Video marketing is massive right now, as in it’s *the* thing to get eyeballs on your content. Last year we wrote about the significance of video marketing but this year has clearly demonstrated video is a medium which is essential in marketing communication and should cement its place in your marketing strategy.

Why?

The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video.

Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.

Thanks to Forbes for the stats. These alone should convince you of the importance of video marketing! It is a prolific method to humanise the online. By having a face to match the author/email name of the blog posts or @handle name, viewers can relate to the author just by seeing their face, rather than reading their words, not to mention keeping their attention. Seeing a face on the screen makes the piece come to life and demonstrates authenticity. It makes it relatable because there’s a human being at the end of it, a bit like talking on the phone instead of texting or email, there’s an emotional connection by the physical presence.

Video is like visual storytelling, taking the viewer on a journey.

How?

On the major social networks there are ways of displaying video content and the process of uploading content is fairly intuitive and similar.

Instagram has Stories (up to 15 seconds of content) or IGTV (currently up to 10 minutes of majority of users. If you’re an influencer you may have up to an hour). There is also Instagram Live, which is pretty self-explanatory, but in case you don’t know it’s going live to your connections from your smartphone.

As with Instagram, there is Facebook Live and Facebook Stories, with the regular feed. This should be of no surprise as Facebook own Instagram. With the largest amount of users on a social media network at nearly 3 billion, perhaps your target audience are here?

With Twitter you can upload video content directly or go Live with Periscope.

On LinkedIn you can upload video content but not go Live yet. Video isn’t available on LinkedIn Pages.

YouTube is undoubtedly *the* place to go to for “How-To’s” and currently 1.8 billion users watch videos uploaded.

You don’t need expensive equipment. A smartphone, which so many (roughly 41 million in the UK) already have. The social media platforms already have ‘filters’ built in so you can edit accordingly. For editing, if you have a Mac, iMovie is already on there. Other video software you can use is Final Cut Pro or a drag and drop such as Animoto.

What?

So creating content can be a sticking point for those new to video marketing. Examples include:

With how-to’s: if you’re an estate agent it may be how to get your home ready for sale, tips on seeking mortgage advice or 10 things we love about living in Croydon (or wherever your estate agency is based)

How about an introduction to company video such as Signature Homes’, or perhaps a property tour which can be live and taken with a smartphone. If you’re after a more cleanly produced video a videographer can be employed.

If you write a blog on your website you can also repurpose this content to video - such as a blog on the 10 things your website needs, or a blog on tips on employing the best letting agent can be repurposed into a vlog; how the recent change in business rates affect your offices, a talking head with clear demonstrating can often be more engaging than hundreds of words on a screen.

Summary

Armed with this knowledge hopefully you will see how video marketing is integral to your marketing strategy. Be creative in your content creation and you’ll see Bill Gates’s words “Content is King” come to fruition.