5 Reasons to Use Video in Your 2017 Marketing Strategy

— October 28, 2016

I’m not going to lie. At first, I was skeptical about the true benefits of video marketing.


Sure, I love watching videos as much as the average person and am the first to admit that seeing Taylor Swift eat it on a treadmill while rapping Drake (#gymflow) was exceptionally entertaining.


Did I realize this was a direct marketing ploy from Apple Music? Yes. But did I actually stop and think how powerful their use of video in their marketing strategy was?


Well, not quite.


The power of video


In the case above, Apple took Taylor Swift, an already global phenomenon, and created impactful marketing through video. As amusing as I found the gym scene, I was laughing right along with the other 20 million+ people who viewed the video on Facebook, Instagram and other channels. Moreover, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this video was re-tweeted over 68,000 times.


But Apple wasn’t the only winner to come out on top.


Drake owes Taylor (and Apple) a thank you as well. According to Billboard, after this video went viral, “Jumpman” sales increased 431 percent around the world. And let’s not forget the #gymflow playlist that got Taylor just a little bit too pumped; that grew 325 percent in popularity, as well.


So for the sad majority of us who unfortunately don’t have Taylor on speed dial, here’s the good news.


If you’re reading this, you’re probably not Taylor Swift, Drake or Apple – but that’s okay! This example illustrates the power of a marketing strategy that leverages relatable, engaging video content. And here are five ways you can make video work for your own inbound marketing strategy.


SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOUR AUDIENCE


Regardless of what you’re marketing, video helps convey your message more clearly.


Studies show that people read only 18 percent of the articles they choose. In addition, viewers today are only spending a few seconds for every 100 words they read – so it’s extra important to gain their attention quickly.


The best way you can capture the attention of your desired audience is to not only craft a video that is visually appealing, but also speaks directly to them. Talk about their pain points and the problems they’re trying to solve. Or, depending on where someone is in their journey – and where the video content is placed on your website – you can tell stories about your brand or other client successes.


Video is a compelling medium that can easily help you overcome the barrier of short attention spans with the right focus on messaging.


INCREASE SITE TRAFFIC with the Right Videos


Here’s an added bonus: Once visitors are on your site, video increases the amount of time they will spend on it. It really is that simple. For example, how-to videos are a great way to attract viewers who are ready to buy. Check out this fact: Almost one out of three people say they bought a product or service as a direct result of seeing a how-to video.


In addition, videos appear in more than half of all keyword searches in Google, with over 80 percent of those coming from YouTube. In addition to how-to videos, explainer videos and testimonials are awesome too and serve as a great way to attract more traffic to your website.


Increase Your Lead Conversions


This is super important: Gate your content. Gating your content helps you to gain information about your viewers at the beginning, middle or end of your video. Another best practice is to add a call-to-action. Including a CTA or contact form at the end of the video has been proven a very effective method for capturing more quality leads.


Also, if you’re a Wistia user like we are, you can also tease your video content by allowing visitors to watch part of a video, before they have to convert to watch the rest. This is a great way to address the challenge of lower conversion rates of visitors who want to be able to access more before they give you their contact information.


Use Social to Increase Engagement


When it comes to the marriage of social and video marketing, there are so many approaches I could share. For the sake of your time and sanity, however, I’ll stick to Facebook and an example of its use I found particularly compelling.


Earlier this year, BuzzFeed hosted a live dance battle via Facebook Live. Not only did this create an opportunity for BuzzFeed to show off their team and brand personality, they also provided a huge engagement platform for viewers as they had the ability to submit ideas for the second round of dance battles. It was pretty amusing.


What does this mean for your business?


Much like most of us aren’t Taylor Swift, we aren’t BuzzFeed either. But depending on your target audience, it’s no secret that live video can increase both your social following and brand awareness for your organization. In fact, Facebook shared that people comment 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos – a pretty powerful statistic if your buyer personas like to hang out on Facebook.


Improve Your SEO Ranking


Finally, video marketing undoubtedly improves your search ranking, starting with your SERP rank. But to paint a more clear picture of video’s impact on your website’s SEO, a recent Forrester study found that pages with video on them are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results.


Why? Search results with video have a much higher click-through rate because of rich-video snippets that plain text does not have. In addition, lower bounce rates and quality backlinks are more bonuses in video’s corner.


Remember, It Starts with a Strategy


If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth so much more. But it all comes down to identifying what you want to accomplish with your video. Whether it’s brand awareness, a client success story, a how-to video, a webinar or a demo, you need to remember video is the tool for telling your story, not the strategy itself.


Video will only drive the results you want to see if you already have the right foundational elements of your strategy in place.

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