Why Video Marketing Is Vital for Your Business

According to Cisco Visual Networking Index, consumer Internet video traffic is rapidly rising and will account for 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by the year 2019. This shows a 64 percent rise since 2014 with no signs of slowing down. Meanwhile, Media Post reports that mobile devices dominated views of Super Bowl 50 advertisements on YouTube, and 60 percent of the 330 million views came from mobile devices.

The numbers are clear. In order to compete in today’s marketplace, you need a video marketing strategy in place that’s also readily available and watchable on mobile devices. Need more convincing? Here’s a run down of why video can significantly impact the bottom line for your business and what to do next.

Video showcases your brand’s culture

You can write about company culture and engage with customers at length, but it still won’t properly translate without a video to show instead of tell. A spirited video of your company at work, emotional testimonials from clients and a behind-the-scenes look at employees at work speaks volumes more than a print campaign.

Brand culture videos help consumers forge a sense of trust and camaraderie with your company simply by giving them a visual view of what’s going on. For example, Amway features a video on its YouTube channel showing how its distributors spend their time away from the 9-to-5 work day and build up their businesses. Consumers can check back and watch more footage to dream of how their life would look if they owned their own business.

Video increases sales

Online retailer Stacks and Stacks reported that consumers who viewed one of their product videos were up to 144 percent more likely to add it to the cart than customers who didn’t.

Giving customers a chance to see products in action and moving in real time, even if it’s just being held or turned to show different features, provides a more realistic view. Instead of needing to come into your store or order your product to see if the photos do it justice, customers can view videos to get a closer look.

Social media is embracing video

YouTube spent years dominating video search, but other search engines and social media platforms are seeing a rapid conversion taking place.

For example, Facebook reports its daily video views doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion in a period of a few months. Video ads are also becoming wildly popular across social media and other online platforms alike, and particularly on mobile devices. YouTube reports the number of hours people spend watching videos on mobile is up 100 percent.

Companies jumping onto the video social media bandwagon are also seeing impressive results. Old Spice pitchman, Isaiah Mustafa, famously answers tweets by video on YouTube, driving consistent traffic across multiple social media platforms. Their videos are also the stuff of viral legend with its new Mom Song.

Video says much more than text

Businesses may feel intimidated to produce compelling videos that spark action, but in reality, they can be more effective at converting customer engagement than print alone.

According to an article by Forrester Research, a minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. That’s certainly more words than you can ever put together in a single ad copy or white paper. Instead of potential customers having to figure out what you’re saying by digesting copy, they can see it quickly unfold by video.