase click-through rates by as much as two times to three times (Smart Insights).

Click here to see an example of a video newsletter done with LianaMailer. To see how it works in practice, contact us to get a demo of video newsletters.

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Sources:
Statisticsbrain: Attention Span Statistics
Google Consumer Barometer 
Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2014-2019 White Paper
Forbes Insight: Video in the C-Suite - Executives Embracethe Non-Text Web
Eyeviewdigital: Making Video Accountable 
ReelSEO: 73% of Consumers More Likely to Make a Purchase After Wathching a Video
Vinyard: How ClearFit Combines Video and Marketo for More Clicks and Customers
3M Group, (D. R. Vogel, G. W. Dickson & J. A. Lehman): Persuasion and the Role of Visual
Smart Insights: Video Email Marketing
GetResponse: Analysis of Video Email Marketing